January 5, 2012
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Comment
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Hi Ken
One issue that I think we are missing the boat on dealing with the competition from the cable companies is that we in the alarm industry (though fragmented) have access to a large number of faithful customers that are perfect candidates for other services. Just as the cable companies look at our industry and see it as an opportunity for them to make money, we in the alarm industry should look at their cable business and ALSO see it as an opportunity to make money. We the alarm industry should compete and provide cable like CORE services from providers that are not COMPETING in our own industry. The tables should be turned on cable providers that compete against us, as a group we could do as much and more revenue depletion damage to their core revenue as they could possibly do to ours. The cable companies should experience our competition affects on their revenue.
It is absurd to think that any one of us would consider buying or subscribing to do any type of business that would benefit one of our competitors, such as say buying products from ADT where we know that it would make them more money to better compete against us. THE SAME HOLDS TRUE WITH CABLE COMPANIES, why would we want to use or subscribe to the services of our cable company competitors. We should be looking with great vigor at how we can immediately stop using their services and PROFIT from providing non competitive cable like services from non competing suppliers.
We should not simply stand by and let the cable companies compete against us and not likewise subject them to effective counter competition.
If one looks at what the price per customer that cable companies have traditionally sold for you would be very surprised, it is in the $2.000 to $3.000 range, we should do everything in our power to see how we could get a piece of that pie.
My fellow alarm dealers I ONLY SEE A GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR US IN THE ALARM INDUSTRY and creative cable like service providers who also have a great opportunity to partner and supply us in the alarm industry cable type of products and services that we can offer to our customers. We must see this as an opportunity for us grow, have multiple streams of income, increase our market value of our companies, and give our competing cable companies the real competition they deserve.
There will be a great financial reward for those that take the initiative to be part of this and work to make it happen, let us use our creativity and make calls service providers and any one we think could help us make this happen, looking forward to the results.
Thanks Ken for your articles much appreciated.
Mike