Subscriber Discussion

This Integrator Sales Training Manual Is Interesting, Humorous, And Scary

JB
Jeremiah Boughton
Jun 05, 2014

Check out this integrator sales training manuel that I'm surprised is online. A few good things in it, but a lot of crazy things and humorous things in it. Reminds me of Vaccum Cleaner door to door sales people. Link to Manuel

Below is a minute sample of what you will find inside. Enjoy!

THE BENJAMIN FRANKLIN CLOSE
» Salesperson: “One of my favorite great Americans is Benjamin Franklin. Do you know what old Ben did whenever he confronted a difficult situation such as you’re facing right now? He’d get out a plain sheet of white paper (you get out the paper) & draw a line right down the middle. Just like this” – you must talk and write at the same time – “Franklin would write ‘Yes’ on this side of the page and ‘No’ on his side. Then he’d list all the reasons favoring the decision in the Yes column, and he’d put down anything that was against it in the No column. What do you say we do the same thing?”…proceed to do it.

Types of Closes (Many more types of Closes in the manuel starting on Page 30)

  • THE COLUMBO CLOSE
  • The Sell it with Love Close
  • The Refriderator Close
  • The Sales Manager Close
  • THE PARACHUTE CLOSE
  • It Ain’t Necessarily NO! Close
  • The Limited Offer Close
  • ‘DON’T KEEP IT A SECRET’ CLOSE!
  • The Clock-is-Always-Running Close
  • The Follow-the-Leader Close
  • Little Mistake vs. Big Mistake Close
  • Assumptive Statement-&-Question Close:
  • The Hard-to-Get-it Close
  • THE INSURANCE CLOSE
  • TIMING IS EVERYTHING Close
  • THE MANUFACTURER’S CHOICE CLOSE
  • OUR BEST INSTALLER CLOSE
  • THE SHOPPING AROUND CLOSE
  • THE REDUCE TO THE RIDICULOUS CLOSE
  • THE TAKE IT AWAY CLOSE
  • ASK FOR THE INSTALL AND CLOSE
JD
Jim Daly
Jun 05, 2014

Unbelievable. The guy who wrote this crap must have went to the Alec Baldwin school of sales training.

Alec Baldwin pep talk

Clip from Pages 21, 22 and 23 “Contact Hesitation”

NO TIO'S :)

And to publish this on the web beggars belief !

I am sure the guys at ADT are delighted that Elite represents them!

Quote from their web site “Elite represents a $6,000,000,000 brand – ADT – Founded in 1874”

Amazing...

Avatar
Brian Rhodes
Jun 05, 2014
IPVMU Certified

You guys should turn this in to ADT for a $25k reward on the outside shot they agree to sue themselves.

JB
Jeremiah Boughton
Jun 05, 2014

I did not research too hard, but is Elite Security (ADT Partners) the same as this Elite Security or Knock4Elite? I tried to google Knock4Elite and it says ADT in the description but then the website forwards to spam. I do not want to connect the 2 if they are not the same thing.

JB
Jeremiah Boughton
Jun 05, 2014

The Manuel says Elite Security Services, Inc. This is from the BBB (Link) The website listed on the BBB says "Coming Soon" Elite Security Services, Inc. - ADT Home Security Systems & Monitoring | Safe Home Control" target="_blank">ADT Home Security Systems & Monitoring | Safe Home Control

UPDATE: I just took the phone # from the manuel and this link popped up with the phone # in Google. According to this, they are an ADT Partner. Crazy!

Elite and ADT

JD
Jim Daly
Jun 05, 2014

This is a link to a screenshot Elite screen shot (this link will expire in 3 days) taken from http://knock4elite.com/the-difference/ with the ADT bit at the bottom of the image.

JB
Jeremiah Boughton
Jun 05, 2014

The key is no www. in their website. They sure promote ADT.

After reading Elite's Sales Manuel, is this an ethical sales way?

JB
Jeremiah Boughton
Jun 05, 2014

They even have a sales manuel video that you can get on DVD. Watch now.

RW
Rukmini Wilson
Jun 05, 2014

Good dig, Jeremiah. Watching the elite video with no sound (don't ask), I had to do a double take at 2:03 when what I thought was common bs,"Try looking at them right in the eye", was actually far rarer elite bs, "Try looking at them in the right eye"

U
Undisclosed #1
Jun 05, 2014

Who the heck is Manuel?

U
Undisclosed #2
Jun 05, 2014

...Manuel Video that you can get on DVD.

I believe he may be related to Jason...

