Security dealer guides
Straight answers to the questions alarm and security company owners actually ask — what your company is worth, how customers choose a security company now, how to get recommended by ChatGPT, and how to grow recurring revenue. Written from 23 years of running a security company, with verified 2026 numbers.
Valuation & Exit
- Valuation & Exit
How much is my alarm company worth?
Verified 2026 multiples for alarm and security companies: 3-5x EBITDA for project-heavy shops, 5-9x for regional companies with recurring revenue, 30-50x monthly RMR for monitoring books. What buyers actually pay, from a 23-year operator.
Read the guide → - Valuation & Exit
What RMR multiples are alarm companies selling for in 2026?
Verified 2026 RMR multiples for alarm monitoring books: 30-50x monthly RMR, 35-45x for quality commercial books. What moves a book inside the range, why inflated tier charts are wrong, and when RMR math applies versus EBITDA math.
Read the guide → - Valuation & Exit
How does selling alarm monitoring accounts work?
How selling alarm monitoring accounts works in 2026: buyers pay 30-50x monthly RMR, holdbacks and attrition guarantees are standard, and diligence goes account by account. Deal mechanics explained by a 23-year security-industry operator.
Read the guide → - Valuation & Exit
How do I calculate what my alarm company is worth?
How alarm company valuations actually get computed in 2026: RMR multiple math for monitoring books (30-50x monthly), EBITDA math for operating companies (3-9x), worked examples with real arithmetic, and the blend trap hybrid sellers must avoid.
Read the guide → - Valuation & Exit
Should I sell my alarm company or keep building it?
A 2026 decision framework for alarm company owners: what the market pays now (3-9x EBITDA, 30-50x monthly RMR), the roll-up arbitrage consolidators run, and when keeping and growing recurring revenue beats selling.
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AI Search
- AI Search
How do customers choose a security company now?
Buyers now ask ChatGPT and Google AI who to hire instead of scrolling search results. Our August 2026 benchmark of 1,936 alarm companies shows only 6.3% ever get named by ChatGPT. Here is what changed and what to do.
Read the guide → - AI Search
Why is my security company not showing up in ChatGPT?
Our August 2026 benchmark found 93.7% of residential alarm companies are never named by ChatGPT. Here are the four reasons yours is invisible, how to check, and exactly how to fix each one.
Read the guide → - AI Search
How does a security company get recommended by ChatGPT?
The 5-step playbook for alarm dealers: answer pages, citable numbers, reviews and entity consistency, structured data, and presence where AI engines pull from. Only 6.3% of dealers are named today. The lane is open.
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Growth & Marketing
- Growth Playbook
How do you compete with ADT as an independent security company?
An independent alarm dealer's playbook against ADT and the national brands: speed to lead, local trust, service quality, review dominance, and owning the AI-search answers national scale can't localize.
Read the guide → - Growth Playbook
What marketing actually works for alarm dealers?
A 23-year security operator's honest channel-by-channel breakdown of alarm dealer marketing in 2026 — referrals, reviews, AI answers, speed-to-lead, yard signs, and where paid ads actually pay.
Read the guide → - Growth Playbook
How do security companies generate leads?
How security companies generate leads in 2026: capture every inbound call first, then build referrals, review velocity, answer pages, and partnerships. Why bought shared leads underperform an owned engine.
Read the guide → - Growth Playbook
What are the best marketing ideas for a home security company?
12 home security marketing ideas ranked by cost and speed to results: referral engines, review velocity, answer pages, missed-call text-back, AI receptionists, yard signs, local partnerships — and which old tactics are dated.
Read the guide → - Growth Playbook
How do I sell more commercial security systems?
A land-and-expand playbook for commercial security sales: test-and-inspect as the wedge, cross-selling fire, access control, and video, surviving procurement, and making service agreements the profit engine.
Read the guide → - Growth Playbook
How do I grow my alarm company's RMR?
The RMR growth playbook for alarm dealers: three levers — more qualified accounts, higher RMR per account, lower attrition — the net-RMR math behind them, and why RMR sets your exit value.
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Operations
- Operator Playbook
How should a security dealer structure service agreements?
Why service agreements are the most valuable thing a security dealer sells — predictable revenue, stickier customers, higher exit value — and how to structure, price, and attach them across your base.
Read the guide → - Operator Playbook
What's a normal attrition rate for a security alarm company?
What alarm account attrition is normal (~10–13%), why sub-10% is healthy, what actually causes cancellations, and the reduction playbook that protects your RMR and exit value.
Read the guide → - Operator Playbook
What's the best CRM for alarm dealers?
What a CRM must actually do for an alarm dealer — speed-to-lead, missed-call text-back, install pipeline, RMR awareness — and how to choose between the three real categories in 2026.
Read the guide → - AI Workforce
Should my security company use an AI receptionist?
What an AI receptionist actually does for an alarm company — 24/7 answering, booking, missed-call text-back, lead qualification — plus the honest limits and what to look for in 2026.
Read the guide → - Operator Playbook
How do I hire good alarm technicians?
Alarm techs are scarce and aging out. The 2026 playbook: grow your own through apprenticeships, low-voltage schools, and veterans — plus the pay structure and retention moves that keep them.
Read the guide → - AI Workforce
Which AI tools are actually worth it for an alarm dealer?
An honest operator's map of where AI genuinely helps an alarm dealer sell more without adding headcount — answering, follow-up, reviews, AI visibility — and where it's pure noise.
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Dealer playbooks
Longer operator playbooks on running the business — RMR, attrition, lead flow, and the two platforms most dealers run on.
- Operator Playbook
How do you grow recurring monthly revenue (RMR) for an alarm company?
A security-operator's playbook for growing recurring monthly revenue (RMR): the RMR equation, the three growth levers, and why every missed call is lost RMR. Built by a founder who created 800,000+ customer accounts.
Read the playbook → - Operator Playbook
How do alarm companies reduce customer attrition?
Alarm attrition typically runs 10–13% a year. The operator playbook for lowering it: the real cancel reasons in order, catching at-risk accounts early, and a save + win-back flow. From a founder who built Protect America.
Read the playbook → - Operator Playbook
What is the best way to generate leads for a security or alarm company?
The best lead source for a security company is the one you already waste. Speed-to-lead, missed-call text-back, reviews, and getting recommended by ChatGPT & Perplexity — the operator's lead-gen playbook.
Read the playbook → - Brand Dealer Guide
How do DMP dealers get more customers and grow RMR?
How DMP (Digital Monitoring Products) dealers win more accounts and grow RMR: lead with U.S.-manufactured reliability and commercial strength, raise RMR with Virtual Keypad, and get recommended by AI assistants.
Read the playbook → - Brand Dealer Guide
How do Alarm.com dealers grow RMR and stand out?
Alarm.com dealers have a built-in RMR advantage in interactive, video, and automation. Sell it as an outcome, capture every lead, and get recommended by ChatGPT & Perplexity — the dealer growth playbook.
Read the playbook →