A Better Way to Light Your Grill

Originally posted on The Source:

http://thesource.scansource.com/security/blogs/post/A-Better-Way-to-Light-Your-Grill

A Better Way to Light Your Grill

Posted To: Business, Technology

By: Nick Miller on: 6/8/2011

5 Reasons Why You Should Buy From ScanSource Security

The other day, I dusted off my charcoal grill to grill out for the first time this year. A little clarification for any readers north of the Mason-Dixon Line, yes, I was grilling out, not "barbequing." Barbeque is a noun, not a verb...I digress. I couldn't seem to find my lighter fluid. Quickly, I attempted to use crumpled newspaper, to no avail; I could not get the charcoal to ignite.

Frustrated, I noticed my Brazilian neighbor was in his back yard and I asked if he had any lighter fluid. "No," he said as my shoulders shrank. "But," he said, as I perked up, "this is what I do and what we've done in Brazil for years." He proceeded to tell me to take a paper towel, roll it into a ball, and soak it in olive or canola oil. He told me to take about three or four of them and strategically place them throughout the charcoal and light them. "They'll burn like candles," he said.

I ran inside, grabbed a ziplock bag and got to making paper towel balls. I tossed them in the bag along with some olive oil and got them nice and wet. Armed with my new "candles," I placed them within the charcoal and set them ablaze. To my amazement, they performed exactly as he said. They burned hotter and longer than anything I had ever used to light charcoal. Within 15 minutes, I had perfectly ashed coals just as the paper towels burned through the oil and disintegrated. On top of this Promethean miracle, there was no lighter fluid smell to ruin the food.

I've told this story to a few friends and they all had the same reaction as I. "That's so cool," and "when you think about it, it really makes a lot of sense." This got me thinking about how often we do things as if they are second nature, and we often don't look for a better solution, even though one may exist. Lighter fluid always worked in the past for me, so why would I need to think there was a better way?

Here's where I think this applies in the security world. Let's say you're an integrator and you purchase product direct from a manufacturer. Sure, that's worked for you in the past and you're buying direct from the source. Why would you even think about purchasing elsewhere? No one has told you there is a better way. Because ScanSource Security does what we do better than anyone else, you lose nothing, but gain everything you didn't know you could have.

1. Pricing - Sure, you can get your direct pricing through us, and even in some cases, we can do better than that. You might call us a "middle man," but instead of taking money away from you, we actually save everyone money by being more efficient at what we do. We solve problems for both the manufacturers and the resellers by warehousing inventory in a 600,000-square-foot distribution facility and offering terms to you.
2. Stock - We've got stock when most manufacturers don't, we ship blind and free ground, plus we have 99% shipping accuracy. As mentioned, our 600,000-square-foot distribution facility is centrally located and we offer same day shipping with ground cut off at 6:00PM EST, overnight cut off at 8:00PM EST.
3. Support - Not only do you continue to get your support from the manufacturer, but youget support from us, too. A dedicated accountmanager whom only sells security products (each one having gone through AxisAcademy as well as attends weekly trainings), a system design team to help withpre- and postsale questions, a top-notch customer service team, a financialservices team to help you finance and win deals, and even a pre-configurationdepartment to prep a lot of products for installation.
4. Value-Added Services - As mentioned above, we have a pre-configuration center that is ISO-certified. We can pre-program IP addresses into cameras, pre-install cameras into housings, and we can even give you VPN access to adjust settings on your own. We have a marketing staff to help you with any size project, of any type. Whether you need some email blasts made, a call campaign, a web seminar, a video, or a direct mail campaign, we're here to help. Just like we help manufacturers become more efficient, we can help you become more efficient in reaching your end user. Many more value-added services are available to help you be more efficient.
5. Competition - There is none because we don't compete with you. We don't sell to your customers. Government and Education? Yep, we consider them end users, too, so we don't sell to them. You, the reseller, the integrator, are our customer. Why would we want to damage that relationship by trying to kick you out of the sale? That's not good for anyone. We are a distributor that you can trust.

The "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality is not one to have in these times. You need all the help that you can get. Start looking at the way you do things and don't be afraid to ask someone for help. You never know when someone might introduce you to a better way to light a fire (that apparently 190 million people in South America already know about).

