Rothman outlines five things dealers need

LAS VEGAS--Ron Rothman, president of Honeywell Security and Communications, enumerated the five things he believes manufacturers need to do to help dealers, “especially during a down economy.”

“We need to help them increase their closing ratio, up the average sales price, create RMR, lower labor costs and lower attrition,” he said.

New products Honeywell was showing at its booth here help drive those five things, Rothman said. For example, Honeywell's new Wireless Asset Protection Sensors can help dealers “protect assets [from paintings to expensive machinery or technology] within a home or business,” something that was difficult to do previously because of high costs, complex programming or lots of labor.

The wireless sensors are easy to program and install. A sensor can be affixed to an object and programmed so an alert is sent when the object is moved or opened, using the same accelerometer technology found in the popular Wii video game. Further, sensors can easily be programmed to be more sensitive on items that should never be moved, and the homeowner can decide whether to receive an non-emergency alert or an alarm. These products, along with new color touchpads, are part of Honeywell's Total Connect products that enable home and business owners to use the Internet, PDA and cellphone to receive alerts and take actions. It can also be integrated with video systems.

“It gets people using their security systems more, which feeds into those five things,” Rothman said. If they're using their systems, they're paying their bills. And that lowers attrition, he said.