June 2020

Pennsylvania COVID-19 Reopening Phases Continue Across The State… Has your business figured out how to operate in the “new” normal?

Alarm Dealers / Security Integrators in Pennsylvania are continuing to seek answers on what, when, where and how they can conduct business. The Governor’s reopening plan has offered some in-formation on what business can do, but complaints continue regarding the lack of specific details and in-consistent implementation from one business seg-ment to another. Several federal and state agencies have developed / released resources available to Alarm Dealers / Securi-ty Integrators to aid them in determining how to pro-ceed. OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administra-tion) has developed guides for specific business seg-ments to aid them in ascertaining applicable risks and steps appropriate to mitigate those risks. Applicable to the electronic life safety and security industry are two guides:

• Construction Work • In-Home Repair Services

Given the diversity of the work performed by our in-dustry, both guides offer helpful insights. CDC (Center for Disease Control) has numerous bro-chures and flyers available specifically developed to prepare your business and employees for the effects of COVID-19.

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Pennsylvania Burglar and Fire Alarm Association 2501 West 12th Street - Suite 280 • Erie, PA 16505 (800) 458-8512 PA • (814) 838-3093 • FAX (814) 838-5127 Email: Info@PBFAA.com

- Effective June 19 -

Is it still OK to sell? By: John Whitehall As a Sandler Trainer and Coach, many have reached out to me for guidance dur-ing these uncertain and rapidly changing times. The number one question that I hear is, when will things return to normal? The second question is, is it OK to sell? The first question is a little more complicated. If you’re waiting for the new normal to arrive or if you’re expecting to return to the “January Normal”, you might be very disappointed. The new normal is here! Social and business trends have accelerated and continue to evolve. Attitudes toward remote employment and remote selling have completely changed as we’ve all been forced to adapt to the changing conditions. We have all become experts at Zoom Meetings and remote communication. The way we eat, dress, exercise, entertain ourselves and do business have all changed. It’s likely that we will slowly drift back toward the old normal, but our lives have funda-mentally changed, and the landscape will likely never be the same. The second question I’m asked, is it still OK for me to sell? During the first 4-6 weeks of the COVID 19 shutdown, the popular activity for many was to reach out and “socialize” the situation with our current clients. This made everyone feel more OK about the sudden shift in our world. It helped to talk about things in a way that minimized the shock that we were all feeling. As time went on, we strug-gled with our next steps. What should I say and do next? The number one question was, is it OK for me to sell? The last time I watched TV, commercial space was still sold out. There are no blank 30 or 60 commercial slots where the screen turns to snow during a scheduled adver-tising slot. Telemarketers are still hitting my phone with their offers. Selling and marketing are still alive and well. As soon as the shutdown was upon us, many larger com-panies shifted their resources into other areas.

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John Whitehall

• Trainer

• Coach

• Speaker

Consultants partner to create guidelines for getting back to work With so much debate and uncertainty today about when and how America can safely go back to work, it was a pleasant sur-prise — even some relief — to see an email from my friends over at ESI Convergent, LLC and Butchko Inc., two security con-sulting firms, who have partnered to develop the STEPS partner-ship program to Bring America Back to Work, a guide to provide a safe path forward as the American workforce gradually gets back to business as usual. The group presented their compre-hensively detailed and clear and concise resource guide to gov-ernment, state and local agencies earlier this week. “We brought together leaders in the safety, security and entry business to help define our detailed plan,” Butchko Inc. Presi-dent & CEO Benjamin M. Butchko told Security Systems News. “It will take determination and effort, but with pragmatic steps, we can overcome the economic turmoil resulting from Covid-19.” Some of the industry leaders assembled to help with this guide include industry consultant and SSN Security Legend Award win-

ner Jim Henry, Sage Integration’s Rick Leighton and Building Intelligence Inc. CEO Jeff Friedman, to name just a few. ESI Convergent, LLC CEO Mark R. Perkins, said in the opening letter introducing the program that the goal of bringing this group of “renowned security and safety professionals” together was to create a process that the group hopes “will enable our great nation to get back to work again,” he said. “The process of reuniting us with our normal process will be a daunting task but we believe with practical and safe adherence to processes that not only have been part of our daily work lives but are adjusted to the new norm we can make this a smooth transition. This process was created as a way to partner with our government and local agencies to become part of what we call the STEPS Partnership with America.” Using the STEPS acronym, the Partnering with Americans to get America Back to Work in the COVID-19 era program focuses on: Social Distancing Policy

• CDC defined and implemented • Federal and State Guidelines

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INDUSTRY BUZZ News From Around The Electronic Life Safety & Security Industry

