July 13, 2011
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Ken,
It's refreshing to hear the dialogue include 'build long term relationships' while denouncing dealerships that give 'more bad press than the industry needs'. Personally, I think your web-postings have helped solidify some industry attitude toward quality. We hear others that reflect our own feelings and concerns.
But all this talk about dealerships, selling or keeping accounts, or head-spinning recurring revenue multipliers is ignoring the 800 pound gorilla in the room. With government austerity at all levels just around the corner, and a valid risk of inflation like we haven't seen in a while; let's all re-evaluate what might happen when it becomes standard AND accepted that police response is not forth-coming on alarm signals.
I'm not advocating a position, I'm just wanting all of us to recognize the gorilla. If you have a long term contract for $25 per month and your costs quadruple, there is a good chance your ability to escalate the contract price will not keep pace. If the PD openly won't respond, how can we continue to say 'the police know us, we have stable systems, they always run our systems fastest'. Some version of this is very likely part of the sales pitch.
We also have to be concerned about unemployment and under-employment. No matter how rock-solid Ken's contracts are, you can't get blood from a turnip.
Our industry should have tightened up a relationship with the PD long ago. I'm sure we have some success stories about doing that. I'd like to hear about them. But we should be doing it even now. At a state organizational level.
Zeke Lay
Comtec
Oklahoma