Re: Why you should never sign on as a dealer with a large company

[robercampbell@xxxxxxxxx]

On Sunday, November 8, 2015 at 11:07:35 AM UTC-5, roberc...@xxxxxxxxx wrote=
:
> When I first started my company 25 years ago as an independant third part=
y dealer, I signed on for the monitoring services of Protectron, a large al=
arm conglomerate up here in Canada. I also made the major mistake of having=
 them do my billing, which was a much easier way to go while in "startup mo=
de". My business grew over the years primarily because we were able to sell=
 full priced services with bundled service and warranty in the monthly, wit=
hout the need for a long term contract committment. And we did so at a far =
more reasonable price than any of the larger companies. Many people wish th=
e more personal services of a small, family oriented company versus the fac=
eless and expensive service of a large company, regardless of pricing. For =
years we could barely keep up, and that was with no advertising; only word =
of mouth. This still holds true today.
>=20
> Along the way though, we made two major mistakes, which we are now paying=
 for:=20
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> First mistake - to make a long story short, when I finally went to them t=
o take over our own billing, the horror story started. Due to their complet=
e incompetence, the billing data which they sent to us was in such shambles=
 that I had to hire an outside contractor to put the data in a format that =
I could input to the new independant billing company. This cost $3500 up fr=
ont just to have the data file corrected. I also found dozens of credit car=
ds which hadn't been billed, several for some years. I concluded that they =
didn't follow up properly because it simply wasn't their money and thus did=
n't really give a damn !! It has taken nearly a full year to get the billin=
g sorted out. Now that my son is running the business, I am working strictl=
y in the office, and it has been my major job for 2015 to sort out this mes=
s. It has taught me a hard lesson in dealing with large security companies,=
 and one which I hope I can pass along to others thinking of making the sam=
e mistake
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> Second mistake - not setting up my own independant lines for alarm transm=
ission. Now that Protectron has been purchased by ADT, I am beginning to se=
e the start of the cheapening of their monitoring services. As such, we are=
 moving our accounts off Protectron/ADT's station on to the facilities of a=
 large independant monitoring station. However, without the ability to quic=
kly shift all accounts, this is another major job for us.The top quality of=
 services now being reported by clients on the new station is astounding co=
mpared to what they were receiving before, with loads of extra options avai=
lable to them for less than I am paying with ADT. Bottom line, I am not bas=
hing ADT here, it's just that their services are not in keeping with the mo=
re personal monitoring services available through a top quality independant=
 station.It's more "cookie cutter" due to the large quantity of clients the=
y have to deal with (over 8 million last I heard), and their big company em=
phasis on the bottom line.
>=20
> So, anyone thinking of starting an alarm company today would be well advi=
sed to heed the following:
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> 1- Take control of your billing from day one and resist the urge to have =
the large company do it for you. Although this can be the more expensive wa=
y to go, especially at the beginning, it's far better for your company down=
 line
> 2- Make sure all your accounts are dialing numbers that YOU control, and =
not using the large company receiver numbers directly. Today, this is prett=
y easy to do and definately FAR easier than when I started in the '90's.
> 3- Make sure all your accounts are electronically on line with a server y=
ou own, and all information is available digitally on that server for all a=
ccounts ie: contract, programming, correspondence unique to that client, et=
c. This way, you can access all relevant data on site with the client. Nor =
do you have to keep 8 or 10 filing cabinets around to house your files.
>=20
> We have overcome all these obstacles and our business is full steam ahead=
, including all the high tech options customers are needing today. The busi=
ness has never been more profitable than it has since my son started offeri=
ng services, and I personally couldn't be happier with the outcome. It took=
 15 years of working with me to learn the business, and most importantly, t=
o finally become a top quality businessman in his own right (the son should=
 always exceed the father). And his outlook is somewhat different than mine=
 (with the exception of ethics) and he is bringing a new approach to things=
 which has shown in the results.=20
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> But I wanted to put this email out to warn startups about some of the eas=
y but disastrous lures of the larger company's dealership options.
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> If you are unable to sell services on your own, you will do slightly bett=
er "hitching your wagon to the star" of a large corporation at the beginnin=
g, but you will fare much worse over the longer term.
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> Good luck to you
>=20
> Bob Campbell
> www.homemetal.com
>=20
> PS: Jim, if you're still on this forum, this is probably the only post wh=
ere you and I would agree completely....:)) Feel free to say..."I told you =
so..."

Within the scope of the whole marketing approach, the free service and no l=
ong term commitments have been a boon to us over the long term. It allows u=
s to stand out from the crowd of companies who many times seem little bette=
r than the Alarmforce scammers and other "contract monkeys" in our industry=
. I can say with absolute certainty, that we have dozens of clients who are=
 with us because they have been so absolutely screwed by companies misusing=
 these long term contracts to extort money when it wasn't necessary. People=
 appreciate honesty and openness in business, and our providing services wi=
thout the requirement to needlessly lock in, and our standing behind the pr=
oducts and services we sell and install, has been a hallmark of our busines=
s approach since day one. Good service means we don't lose customers unless=
 they are moving, and it ensures they return to us when they need our servi=
ces again.All our clients pay for their services up front, so from a busine=
ss perspective, there is no need for a long term contract. If they want a f=
ree system, they go elsewhere.=20

I have no intention of arguing these points once again. This business model=
 works well for us and our clients and my son is carrying the business to n=
ew technological heights, with great success.=20

I wish you well in your business...