A friend of mine recently asked for some advice on how to leverage social media and online tools to help him as a salesman for a security system company.

That’s a tough one.

I’m gonna keep both his name and company undisclosed, just to be safe, but I thought I’d throw my quick ideas out there so that you could a) critique my advice and b) add your own.

I tried to imagine who is looking for security systems and when they’re looking for it. I came up with these three major personas based on only my own assumptions:

1. New home owners
2. People who have just had their house broken into, or know someone who has.
3. People who are looking for a cheaper solution.

7 Tips for Security System Salesmen

The second group seems a little too small to focus on, but the struggle with the first and third is that they are probably too broad. With all that said, here are the first few ideas that come to mind for my friend:

1. Go local. While you might have a somewhat large territory, focus on local. Establish yourself in a community, and the smaller, the better. It will help limit your competition and give you a chance to establish some street cred in a reasonable amount of time.For this example, let’s use the city of Denison, Texas, a small town northeast of the DFW Metroplex (and no, that’s not where my friend is from). Search results for “security systems dallas, texas” are at 41.2 million on Google. They’re at 33,200 for Denison, Texas. That’s a big difference.
2. Go Google Local. Once you decide on where you want to establish yourself, start leveraging all of the options made available by both Google Local and Yahoo Local. Google Local is free and can really  help set you apart for a home-service like this. Plus, it offers all kinds of cool analytics and tools that can really help you out.
3. Find local people on Twitter. I doubt you’re going to find too many people anxious to talk security systems on Twitter, but you can still use the tool to simply connect with locals on Twitter. This post on Mashable.com summarizes 9 ways to do this really well. Twellowhood is a very good one to use, as mentioned in the post.
4. Buy a local and targeted domain name. Sure, you might not know what to do with it, but my hunch is that once a couple things start popping online for you, you’ll realize you could do even more with a simple two or three page website with some targeted content. Buy a domain name like Denison-Security-Systems.com (which is available), download WordPress.org, sign up with a cheap hosting service and let the good times roll. Keep it simple. Every good online campaign eventually needs a central hub, and this one could be yours.
5. Find the connectors. There are people in Denison who have already established themselves with your customers. They could be realtors, mortgage reps, pest control operators, etc. Connect with them. In person is best, but use Twitter or Facebook to find them, too. Keep in mind that social media will help you much more in connecting you with the people who are connected with your customers at first rather than connecting you directly to your customers. So take advantage of it, and let them make all the introductions. Facebook Groups and Fan Pages might be a good place to search.
6. Be valuable. If you’re consistent and truly motivated by offering something valuable to your community in return for nothing initially, it will pay off after a while. Just keep doing it, and people will recognize it, and talk about.
7. Become the anti-salesman. If it’s all about establishing trust (and it is), then do something ballsy. Print out these 10 Lies a Door-to-Door Alarm Salesman Tells, and then add a handwritten note that says “Most security salesmen are snakes; I’m the exception. Call me when you’d like an honest assessment.” Most people aren’t in the market for a security system but probably once every 5 years at the absolute best. But I bet they think of you when their time comes.

OK, what’d I miss? What would you add? I know my buddy would love some crowdsourcing here, so let me hear your ideas.

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