How to coup in these tough times / Helping others coup March 25, 2020

KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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How to coup in these tough times / Helping others coup
March 25, 2020

See webinar schedule below. Webinars have started

How to coup in these tough times
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            I hope you’re not looking for the secret answer; there isn’t one.  As I write this article [on March 18, 2020] business is looking bleak.  There is a ripple down effect with payment [never mind the problem of getting every day personal and business supplies].  How can you pay your bills when your customers aren’t paying you?
            Most likely those you are required to pay are sympathetic, but they have their own bills to pay.  Some expenses you just can’t ignore, at least not for long.  Payroll; taxes; rent; health insurance; utility.  If you’re a dealer, you have the central station to pay.  If you’re the central station, you have rent or taxes, mortgage, communication carriers.
            Be careful to manage your finances.  If you are collecting money that you know is earmarked to your supplier then you need to separate those funds and use them for the earmarked purpose.  You can’t expect a central station to be sympathetic if you’re collecting your $30 and not paying over the $5 monitoring charge.
            If you are caught in a cash crunch be sure to talk to those you owe in advance.  Hiding or evading calls is not the answer. Letting them know that you need time but expect to honor your commitment will go a long way.  Not as long as you’d like, but everyone needs to be reasonable in these tough times.
            How about your customers?  The RMR is usually a small expense for any customer.  But think about all the businesses that are closed.  Some of them are not going to re-open.  There is going to be a lot of businesses that fail.  Some of you know that my “other hat” is United States Bankruptcy Trustee.  I suspect that part of my practice is going to be very busy when this calamity is over, and so is our Collection Department.
            Telling everyone to stay calm is not going to pay the bills.  Hopefully everyone will cooperate as best they can; stay in business.  For those of you on the fence about selling out, maybe you’ll feel the pressure to get out now, but buyers will be under the same pressure you are.
            Best advice.  Do the best you can.  Stay healthy and safe.

Helping others coup
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Ken,
            Regardless whether you believe this current crises is accidental, intentional or even imaginary, there can be no doubt whatsoever that it is having a major impact on all businesses all across this nation. Some businesses like restaurants and bars are flat out being told to close for two weeks or longer and many others are correctly heeding the correct advice to do business from home if possible. At Concord we have spent the last several days helping many of our Hosted PBX clients to weather this storm by remotely reconfiguring their VoIP telephone systems to accommodate remote workers. We’ve also been adding custom crisis related messages to their systems so that clients, patients and customers would be informed of new company policies and responses to the Corona Virus problem. All of our Channel Partners understand that “Disaster Mitigation” and keeping our clients in touch with their customers and patients is top priority. This is truly one of the major strengths of a well-designed Hosted PBX system. I know that you have a webinar this Friday (the 20th) and I will certainly be in attendance and listening carefully to hear the ideas being presented for consideration. Your readers should know that we can help them with events like this in the future, because rest assured this isn’t the last. But in addition to helping your readers, we can help them help their own business clients and thereby add value to the services they already provide. Meanwhile, everyone should remain calm. This is after all The United States of America. This crisis will leave behind a much stronger, much wiser and hopefully much better prepared country.
John Haenn, President
Concord Communications Group, Inc.
866-362-0705 (Direct Line)
jwh@voipccg.com

Webinars Series 2020 - Register now

          We are pleased to offer the below FREE Webinars. Originally scheduled as Roundtable discussions at the ISC we are now opening up attendance in webinar format. Please sign up for one or more webinars and we hope you’ll participate in the discussion. Other webinars TBA
            For those of you who had a Free private meetings scheduled with Ken Kirschenbaum at the ISC show, please call Stacy Spector,Esq at 516 747 6700 x 304 to re-schedule the meeting via Skype
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When: March 26, 2020 at 11AM ET
Topic: discussion on the value of quality video contracts and services
Presented by:  Sharon Elder, VP Sales, USA Central Station
Hosted by: Ken Kirschenbaum, Esq
Who should attend: owners, COO, managers, technical staff
Register here:  https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3745137120793115395
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When: April 7, 2020 at 12 PM ET
Topic: discussion on the current state of the Financial/Capital Market Stability in the Security Industry and necessary agreements needed for security companies
Presented by:  Troy Iverson, VP of Sales, Brian Davis, CFO of AvantGuard Monitoring Centers
Hosted by: Ken Kirschenbaum, Esq
Who should attend: owners, CFO, managers,
Register here:  https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7558739325686839811

To order up to date Standard Form Alarm / Security / Fire and related Agreements, click here:  www.alarmcontracts.com
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You can check out the program and sign up here: https://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/concierge or contact our Program Coordinator Stacy Spector, Esq at 516 747 6700 x 304.
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Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq
Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC
Attorneys at Law
200 Garden City Plaza
Garden City, NY 11530
516 747 6700 x 301
ken@kirschenbaumesq.com
www.KirschenbaumEsq.com