A supplier without technical support is a waste of money.

A supplier without technical support is a waste of money..

Supply of security systems is a kind of art, requiring active maneuvering among competitive offers and hard work to create and maintain your own reputation, trust of manufacturers and development of clients. Although we will not dissemble — the same picture is in other areas of trade, except that in our sector a mistake is associated with greater responsibility for the client's property, and sometimes for his health or life. But not all suppliers feel responsible for the possible risks of the buyer, they are sometimes only interested in profit. Today we will discuss how to identify and avoid such «partners». Consider the situation using the example of a private security company (PSC) purchasing a specific remote radio security system for facilities located in a small city and its suburbs. For simplicity, let's call it system «A».

Choosing a supplier is not a box to jump to
Most of us have a good idea of ​​the criteria that the average private security company uses when choosing a supplier. Naturally, the lower the price for System A, the more attractive it is. However, if the client is pressed for time, and the equipment is only available from a supplier with a higher price, the question arises: what is more important — price or deadlines? This is usually the main question, but often there are significantly more criteria for choosing a supplier:
Price. The supplier with the lower price is preferable.
Delivery time. Everyone wants to receive their order on time.
Transportation costs. Some suppliers deliver orders at their own expense, which reduces the private security company's expenses and the total purchase price.
Deferred payment. This is a request either of new customers who do not have enough money to pay for the order in full (if such a customer is unknown to the supplier, the request is usually rejected), or of regular customers when the volume or frequency of purchases increases (such requests are usually satisfied).
Testing and return conditions. Useful feature: the private security company receives the system, tests it for a limited time, decides whether it suits them or not, and in the latter case returns it to the supplier. Few provide this service to new clients, it is offered to regular clients, and not by all suppliers.
Additional equipment. It is always more convenient to purchase both the system itself and additional goods (batteries, power supplies, cables, etc.) in one place. But if the customer pays for delivery or the availability and prices of all order items from one supplier are not optimal, it is often more profitable to split the order between several sellers.
It seems that we have described all the main criteria for choosing an “attractive supplier”. Let's imagine that a private security company did just that: called several companies to ask whether they had System A, how much it cost, delivery time, etc. A fairly familiar picture, did it bring us closer to success? I must disappoint you — very little. In our example, a private security company purchases a radio security console — what else did we not take into account?

