Comment on dealer programs
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Ken,
I really enjoy your daily email and have gain a lot from the information shared in it. I now have a problem that I am hoping you and your readers can help me with. I signed up with a dealer program of a well known and well respected national company and not a week after our training was completed in January of this year we received an email stating that the company was sold to another national company. I do not want to name the companies involved but you all know who I am referring to. My problem is that I signed up with company "A" and not company "B". I contacted the director of the dealer program of company "A" via email and expressed our wanting to be released from the program and that we would be responsible for the few accounts we sold for them but was told that they could not release us from our obligations. I feel that the other dealers that find themselves in the same situation as I am should have a say as to whether we want to go with company "B" or opt out and be released from our dealer agreement with no restrictions from company "A".
I would have to believe that if they were already in negotiations with the other company they should have at least disclosed this to us. We as company owners are being sold just as a monitoring agreement is sold.
SW
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Response:
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I just want to take this opportunity to remind you that my position is that dealers are foolish to enter into a dealer program that requires, or for that matter encourages, that subscriber contracts be sold to the Program, leaving the dealer with no future recurring revenue and no equity in the accounts. Read the fine print.
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Batteries
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I hope you are not including your wireles smoke dectors in this 3 year battery replacement deal . As an Dealer and firefighter and looking at the smoke manifacture recomendation you are some one need to replace the smoke battries ONCE A YEAR min min.
ccopeland
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Sorry you are hung up on that vendor you use and your battery issues, but did you ever hear of "low battery" reports, or doesn't your control instrument vendor support the program report? A seven hour battery is an absolute minimum, and just think it might cost another $3.00, what a tenuous situation and choice you make for your subscriber. If you stop using old tech choices and consider what other vendors can offer you might be surprised at what you could really offer your customer, Oh, a little education and effort might be too much to ask for. Again, go to the classes available by the other vendors, and learn what industry is offering and it might (just might) make you a better installer or dealer-what ever you are.
Marty Winger
Martin Security Engineering