January 1, 2011
*****************
***********
Happy and healthy New Year to all
***********
comments on defaulting panel
***********
Ken
Gene is correct. There is no simple solution to default alarm system or stop the dialer reporting to central station on terminated account. The alarm company (if notified by end user) is notified after phones are disconnected, or finds out when the system stops reporting. Either way, the dialer should be defaulted, not to start reporting again or cause false alarm when phoneline is activated by new tenant. By phoneline - I mean whatever the communication may be - internet, cellular, etc., even the power. Once the power is shut of, nothing will get you through. Even visit to the site (if you can get there) may not help when there is no power to default the system. You may end up removing the dialer (controller).
Think of it this way: If you had to close business, or lost your home, would you know, or would you care to "do it right"? The first thing on my mind would be to dissolve the corporation, and try to figure out where and how to terminate all the various taxes business is required to file - to get the government of my back and prevent accumulation of penalties and interest. The next thing would be to terminate utility accounts. There I won't have control what gets shut down in which order. The phones and power may be shut down before the alarm.
Sure, this shouldn't happen. The business should be relocated or sold, but that depends really on the reason why the business can not function anymore.
Don't look at the tenant whose lease was not renewed as a "deadbeat". Anyone of us would be angry if we lost our business for even a day - never mind forever. Can you imagine the lawsuits if a central station, or a hospital closed for a day? The alarm system is the least significant factor. These people would have much more important things to worry about. Alarm is important only to us, because it is our business that is affected.
Dusan
********
Potts v VoIP
*******
Ken
Mark, until they make voip as bullet proof and reliable as potts lines are now, voip will never be a leader in the alarm monitoring path for communications.
happy new year,
ralph aiello
ess, llc
************
Software
***********
Ron: I was in this same situation when I bought one of the several alarm companies I’ve acquired over the years. I liked a program the owner had been using and wanted to keep using it. The software vendor said that I wasn’t the original purchaser so they refused to provide support.
I very rarely buy the “company” (i.e. the stock) since that is, generally, a “dangerous” thing to do. However, this owner insisted and it worked out because we never got sued for anything the previous owner did AND I was able to win the argument with the software company.
If you bought the assets (only) of the company in question, then Ken is absolutely correct in that the software company can do what they want depending on their EULA. However, if you bought the stock of the company in question, then there was no assignment of the software since all that happened as a new owner took over the company that (presumably) bought the software. If the former owner bought the software in his personal name, then you lose.
Another software package I liked from another company had a quarterly “support” plan payment requirement. Even though I didn’t buy the stock of the company, I was able to coerce the software company into granting me ownership of the copy I had under the EULA so that they didn’t lose their $400 monthly income.
If there is monthly support money in play, then you’re playing poker with the software company. Call their bluff. They don’t want to lose the monthly income.
David Myers
Myers Protection Services
***********
getting out there to talk to the subscriber
***********
Ken
Regarding Marty Winger's "harsh" comment on getting out there to talk to the subscriber in person:
In the 90's I was in the situation following an acquisition where I needed to get new paperwork signed by almost 400 subscribers of mixed types. A group of the accounts had been sold twice within the prior five years. Even if you don't want to, if you have just acquired a block of accounts, you or qualified employee will need to visit every one of them in person at least once, and as soon as possible, especially if the existing contracts are not up to your standard. Most people won't read, sign and mail back a thick pack of lengthy contracts without first having a high confidence level in you and then some of them will still need an arm twisted. Once that's been done, the schmoozing is a great idea if you're caught up with all your high-profit jobs and you're visiting somebody you can upsell and get referrals out of, but in most small companies the owner is the main sales force and owner-hours are very expensive. Are you cherry picking who you would go visit? When I have technicians who could be doing commercial fire installs, inspections and repairs, why would I tie them up visiting residential alarm subscribers who can hardly afford the service to begin with, at no charge, in rough areas and also pay for parking not to mention the risk of having our service vehicles burglarized?
Not every subscriber will even grant you an audience. It took about 4 years for me and two assistants to visit almost all the subscribers from that acquisition and there are a couple of hermits still on the old "assigned" contracts without answering machines who never responded to calls and who won't let us inspect their systems except when broken but they still pay the bills like clockwork. For some of them the best we could ever do was to "impress" our own agreement. Toward the end I got results from some of the laggards when I started sending reminders in big letters, "NO CONTRACT, NO SERVICE." (Mighta shoulda done that to anyone who ignored our first attempt.) But after about a year I had learned a bit about them and they had figured out what we were about. There was enough mutual confidence by then to continue the relationship. We kept a few customers who probably would have bailed if we played hardball right off the bat but we also lost a few because we couldn't get out to everybody quick enough.
I've been to plenty of sales courses by Ron Davis and many others. I've heard, I don't know how many times, that for a salesperson (that is, strictly a salesperson), prospecting is a numbers game where you need to get in front of as many people in a week as possible. But your eagerness to get over there and visit tells me perhaps you don't respect the value of your subscribers' time or privacy. Mail them the contracts and (if they'll take your call) schmooze them over the phone. Then, if you sniff a productive gain or sense an issue in need of resolution, sure, make an appointment.
Last comment, get a quality set of contracts. Keep everyone's contract set up to date. Update them as renewals come up. Keep a backup set of photocopies off-premises. Don't let contract sets become separated or drift around the office - always file them immediately after use. Scan everything and keep backups of those. If you one day decide to sell, you don't want to take a beating for lack of decent contracts. If you get sued or need to sue someone, you'll need those contracts at your fingertips, probably multiple times. When you sell or need to prove that you're insurable, you absolutely won't have time to get new signatures all at once.
Ben There
************
Happy New Year to you and your staff too! You've been a great resource to us
and your contracts are proving to be a wise investment. Thanks again!
Tim Woodward
A.C.E. Alarms
Brentwood, TN