Debunking ESA’s Top 3 Membership Myths

As with any sort of member-based business, there are always myths when it comes to memberships, benefits, and more. Here at ESA, we are not immune to these myths and hear them daily. So, I thought we could take a moment to go through the most common membership myths we hear and the facts that make them myths.

Membership Myth: Only companies in the residential market are ESA members

We hear this a lot at ESA, and simply put it is not even close to the truth. We can see how some might think that, so let us investigate the facts. The truth is, only 5% of ESA Integrator Members report being residential only. Whereas, 71 % reported that residential was one of the multiple markets they do business in. So, we do have many members that offer residential but that is not where their offering stops. They often operate in multiple markets ranging from commercial, industrial, governmental and schools/ institutions. Meaning ESA members install and integrate systems in all types of markets.

Membership Myth: Companies that do not install fire alarm systems will not fit in

This one always hurts to hear. ESA Members integrate, manufacture, and support the full spectrum of electronic security and life safety technology systems. Yes, this includes fire alarms although a company that does not install fire alarms will fit in just as well. When looking deeper into our member businesses, you’ll discover more than half of our integrator community install, integrate and service fire systems. The other 45% of integrators in our community do not include fire systems among their offerings. So, those that do not install fire alarms are not alone and with almost half of our members not installing any fire alarms there is plenty of room to fit in here at ESA.

Membership Myth: “Our company is too big to receive significant value through membership”

ESA collaborates with companies of all sizes. We have members ranging from small businesses to larger corporations. We are not one size fits all, which means you do not need a handful of employees to gain value from an ESA membership. We support all businesses in the electronic security industry. When reviewing memberships, we found that 41% of integrator members have more than twenty-six employees and 23% have more than fifty-one employees. ESA Membership is unique in that benefits, scale up with the size of the member company. Membership can provide companies, both large and small, with valuable resources, networking opportunities, advocacy support, business savings, and more to ultimately help them thrive in the competitive electronic security market.

I hope you’ll join me in educating those who may have a preconceived notion of what ESA and its members look like. The next time you hear one of these top three membership myths about ESA and our member profile, you can correct the misconception.