Look at the Sales Cycle from Your Customer's Perspective

Originally posted on The Source:

http://community.scansource.com/Blogs/post/Look-at-the-Sales-Cycle-from-Your-Customer's-Perspective

A-B-C. A - Always, B - Be, C - Cycling....wait, what?

I was at a seminar recently that was about writing blogs to promote your business. There were a lot of interesting takeaways, but one thing really stood out. They talked about the sales cycle, the full sales cycle, from the customer’s point of view. They were speaking in terms of how to write a blog; I thought it would be a good refresher to talk about it in general.

There are six phases: awareness, consideration, intention, purchase, use, and advocacy. I have to admit, being in sales and getting into a daily grind, it’s easy to forget about some of those steps. So let’s break it down.

Awareness

Are your customers aware of your product or service? Sounds like a silly question, but what are you doing today to make them aware of you and how you stand out amongst your competition. Does your advertising accomplish this goal? Is your sales staff conveying the right message? In these tough economic times, maybe it’s time to revisit your brand and what you’re doing to make people know you’re there. Another interesting comment in this seminar was that a good sales person doesn’t just create the solution for you, but he/she discovers the problem you didn’t know you had. Something to ponder about as you rethink your “go-to-market” strategy.

Consideration

So now that your potential customers know you’re there, it’s time for them to consider buying your product/service. Why would anyone buy from anyone but you, right? Again, here’s where you need to uniquely position yourself. It’s easy to forget that you may offer something distinctly different from your competition because it’s so common to you that you assume everyone knows about it.

Intention

Some might look at this as the customer deciding they want to make the purchase. I think it may be partly that, but more so how they intend to use your product/service. Basically, they’re trying to make sure that what you’re offering them will solve their problem. This is where the good salesperson’s talent should shine.

Purchase

Finally, the sale. You’ve closed the deal. Congratulations for all your hard work. Onto the next job, right? Well, maybe you do move on to your next prospect, but from the customer’s perspective, the sales cycle isn’t quite over.

Use

Here’s where they finally use the product/service. It’s important to follow up with your customer to make sure everything is going well. Many frustrations by the customer can be avoided by simple follow-up calls to ensure there are no problems. I have found that people are a lot less angry with a product that isn’t working when they at least have a sense that they are being taken care of. This can go a long way towards controlling the outcome of the final (and maybe most important) phase.

Advocacy

It’s almost a cliché, but it really is true. Word of mouth advertising is the best form. If your product/service truly solves a problem for someone and they have a pleasant experience throughout the sale, then they will talk about it. Conversely, the opposite can be detrimental. Why do I say this may be the most important phase? Quite simply, we’re not here to make just one sale. We want a lot of sales. So ideally, when the entire sales cycle is completed correctly, it should generate more business for you.

When you step back and look at the complete sales cycle from a customer’s perspective, I think it can really help you figure out how to re-position your business, as well as generate new business. Whether it’s an impulse buy or a year-long project, every one of these phases should be considered. You can really see how each one is important and needs the previous phase to move forward. So I say, instead of “always be closing,” always be cycling. How do you work the sales cycle in your business?

Are You In? 4 Reasons I Have Come to Know and Love LinkedIn.

This is not specifically related to Security, but I wrote this blog for The Source, ScanSource's Community Website. Original post can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/4tdpg5k

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Ever changed jobs and realized all your contacts were stored on your company's server? Ever changed email or physical addresses or phone numbers and found it very cumbersome to get that new info to all your contacts? Several services in the past have tried to make this easier for you. You may have heard about them, Plaxo was one of the more popular services. I was an avid Plaxo user for quite some time and really enjoyed the service. It synced with my Outlook, so it was easy to import/export contact info and keep it all backed up online. And when your friends made changes to their info, it automatically updated for you. Problem solved!

But after awhile, I began to get requests for this thing called LinkedIn. At first, I was hesitant to try it out just because I didn't want to go through the motions of starting a new service for something that appeared to be the same offerings as Plaxo. One day, I decided to make the plunge and see why I was being asked to join LinkedIn. It didn't take long for me to see the value of this service. Here are four (of the many) reasons that made me love LinkedIn.

