SDM 2018 Dealer of the Year: Bates Security/Sonitrol of Lexington
Bates Security/Sonitrol of Lexington recently chose to branch out through a combination acquisition and startup; as well as pilot a groundbreaking standardization program — all while never compromising the family atmosphere that started it all.
Lexington, Ky., is known for a few things: horses, bluegrass, bourbon, a historic downtown area, and — when it comes to security systems — Bates Security/Sonitrol of Lexington. Started in 1969 as Sonitrol of Lexington, the Bates family moved from Dallas in the early 1980s after purchasing the franchise from Ann Miller.
Sonny Bates, his wife Pat, and their two young sons made the move after Sonny, a retired Dallas police officer, decided to strike out on his own with a Sonitrol franchise. “I was a police officer for nine years and didn’t know anything about alarm systems other than answering them,” Sonny Bates recalls. “But we were catching burglars on the Sonitrol systems. I thought I would give it a shot and ended up joining the Sonitrol Dallas franchise. I figured I could do this, so I started looking into becoming a Sonitrol dealer on my own. We bought the Lexington Sonitrol and started out.”