5 Stars for Clover Smart Home

Lane Ellis, co-founder and principal at Clover Smart Home in Kaysville, Utah, says one of the questions he’s often asked by prospects and customers is the origin of the company name.

While the clover and four leaflets are traditionally thought of as a harbor of good luck because of its uniqueness—Clover Smart Home considers itself a rarity as well—a breed of company with core values centered on providing the best customer service and world-class experience—with a local, hometown feel.

“We wanted a name that symbolized our philosophy as a company,” says Ellis. “Not many companies do what we do—provide the best products, service, automation and innovation. Customers become part of our family and our level of service speaks for itself,” he says.

Google ratings, which are becoming a holy grail of customer satisfaction, also speak volumes when it comes to Clover Smart Home.

The company’s satisfaction ranking is off the charts—they have a five-star Google rating which is further testament to the commitment to excellence and also lands them first in search engine queries for those surfing the web for security services.

Clover Smart Home is one of the only security providers in the state to achieve this status, and it comes with an emphasis on the customer, exceptional service and an experience worthy of winning this positive public opinion.

In an industry in which massive changes in technology, distribution and service channels are drastically altering the security landscape, Clover Smart Home is succeeding—and growing organically—adding on average 20 new subscribers each month.

Clover Smart Home, headquartered just north of Salt Lake City, serves roughly a 200-mile area, with its customer mix about 80 percent residential and 20 percent commercial.

Currently a two-man operation with administrative support and subcontracted technicians, Ellis runs the company with co-founder and principal Scott Kemp.

Ellis and Kemp have more than two decades experience in the industry and began their foray into security while in college, earning extra money working at a local company’s summer door knocker marketing campaign and then for other companies on their way to launching Clover Smart Home in January 2017.

How It’s Done

The company offers a wide range of options to customers—so they can be at ease and in control of the security specification process.

“We don’t tell them what they need. We develop a relationship, a type of friendship, and learn and listen to what they need and then design solutions around it, ” Ellis says. “The company provides monitoring of systems by a local professional monitoring center. It retains all of its subscriber accounts.”

Ellis refers to the company as a bootstrap start up, unusual in an industry now dominated by news of growth fostered primarily by acquisition and venture capitalist investors.

Currently Ellis and Kemp handle the business operations, focusing on their strengths in sales and marketing and finance and economics respectively.

They are eyeing hiring an installation and service technician to handle the booming business—someone also focused on professionalism and a vetted industry expert—as they look for the “best of the best.”

Even though the business is small, it’s mighty as far as its mindset and mission to please the customer.

Phone calls to the company are answered quickly, with an average response time of less than 30 seconds, whether it’s for customer service, billing, technical support or someone inquiring about a new system.

“We make it easy for them to get in touch with us and they feel like they are dealing with family and a friend,” says Scott Kemp.

Ellis says new customers—and their contact information—is programmed into his mobile phone—so he can treat clients who call personally—another part of the company’s stellar high satisfaction rating.

“I program their phone numbers into my phone so if they call their name pops up and I recognize having worked with them to protect their home and family. When they are calling me I know they need my help and I offer that high level of personal service.”

Since day one, Clover Smart Home has been an Alarm.com dealer partner, leveraging the wide range of smart home automation devices offered by the company as well as its lead generation, marketing and other support.

Clover offers the latest security technologies as well as other popular products—including video doorbells; two-way voice and leading integrations with products like Amazon Echo; personal emergency response; live video monitoring; cloud video recording; and total smartphone app control.

There’s also an emphasis on fire and life safety, with smoke and carbon monoxide detection, as well as flood detection as part of their product portfolio.

Security Leads the Way

Ellis says the company leads with security before automation and 100 percent of the customers select central station monitoring.

“We provide a niche most companies don’t offer. If they don’t want a long term contract, that’s fine. We don’t offer cookie-cutter solutions; we tailor each system to the customer and their needs. We truly listen to what they want and provide the targeted solution from that consultation.”

While the majority of the business is residential, Clover Smart Homes also has been working with small to medium businesses which is on an uptick, and is also looking at providing access control to SMBs in the future as part of continuity to that market.

Another area they plan on expanding into is traditional surveillance system installations.

Clover Smart Home is a new member to ESA but already involved at the local level with the Electronic Security Association of Utah, where Ellis is a board member and active with PACT meetings.

Some of the current initiatives of the local association include working with the community and law enforcement and reducing false alarms.

“We are a security company, first and foremost. We are here to provide a life safety system along with ease of use. Consumers are well-educated on what they want and expect and we facilitate to bring that together for them with one app that provides total control,” Ellis says.