“Turn Up the Heat” was the the theme of the First Alert Professional Security Systems Conference 2004 Oct. 14-16, and the weather in Miami Beach, Fla., cooperated. After a rousing pyrotechnic opening production number the first morning of the conference complete with rock music, a performer who breathed fire and tumblers on stilts doing flips, best-selling author and motivational speaker Harvey Mackay fired up the approximately 140 dealers attending.

Mackay, whose books include “Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive” and “We Got Fired and It’s the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Us,” reminded dealers to do their research before approaching customers, pay attention to the details, build long-standing relationships not just with customers but prospects, and avoid being boring or predictable.

At the closing session, Ben Cornett, president of Honeywell Security, Syosset, N.Y., which owns First Alert Professional Security Systems, encouraged dealers to specify Honeywell products for their installations. He was preceded by details about programs that could help dealers increase their sales.

A program with TMA E-Marketing, Minnetonka, Minn., is designed to list First Alert Professional dealers in the first three sponsored links on search engines by targeting more than 200 phrases people use when searching for security services.

First Alert Professional dealers will be listed on computers in their localities doing searches by identifying the area in which the search request originated. First Alert Professional will pay for the visitors.

A test by three First Alert Professional dealers produced favorable results. The costs of the program are designed to be covered by the increased business it generates.

Other marketing suggestions were an improved Web site and a Web site building program for dealers. It was suggested that dealers have a compelling special offer available only on their Web site to drive customer inquiries.

Next year’s sales contest, the Amazing Sales Race with $80,000 in prizes, was unveiled. Top prize is five days at the Aventura Spa Palace in Cancun, Mexico. The winner will be announced at the next First Alert Professional Security Systems conference Nov. 10-13, 2005, at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, Nev. The seven different teams will be named after popular reality television shows.

Community service awards also were presented to Sentry Alarms LLC, Binghamton, N.Y.; Electronix Systems CSA Inc., Huntington, N.Y.; Beam Easy Living Center Inc., Grass Valley, Calif.; Systems of Nevada, Sparks, Nev.; Network Alarm Services, Norman, Okla.; AlarSur Alarmas & Sistemas, Argentina; Guardian Protection Services, Pittsburgh; The Alarm Company Inc., Jackson, Miss.; Alarm Detection Systems, Aurora, Ill.; Holmes Electric Security Systems, Wilmington, N.C.; Protek, Paraguay; Protectron, Montreal, Quebec; General Security, Plainview, N.Y.; Dial One General Electronic Security Inc., Cincinnati; and Securenet Alarm Systems Inc., Kansas City, Kan.