KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE You can read all of our articles on our website. Having trouble getting our emails? Change your spam controls and whitelist ken@kirschenbaumesq.com ****************************** Selling your alarm company for more than the RMR multiple calculation / Profit Centers October 1, 2022
KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE You can read all of our articles on our website. Having trouble getting our emails? Change your spam controls and whitelist ken@kirschenbaumesq.com ********************** Selling your alarm company for more than the RMR multiple calculation / Profit Centers October 1, 2022 ********************** Selling your alarm company for more than the RMR multiple calculation *********************** Historically [and keep in mind the “alarm business” has a rather short historical perspective, maybe 70 years – and yes, I know there were alarm companies before that] alarm businesses were valued and sold based on Recurring Monthly Revenue, with a wide range of multiple. To get a more complete picture of the value of an alarm company [which simply means what someone is willing to pay for it] we would typically come up with a multiple times the RMR, add value of new inventory, vehicles and some hard assets. The overwhelming value would be attributable to the RMR calculation. I repeatedly counseled that non-recurring revenue, such as installation, repair and inspection revenue which was not under a recurring revenue contract, would be excluded from the calculation. That is still the general rule because most alarm companies still employ the RMR model, focusing their revenue on recurring revenue. It’s still a good idea and business model. When you read the advice below by Dennis Riley keep in mind that most “profit centers” offer RMR opportunity, so the business model is traditional for the alarm industry. There are alarm companies that do have a business model that challenges the traditional RMR valuation approach. These companies prefer to think of themselves as Integrators or Life Safety contractors and they share a common opinion that their business is worth a whole lot more than just the RMR calculation. We see this with commercial fire alarm companies specializing in large commercial jobs; there is substantial profit in the installation and often the repair and inspection services are not based on RMR contracts, but nevertheless profitable. So besides the RMR calculation and the hard asset calculation how do we approach as valuation for the Integrator and Life Safety company? Initially note that the pool of buyers may be less because the RMR model still prevails in the alarm industry. But the valuation of the non-contracted RMR is going to be based on EBITDA, essentially the net profit made by the company on the non-RMR operation. If the operation includes both RMR and non-RMR revenue some allocation for operational expense will be appropriate. The RMR side of the operation will be valued using traditional criteria and the non-RMR operation will be evaluated using the EBITDA approach. If one side of the operation overwhelming predominates then likely one method will be used. Any way you slice it a buyer is going to have to believe that it is going to be able to earn a profit after considering acquisition cost. I do have one other observation about the many “profit centers” below. “A jack of all trades, master of none” is probably not a great way to run your business, unless you want to consult with K&K’s bankruptcy department. While the alarm, integration, life safety, low voltage business offers many opportunities, you still have to have the trained personnel to perform the services. Keep in mind that most alarm companies are operating in a more or less traditional way, exploring or performing some of the “profit centers”. Dennis opines that many are involved in 10 to 12. However you operate your business, whichever business model you embrace, ultimately you have to be making money and your buyer needs to believe it will be able to continue your operation and make money. ************************** Comment on profit centers ************************** Ken As always thank you for all the information you provide to your READERS I AS YOU HELP People build and SELL their Life Safety Businesses. Collectively all Life Safety use about 50 Profit Centers. The average alarm Businesses only uses 10 or 12. When they add NEW Complimentary profit centers their business sales go up and their businesses are worth a lot more. I’ve identified the Profit Centers below. Dennis Riley ****** 1. RESIDENTIAL ALARM INSTALLATIONS --- Most companies use this profit center. Millions of people want their homes and families protected. The average non-giveaway alarm dealer can get a fair price for the installation. Our 4-page document on this profit center talks about why the best managed Alarm-Security businesses get great prices for their sales, leases, and installation charges. Most get their material costs, installation, labor, and sales commission, plus they try to get 30% to 60% mark up over costs. We can give you details as to why some companies do large volume and add great profits.
2. RESIDENTIAL Recurring Monthly Revenue (RMR) -- RMR is a vital profit center of your business. Many good Alarm-Security businesses don’t do residential monitoring because they don’t want to compete with all the “free or $99” alarm systems. Again, we want to show you how the best companies get around these difficult problems. When the equity value of these accounts is not on your P&L statement, and is not on your balance sheet. It is hard to get the right mindset and keep in focus that every new account you put into your central station is the same as depositing a $1,000 into your savings account. When you use our “Coaching Program”, we will help you keep this valuable asset growing.