With all the wealth of choice…
Selecting equipment for the client's tasks. How do we know that system «A» is optimal for the client if no one even asked the private security company what task the system faces?
Many people remember calls with the words: “I bought a system from your competitors, but it’s no good. Tell me what would suit me.” The answer: not everyone is professional enough to objectively advise customers on the right choice of equipment. Some companies (let’s call them “traders”) do not have technical consultants, and managers often sell “price list lines,” without even realizing how one product differs from another. The client needs to find a specialized company that has the necessary technical skills and will help make the right choice. All domestic manufacturers and distributors of foreign products have such partners (special representatives).
Correct order assembly. Often the previous issue is resolved like this: found a special representative, he recommended system «B», and bought from a «merchant» because it was cheaper there. The system is paid for, received, installed, launched — does not work. You can no longer contact a specialized company — let's say, it is not very convenient. The «merchant» does not even understand what he is being asked: he was told that system «B» is needed, he sold it. Attempts to contact the manufacturer usually lead to a positive result, but not immediately, because the manufacturer has a different function, and special representatives have been created to serve customers. In the end, it turns out that the system is the same, but in the wrong configuration (that's why it is «cheaper»), and to solve this particular problem you need to use not a standard, but an extended amplifier and not a circular antenna, but a directional one, etc. — which the «merchant» did not pay attention to. It is quite natural that you have to buy the necessary equipment, and try unsuccessfully to return the unnecessary equipment back to the «dealer», and he may not accept it — and he will be right: because he shipped what he was told. And the specialized company is right: the client simply did not remember all the names and promised to «order tomorrow», when all the nuances would have been taken into account. The result is a loss of money and time. Are the problems of the private security company over? Not so!
Pre-sale preparation and equipment check. Having purchased the necessary additional equipment from another «dealer», the private security company faces another problem: the new equipment does not work. During communication with the supplier, it turns out that «it came like that from the manufacturer, we did not even open it — we sent it to you straight away». The result is that the lack of pre-sale preparation turns into sending the new equipment back for diagnostics, which for the client is equal to a delay of a week or more, as well as (for some brands) to transportation costs. Is that not all?
Setting up. It's been a month and a half since the purchase from the first «dealer», additional equipment has arrived from diagnostics and replacement, it's started up, everything seems to be working, but… The communication range of the radio security system «B» is strangely short, the connection is unstable. «Probably, system «B» is a hack job, I should have bought «A» after all,» the private security company is already thinking. But during a week of communication with the manufacturer's technical department, it turns out that the first batch of equipment was configured to work on one frequency, and the second, received from another «dealer» — on another. And again, no one is to blame: the client did not know what exactly to ask the supplier, and the «dealers» delivered what they ordered, and no one asked them to reconfigure. To tell the truth, before this incident, the «dealers» did not even know that something else needed to be configured in system «B». In the end, everything is resolved positively, but the client's time and nerves are lost again. The system works, and quite successfully. But then…
Technical support and consulting, assistance in identifying and eliminating faults. Let's imagine that the above-described private security company's system «B» suddenly switches off, and signals from the protected facilities do not reach the control panel. The private security company's specialists call their suppliers, who first advise them to «slam the doors and blow into the exhaust pipe», i.e. quote paragraphs from the system's operating instructions (which the private security company already knows by heart). Then, after much deliberation, the «traders» recommend that the private security company contact the manufacturer (such a recommendation usually comes at 6:01 p.m. on Friday, when production has gone into full production for the weekend). A long search for at least someone who can advise the private security company takes place, and eventually someone is found who says: «remove the equipment, send it to us, we will repair it at the manufacturer's plant, we are its official-most-official representatives. Trust us.» After the actions of such «official», and often «the most exclusive in the Solar System» specialists, the equipment is returned with ineptly erased manufacturer's notes «equipment is in good working order, does not require repair.» But after assembly, the system is silent, as before sending it for repair. Finally enraged, the private security company finally turns to a special representative, who, after a 5-minute telephone survey of the client, announces the diagnosis: based on such and such symptoms, you have corrosion or a break in contact in such-and-such a high-frequency connector in such-and-such a place. It must be disassembled, cleaned, welded and sealed. The work time is 30 minutes, the cost of materials is 50 rubles. It is advisable to do this once a year or provide for additional measures to seal this unit. A silent scene. Naturally, in half an hour the system's operation is completely restored. Now the private security company's suffering is over? Unfortunately, no!
Selecting the method and location of installation and operation. The private security company, actively using system «B», is methodically developing, and a year later it starts receiving requests from facilities located outside the radio coverage zone of system «B». The private security company liked working with the «B» equipment, and to expand the coverage zone it decides to purchase another system. But now, remembering all the features of the previous purchase, it immediately contacts a special representative of system «B». And the consultant, to the surprise of the private security company, explains to the latter that if the private security company had initially deployed its system not on the roof of its two-story office, but on the neighboring 17-story building, the coverage zone would have been 3 times larger and the private security company would not have needed any additional system. And if the standard cable had initially been replaced with another one, with an additional payment of 1000 rubles, the communication range would have increased by 15%, and its stability — by at least 10%. Naturally, the private security company, remembering all the «traders» with the appropriate words, changes the cable and reinstalls the system on the neighboring building. And after defining a new coverage area, the head of the private security company clutches his head: 90% of the facilities that had to be abandoned due to insufficient communication range could have been connected to the control panel and brought in profits for months. Then – curtain, stormy and prolonged applause.
Note that all this happened because of the wrong choice of supplier. How should it have been chosen? What are the features of the right companies that provide the client with the necessary level of service? How to identify them, how to define them, how to distinguish them from «traders» selling «lines on the price list» and caring only about their profit?

