Re: Want to move Brinks keypad

["Frank Olson" <feolson@xxxxxxxxxx>]

"Robert L. Bass" <robertlbass@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:E-CdnUjgSOJMfxzfRVn-pw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>> I don't know why my business model gets
>>>> to other dealers !...
>>>
>>> It scares them.  They already have a hard time making a sale and then
>>> you
>>> come along offering more complete protection and free service.  Of
>>> course
>>> they get upset.  It's the same reason they fear DIY.  Customers can get
>> more
>>> for their money and not have to pay these guys a cent.
>>
>> Trust me on this...
>
> You've not earned my trust.
>
>> you sell a few dozen panels a month...
>
> Actually, I make two to three dozen sales a day, but it's not just my
> online store that worries some of these folks.  It's the fact that there
> are thousands of online stores doing the same thing.  Mine happens to be a
> bit more successful than most others. The overall affect does impact brick
> & mortar stores, particularly when Jack or Doug go out to bid $2,500 on a
> system and the client finds out he can but significantly more protection
> for about a third what these guys want.
>
> The other aspect of DIY that really bugs installing dealers is low-priced
> monitoring.

Nope...  Doesn't bother me at all...  We've been charging $15.00 a month
ever since "our counter" opened...  ;-))


> With companies like Next offering $8.95 a month monitoring it's tempting
> for clients of B&M dealers to walk away.

Tempting??  Lessee...  $8.95 US is about $12.00 Cdn...  The monitoring's
"out of state"...  Then there's your argument that "untrained clerks" answer
the phone which means next to nothing in the way of "technical support"...
Nope...  I ain't worried...  and I don't think Mark, Doug, Jack, Jim,
Graham, and Norm are either...

> I've been in the trade for 28 years and have had an Internet store for 8
> years now.

1996 to 2005...  That's 7 years for your "Internet store"...  1985 to 1996
that's 15 years as a licensed installer (ie. "in the trade").  Oh...  I
forgot...  You actually kept up your license until 2001 because several
customers in Connecticut required your personal services shortly after you
moved to Florida which meant you immediately hot-footed it over there on the
next available flight...  Was this a *daily* occurance, or just "once every
two weeks"...  You must have really racked up the Air Miles, and I'd imagine
the "travel surcharge" on your service invoice must've raised a few
eyebrows...  Rhonda supposedly was running the business after she booted you
out of the house...  I wonder what she'd have to say about "your
contribution" to it in the time you were there (and in Florida)...


> In the early years online sales were probably less than 0.1% (figure
> picked from midair) of the trade.  Now there are tens of thousands of
> online dealers selling alarms all over the country.

"Tens of thousands"???  Tried's and ADI's sales to installing Dealers still
outnumbers their sales to online stores.  You can check this for yourself...


> If a small dealer like me can sell better than $1.5 million a year, think
> what the total online alarm sales must be. Companies like Nassau and Norco
> do even more than I do (but not for long).


To get in the same league as SmartHome and Norco, you're going to have to
move your business out of your home and set up several *employees* in a
technical department so *someone* answers the freakin' phone (and the
emails) when you decide to spend time in Bahia, Brazil, the Lanai...


> Smarthome, probably the highest priced online dealer, sells close to $2M
> per month.

Check...  they have an operation that you couldn't touch in "28 years"....


>
>> while ADT installes a few thousand, they don't
>> fear your business model
>
> ADT doesn't but the lowlifes who post all the garbage here sure do.

Heh...  Like wow, Robert...  I'm really scared!!


>
>> I talked to Jack last year...
>
> How nice.
>
>> he doesn't fear your business model, Doug was a
>> little nervous but that turned out to be an upset
>> stomach instead
>
> Too much vitriol will do that.
>
>> I imagine Mr Campbell has also made more money
>> from monitoring than installing by now.
>
> Probably so, but he actually cares about his clients' security so he
> doesn't bid the kind of garbage systems many of these fast-buck artists
> sell.  Bob and I have similar attitudes about system design, customer
> care, etc.  He tried online sales and found it didn't suit his business,
> but the concept of total protection which he espouses is the same as mine.

Your "concept" falls far short when your customers have to take to posting
complaints in this Newsgroup to get you to listen...  The only "fast buck
artists" here are Mike and, well...  you...


>
>>> > All I can see anymore are the bad things
>>> > about our industry....ADT dealer program bullshit....locked
>>> > boards.....scummy little
>>> > lowlife destroying peoples sense of security
>>> > in their own home.....
>>>
>>> Hmm.  You're starting to sound like me.  :^)
>>
>> His stories are generally true tho
>
> You wouldn't know either way.  Unlike you, he also doesn't post unprovoked
> insults.


But you do...