3. COMMERCIAL ALARM INSTALLATIONS --- This profit center is the foundation for most Alarm-Security businesses. Some companies are focused on selling basic systems to main street businesses. These systems are sold at low prices and the technicians can usually get in and out in a few hours and have created another good monitoring account. Other companies like to focus on the larger installations, and in most cases, the conventional burglar alarm. It can just be a part of the integrated system. It may be part of the Access Control system and include the fire alarm and the video system. Our 4 page document focuses on the conventional alarms only. All other integrated products and services will be covered as separate profit centers.
4. COMMERCIAL RMR --- Your RMR programs are so important. They should be about 4 or 5 of your key profit centers. The larger more successful Alarm-Security dealers have a sales department, a sales manager, and a group of sales people who are responsible for individual profit centers. The owner or senior management will make sure that the responsible persons know the key elements that need to take place each month in order to get the desired results. Each profit center should have its monthly and annual goal. Our 4 page document on each of these profit centers will give you good ideas of what you need to do, and the results you should expect. We are happy to see that some of the most profitable companies have learned that after 25 years of unchanged monitoring pricing, they can now ask for higher fees and get them. The people who say this cannot be done will find out that they shouldn’t be thinking for the customers and/or they may be targeting the wrong customers. Alarm-Security customers receive a good value for a fair price. We want to show you how to get “Full Pricing”.
5. FIRE ALARM SYSTEMS -- There are many types of fire alarms and most are installed by professional companies. Most states now require that the installations be performed by properly certified NICET personnel. Many electrical contractors are expanding their market to include more fire alarm work and other areas served by the conventional alarm industry. For the growing quality integrators, fire alarms can be a more profitable side of the business. A major key to this profit center is to represent a well known manufacturer or brand.
6. ACCESS CONTROL --- The door entry profit center is one of the most active with the integration dealers. There are dozens of manufacturers and quality products for the controls that give people access to buildings, vehicles, or access to restricted areas. In so many cases, these systems must be integrated into computer networks and other communication systems. These systems can be tied into other profit center areas, such as elevator monitoring, video systems, fire alarms, parking controls and more. Many companies do millions of dollars in this profit center. One of the most important keys to this profit center is the people. Proper training on how to sell additional products and services is the key to integrating additional profit centers into your customer’s current installation. Some of these systems can be very simple, like only having to protect one door, and can be installed by most technicians or locksmiths. Many locksmiths start their journey into Alarm-Security thru access control. The original access control was a lock & key.
7. VIDEO EQUIPMENT & SYSTEMS --- This is a growing segment of the Alarm-Security industry. For some larger companies they may have 4 or 5 profit centers just for video systems. You have the construction industry which likes to rent video towers to put in the middle of their sites to be the night watchman. Many watchmen have been replaced by video systems. One guard in front of several video monitors can protect properties much better than 6 guards on site. The better the security, the better loss control prevention. One of our manufacturer vendor friends installed over 60,000 video systems in Europe and those actively monitored systems were connected to 500 (mostly proprietary) central stations. When you request several of our profit center programs on video marketing , you will find some interesting areas to expand your video related profit centers. Video monitoring has slowed down shoplifting and employee theft in the retail market. Several dealers specialize in just one or two areas of the market such as protecting convenience stores from hold-ups. Similar systems are used at car dealerships for night protection and include 2-way voice controls. We all know about video in airports, jails, and prisons. There are companies that need to take a closer look at the RMR in video monitoring. The Alarm Club can help you grow this profit center.
8. STRUCTURED WIRING --- What a great profit center. When you have a sales force and technicians that know how to sell and install structured wiring, you are talking about a market profit center that will feed 6 or 7 of your other profit centers. Ask us for the document on structured wiring. When a new home is under construction has a “Structured Wiring” system installed, there will be devices products and services connected at each end. Many alarm companies have telephone systems and services as a profit center. Many are also into the intercom, audio and video profit centers because they can be connected to the structured wiring system. When you are building a large quality business you should have some of your best people to focus on structured wiring. You will find hundreds of additional sales coming from the fact that you are one of the best known structured wiring companies. Do not forget to go after the big office buildings, multi tenant buildings, and assisted living facilities. Nurse call stations are connecting to structure wiring. Life Safety USA has several sales programs and other great documents that can help you with your structured wiring programs.
