Sales and Marketing

Q. How do I build a customer base?

A. Marketing is the strongest element of our franchise. Our marketing program consists of 17 elements designed specifically for our industry. No single strategy is sufficient in today’s market. Our program has made us an industry leader.

Q. How do I compete with the national companies and the free installations?

A. We compete successfully with the national chains for several reasons. By being an owner operator, you have consistency that the national companies can’t offer. Our prices are guaranteed to be competitive and our customer service is superior. Although we offer a free installation package it is not our primary market strategy. These are simply ploys used by our competitors as a “bait and switch” tactic. Recent history has shown us that these customers represent a very short life span, low customer loyalty and labor intensive collection issues.Our marketing and sales presentation was designed to offer options to the client and allow them to create the best system to suit both their needs and their budget. This results in long term clients with extremely high customer loyalty!

Q. How do I know another franchisee will not come in and open another SHIELD® franchise in my area?

A. We offer protected areas to our franchisees. We understand that competition can be aggressive so we don’t want our franchisees competing against each other. We currently have many areas of the country open and available for development. Please use this Contact Us link to begin the application process and to get specific answers to territory availability.

Q. What are the Advertising Royalties used for?

A. 1% of your gross sales are deposited in the national advertising fund. This money is used to develop marketing materials for you and other franchisees. It is not used to market the SHIELD® Franchise.

Operations / Inventory

Q. How much inventory must I maintain?

A. Less than $4,000.00 which represents approximately ten complete installations.

Q. Do I have to purchase all products from you?

A. No, however to insure consistent quality and to meet our stringent product specifications, we do require you to purchase control panels with digital communicators and central station monitoring services from us.

Q. How much do you mark up the equipment?

A. You enjoy zero mark up on most security products while receiving our volume discounts.
We do, however, mark up BOSCH products 7% with a 2% discount if paid by credit card at time of purchase. Based upon our volume pricing structure, your price will still be approximately 15% below dealer cost.

Q. Do I need my own central station?

A. No, We will provide that service to you at a wholesale price and you will offer it to your retail customers.

Technical Support

Q. What other type of ongoing support does SHIELD® Security Systems provide?

A. SHIELD® Security Systems offers support to include security system design and layout, purchasing equipment and marketing support, franchise opening support, and ongoing training and operations support, among others.

Q. What type of operations support does SHIELD® Security Systems provide in conjunction with my first franchise opening?

A. SHIELD® Security Systems recommends that 2-3 managers attend, and that at least 1 manager graduate from, the full 6-week Jump Start Training Program. This training will begin about 8 weeks before opening with timeline checklists to be completed by the Franchisee at their home office and in conjunction with a SHIELD® Security Systems trainer by telephone or via email on a weekly basis. SHIELD® Security Systems will provide all of the computer hardware, software and training materials to complete this training. At least one manager must also successfully complete the 6 days of in-house training in Buffalo, New York prior to commencing operations. SHIELD® Security Systems will pay the cost of the in-house training and the franchisee will be responsible to cover costs associated with travel, room and board, and miscellaneous expenses for their managers’ training.

Getting Started

Q. How long will it take before I can start doing business?

A. You should be operational within 90 days after securing your territory.

Q. SHIELD® Security Systems sounds like exactly the franchise I’m looking for and I like the quality of the customer service as well as the recurring revenue aspect of the business. What is my first step to becoming a franchise owner?

A. Use the Contact Us link here to access the request for information form. Once you submit this, we will contact you shortly to review our franchise and the process associated with becoming a SHIELD® Security Systems Franchisee.

Q. What geographic areas are currently being targeted by SHIELD® Security Systems for development and whom do I call for more information?

A. SHIELD® Security Systems has many “white” space areas which currently show significant potential to marketing SHIELD® Security Systems. We are aggressively pursuing development in these areas so territory availability is constantly changing. Call (800) 4-SHIELD for more information.

Q. Can I “buy” an area development territory?

A. SHIELD® Security Systems does not currently offer Market Development Agreements (MDA’s) to development a specific geographic territory at this time, however our goal is to have one in effect in the next two years.

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“We are committed to delivering the finest services and customer support possible! You will find that we constantly evaluate and improve our programs to help you maintain your franchise as a professional, state-of-the-art business.”

If your questions are not addressed in the FAQ's below, please email us at franchise@shieldsecurity.net