Instalments

Don't discount discounting
(Our advice to installers on how to win and keep customers by offering discounts can still be applied today...)
"...Companies may also use discounting as a means of both establishing and maintaining customer loyalty. This is purely a pragmatic policy since it usually costs far less to get repeat business than it does to go out and establish new business. Some of those cost savings can thus be passed on to the customer who will then carry on favouring your business. Equally, discounts are often used to encourage new business; the first-time customer is the one you want to be a continuing customer so it can often make sense for a company to forego some of its early profit in the hope that the longer-term business generated will lead to substantial profit."

Came to pass
(Arthur Snow made this prediction on the future importance of installer training. It's taken a long time coming …)
"Only recently have any meaningful steps been taken to try and quantify competence in security matters. The National Council for Vocational Qualifications (NCVQ), set up under the auspices of the Manpower Services Commission, is currently looking at the subject with a view to ensuring that qualifications have a bearing on what is needed in employment. This will certainly result in a searching look at what sort of certified expertise there should be in our industry ... Within the next decade, I foresee installers advertising the fact that their employees are trained in City & Guilds standards while applicants for managerial posts will produce evidence of their accademic (surely that should be akademic with a 'k'? - Ed) qualifications in security subjects."

No smoke without fire
(We pointed out a new business opportunity in smoke alarms ...)
"Those with an eye to fresh business opportunities should note a new initiative by the Home Office centred on fire prevention in the home. A pilot television campaign will run for nine weeks after Christmas in the Tyne-Tees area to encourage householders to fit at least one smoke alarm in their homes ... if a significant increase in penetration of smoke alarms can be demonstrated, it is hoped that the campaign will be run throughout England and Wales at a later date. Alarm installers are surely in a prime position to improve fire protection in the home, so get busy."

Long and winding road
(Manufacturers have certainly come a fair way down the ease-of installation road, but it's a long one ... )
"It was interesting to read fast month's Which? report on protecting the home when they tested a number of DIY alarm kits and pronounced that people would need to be 'fairly competent` at DIY to fit them. That's got to be good news for installers - but I doubt if manufacturers will give up trying to combine simplicity of installation with effectiveness of operation. They've all got a long way to go, many would say."

Rival gets off the ground
(The BSIA's own newly launched inspectorate, the Security Systems Inspectorate – rival to the NSCIA – got a new chairman of the disciplinary committee', Sir Kenneth Newman, former Met Police Commissioner ... )
"Chairman of the Board, John Wheeler MP, said: 'I am sure Sir Kenneth will make an excellent contribution to our process of self regulation in the security industry' The SSI was launched in May this year in a move to ensure that quality standards in the security industry are maintained and since its inception, 23 companies have applied for registration."