Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/31501
SECURITY SYSTEMS NEWS APRIL 2011 www.securitysystemsnews.com RESIDENTIAL SYSTEMS 39 Platinum ‘breaking mold’ recruiting sales reps By Martha Entwistle AMERICAN FORK, Utah—Platinum Protection, one of the major Utah- based summer-model companies, will recruit two-thirds of its sales reps from outside the Utah Valley, said CEO Andrew Kindfuller. “We’re breaking the mold,” he said, referring to the fact that most summer-model companies recruit Meters Continued from page 36 Education is key, he said. “I think installers are going to have to be trained to notify customers to check if they’ve got a smart meter, and I suspect that the industry will also want to as a protective measure to somehow communicate in writing conspic- uously to their customers, ‘Hey, if you’ve got a smart meter, you might have interference issues here, this needs to be looked into,’” Prendergast said. Warning customers in writing could also help companies avoid being held liable if an alarm sys- tem fail in an emergency because of smart meters, he said. How to solve the problem of smart meter interference? Prendergast said one “obvious fix” would be for property owners to opt out of smart meters. But that may not be easy. In Maine, for example, the Central Maine Power electric utility opposes letting customers opt out, saying that if some don’t participate, it creates additional costs and a void in the grid. The case was before the Maine Public Utilities Commission in March. Another solution, Prendergast said, could be a technical one. “Interference issues are often remedied through the use of some sort of appropriate filter that keeps the signal from the interfering device from affecting the other devices,” he said. “So there could be a technical solution here,” he continued, “but I don’t know that anyone’s focused on it because we’re still at the stage of waking up and realizing there’s a problem to begin with.” At least one security company views smart meters differently. Utah-based Vivint, formerly APX Alarm, announced this year that it had acquired Meter Solutions, a company that installs smart meters for utilities, to cre- ate a new customer channel. Vivint said it hasn’t had any smart meter interference issues. Alex Dunn, Vivint COO, told SSN: “Our home security panel and smart meters use compli- mentary technologies that com- municate with one another, eliminating concerns of possible interference.” SSN sales reps from Brigham Young and other Utah universities. “We’re really focused on being a national company, recruiting in states all around the country,” he told Security Systems News. Platinum has several year-round offices, including its Tampa office, the largest outside of Utah. Platinum was in the news in the last year concerning disagreements and settlements with some of its original founders, two of whom have left the company. Kindfuller said some of those issues persist “in the background,” but said the company has stabilized and is looking forward to a strong performance in 2011. Four of the six founders are active in the company: Chance Allred and Keith Dyer, each VP of sales; COO Jared Hallows; and Jake Pruitt, VP installations and service. Kindfuller, the former COO of Guthy-Renker International, and Scott MacArthur, a former CFO of ADT Security Services, joined Platinum as CEO and CFO, respec- tively in May of 2010. The company did 26,500 installs in 2010 and “91 percent were installed on the same day,” Kindfuller said. More than 500 reps have signed up for the 2011 season and the company will begin the summer with 18 offices. Kindfuller expects the company will do “at least 15 percent more than last year on accounts.” SSN