1. It's your contacts...no, it's networking...no, it's like an online resume...no, it's all of the above!

I was partially right. It is like Plaxo in that you can put all your contact info in, link with other people, pull contacts from Outlook, etc. But then I saw it was much more. As part of setting up an account, you had to put in school info, past employers, interests, and other info about you. In short, it was soft of like creating an online version of your resume.Taking all that info, LinkedIn would then make suggestions of who you might know based on your education and past work experience. It was great because I could then find contacts that I had lost their info and finally connect with them again.

2. Real discussion on topics I am interested in. And leads too!

Soon I found there was this whole other portion of LinkedIn called Discussion Groups. Basically, these are forums for groups of users to get together on common interests in business, applications, product questions, etc. and allow them to post questions/topics and have other users respond to that. LinkedIn allows you to subscribe to these groups and get email updates when people post to them. This is a very valuable lead tool. Find a topic that has something to do with your business, follow the groups, then either engage in the discussions or contact people directly when they are looking for goods and services that you provide. I have personally gained customers and sales as a direct result of following these groups and contacting people.

3. Twitter updates appear in my LinkedIn status

Something elsethat LinkedIn has are status updates. It's simply that. Just an area for you to post whatever you want. Something going on in your life, a project you're working on, or anything else you want to tell the world about you. At first, I didn't care for this too much because I was using Twitter for that. But more recently, LinkedIn has integrated with Twitter so that your "tweet" will automatically sync and update your LinkedIn status. This was the game changer for me. For my contacts that don't follow me on Twitter, they get the same content now on LinkedIn and tha thas provided a great way to engage a large amount of people in an instant. When I have posted something about a new product or service, my fellow LinkedIn-ers then call/email me for more info. Honestly, I've had more followers from LinkedIn ask me about my "tweet" than I have on Twitter.

4. Facebook for the business world

LinkedIn is more than just people too. Many companies these days are creating LinkedIn profiles as well and using them to promote products and offerings. You can follow companies just like people, similar to what you can do with Facebook. In fact, I'd go so far as to call LinkedIn the "business Facebook" (although lots of companies and people are using Facebook for business these days too). The cool thing with LinkedIn is that it takes all these social interactions (status updates, discussion groups, etc) and ties it in to the original solution of keeping contacts up to date and update Outlook.

So if you've been looking for a tool to sync and keep all your contacts up to date, I would definitely give LinkedIn a try. If you're looking for a new way to engage customers (or read about your competition), chances are there's a LinkedIn discussion going on about it. Don't be shy, invite all your customers and other contacts to follow you on LinkedIn...and don't be afraid to update your status with, "Gone fishing" (that is, if you've really gone fishing). You'd be surprised how adding a little personal touch can open business relationships to a whole new level. And if you're company doesn't have a LinkedIn profile, you should take the initiative and create one...or at least get the right people involved to do so. It's a great place to share success stories about your company.

Plaxo was nice, but I've found LinkedIn to be so much more valuable as a business tool. So I ask, are you (Linked)In? If not, you should be.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/securitynick

City Surveillance Solution

This was published in the July, 2010 issue of SDM Magazine on pages 77-78. Unfortunately they have not published this online to view from their website. This is a project that I was heavily involved in with one of my customers and I think it's worth having a link somewhere on the internet for people to view (photos and captions at the bottom):

City Surveillance Solution

Safety and Security – A Walk in the Park

When you go to the park, your goal is likely relaxation, exercise, maybe a picnic, overall general enjoyment. Certainly, you don’t go expecting a pickpocket, vandal or even worse. And neither do the people of the City of Greer in South Carolina. A quaint, beautiful city, 25,000 strong, the leadership at the City of Greer wanted to create a new 14-acre city park for its citizens. And first on their mind was the safety and security of the park’s visitors.

Said Jim Ridgill IT Director with the City of Greer, “Safety issues were certainly top of mind when creating the park and implementing a security solution with total coverage. We needed to make sure we had all areas covered for the surveillance of potential crimes.”

