New professional groups launch at ESX

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Two new groups recently formed by the Electronic Security Association —one for sales and marketing professionals and another for installation and service professionals—will hold their inaugural meetings next week at the Electronic Security Expo (ESX), to be held here June 6-10.

The groups, which will meet on June 8, have attracted more than 250 members so far, according to organizers. The strong response shows that the industry has a need for both the ISP (installation service professionals) group and the SMP (sales and marketing professionals) group, according to the chairmen of the groups.

“ESA thought there was a need within their membership to create a forum where installation and service functional managers could share ideas,” Mark Grossman, VP, branch operations, of ASG Security in Beltsville, Md. and chairman of the ISP group, told Security Systems News. “We often struggle within each of our companies with operational issues that are obstacles or bumps in the road for our production.”

Gerrit Brusse, regional sales manager, ADS Security in Nashville, and chairman of the SMP group, told SSN: “One thing in our business is constant and that's change in the security industry. Both the SMP and ISP groups are designed to provide forums where people can stay on top of best practices, hot topics, and industry trends. The goal of both groups is to arm members with valuable knowledge that will allow them to maneuver quickly in this dynamic industry.”

He said the SMP group has 200 members so far and Grossman said the ISP group has attracted about 150. However, he said, some people are members of both groups. Membership is free for staff of ESA member companies.

The groups are designed for security company staff, including vice presidents, directors, managers and other leaders, ESA said.

The organization announced the formation of the groups in the spring. It said then that the ISP group would tackle issues such as design and installation techniques; recommendations to the ESA standards committee; installation and service workforce recruitment; training and management techniques; field productivity and quality; IT tools for installation and service; and the interface of installation and sales.

ESA said the SMP group would focus on such issues as effective sales and marketing strategies; sales and marketing law; regulation and ethics; sales force and marketing automation; application of other IT tools to sales and marketing efforts; and sales and marketing staff recruitment, retention and compensation.

However, both chairman stressed that the members will decide at the inaugural meetings the direction they want the groups to go in.

Brusse said, “The response has been tremendous. We've been very pleased and it's certainly a diverse range of companies both small and large.”

The members come from all around the country so Grossman said they will communicate in a variety of ways including webinars; white papers; newsletters; research reports; online networking tools; and face-to-face networking events and meetings.

The ISP group is slated to meet at 4 p.m. and the SMP group at 2:10 p.m. at the Esxperience Stage at the show.

For more information, contact Hayley Zimmer at 508-618-7850.