For example, larger companies who depended on events like con-

ventions and trade shows, moved those resources into various formats of social media resulting in flood of content that is almost overwhelming. Because of the increased clutter, the typical dump and run communication platforms like text and e-mail have become less effective as every-one is now playing in the same pool. In short, what may have worked for you in the past, might not be working for you now. Imagine if our world faced the pandemic in the back in 80’s when cutting edge technology was the fax machine, or the first cell phones with rates commonly around a dollar per minute. We would have no choice but to pick up the phone, call our customers and have actual conversations. In some ways, our technology is a double-edged sword. We’ve become dependent on these tools that may or may not be bring us closer to our prospects and clients. There is no substitute for voice to voice, actual conversations and in a way, what was old is new again. I challenge you to participate in the re-birth of actual com-munications. Each time you pick up the phone and have a real conversation, you automatically get better at selling and communicating. Because it is a live conversation in-stead of a written message, you have to think and be in the moment. It’s a terrific way to practice our selling skills. Every call you make will help you get better at conveying your message and engaging your prospects and custom-ers.

And finally, we are all in business because our product, solution or service, solves a need or a pain that your cus-tomers have. Sure, things have changed but if you think about it, the need or pain that you solve for your custom-ers has probably not changed that much. They still need us, and you are the expert they’re looking for. Pick up the phone, call your customers and prospects, and have a real conversation. About John Whitehall: John Whitehall is the owner of Sandler Training by Strate-gic Sales Training Solutions serving Wyomissing, Read-ing, and greater Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For over 30 years, John managed, coached, and trained high perform-ing sales teams. He continues to help sales professionals, business owners, and corporate leaders to implement proven sales & management processes that shorten sales cycles, increase revenue, and create a client-centric sales culture. Contact Info: John Whitehall Sandler Training 2395 Lancaster Pike Shillington, PA 19607 Email: john.whitehall@sandler.com Phone: (610) 223-4346

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INDUSTRY SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

PBFAA REGIONAL MEETINGS & EVENTS

Hosted “Lunch & Learn” Webinars

• Interested in presenting a webinar topic – CONTACT the PBFAA State Office

PBFAA STATE MEETINGS & EVENTS

2020 State Board of Directors Meetings

• June 17 – Teleconference

• July to December - TBD 2020 Annual Golf Outing - POSTPONED...

• Date and location TBD 2021 Annual Membership Meeting

• May 19-20 – Holiday Inn Harrisburg / Hershey

ASSOCIATE MEMBER EVENTS

Visit www.ADIGlobal.us for branch and other events. =========================================== Visit www.Alarmax.com for branch and other events. =========================================== Visit www.Anixter.com for branch and other events. ===========================================

ESA MEETINGS & EVENTS

• ESX 2021, Louisville, KY June 15-18, 2021 www.ESXweb.com

INDUSTRY MEETINGS & EVENTS

• ASIS GSX, Atlanta September 21-23, 2020 www.GSX.org

• ISC West, Las Vegas October 5-8, 2020 NEW DATE www.ISCWest.com

• ISC East, New York November 18-19, 2020 www.ISCEast.com

Specifically the CDC has information available on ad-dressing Worker Fatigue due to the pandemic, as well as helping employees adapt to the Work From Home (WFH) environment. PA Department of Community & Economic Devel-opment The Act of May 29, 2020 (Act 2A of 2020), known as the COVID-19 Emergency Supplement to the General Appropriation Act of 2019, appropriated $225,000,000 from the COVID-19 Response Restrict-ed Account to DCED to be used for COVID-19 Relief to small businesses through a distribution to Com-munity Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) for loan payment deferment and portfolio loan loss reserves, main street business revitalization grants and historically disadvantaged business revitalization grants. SBA (Small Business Administration) provides access to resources geared specifically to the small business community. Several financial aid programs are avail-able besides the Payroll Protection Program.

Continued from Page 1 SIAC Welcomes Julie Lyons SIAC asks you to help welcome Julie Lyons to our staff. In January, Julie took on the position of Executive Assistant at SIAC. She had been work-ing remotely for Kirk MacDowell as a part of the MacGuard Security Advisors team, which led her to this new role within SIAC when Kirk became President of the Board. In her SIAC position, Julie will help Executive Director Stan Mar-tin on a number of administrative fronts, including invoicing pledges, collections and fundraising efforts. “Julie has a tremendous range of experience across the security industry that will serve us well here at SIAC. Her perspective, energy and knowledge on security issues helps us improve how quickly, effectively and thoroughly we handle multiple issues related to our contributors and supporters,” Martin said. Julie began her work in the industry at Sentrol (Tualatin, Ore-gon) in 1992 as the Executive Assistant to the President, sup-porting more than 35 sales representatives. In 1993, Aritech acquired Sentrol, which brought new leadership to the compa-ny, including Dave Lyons. The two kept in touch long-distance and decided to make it official when Julie semi-retired to spend more time with Dave and her family at home in Portland, Ore-gon.