And while security was the driving factor, it was also of utmost importance that the surveillance solution be aesthetically pleasing. With more than 100 ornamental lampposts on the campus, the end-user customer was adamant that there were no obtrusive-looking surveillance cameras hanging off of the posts. That directive could have made a difference in the entire project meeting completion.

To that end, the team at the City of Greer brought in their long-time reseller partner, Diversified Electronics, to guide them on the appropriate solution to implement. Together, the teams walked through the park to outline areas needing camera coverage and to find the best viewing angles.

Diversified Electronics and the City of Greer also worked with the local police department to ensure blanket coverage of the park was considered.

Once the site visit was completed and the objectives were in place, Tom Drake, sales representative for Diversified Electronics, and his team went to work. Said Drake, “We went to Nick Miller and ScanSource Security and told them what we were trying to accomplish. We asked what they would recommend and made sure that they understood that the project hinged on the proper cameras and views coupled with a pleasant outdoor housing that met the appearance objective.”

And for ScanSource, the goal was to come up with a design where everything fit – from the encoders to the cameras – while looking pleasant, in short, not being noticeable, and providing the highest-quality surveillance operations. After considering all of the available options, the team decided on a completely wireless security solution. Working with an already-constructed facility, a wireless solution made the best business sense versus having to dig up the property to run fiber lines and pull cable. What’s more, a wireless solution would allow the City to keep the beauty and aesthetics of the park in place.

To meet those requirements, ScanSource Security came up with an ideal solution that included Dotworkz D2 outdoor housing system, VideoIQ Encoders, analog dome cameras, Firetide Wireless Mesh, and Ditek Surge Protection. Working with Firetide’s high-performance wireless network to handle the bandwidth requirements of live video streaming and VideoIQ’s built-in storage products to provide storage with every camera in its own housing, Diversified Electronics was able to eliminate any bandwidth concerns.

And to keep the solution out of sight, the team even had a body shop paint the Dotworkz D2 housings and the antennas to match the color of the lamppost. In short, no detail was left unturned. Much of that credit goes to the Diversified Electronics team, including Gerald Culpepper and Marquis Scott. Said Drake, “Gerald and Marquis spent hours coming up with a design that would work and ensuring everything was done properly and professionally.”

As it is with all municipalities, budget was very important. Diversified Electronics and ScanSource were mindful of that in choosing the products for the solution. Diversified Electronics worked closely with the ScanSource Reseller Financial Services team to ensure the financing was available for the deal. And thanks to the design and functionality of the housing products, they were able to use indoor versions of the radio. Added Gary Pfeiffer, with VideoIQ, “Indoor equipment in the Dotworkz outdoor housing solution will save money and anguish during the installation.”

The icing on the cake for the City of Greer team was the video analytics with object recognition provided by the VideoIQ encoders. Said Ridgill with the City of Greer, “The ability to search all of the cameras for a particular set of criteria was a great tool for us. We had one instance in the park where someone threw toilet paper into the fountain and we were able to get more than 380 hits of various people walking around the fountain and decipher who the culprit was.”

The final project, at this stage, includes nearly 60 of the poles mounted with the surveillance solution, with more on the way.

Added Drake, “Selling the project is one thing. Making it happen successfully and fulfilling the customer’s expectations is another. And our team, led by Gerald and Marquise, along with the service and support from ScanSource, worked hard to make that happen.” Diversified’s contracted IT System Architect Charles Byrd designed the wireless network and worked closely with Jim Ridgill to integrate all five of the locations of the system into the City’s network.

So was the customer happy? When the City Administrator first saw the solution implemented and in place, his first words were, “You sure outdid yourselves.” Not only was the solution in place to keep visitors to the park safe, but it was created so that those visitors weren’t distracted by the ample number of surveillance solutions around the park. A key challenge was to ensure the solution – color, size, placement – didn’t detract from the beauty of the park. Overall, inconspicuous is what the team was looking for. And from all accounts, those goals were achieved. And then some.

Greer City Hall is protected through an

innovative wireless solution. A body shop

painted the housings and the antennas to

match the color of the lamp posts, keeping

the solution as inconspicuous as possible.

The Greer City Park banners are the

focus, not the surveillance solution.

