Dave Martindale wrote:

Brinks, at least, will put in a fairly decent system if you're willing
to pay for the installation.


So will ADT..

You obviously value your families safety and decided that 3-doors and
a motion was not going to cut it. Congratulations. Especially for
adding the monitored smokes.

The problem lies in the ZERO down and $99 systems they take a loss on.
It has reduced the perceived value vs. actual security costs. It
takes almost 3 years to recover the cost of a "free" install, so the
big companies are making customers sign a 5 year monitoring contract.
It's a marketing ploy, and works very well. A 60 month contract @ $30
comes out to $1800. Now, ask them to install the same system (3 doors
+ motion) - but as a "local system" (no monitoring) and see what price
they come back with.

Now, because of $99 installs - most folks seem to think that adding
components should be just as cheap. When I tell some customers it
will be $130 to get a dual tech motion installed they balk. "What!
You want $130 to install a motion - but my whole alarm only costs
$99!". Hell - the Internet has made it worse... "What!, $80 to
install a window contact! - I can buy a window contact for $3.00
online.." They don't think I deserve to get paid for trucks, tools,
equipment, insurance, wiring & programming expertise, etc....

It's just like the cell phones - sure, you get a 'free' Motorola Razor
- when you sign up for a 2 year contract - but lose it or break it
without the insurance and you'll quickly see they ain't free.

A famous salesman's close in the industry is the "refrigerator close",
I've never used it... But it goes like this:

Salesman: "Nice refrigerator Mr. Smith, how much does one of those
suckers go for?"

Mr. Smith: "Ahh thanks! That baby cost me 2 grand."

Salesman: "Wow, it sure is sweet... So how much money worth of food
would you say is in there?"

Mr. Smith: "Oh I don't know - maybe $300 worth?"

Salesman: "So let me get this right Mr. Smith, you paid $2000 to
protect $300 worth of food - yet you think $xxx.xx is too much to
protect your entire home, it's contents, and the people living in it?"