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valuation [to get your company valuation Click Here or go to https://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/what-is-my-alarm-company-worth]
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Hi Ken,
The July 19, 2012 e-mail from you brings to mind an acquisition we once made. We acquired a company that had nothing but clients that prepaid the RMR for the term of the contract. Not sure how he closed those sales. Purchase price of the company was $0. The business had been selling this way and using the pre-paid RMR to get support his business costs. When he decided to get out of the business, the clients were going to lose monitoring services as he had not pre-paid the central station he was dealing with and was not able to. We agreed to monitor the accounts for whatever they had pre-paid and not charge the clients. The clients won. This prevented this company from having to deal with a bunch of angry clients who had paid for services they were not going to get so the company won. We looked like heroes and got a bunch of new clients most of whom now pay us for monitoring services so we won too.
Regards,
Kevin Buckland, Manager / Client Satisfaction
True Steel Security & Care Link Advantage
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Ken,
Is "chutzpa" a legal term or can anyone use it?
Have a great day.
John F. Maccone
Director of Sales,
Fire-Lite Alarms by Honeywell
Northford, CT
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Response
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It's a universally recognized characteristic, and not one exclusive to any particular group of people. According to the Merriam-Webster on line dictionary, the term is from late Hebrew "huspah", first known use in 1883 in Yiddish, "Khutspe", and means "nerve" or "gall".
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Anyone still leasing? [from July 14, 2012 email]
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Ken
The answer is "yes". Leasing systems has been our business model for over 30 years and we continue to do so. We have only about 3000 systems and 99.9% are leased. Seems as if our customers don't mind if they are getting a TRUE value with a GOOD system and GREAT service. Leased systems bind the customers to the company and the company to the customers. If we were doing "lick and stick" systems and we were bean counters I would probably want to sell them outright.
Ron Irish
S.T.O.P. Alarm
Porterville, Ca.
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Response
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Leasing the system still gives you the edge if the subscriber wants to cancel or a new occupant takes over the premises and is reluctant to engage you to continue the alarm service. Removing the system will require a new installation, not just a re-programming of the panel. The key to a successful business model however is to be able to get an installation price that's close to or equal to what the sale price would be, then a higher price for the montioring and service because it's a leased system. I believe you'll find it easier to lease to commercial subscribers than residential. The Standard Commercial Lease will cover all security equipment and services, although if you're going to lease a commercial fire alarm system I'd recommend the Fire Alarm Lease which is as inclusive as the Fire All in One. There is also a Residential Lease, a single form that covers the installation, monitoring and service. But for residential or commercial I recommend the Standard All in One, which includes not only sale, installation, monitoring and service, but also subscriber remote access.
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