QUESTION:

    Hi Ken:

     Your questions and answers emails are extremely helpful to me.  We are new to alarming and they are a wealth of good information.  My question regards a school corporation in which we alarm 40 of their buildings.  I just recently purchased your alarm contracts and need to know if I have to get a contract for all 40 buildings or will one blanket contract with the school corp. be sufficient.  Thank you.

Mark

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ANSWER:

    You can use a single contract to cover multiple locations owned by the same subscriber.  You will probably need to use a rider where you will provide for the specifics of each location, such as pricing, details of installation, services, commencement date, etc.

     For a more detailed answer see http://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/earticle199.htm

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Ken,

    Lease to own is counterproductive to the growth of any alarm company and values of the that company as well.

    1. Many companies are rightfully concerned about accounts be taken over by competitors. Now leasing the transmitters is not a defense to poor service, but it is a deterrent to the customer for switching service providers because of increased cost to providing same service. If you want to be innovative in your market area, set the lease rate for the first three to five years to cover your investment with a good rate of return and then drop it to another reasonable rate(in case you have to replace it), but retain the ownership of the radio. Just know that as was with analog cell radios, when the technology changes and you own the radio, you may be able to charge a trip fee, but not for a new radio.

    2. The value to your company, all of these transmitters should be in your inventory, with serial numbers or mac addresses, and listed on your balance sheet. They are real numbers and real values to be considered on top of your RMR.

Bart Didden

President

USA Central Station Alarm Corp.

www.usacentralstation.com

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