Virginia dealer bullish on Broadview name, IQ certification

WAYNESBORO, Va.—Lynn Comer, owner of a Shenandoah Valley Security here, and a Broadview Security (formerly Brink's Home Security) dealer, said she's pleased with the company's new name.

While few, including Comer, will argue with Brink's being a powerful brand name, Comer believes that having “Home” in the name “was limiting.” In six years, she's grown from a three-person shop to a dozen employees, and while the vast majority of her work is residential security (80 percent) “we do commercial, we do industrial, we do all kinds of things.”

She chose to affiliate with Brink's because “they're a conservative company, financially sound and they have excellent customer service … their business mode and philosophy is a comfortable fit for us,” she said. The new Broadview brand fits with her company even better, she said.

Comer is also bullish on Broadview's insistence that all dealers be IQ Certified. IQ Certification proponents, such as Comer, say it's a way to ensure ethical sales practice and to raise the bar for security companies.

Comer is actively involved with regional and VBFAA false alarm reduction efforts. “IQ certification is about doing it right the first time,” she said. “If you design and install [security systems] properly and train properly, you are going to reduce false alarms, hands down. And, IQ Certification will hold you to that standard.”

This kind of attention to detail has earned Comer's company a coveted spot “about half the time” on a monthly list, which Broadview puts out of its “top 20 dealers.” The monthly list is used to compile an annual “top 20 dealers” which Comer hopes to make at some point. Dave Simon, Broadview Security spokesman described it as an “annual recognition for our top-ranking dealers [who demonstrate] a balanced performance approach, based on install growth, quality of service and customer retention rate.”