know how we did it.
"Without giving away any secrets I believe it's a combination of little things. If you pay attention to details you can prevent so many unforeseen problems before they happen. For example, how many  companies' engineers check and change batteries with every visit? Last time there was a power cut to this region we had just 28 false alarms out of 4245 systems!
An imaginative app-roach to marketing!
For some companies marketing is about waiting for jobs to walk in through the door - like all our other winners this year Secure Alarms puts in extra effort, and sees the benefit.                          A regular newsletter to all its customers keeps them informed or how the company is performing and who team members are, gives news of crime and security issues, and lets them know about new product and services. "In our first edition we publicised our CCTV service and we easily got enough business from that alone to pay for the newsletter production" As well as keeping existing customers informed, the newsletter pays dividends in re-assuring potential customers that they are about to make the right decision.
"It definitely makes a difference - I can think of a number of jobs we've won because the customer has been impressed by the newsletter.

 What about other promotions?                            "We haven't advertised anywhere except Yellow Pages for years, and that works very well for us. To be honest I think the best promotion a company can do is to have trained and experienced engineers as sales staff.  If people know what they're talking about they can have honest conversations with their customers. It makes a difference."                              A forward looking approach to training...         The company supports NVQs and was instrumental in setting up courses for trainee engineers at Bournemouth College.
"We've been sending in two engineers a year for the past three years now. In my view its much better to train your own staff than just wait and poach 'intermediaries' from other firms."
 

A couple of years ago he took the unusual step of kitting out all his company vehicles with VHF radio (no small decision - it set him back £10,000). Just a few months later he had a frantic call from one of his domestic customers several miles away whose alarm had been activated by telephone engineers disconnecting the wrong cable.  The lady was calling from her neighbour's house as her own phone was also out of action - her alarm was ringing and she didn't know what to do.
"A moment earlier," recalls Alan, "I had been speaking to one of my engineers on the radio. I knew exactly where he was; approaching a roundabout at the end of the customer's road. I asked her to hold the line, got back on the radio, and diverted the engineer. In fact he said he could near the alarm ringing from the roundabout.                           "I then went back to the customer and told her to go and wait by her front door because there would be an engineer along as soon as she got there. She couldn't believe it - she thought she'd mis-heard me.       "But I repeated what I'd said and she went rather doubtfully to stand by her front door.

 It was wonderful - she was absolutely astonished when the van pulled up immediately.           I love happy customers! "             Happy (or at least very satisfied) customers are what Secure Alarms' business is built on.

At a time when many intruder alarm companies are looking to other sectors of the security industry (and beyond) for a stable future, Alan Matley still sees his profitability rooted very much in intruder alarm systems.
This is in no small part due to his careful business strategy.              The company has grown by making reasonable but not excessive profits providing a first class installation and maintenance service to many domestic customers.
Once the company has won business it tends to keep it, commercial and domestic.

By Alan Matley's own estimation his company  accounted for 15% of NACOSS installations in Dorset in 1996, growing to over 17% last year at a time when overall the market in the area fell slightly.
Alan, who modestly describes himself as "obsessed with checklists" says he sleeps easy in what is an increasingly cut-throat market mainly because of his company's current business profile.
"I intend to carry on the business the way I have built it up by offering a reliable, steady service and not being greedy.
"It certainly has become more competitive and I know some companies which now wish they had taken our approach - the only option for some them is to look for new growth areas like CCTV and access control    because they don't have the

solid domestic customer
foundation."                         Secure Alarms itself has moved into those new areas,but not because it has been driven out of its existing market; ,they are, says Alan, a useful extra string in the company's bow.     

  What impressed our judges...         

An enviably low false    alarm record!                        Secure Alarms now boasts 0.82 false alarms per customer per year.
Probably not the lowest in the industry, but not far off it.
"I was contacted by Steve Kimber of Southern Monitoring Services last month - according to him our false alarm level is down to 0.6 and he wanted to

SG/March/1998