U
Undisclosed #1
Jun 06, 2014

Manuel knows nothing about the horse

JH
John Honovich
Jun 06, 2014
IPVM

"Are you the decision maker? (Most men will say “Yes”) Oh great, it is a pleasure to meet a person who has the ability to make a decision on his own without a committee to do it for him.”

"You know something, Harvey; it’s a real treat to deal with a man like you who’s capable of making up his own mind. There are too many guys these days that let their wives call all of the shots.”

#yesallwomen

JH
John Honovich
Jun 06, 2014
IPVM

Btw, one thing, this is not really an 'integrator' sales manual, it's more of a door to door alarm salesman guide, correct?

U
Undisclosed #3
Jun 06, 2014

Yes. But it's not limited to alarms, it would be equally effective for vacuum cleaners, tupperware, Amway or other things as well.

JB
Jeremiah Boughton
Jun 06, 2014

Why do these fishy alarm companies all come from Orem, Utah? ADT is currently suing a company called Vision Security from Orem for fishy tactics. While Googling, I also see a couple other fishy alarm companies in Orem.

I would think they would be just door to door alarm sales people, but then who does the same day installs for them?

TG
Tedor Gligorich
Jun 06, 2014

Why do all these fishy alarm companies come from Orem, Utah?

Maybe because they have more suckers there to get on? Im not from the US states, but i read a time magazine that came out with it and said more than half of Utah is [REDACTED BY IPVM as no evidence / citation was provided for the derogatory comment]

tedor here, sorry should been typeread "more than half of Utah is considered mormons"

Avatar
Marty Major
Jun 06, 2014
Teledyne FLIR

Now that is pure comedic gold. GOLD I tell ya.

:)

UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #4
Jun 08, 2014

This thing looks like the evil-alternate-universe version of our sales manual. I'm suprised all the stock photo models don't have little goatees.

Bottom line: selling is a lot harder than it looks, and some people will always look for a shortcut.

JH
John Honovich
Jun 08, 2014
IPVM

Lol. But, in fairness, this stuff works overall, ethics aside and leaving out the other people who will hate you for dong this.

For example, is Vivint not using a similar playbook for their multi-billion dollar rise to dominance?

UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #4
Jun 08, 2014

You know what this sales manual reminds me of? This book. Very similiar techniques, and probably very similiar results. Wether you want a date or a sale, if you want to get something from your target against your target's better judgement, there are a couple of Jedi mind tricks you can use. They don't last very long, but you don't need to take very long to get what you need and get out.

If you just want to make sales, or you just want to get one night stands, the hard sell, high volume approach is proven highly effective. If you want to build a relationship, though, these techniques are counterproductive in the extreme.

Unethical? Hell, yes. Security is an industry built on trust, and starting out the relationship based on smooth talking and a slick haircut means that trust will never exist, not just with XYZ Alarm, Inc, but with anyone else, either. That's fine, though, because XYZ doesn't give a damn what happens to the customer after the check clears. This kind of attitude poisons the customer against the entire security industry permanently. The security industry as a whole should never tolerate these kinds of sales techniques.

Being a trunkslammer isn't about revenue or size or accounts. Being a trunkslammer is a state of mind. Any company that encourages this kind of attitude in it's salespeople is just as much a trunkslammer as the guy who ties a ladder to the roof rack on his Camry.

RW
Rukmini Wilson
Jun 08, 2014

You know what this sales manual reminds me of? This book.

Maybe a little...

  • Pickup Artist = Hookup Artist
  • One night stand = One day 'stall
  • Don't hate the player, hate the game. = Don't hate the 'slammer, hate the biz.
JH
John Honovich
Jun 08, 2014
IPVM

There are so many classic quotes in this manual...

"As long as your thinking is not stinking, you’ll be successful. Even the weakest of salespeople can make selling 100 alarm accounts this year a reality. The question is: Do you have what it takes to aspire to greatness?"

Greatness equals selling 100 alarm accounts this year.

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #5
Jun 09, 2014

In a single three sentence paragraph, the employer's manual offers moral support, sets a minimum goal, and challenges the employee to perform in a positive manner. It beats "If you don't sell at least 100 accounts per year, you suck and you're fired". Yeah, there's some ego feeding. Who doesn't want to be great? Motivating salespeople requires either a lot of ego stroking or incentives.

I'm not sure how this would differ from: "As long as you don't have writer's block, even the weakest of IPVM researchers can make writing one article per day a reality".

100 accounts in this case appears to be a minimum satisfactory performance, it's unclear what achieving "greatness" would employ in terms of number of accounts.