9. TELEPHONE EQUIPMENT & SERVICES --- Many telephone companies are getting into the Alarm-Security business. Many Alarm-Security businesses are getting into the telephone equipment and services industry. You need to make sure you have technicians that are well trained on the products that you will sell. The people who know how to handle this profit center find it very useful to do cross marketing. When you cross train your sales department to offer several products and services, they have more than one product that the customers want. When you are working with purchasing agents, business owners and buyers of all types, they all have and use phone systems. When you make a good impression by performing great work in one segment of the product line, they will use you for your other services as well. In Life Safety USA's marketing programs you will find out how to create mutually beneficial relationships with telephone companies that currently do not install alarm systems. These relationships are great lead sources for Alarm-Security sales.
10. AUDIO & STEREO SYSTEMS --- More equipment and products to connect to that structured wiring profit center. We see two different types of profit centers within this special market. There are the high-end stereo systems that require a qualified person to design and sell it, and higher end installers to make them sound right. There are other dealers that stick with the lower priced systems and still do fair volume and make a good profit. They are giving the customer what they can afford. This profit center can help you get in the doors with the best custom homebuilders. When you start expanding into this profit center make sure you go and find the right people. Our details on expanding this profit center have a lot to do with finding the right people who can produce a good profit for you. One of the keys, again, to make this work well for you is the ability to cross market this program.
11. HOME THEATER --- This profit center is certainly an interesting and profitable area for income. Again, many company owners like to use sub-contractors to do this work. If you want to get into this business, one of my suggestions is for you to find about 10 people that sell and/or install home theaters and ask them a dozen questions. If this is done properly you will find these 10 interviews very educational and interesting. At the end of these interviews, you will start improving your business plan. You can ask the owners of home theater companies if they are interested in selling. In the current markets you may pick up a company with 4 or 5 trained personal that can utilize your company foundation to do a much better job in a new environment. Life Safety USA's “Coaching” can help you with projects of this type.
12. COMPUTER NETWORKING --- Most Alarm-Security businesses do not get into this profit center, but a lot of computer networking people are wandering into the Alarm-Security industry. The Alarm industry is constantly changing and expanding. We want to see several of our Life Safety owners take a closer look at upgrading their IT abilities. Most of our control panels are microprocessors; most of our systems are connected to someone’s computer. Your structured wiring is going to be connected to computers. Most of your people know how to plug in a computer and know all of the ways they can connect to the Internet. The key is to know how to speak the language, and again find the right people. There is a good supply of people to help you develop this profit center.
13. ELEVATOR MONITORING --- I like to keep Alarm-Security company owners focused on that RMR. It is the “Truth” that most Alarm-Security companies can make about $2 to $3 of equity gain for every dollar you can make from the operation side of your business. Ten years ago the big elevator companies could care less who was monitoring their elevator phone, now all the big ones try to get that business for themselves. When I interview owners of some of the larger more successful Alarm-Security businesses, I like to ask them the question, how many elevator alarm phone systems they have done in the last 12 months? I already know the answer; most every one of these busy aggressive companies is only doing 2 or 3 a year. We try to get them to follow our program, and the ones that focus on this profit center will sell about 10 to 12 per year. But most of them will tell you that the person who makes the elevator decision is the same person who can give you the sprinkler monitoring. I have had many Life Safety company owners tell me that they have sold hundreds of thousands of dollars of new business because they went after every building with an elevator. Don’t miss out on this one.
14. FIRE SPRINKLER SUPERVISION --- Great, more RMR! You can get $45 to $85 per month for the standard one riser sprinkler system. Most Alarm-Security businesses do not focus on this great profit center. Just about every new commercial building built today has a fire sprinkler system installed. All are required to be monitored. In most cases, the fire sprinkler companies install the water flow switches and valve tamper switches and other devices. The Alarm Company installs the red box with the electronics and “Bingo” you have more RMR plus a nice installation charge. That monitoring will be there until the building burns down. You will love this profit center. Life Safety USA can show you 12 of the best ways to sell this profit center. Again, we will show you how to cross market it and in particularly we will show you that there are additions to this profit center like: Profit center Fire Sprinkler Inspections.
