Monitronics restarts dealer council

DALLAS—After a three-year break, Monitronics is restarting its dealer council, a group of three dealers who examine issues and initiatives for the company's dealer base.

“Any time a dealer has a question, a frustration, a suggestion, they can reach out to [a] council member directly … so that they can get their voices heard,” Barbara Holliday, Monitronics' senior director of dealer services and an SSN “20 under 40” Class of 2015 award winner, told Security Systems News.

Holliday said that the program's hiatus from 2012-2015 was due to a focus on other initiatives including Monitronics' 2013 acquisition of Security Networks. During these years, the company still held other dealers meetings.

After gathering nominations from its dealer base, Monitronics selected three executives for its dealer council: Russell Keddie, managing partner of Liberty Security, Craig Metzger, president of GuardMe Security, and Todd Johnson, CEO of Capital Connect.

The council had its first meeting on Feb. 16. Celebrating the company's successes with the dealer program and beneficial integrations of third-party management software were key takeaways from the meeting, she said. “Any time we're going to do something new, or roll out a new process or policy, we're going to run it by the council first,” Holliday said.

Holliday noted the council will share advice and insights with the company's entire dealer base through dealer bulletins and newsletters.

Liberty Security is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Holliday said that Keddie provides a Canadian perspective and, “Being with us only a year, he brings that new dealer insight, so that we can understand what that experience is like.”

Metzger, of New Jersey-based GuardMe, has experience in residential and small business work and home automation and integration, Holliday said. “We think he can help us as we move more toward home automation, and looking at new products and services and how that'll work with our dealer program,” she said.

Johnson represents the typical Monitronics dealer, bringing in a “door-knocking, residential sales” perspective, Holliday said. “He's been with us several years … so he brings that long-term dealer feedback into the council.”

Capital Connect is based in Tucson, Ariz.

The next meeting will take place at ISC West on April 5. The three council members will be at Monitronics' ISC West booth one day during the show.