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Testing Guidelines for employees and visitors • Government Medical Alliances • Drug Testing Guidelines

Entry Assessment Program (EAP) • bSMART Guidelines • Security Consultants

Privacy Policy (PP) • Properly managing high risk individuals • Existing Legal Precedent

Stay Home / Work-From-Home (WFH) • Incentive Program • Government/Private Partnership

As the group points out in the guide, “the greatest challenge is doing the right things now, and not allowing missteps and fu-ture mistakes to erode momentum in getting Americans back to work. With all the misinformation, negative perspectives, and social media influences, it is necessary to put forth a plan that substantially alleviates or eliminates any reasons not to go back to work. In this way, people who are skeptical and fearful of returning to work can be reassured that the right STEPS are being taken to assure their health, privacy and wellbeing.” The guide also includes some great resources, such as the Testing Bill of Rights, as well as The Coronavirus Measurement and Positive Alert System (COMPAS), a COTS-based system de-

signed to safely provide rapid field results and a common oper-ating picture during both natural and manmade emergencies, including disease pandemics. The COMPAS field sensor system provides immediate analysis and results indication to operators and consists of a thermal imager, calibration reference, field test controller, and an op-tional auxiliary data workstation. The touch-free operation and remote set-back deployment flexibility simultaneously main-tains safety for test subjects while reducing operator exposure and personal protective equipment (PPE) demands. The field test controller operates from both Android and iOS operating systems for immediate local analysis, results reporting, and au-tomated analysis algorithm enhancements developed through system-wide data analysis. “The STEPS program is all about creating confidence and trust between business owners and employees, and between small businesses and customers," said Perkins. "It’s about eliminating confusion, especially as it pertains to COVID-19, and returning to a healthy work environment and returning to consuming goods and services. We can’t ask business owners to do more than they can do. We can only ask them to follow some easy guidelines and do the best they can do with what they have.” Originally published in Security Systems News

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THANKS

to the Bellringer “Sponsors”

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COPS Monitoring

800-367-2677

ESA National Training School

Napco Security Group 800-645-9445

Rapid Response Monitoring

800-558-7767

Security America RPG 866-315-3838

Security Industry Alarm Coalition (SIAC)

972-377-9401

Stanley Security (SentryNet) 800-932-3304

Please Support Those Who Support PBFAA...

The “Power of Association”

Teddy Roosevelt said it best,

"Every man owes part of his time and money to the business or

industry to which he is engaged.

No man has a moral right to withhold his support from an organization

that is striving to improve conditions within his sphere."

SIAC article continued... Julie has two children, a daughter Rachel, and son Sam. She enjoyed being home during their high school years to support her children in sports and academic achievements. Once both of her children were away at college, Julie continued to travel with Dave, and due to her love of cooking and photography, she started a blog: The Year of the Cook. She posted a new recipe and photos (almost) every day for a full year. Dave’s career moved them to Chicago when he joined the team at System Sensor. Julie was born and raised in Chicago, where most of her family still resides. While the move made it hard to be away from her children, it was wonderful to be closer to her mother and sisters. Julie and Dave spent time between Chicago, Oregon and Maine — where they owned a vacation home at the beach. Unfortunately, in 2017, Dave passed away, which brought Julie back to the beautiful Pacific Northwest to be closer to her chil-dren. She loved living in Oregon and was happy to find a new place to call home along the stunning Oregon coast where the beach is just steps from her front door. When she isn’t working, you can find her walking on the beach, hiking, or enjoying her beautiful backyard. Please reach Julie directly at julie@siacinc.org.

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Due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation the PBFAA is temporarily suspending USPS mailing of the Bellringer to member’s business offices while most individuals are still working under the Governor’s Stay At Home Orders.

Monthly issues will be sent electronically to all members (and their staff) as we continue to monitor the ongoing situation…

Please share your copy of the Bellringer with your co-workers, or encourage them to sub-scribe on the PBFAA website…

Thanks

New Address:

2501 West 12th Street - Suite 280, Erie, PA 16505

Pennsylvania Burglar and Fire Alarm Association 2501 West 12th Street Suite 280 Erie, PA 16505