DEFENDER Direct

In the early days of leading satellite and security systems distributor DEFENDER Direct, founder and Chief Executive Officer Dave Lindsey implemented a winning strategy to ascend to the top spot among authorized ADT dealers. Responding to a nationwide challenge shortly after the formation of DEFENDER Direct in 1998, Dave Lindsey and his team of 10 sales professionals entered into the ADT “Best Over Quota Contest.” With a total prize of $15,000, the contest offered the necessary motivation for Dave Lindsey and the sales team at DEFENDER Direct to surpass the competition and cement the company’s name as a major player in the industry.

For the next two weeks, Dave Lindsey and the DEFENDER Direct team set up a full-time sales and call center in his living room, steadily climbing towards their collective goal. Under the mistaken impression that the base quota was 17 units for one month, Dave Lindsey called the ADT corporate headquarters to find out how DEFENDER Direct was faring among competing dealerships, only to discover that the minimum quota was 45. Though halfway through the month and already at the base quota of 45 units, Dave Lindsey and the team at DEFENDER Direct immediately decided to quicken their pace and sell as much as possible.

Within the next two weeks, DEFENDER Direct had both sold and installed 142 ADT security packages, beating the sales quota by 316 percent. At the subsequent ADT convention in Denver, Colorado, DEFENDER Direct won first prize in the “Best Over Quota Contest,” an honor that would set the company apart from over 350 competing dealers. Today, DEFENDER Direct holds the title as number one authorized dealer of ADT Security systems in the United States, a definitive testament to the tireless efforts of Dave Lindsey and his team, now in excess of 1,500 individuals in 120 cities.