Security is of the

utmost importance,

but it never detracts

from the aesthetic of

the park.

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF NICK MILLER

Meet the New Boss, Way Better Than the Old Boss!

Funny how we forget how bad something is until we experience the better. At least, this happens to me a lot. But I'd be willing to bet it happens to most of you as well. For instance, ravioli out of a can tastes just fine growing up until you go to a fine Italian restaurant for the first time. Your car always seems to drive fine until a friend shows up to show off their new ride. Pepsi was fine till Crystal Peps...OK, maybe that isn't a good example.

It works that way with technology too. Think back...taking pictures with an old 35mm camera or a point and shoot with film used to work just fine. And, I bet you never thought twice about dropping of your film to be developed. Heck, I bet it never bothered you to know you had to wait a couple of days to get the pictures back before there was 1-hour-photo. Now we have digital cameras. Digital SLRs, digital point and shoots, and even underwater digital cameras that make all our lives easier. Now you don't have to wait to get all those pictures developed just to see if you got the shot you wanted. All you have to do is click the review button, don't like it, delete it. Remember taking some pictures and then you had to always take a couple of random shots of nothing just to finish the roll of film? Not no more, Billy! Now you can just download what you want from your camera/memory card and throw them in a folder. Extra space on your memory card isn't wasted.

Old standard definition 4:3 aspect ratio TV was great too. I never really complained about my reception with cable or satellite. I always thought it looked pretty good, especially compared to the old rabbit ears (ironic how those have made a come back). But the first time I saw a football game on a wide screen 16:9 aspect ratio TV, I said to myself, "That's the way football is supposed to be seen on TV." Then when I actually saw HD, I couldn't believe what I was missing with standard definition. How unbelievably crisp and clear the images were and how vibrant the colors were. Now I get to the point that if there is something on and it isn't available on a HD channel, I probably won't watch it.

So we get used to how things are and just expect them to be that way until the newer/better is presented to us. I think this is what has happened in the security world, more specifically with surveillance. We've all seen it. You turn on the nightly news and there's a gas station or a bank or a retail store getting robbed and evidently, this guy is doing one heck of a job because I see he never seems to get caught! Doesn't it look like the same guy all the time? It's just some pixelated image and the most you can usually tell is he's wearing a hooded sweatshirt and has a gun. And evidently he's as fast as Superman because one second he's robbing the place and the next he's out of the frame.

Of course I'm making light of poor resolution and low frame rates (which I'll discuss another time). But it's what we're used to seeing, right? That's as good as it gets, right? WRONG!!!! As with digital cameras and HDTV, surveillance video is newer and better. There are now mega-pixel and HD IP surveillance cameras (and yes mega-pixel and HD are two different things, again for a future installment). If you don't know, a mega-pixel is 1,000,000 pixels. So a 2 mega-pixel camera is 2,000,000 pixels. Most analog cameras have a max resolution of 640 x 480 (with a few exceptions) and that equates to a little over 300,000 pixels, or 1/3 of a mega-pixel. Or to put it another way, a 1.3 mega-pixel Camera has over four times* the resolution compared to an analog camera. Imagine what those video clips on the nightly news would look like if they were 400% clearer!

So why hasn't everyone jumped on this band wagon? For the same reason any new technology doesn't just immediately replace everything out today. Again, think back to digital cameras and HDTV. When digital cameras first came out, they were really kind of...well...crappy. They didn't look that great, the images didn't seem to be any better than prints from film, they were pretty cumbersome to learn how to use, not to mention they were really expensive. HDTV had some similar problems. Not everyone had it, you had to get a special antenna/equipment, TV's capable of displaying HD were really expensive, and there wasn't a whole lot of programming out there that was delivered in HD. But in both cases, technology got better, cheaper, and easier to use.

Mega-pixel and HD resolution surveillance have a lot of those same challenges. For starters, these are IP Cameras (note not all IP Cameras are mega-pixel or HD, but all mega-pixel and HD cameras are IP), so your infrastructure is different. A lot of integrators still aren't educated in networking products and so there is a big learning curve for a lot of people. When IP cameras first emerged, they didn't really look that great, were cumbersome, and really expensive. But now they look fantastic, a lot of them are very easy to use, and price has come down quite a bit.

