Jay Stuck, SW24 VP and CMO poses for SDM at the company’s ASIS booth. “We are turning the conventional residential security model on its head in favor of a more customer-friendly model,” said Stuck. “Lifestyle security sales positioning is opening up a huge potential consumer market — estimated to be another 30 million possible American homes. We believe consumers will willingly pay for this technology and the freedom from long term monitoring contracts at the time of sale and stick with us due to our customer service and the convenience we bring to the table. We believe the market is ripe for a new message and paradigm — no long term monitoring contracts.”

Securewatch 24 LLC, New York City, a security company and enterprise level integrator, is entering into the residential intrusion market with a twist to conventional wisdom — no long term monitoring contract .

Customers will not be asked to sign a long term contract; instead, the company said customers can select from several lifestyle intrusion packages, own their wireless equipment outright and move it when they want to, as long as they pay a fee upfront that covers installation and other costs.  Monitoring is month to month.

Jay Stuck, SW24 vice president of sales and chief marketing officer said that proprietary research indicates that customers resent having to be tied to long term contracts and to be responsible for the termination fees and other costs associated with relocation or dissatisfaction with alarm company service. 

Stuck added,  “For the past 25 years, residential security companies have gone to market in the same way — lose money up front to gain the customer and then break even via the monitoring contract months later.  When you stop to think about it, the model is no longer sustainable in this economy.  What other industry loses money up front on each sale and waits foryears to break even — and then hopes to retain the customer for a few more years so they can begin to make a profit by nickel and diming the subscriber?  We’ve looked at the future of the residential security business and decided to change the model — it’s a fresh take on the business that is good for SW24 and for our customers.”

SW24 said it realized that the move was not without considerable risk and that they believed the rest of the industry would be watching closely to see if they are successful.  They also said they were not concerned that the new month to month monitoring model destroyed the intrinsic resale value of a customer contract that has driven the dealer channel over past decades.

“The industry is already shedding its old skin without realizing it. The success of the ‘summer program’ companies, the rise of the telcos and cable providers and the foothold that do-it-yourself (DIY) Internet sales-based companies have established have all combined to shake up the industry,” Stuck said.  “Inertia is ending.   We believe that the security industry and our customers will look back on this move as a game changer for the better.”

The new marketing concept is being implemented in October of this year in the New York City metro area by SW24’s direct sales organization and will be followed later this fall by a major television advertising push, SW24 said. The company said it is also readying its website and related materials to reflect the strategy.

For information, visit www.sw24.com.