Rinse and Repeat RMR: Mobile Surveillance Trailers Boost Recurring Revenue

Mobile Surveillance Trailers

When hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of building materials are stolen from a job site, there is no time to waste. A security dealer in Louisiana got the call from a commercial general contractor who was in dire need of a solution to their theft problem. More than $300,000 worth of construction materials had been stolen from one of their projects. The contractor—now over budget and behind schedule—could not afford additional theft or the resulting delays. He needed a solution yesterday!

Fortunately, the dealer had two mobile surveillance trailers (MSTs) available for rent. Designed to be fully autonomous, the MSTs have solar panels and substantial backup battery capacity. The cameras utilize a cellular gateway and specialized electronics including a bridge to allow for central station monitoring. They were deployed that afternoon and protected the site for the next 13 months—providing an overt deterrent and event-based remote guarding 24/7.

Recurring Revenue Generated

Thousands of dollars per month per trailer. That single contract paid for the cost of the units and the MSTs were quickly redeployed to another site once that project was completed.

Similarly, when a car dealer in Oklahoma City needed cameras to cover a blind spot on the far end of their lot. Alcom Security offered to temporarily deploy a mobile surveillance trailer while they designed a permanent solution. While the mobile surveillance trailer was quickly deployed that afternoon. The labor-intense permanent solution called for cameras mounted on poles and connected back to the network with point-to-point wireless access points. But before they could finalize the plans, the car dealer called to say he was so impressed with the coverage provided by the mobile surveillance trailer. He stated that he would prefer to keep the rental unit onsite permanently rather than replacing it with the pole-mounted cameras. He signed a multi-year rental agreement that meant more revenue and no additional labor for Alcom Security.

“Our surveillance trailers are equipped with 4 PTZ cameras on a 20-foot mast,” explained Alcom COO Taylor McKinney. “Aside from being an effective deterrent due to their intimidating size, bright red body, and automated talk down speaker, they offer 360-degree coverage and event-based remote guarding from our UL-Listed, Five Diamond monitoring center. Customers love the ability to arm and disarm them like an alarm system from our mobile app!”

MST Growth

When Cooper MacDonnell, President of Eastern Security Services, took delivery of his first mobile surveillance trailer, he hugged it! They had been looking for a rapidly deployable solution to provide job site security to general contractors in Syracuse and “Big Red,” as he affectionately refers to the mobile surveillance trailer, was the perfect fit.

“We‘ve been in business nearly 50 years and have always been at the forefront of monitoring technology,” said MacDonnell. “As a Sonitrol franchisee, that meant audio verification. And now with advancements in video monitoring capabilities, we are excited to offer monitored video solutions including job site monitoring with our new mobile surveillance trailers. We have big plans for ‘Big Red.”

For dealers like Halo Security in Huntsville, Alabama. Mobile surveillance trailers have eliminated the need for labor intensive installation of pole-mounted cameras to protect residential construction sites. As the leader in residential new construction low voltage and security in the North Alabama market, Halo Security has strong relationships with area home builders. Some of those builders had previously relied on skid-mounted surveillance solutions from an out-of-state provider. When Halo Security launched their mobile surveillance trailer program for residential construction sites, the skids were dragged away. Those builders were happy to make the switch.

“When it comes to deterrence, bigger is better,” explained Halo Security CEO Blaze Short. “It is easy to miss cameras on poles in the corner of a job site, but nobody misses our big, bright red trailers staring them down. And our talk down speaker gets their attention in a hurry!”

Commercial and Residential Construction Sites

For commercial and residential construction sites, mobile surveillance trailers provide more than security. General contractors have reported increased job site productivity. and they are happy with the ability to remotely monitor the progress of their projects and confirm delivery of materials.

“We had a contractor call us to verify whether a delivery had been made earlier that week. Their vendor claimed it had been,” explained Alcom Security COO, Taylor McKinney. “It turns out that when the truck arrived, they left without unloading it. We sent the video, and the contractor handled it with their vendor. It is not as exciting as scaring away the bad guys, but for our customer and for us, it was a win!”

Three years into this new venture. McKinney now has more than 70 trailers in his rental fleet and his team outfits turnkey OK-SEE trailers available to dealers through his distribution partner, SS&Si.

McKinney is passionate about the potential for traditional alarm companies to scale their rental fleets. McKinney has helped dealers like Eastern Security Services and Halo Security to implement their own mobile surveillance trailer programs. Sharing the best practices he is implemented and challenges he is overcome since entering the space three years ago.

The Best Way to Market MST’s and Create Revenue

McKinney says free demos are his secret sauce. With off-rent inventory available, his sales reps offer qualified prospects free short-term deployments. Using their 23-step demo process, most demos lead to signed contracts!

And he shared that many of his initial units are still deployed on their first sites. Aside from construction sites, they protect auto and ATV dealerships, industrial sites, parking lots, and even electrical substations. “When we do get them back, we rinse them off and redeploy them on the next site,” McKinney explained.

Like traditional alarm monitoring contracts, mobile surveillance trailers are a reliable source of recurring revenue. Since mobile surveillance trailers generate recurring monthly revenue, remain tangible assets on the balance sheet, and can be easily redeployed when contracts end, it is no wonder alarm dealers are interested in these rinse-and-repeat RMR machines.

Read more about driving higher RMR on sales here.