But one more big challenge is still out there. The public still thinks that they are all watching out for a guy in a hooded sweatshirt and a gun. You as the integrator should educate your customer and explain to them that those images on the nightly news are bad and that there's way better out there...We have the technology! Purchase demo cameras and keep them with you to show them the quality first hand. Show them that just like their HDTVs, poorer resolution should be tossed out with their 4:3 rear projection TVs! Show them how better resolution can help protect their business and investments.

There's one more thing in common that these surveillance cameras have with digital cameras and HDTV. While price has gone down considerably, we still pay a premium for them. The older technology will always be cheaper and the newer technology will always be more expensive. But that doesn't stop you from grabbing that digital point and shoot because it's way more convenient than film. And I bet you don't want to watch your favorite sports team in standard definition. Remember, all it takes is for them to see the cool new thing that they didn't know they were missing.

Analog

1080i HD

*In the example here stating a 1.3 mega-pixel camera has over four times the resolution as an analog camera, that is assuming you are looking at the exact same field of view. Another way to utilize mega-pixel technology is to reduce camera count. If an end user is happy with their current resolution, a 1.3 mega-pixel camera could be deployed where there were up to four analog cameras installed in a given area and that 1 camera would give you the same amount of resolution as each one of the four analog cameras did. Of course I am speaking about 4 analog cameras side by side.

Nick Miller
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How Much Stuff Could You Stuff In A Dotworkz Housing If You Could Stuff Stuff In A Dotworkz Housing?

Dotworkz is a housing manufacturer with some very unique products. Their domes come in two sizes, the D2 and the D3. Today, I’m going to talk a little about D2.

There are several factors that make the D2 unique. It is not shaped like the typical “tear drop” shaped dome housing. It comes with many power input/output options, and it has four environmental options to work in any environment. It has a standard Heater/Blower, the Tornado (for humid/costal areas), the Ring of Fire (for extreme cold), and the Cool Dome (for extreme heat/arid/desert areas). Having all these options makes for a much smarter installation and better protects the camera based on the environment…which is why the housing is there in the 1st place, right?

But there is another factor that makes this housing unique…the huge amount of space in the top section of the housing. When you look at a D2, you’ll notice it has a hinge around the middle of the housing. Above that hinge is basically empty and you can use that space to fill it with other components you may need in your installation.

The D2 has roughly 452 cubic inches in this top section. Here are some examples of what you can fit in that space:

· Almost 2 gallons of milk
· 15 and ½ pints of beer, or nearly 21 cans of beer (that’s almost a whole suitcase!), or a little over 4 pitchers of beer (whatever your choice of measurement is)
· 39 tennis balls
· 96 golf balls
· 1,738 iPod Shuffles
· 16,372 M&M’s

All joking aside, that’s a lot of room! So what’s practical about this? A lot! You could put a small network switch inside. Video Encoders to connect to existing analog cameras would fit very easily. Imagine a wireless solution where you can save money by using indoor versions of mesh radios or other wireless devices because you no longer need an outdoor rated device. In some cases, that could be $1,000.00 of savings! And, it looks better because you no longer need multiple devices on a pole/wall. You can have everything tucked away inside a nice, aesthetically-pleasing, IP66 rated, vandal-resistant *, geographically-based-weather protected housing.

Most any dome-style camera (fixed or PTZ) will fit in the D2, and depending on the size (and a little ingenuity), some box-style cameras. If you start to think outside the box (or housing in this case); you’ll be able to come up with all kinds of applications for this very unique product.

For anyone curious, the D3 is just like the D2, but taller with more room.

So…

· Over 4 gallons of milk
· 32 pints of beer, or nearly 43 cans of beer (that’s almost 2 suitcases!), or a little over 8.5 pitchers of beer (whatever your choice of measurement is)
· 82 tennis balls
· 198 golf balls
· 3,584 iPod Shuffles
· 33,760 M&M’s



*The housing itself is vandal-resistant, but the bubble is not. You can purchase a vandal-resistant bubble if needed.

Nick Miller
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