The world is known in detail
Upon closer examination of the issue, we see that the main difference between a «special representative» and a «trader» is related to the availability of qualified technical personnel and their level of training. But this is not a problem, you say, why don't «traders» hire technical specialists and train them? If everything were so elementary, there would be no article.
Usually, technical support for a specific system or brand in a company is provided by a technical specialist or a leading manager of the department (who has been working with this equipment for a long time and knows it). Why are some companies that have been selling a certain brand for a long time unable to provide competent technical support for it? They do not have technicians who can consult the client, nor a manager for the department? The answer in most cases is simple:
usually such companies have an excessively wide range of products, so managers do not understand the products they sell — it is simply impossible to keep a large amount of information in their heads;
due to the low quality of technical sales support, there is a fairly active (compared to specialist companies) outflow of clients for the reasons we discussed earlier. New clients are attracted by reducing prices, as a result of which the profitability of sales falls and there is no longer anything to hire and train a qualified technical specialist. For the same reason, the level of salaries of commercial personnel is low, so there is a high turnover of personnel. That is, it is simply not possible to train technically competent managers.
Such companies can sometimes be recognized by another feature: they have several competing products in their range, in our example — several remote radio security systems from different manufacturers. It would seem great, the manager will help choose the one that suits the client best. No such luck. Manufacturers are not very fond of disloyal companies that promote competitors' products and do not provide such «merchants» with the most favorable conditions (which is quite logical). One of two things happens. Either the «merchant»'s sales under system «B» are small (otherwise he would have chosen it for promotion long ago in order to improve relations with the manufacturer and get more interesting conditions, i.e. earn more). Or, due to a wide range of products and not the best conditions from manufacturers, earnings on system «B» are insignificant. Consequently, in both cases, such a seller is even less familiar with the product (or has even less money to train his staff).
Thus, we have figured out why the majority of «traders» are unable to provide technical support for sales. The saddest thing is that they are unable to change this. But there are other companies, working with which is fraught with troubles. These are companies from other market sectors (sale of computer equipment, construction, furniture supplies, etc.), which accidentally find an order for security systems on the market and they get the idea to «expand the business» in this direction as well. Naturally, their level of training and knowledge of the product is significantly inferior even to «traders», and the desire to work with security systems in most cases fades after the first questions from the client on the topic of «why it does not work and what to do?» The overwhelming majority of such companies stop working with security systems immediately after the first problems with the client, and the client is left alone.
It is also necessary to be very careful when cooperating with organizations that have recently started working with the product you are interested in. Even if such a company has spent time and money on training its personnel (cramming operating instructions, manufacturer seminars, etc.), the knowledge thus obtained is not backed up by experience and may prove insufficient when solving the simplest problems.
The presence of such problematic suppliers is often supported in most cases by the manufacturers themselves, who are driven by a natural desire to expand sales — even at the expense of their quality. As a result, there is a main type of problematic suppliers on the market — these are companies that provide technical support formally. How to understand this? It's very simple: in order to expand sales, but still not turn the market for its product into anarchy, the manufacturer develops lenient conditions for companies wishing to cooperate with it. And the requirement for the technical training of the personnel of the future partner is in the overwhelming majority limited to knowledge of the product operating instructions. Of course, such technical support is completely useless for the client — we all know how to read, and if the instructions already say something, it is not at all necessary to call from Kamchatka to Moscow to hear the same thing accurately to the comma.

Conclusions
So, when looking for a supplier, you should avoid the following companies:
the company's scope of activity lies outside the supply of remote radio security systems;
the company has a large assortment, there are products competing with system «B»;
When communicating with the client, the manager does not have any questions about the purpose of use and tasks,
which will stand in front of the equipment. The client is not offered an alternative configuration, there are no clarifying technical questions when preparing for shipment;
attempts to get detailed technical advice on the specifics of the selected system in non-standard conditions end in failure;
a request to connect with a technical specialist does not lead to success.
You need to choose a supplier that meets the following criteria:
has a long history of working specifically with the system of interest;
the selected system is the main one in the supplier's product range and sales policy;
the organization's product range does not exceed 10-15 brands (for large companies), it does not contain equipment competing with the selected system (other radio security systems);
when accepting an order, the manager asks the client about the purpose of purchasing the system and the tasks that will be set before it. The manager's recommendations directly depend on the client's answers. The client is offered alternatives, the recommendations to choose a specific configuration are reasoned;
technical consultations are not limited to quoting operating instructions, consultations are provided promptly and bring results;
From the media, the Internet and when communicating with the staff, we can conclude that the seller has extensive and multifaceted experience in supporting sales of the products the client is interested in.
If we have done everything correctly and several potential suppliers have been selected according to the above criteria, it is necessary to find a company with the best price and delivery terms among them. It is worth noting that among the qualified organizations found, most will offer the client delivery terms no worse than the most attractive «traders». But in the case of choosing «based on qualifications», we will successfully resolve not only the issue of prices and terms, but also ensure the successful deployment and operation of the system for the client, avoiding ordeals and misadventures. It turns out that when contacting a professional company, the client will not lose either financially or in the amount of technical support.