By Mr. Retail
Anyone that hasn’t had their head in the sand these last few years has seen major shifts in the remote start and alarm categories. To evaluate these, I contacted one of the experts in the field, Justin Lee, Marketing Director at Firstech, maker of the well-known Compustar brand.
First and foremost, you should know that I have been a dealer for Compustar for almost 18 years now and have been selling alarm systems since 1990. Let’s start by talking about the car starter category. We all know that the category is maturing as more and more vehicles include remote start as standard equipment.
So how is Compustar helping us continue to make it an important part of our business? Quite simply, it is Compustar’s broad selection of two-way remote control systems and its DroneMobile smartphone interface.
In our store we only offer a single one-way system. We have found that our overall dollar volume has held steady these last few years by focusing on raising our average selling price, or ASP. We are moving fewer overall units, but making more profit dollars on each sale.
Since it takes the exact same amount of time to install a CSP940s one-way remote start as Compustar’s flagship T-13 two-way with DroneMobile, why wouldn’t we push step up products? We make approximately $275 more in profit on the T-13, so you can run the numbers.
Anyone can also tell you that in the useless striving to keep volume up, people have started giving away entry level models. So, we have exited that part of the category, and Compustar makes it easy. Our store offers five two-way models, each with a logical step up and a DroneMobile-only model as well.
It is important to note that five of our seven models come with the DroneMobile module. So even if a person says they don’t want it, you offer them the free 30-day trial and they often end up with a subscription after seeing how convenient it is to use.
Compustar also pays ongoing residuals for active DroneMobile subscribers, so that is another win. It is paid to salespeople, installers, and the retailer.
If the client is “subscriptioned out,” Compustar’s longer range two-way options become an attractive option. The T & Q series remotes can also show the temperature inside the vehicle, so drivers know how long to run it to warm up or cool down their ride.
The elephant in the room is truly the alarm category. While we never did the volume decades ago as did our So-Cal brothers, we used to do hundreds of them every year. Fast forward to 2019 and we probably did three or four stand-alone alarms systems a year. We DID sell more than that if you factor in offering an alarm upgrade option to a remote car starter.
But in the last 12 months or so, security has been picking up steam really fast, to the point that we are now starting to merchandise the category again. And even better, it has all been high dollar sales.
What started with the Hyundai-Kia debacle of easy theft then morphed into the Dodge, Ram, and Chrysler code hacking. We have seen more and more Dodge and Ram clients coming in looking to protect their investment, especially Scat Pak, Hellcat, and Cummins clients.
People want to protect their vehicles AND they want to know if someone is messing with it. Remember earlier in this article where we talked about Compustar’s leadership in two-way and smartphone interfaces? Well, those alert the owner if their car alarm goes off. And the DroneMobile allows GPS tracking as an option.
As there is more and more unrest out there. Our clients are seeing their cars being tampered with, wheels stolen, or vandalized at a much higher rate. That leads to them calling us about protection options. These are not entry level clients, but rather, clients that want better solutions for more peace of mind.
Factor in the FT-DAS digital tilt and motion sensor that has a two-stage impact sensor, tilt and forward motion detection, and glass break, for more protection.
For your Stellantis clients, there is a PTS button T-harness, FTI-STPS-CH for popular applications that makes that button go dead to further protect against theft. Based on the popularity of that SKU, Compustar just released a universal harness called the FTI-SPTS-U that dramatically expands the number of vehicles you can protect.
Remember when we talked about all those factory remote starters cutting into our business? Well, those systems will set off the aftermarket alarm system you are about to sell. So that means you can now sell them an alarm/starter combo as they won’t want to lose that feature.
By focusing on all these features that give the client more peace of mind, our average ticket for an alarm system is around $1,000 installed.
We actively use the Drone as a “must-have” solution with this example: “Mr. Client, let’s say you are out of town for the weekend and your car is in the driveway. Someone messes with it and your DroneMobile gives you a notification when you are hundreds of miles away. You then call your neighbor and ask them to see if someone is messing with your car. If they are, have them call the police. If it was just a thunderstorm, you can go back to whatever you were doing.”
Clients LOVE this! And if that thunderstorm is serious and long-lasting, they can simply turn off the shock sensor through their app and then turn it back on later. Alternatively, you can offer the Drone-XC dash camera that delivers LTE- based live viewing through the app along with cloud based storage for more peace of mind.
So, I think it is time for all of us to brush up on our alarm salesmanship and see the real rewards just waiting for us.
Mark Miller, Mr Retail
Mark is the CEO of Westminster Speed & Sound, an award-winning retailer in Westminster, Maryland. The company was founded in 1969, and Mark took it over in 1990 at the age of 23. He first started in the industry in 1986, so he has been at it for a while. He has served on the board of MERA, taught seminars in over a dozen different cities, and served on the SEMA New Product Awards judging team. He has been married to his wife Dawn for 33 years now and has four grown children and four grandchildren. His hobbies include being a sound engineer, doing life coaching, and being active in the local and national Porsche community.
Note: This is a paid advertorial.
This is the last time I’ll read Mr. Retailer. He should not have specified one brand that he carries. Dealers rely on unbiased information. And this was not one.
Ira. Yes, of course. This article is an advertorial and we mark it as an advertorial in the title.Advertirials are paid for by a supplier and this is the first we’ve done. We started to publish one per month—where a supplier can state his message through an interview with Mr Retail, who also presents a retailer angle.
We can mark it more clearly in the future as “paid advertorial” and appreciate your feedback
We will have more to say on this in the future.
Amy,
Thanks for the better clarification. I thought the readers would pick up on the fact that Firstech was doing this as an advertorial. Other security/remote start brands are welcome to reach out to Amy for opportunities they may have. Ira, please accept my apology if I didn’t make it clear enough.
You are welcome.
Great stuff, Mark! Every remote start/security system we quote includes a T13 and we have about a 75% take rate on it. Raising ASP has also been a big push for our store overall – and it’s up 38% YOY. Fewer cars through the bay, and sales are up substantially.
Thanks, Jay. Keep doing what you’re doing. It’s our future.
It’s crazy to hear the difference between independent shops and Best Buy in daily operations. For every 2way remote start we install we must do ten 1way units. Very much bottom dollar shoppers looking for the cheapest possible RS. Appreciate the insights.