Have you ever gone to a vending machine put your money, accidentally received two items, and felt like you won the lottery? Or, have you ever gotten a surprise Christmas present you weren’t expecting, but it’s perfect for you or makes life easier? BestHomeSecurityCompanys.com (BHSC) wants to be like that vending machine that makes everyone feel like they won the lottery — or like the “Secret Security Santa” that delivers the perfect present. The company provides unique data points for consumers, home security companies, and dealers to help them make better decisions. Many people aren’t aware of the website and the work it does building the reputation of the security industry and spreading the message of everythingquality security systems and companies can offer end users.

“We want to lift the industry as a whole by empowering consumers and companies with smart, actionable data,” said Bryan Lovgren, director of Public Relations for BHSC.  “We want families to have the best home security systems and companies to feel like they’re providing the best systems possible.”

BHSC has reviewed more than 100 home security companies (with plans to eventually review around 250). It ranks and scores companies based on a nine-point ranking criteria which includes:

• Monthly Price and Installation Price
• Length of Contract
• Cancellation Policy
• Time in Business
• BBB (Better Business Bureau) Rating
• Negative Reputation
• Equipment and Technology
• Average User Rating (across all reviews)
• Expert Review

Each data point is weighted with a percentage weight that affects a company’s overall score.

Visit www.besthomesecuritycompanys.com for the percentages and full details.

More than 50,000 people trust BHSC each month, according to the company, and it is the largest independent home security review site on the Web. The company conducts monthly national surveys gathering key consumer insight and interacts with more than 11,000 Facebook fans. It has been featured on Huffington Post, U.S. News and USA Today and utilizes a user review moderation process that it believes is one of the strictest in the industry. More importantly, it LOVES home security.

With all the work the company is doing, it is almost like the Secret Security Santa you didn’t know you had — offering a perfectly wrapped package of end user insight, education and resources enforcing the importance of quality security systems and companies, and reputation management.

SDM interviewed Lovgren, to find out more about the company and what it can offer the industry.

SDM: How did the website come about and how does it work?

Lovgren: Our chief marketing officer (CMO), Paul Adams, is a family man and actually has six kids with one on the way! About a year ago his neighbor’s home was broken into and it really shook the entire community. So our CMO started looking into home security and was shocked by the cluttered, confusing information on the Web. He noticed, in particular, that most home security review sites provided the same information and ranked their companies according to their affiliate relationships. Being a very entrepreneurial man, he decided he could do better. Thus, BHSC was born.

SDM: How can dealers and installers listed on the website utilize the information BHSC has to offer and track their ranking, manage their reputation and take advantage of the user opinions and interaction that are possible there?

Lovgren: BHSC is open to work with any home security provider on our site. We recommend companies do the following:

1.       Read the review of your company.

2.       Contact BHSC to fix any inaccuracies or add any overlooked information.

3.       Encourage your customers to visit BHSC and leave reviews (we have an advanced moderation system that filters fake reviews)

4.       Contact BHSC to contribute valuable content such as blogs, PR, infographics, etc. that our frequent visitors will see.

5.       Sign up for our BHSC Rep Builder® program that helps manage online reputation (it’s free).

SDM: Can you talk about reputation management and how it ties in to your site or what you learn from end users?

Lovgren: More and more companies (online) are starting to focus on their online reputations. Unfortunately there are dozens of online reputation management companies (ORM) popping up throughout the Web offering services that seek to fix problems in the short term but do more damage in the long term.

BHSC Rep Builder® is designed to help home security companies build the right kind of reputation. You want a reputation that is powerful, lasting, and most of all real. Once signed up, you will work with a dedicated BHSC team to help build and manage your online reputation. You’ll be equipped with powerful resources that will help you present an accurate and provoking image of your company. Plus, it’s free!

SDM: You conduct a lot of surveys through your site. Are you ever surprised by any of the survey results?

Lovgren: Yes. The reason we started running surveys more frequently was to hedge against assumptions. It’s easy, in any industry, to speculate about key drivers and variables. Our surveys help us avoid guesswork and provide data to make smart decisions. Our results often surprise us.

Editor’s Note: Look for survey results and industry insights from BHSC in upcoming issues of SDM. Do you have a question you’d like to suggest? E-mail youngh@bnpmedia.com.