******************
comment
******************
Ken,
Your & Victor Harding’s recent comments [November 16, 2013 article] on attrition are very helpful and timely. Having handled recurring billing for over 200 dealers over the past 15 years, Cornerstone Billing has seen that accurately tracking attrition is tough—and getting tougher. A decade ago, you could get a decent handle on attrition by tracking basic counts of adds and cancels. But with the growth of interactive services, there’s now a long list of add-ons that security dealers can offer.
So—if a basic burg. monitoring account adds a video service, how is that handled? It’s not a new account, but it’s new RMR. Likewise, if a subscriber has a bundle of services, and cancels one or two, is that attrition?
We are moving from an era where attrition was “we added 10 accounts, and lost 5 accounts” to one that will be mainly tracking of RMR services, and the related dollars. Buyers or those that value a company’s recurring revenue will still look at counts, but the key to valuing RMR will be the dollars associated with each service, and the growth/cancellation rates within those recurring streams. We work with funding companies that lend money to dealers will bill for—they need an absolutely accurate report on the recurring they are lending against. So, of necessity, we’ve added to our ALARM software an RMR Tracking Report. To get it right, this report captures three things: +/- RMR dollars, charges and accounts. It captures new RMR, whether due to a new account or services added, cancelled RMR (whether services or a complete cancellation), rate increases/decreases, and continuing (unchanged) RMR.
It’s not simple—for a larger company with lots of activity, the summary page of this report has over 30 different numbers. But it’s invaluable information to really know how you’re doing. It’s also critical for this report’s integrity that the software captures--and protects--dates of any RMR changes. In other words, your November 2013 RMR Report better have the same numbers whether you run it now, or a year from now. Smaller companies can track these things manually, but it’s a lot more work these days with so many new services. Good, industry-specialized software can save lots of time.
Scott MacDougal
CEO, Cornerstone Billing
***************************
Webinars
****************************
**********************************
December 4, 2013 12 noon EST Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4919260455763006721
Title: 10 Things Residential Security Alarm Companies should consider BEFORE entering the world of Commercial Engineered System Fire Alarms
Presented by: Bob Williams, President of Briscoe Protective Systems and his Management Team.
Briscoe Protective Systems has been in the industry for 35 Years and has made the transition from a Residential Alarm Company in the late 70’s to a Engineered System Fire and Security Company that is an SDM Top 100 Company. Find us on the web at www.BriscoeProtective.com or on LinkedIn under Companies, Facebook and Twitter@BriscoeProSys
Description: There is a big difference between installing Residential Fire Systems and Commercial Engineered Fire Systems and there are “Key Factors” that Security Company’s should consider before attempting to go into this lucrative but challenging market.
Who should attend: Alarm company owners and fire techs.
************************