Re: Lying Competition

[Chris <chriswheeldon@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Monday, March 25, 2013 8:45:35 PM UTC-7, Jim wrote:
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> Hi Chris,
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> I've mentioned this before in ASA but it's been a long time and maybe bea=
rs repeating.
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> After a number of years installing, one day I got a call from an irate cu=
stomer that I hadn't seen nor heard from for over 5 years. Her message on m=
y answering machine said something about how nasty my employee was to her o=
ver the telephone. Well, at that particular time, I was the only "employee"=
 so I hadn't any idea what she was talking about. I called her and she rela=
ted how she had set the alarm off and had gotten into an argument with the =
CS operator who ..... she thought was    "my employee"  and she was cancell=
ing her monitoring. There was nothing I could offer her nor convince her of=
 the fact that the operator was not my employee. It was then that I realize=
d that a few years after I would do any installation, my customers would fo=
rget all about the "nice guy" who installed their alarm system and that the=
 CS operators would become their alarm company in their minds. That's when =
I started to send out a quarterly newsletter. Even though I complained to t=
he CS about how the operator had treated my customer, I never wanted to los=
e another customer because of their perception that the central station was=
 their alarm company. From that  point forward to this day (about 32 years)=
 I have sent a quarterly news letter to my clients. It's just a simple blac=
k and white, 8 1/2 by 11, one sided, black and white, four column note. I a=
lways mention something or make a comment about some community or media eve=
nt, offer suggestions about testing their alarms. Tell them about a vacatio=
n I may have just taken and so on. Mention that there are companies that ma=
y try contacting them via telephone or door to door trying to steal account=
s from other alarm companies. I tell them how to test their alarm systems, =
make their homes look occupied when they're not home, to be careful during =
the holiday season. I tell them about the other services I offer and maybe =
a little bit about a special job that I've done, home theater, computer net=
working and inviting them to call me, with no obligations, if they have any=
 questions about new technology that they're interested in or looking to bu=
y, TV's, IPhones, computers, etc, etc, etc. As I read the alarm trade and h=
ome theater magazines, I'll cut out articles and post some of the statistic=
s about burglaries and fires and other odd bits of information about techno=
logy that I think end users might be interested in.  And I always somehow w=
ork into the letter that if they should ever have any problems with their c=
entral station company that monitors their system, to let me know and I wil=
l be happy to take care of it for them. Sometimes I will slip a month in ge=
tting the newsletter out. I actually get calls from people asking for anoth=
er copy because they think it may have gotten lost in the mail. I've got tw=
o clients who send a copy to their kids who have grown up, gone to collage =
and now live in another state. =20
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> It's worked for me for decades now. Never lost another customer for that =
original reason and it keeps my clients reminded of who I am through the ye=
ars, even if they don't get to see me.=20
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> Ya gotta keep "you" in their memory or the central station becomes their =
alarm company and you are just a faint memory ...... if that. And when that=
 sleezey company comes a-knockin, there's no "connection" to the guy who in=
stalled their system. You've become just the voice of the CS operator so th=
ere's no loyalty remainging for you and therefore no reason to not believe =
what they are hearing from ScuzBucket Alarm Company.=20
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> I know that writing a newsletter is a dauting task for many people but if=
 you start writing one one day, you'll find out that once you get going, th=
at a single page fills up pretty fast. Most times I have trouble keeping it=
 to one page. You could even send one out every 6 months.=20
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> Any way, that's my suggestion.

Jim,

That's a good newsletter in itself, and good advice if I ever take over the=
 company.

It turns out that it wasn't so much the local company's fault, it was the l=
arge global company that treats everyone like a number sending out a work o=
rder to make updates for a customer that hadn't been with them for over a d=
ecade.

If I ever need a telegraph, I'll be sure to give them a call.

- Chris