Second place is a set of steak knives.

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #5
Jun 09, 2014

It's easy to poke fun of salespeople and the residential security market, they are very convenient targets. Over the years, I have spent time in sales and at other times as a sales engineer assisting salespeople with large security installations. My standard joke is "There are three things you don't want to see getting made: sausage, hot dogs and sales". It's not always a pretty process, but sales is the locomotive that pulls the company. Sales go up, the company expands and hires new people. Sales go down and offices get shuttered and folks get laid off. Nothing happens until somebody sells something. It is what it is...

I read the manual and watched part the video, although at times it tends to be a bit dramatic and borders on hyperbole, it's is a well thought out training manual fordoor to door sales of residential alarm systems. Actually, I'm surprised in this day and age with the internet and telemarketing, that alarm companies still go door to door. I'm not sure I can find much "unethical" or dishonest" in the manual. Agressive? Maybe... But to be blunt, if I owned a residential alarm business I would want an aggressive but ethical sales staff. Ineffective salespeople drive crappy cars, take lousy vacations and have small TV's and skinny kids.

This manual and video is just a summary of many different sales training classes that I attended and sales books that I read during my stints in sales. Sales training and books are huge business all in itself as every sales person is looking for an edge or advantage to close that one extra sale per month, and the sales training industry feeds on that. Yes, "stinking thinking" is a sales related disease, just like when a golfer has the yips or a baseball player goes into a batting slump. If a salesperson has a negative or defeatist attitude, it's hard to dig out it, been there done that. To quote Yogi Berra "90% of the game is half-mental", although in sales, I would push that to 98%.

Some of the approaches and closes in the manual may seem a little shifty or cheesey to those outside of the sales end of the business, but they work. Most sales techniques are acronym-based and seem like an Alec Baldwin movie line. They KISS as many new residential security salespeople aren't very experienced and many have ended up in sales as economic downsizing or other career prospects didn't pan out. There's an old adage with direct selling "hire them in masses, train them in classes, and if they don't produce, fire their a$$es".

I doubt much of this manual would translate well to sales of high-end video surveillance and access control products, but there are a few nuggets to glean regarding appearing professional, projecting confidence, methods of effective verbal an non-verbal communication and discovering hidden objections and addressing them. We can sit here as integrators, engineers, and consultants but deep down we are all selling something, even if it's ourselves to our employers for a paycheck every week. But, one pice of advice, stay away from the "Ben Franklin" close with your boss...

UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #4
Jun 09, 2014

Speaking as a salesman myself- a pretty good one, I like to think- I have to disagree. There's agressive selling and there's abusive, pushy, in-your-face selling, and it's pretty obvious which one there is.

Used car salesmen make numbers, too, but no one likes them, and no one goes back twice.

These techniques might work once, but if you want to sell the customer again and again, you've got to build a relationship.

This kind of salesmanship gives the entire industry a black eye.

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #5
Jun 09, 2014

D,

The whole sales plan is specifically geared for the technique to work just once!

As a residential alarm contractor, once you have the system installed and the customer tied into a 3-to-5 year monitoring agreement (where the profit is), there isn't any repeat business to be had unless the customer adds on to their house or moves. There is no "relationship" to maintain, for the most part, it's "one and done" selling. This is why this approach doesn't translate very well to larger video/access system integrations that are constantly being added to and updated.

As system integrators, we rely on "relationship selling" with customers, general & electrical contractors, cabling subcontractors, consulting engineers, and manufacturers for initial and repeat business. Direct sales such as door-to-door sales of residential systems is a totally different animal, requiring a more aggressive approach to be successful. That's the nature of that market, for better or worse.

The "black eye" happens when residential alarm contractors or salespeople try to use this same approach with larger commercial and municipal/government video & access systems. We all probably have a horror story or twelve to share about those cases.

First prize is a Cadillac El Dorado...

RW
Rukmini Wilson
Jun 09, 2014

First Customer Contact is as easy as 1-2-3

1. Build Momentum........ 2. Push Aside Obstacles.... 3. Overcome Resistance...

 h 

"Sir, please allow me to demonstrate why you need a security system to begin with..."

U
Undisclosed #6
Jun 12, 2015
IPVMU Certified

Related: Door to door alarm salesperson arrested for forcing their way into residence

*

The homeowner told authorities that Jens Peterson, 20, arrived at her home on May 16 and cracked her door open and let himself inside the residence.

No word on whether the Fluent Home peddler is still pounding pavement or has been promoted to manager.

*File photo 

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