KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE You can read all of our articles on our website. Having trouble getting our emails? Change your spam controls and white list ken@kirschenbaumesq.com ****************************** Inflation buster tool essential for your alarm business May 21, 2022 *************************** Inflation buster tool essential for your alarm business *************************** This is a follow up to the article on May 20, 2022 with my take on inflation and what it means in the alarm business and to you personally. This article gives you at least one good idea to combat inflation and stay ahead of the curve. When inflation is causing increased pricing you too need to get on that band-wagon. Raising your prices is of course too obvious to be meaningful advice. If you use the Standard All in One agreements you have the right to increase prices 9% each year; that's still ahead of inflation. And customer need to pay those increases because it's not optional. Some of you may still be using contracts that permit the subscriber to cancel service or require you to roll-back the increase if objected to by the subscriber. Can't help you if you're not using updated Kirschenbaum Contracts™. Increasing your prices goes hand in hand with increasing your services. Increased services can be achieved by offering additional types of equipment and systems as well as additional services. Technology in this industry is moving so quickly there are new types of equipment hitting the market all the time. You can't become a dinosaur; whatever you knew and offered 10 years or 5 years or 3 years ago should not define your level of service or scope of your service. I am not suggesting that you get into some alarm areas where you aren't yet qualified, such as commercial fire. But what excuse can you have for not offering cameras or access control? What excuse can you have for not offering smoke or CO detectors? What excuse can you have for not offering self-monitoring or even self-installation for those customers who want only that level of service? And what about the customer that does want to step up the security, why can't you offer and arrange for inspection, runner, patrol and guard service? OK, I know you have labor issues, not to mention supply chain issues. But I am discussing a long range plan for growth. "It takes money to make money." Someone said that. If you have the money, invest it in your business. If you don't think you have the money, find it even if you have to cut back on your own expenses for a while until you get over the hurdle from red to black. If you don't take the plunge you'll never get wet. The Standard All in One agreements are designed in increase your RMR; the All in Ones are designed to increase the services you provide. These contracts weren't designed with inflation in mind, but they were designed to promote growth in both services and revenue. How? The All in One agreements have line items for your services. I get calls often by companies who don't offer all of the services that the All in Ones cover; they would like to remove the provisions for these services. I usually talk them out of that and suggest that they leave the different services. They almost always admit that if a customer were to insist on these services [for example, guard service] and was willing to pay for the service, the alarm company could arrange it. Get enough call for the service you can start doing it in-house if that makes more economic sense. You don't get enough call for the service? Well how could you if you don't offer it and discourage it if a customer asks about it? It's not rocket science. By using the All in One agreement your customer is going to be presented with an array of services. Each service is a separate line item, separately priced for RMR. If the All in One with its separate itemized services is not enough to generate more work and increased RMR then the Disclaimer Notice should accomplish that. Once your sales pitch is done and the All in One presented for signature, then the Disclaimer Notice is presented. What's the Disclaimer Notice? It's your customer's acknowledgement that they have been advised, by you, that they should be getting certain additional equipment, systems and services, and they decided not to; they declined; they opted to accept and assume the risk for their reduced level of security. Will the Disclaimer Notice cause every customer to increase services? No, but it will cause enough of them to increase service, increase the RMR, to make a difference to you; it will be worth your effort. I designed the Disclaimer Notice to deal with customers who claimed they didn't read their contract, didn't understand what they were getting, claimed they were or weren't offered something more and lots of other claims that they came up with to get out of the protective provisions in the All in One contract. The price of the Disclaimer Notice has not changed in 20 years, it's still $275. A real inflation bargain. *************************** To order up to date Standard Form Alarm / Security / Fire and related Agreements click here: www.alarmcontracts.com *************************** CONCIERGE LAWYER SERVICE PROGRAM FOR THE ALARM INDUSTRY - You can check out the program and sign up here: https://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/concierge or contact our Program Coordinator Stacy Spector, Esq at 516 747 6700 x 304. *********************** ALARM ARTICLES: You can always read our Articles on our website at ww.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/alarm-articles updated daily ******************** THE ALARM EXCHANGE - the alarm industries leading classified and business exchange - updated daily ************************* Wondering how much your alarm company is worth? Click here: https://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/what-is-my-alarm-company-worth ****************************** Getting on our Email List / Email Articles archived: Many of you are forwarding these emails to friends or asking that others be added to the list. Sign up for our daily newsletter here: Sign Up. You can read articles and order alarm contracts on our web site www.alarmcontracts.com ************************** Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC Attorneys at Law 200 Garden City Plaza Garden City, NY 11530 516 747 6700 x 301 ken@kirschenbaumesq.com www.KirschenbaumEsq.com