15. FIRE SPRINKLER INSPECTIONS -- This profit center works very well with the above supervision profit center. This is where a great deal of the profits are for the fire sprinkler companies. County and city ordinances, and some insurance companies and business polices require that all systems must be inspected and tested 2 times each year. Going after this business will get you a lot of additional accounts for some of your other profit centers. We’ve been told that the Nicet Certification required to do this work is easier to obtain than the alarm certification. Don’t overlook this profit center because it can become a revenue generating machine. The Inspector/technician can also do much of the cross marketing sales work. You need to get Life Safety USA's document on this profit center.
16. GPS PRODUCT & SYSTEMS SALES - These products and services can produce large volumes of RMR and sales profits. There are dozens of companies and vendors who can sell or lease products to you. Vehicle tracking is one of the most popular. Many Alarm-Security companies are doing well protecting construction equipment & expensive tools. Many of the devices are now so small they can be hidden on small items. One of the big new GPS markets is keeping track of people including children. Life Safety USA is now in the process of exploring the many vendors and talking to their customers. We will show you who is making money and how they are doing it, and who's products they like best. Another profit center that is very interesting that uses GPS is the Home Arrest business. (See #17 below)
17. HOME ARREST --- When the courts sentence someone to “Home Detention”, the person usually has to wear an ankle or wrist bracelet. We always talk about RMR, right? Well check this out! The average offender pays you $490 per month to stay out of jail. Your equipment and system always knows where the offender is at at all times. The Jails are full of non-violent offenders. The attorneys, judges, and others become your sales force. There are not many competitors in this little unknown opportunity. Only about 2% of the alarm companies in the U. S. are in this business. Life Safety USA has helped 3 Alarm-Security businesses add this interesting new profit center to their revenue stream. There is a home arrest business in Maryland that has about 150 offenders connected to their central station. They produce about $600,000 in gross sales of RMR, with about $160,000 net to the owner. You need to look at the detailed information on this profit center. If you decide to go into this business, we have an “80 Page book” that will give you a good foundation to get started. Life Safety USA loves this profit center.
18. NURSE CALL STATIONS --- A few of the profit centers are a specialty that only a few companies will get into. You should take a good look at some of these opportunities. This profit center has some of the same marketing qualities the elevator profit center has. Once you identify the manufacturer or distributor of the Nurse Call Equipment that you choose, and put forth the sales and marketing effort to present these products to the end users, you will find that these buyers will also buy many of your other products and services. Just about every hospital has elevators and security cameras right? Most hospitals have growth plans and your knowledge of this can put you in great position to bid on that new wing. Lfe Safety USA has made a special effort to seek out the Alarm-Security dealers who have a good “Nurse Call Station” profit center. We find that in most cases, these are some of the most successful alarm dealers within their market share. We ask these dealers a lot of questions about their suppliers and what they like and don’t like about this profit center. We invested about 100 hours of research, building our files on this profit center. You should take the time to learn more about it.
19. P.E.R.S. – PERSONAL EMERGENCY RESPONSE SYSTEMS --- This is an improving profit center. The insurance industry used to have a big problem wanting to write policies on this industry, but now they are doing well with the risk. There are many vendors and quality suppliers providing P.E.R.S. equipment and services. Again, when you take a profit center such as P.E.R.S. and go after this market, the only way we see it working well is if you offer it as part of your other products and services to the same community. Most people who use P.E.R.S. also need a residential alarm, or doctors who need protection for their patients also need protection for their offices and their home. The person who is a sales specialist focusing on the medical industry, will be the person who sells the most P.E.R.S.
20. CENTRAL VAC SYSTEMS --- Over 50% of the Alarm-Security businesses that use this profit center, use sub-contractors to do the work. Many do not like this part of the new home construction business, but most builders want a good Alarm-Security company that can “Do It All”. If you look in the right places you can find a sub-contractor that will give you leads for alarms, if you let them do your VAC installations.
21. BACKGROUND MUSIC & BROADCASTING --- Do not overlook this great business and profit center. Several of the large national background music and broadcasting companies are getting into the alarm industry. They love the RMR, so Life Safety USA is now conducting research on this industry in order to help our members expand into this market. This profit center can help you expand into many of the national chain stores and other businesses. We’ve identified a few companies that are taking advantage of this market and are continuing to seek out more. One example we’ve found is a large chain with 400 gas stations and convenience stores was using a certain background music and broadcasting company to also do their “Satellite Communications” from the stores to their headquarters. They did such a good job for them, that when the bids came up they hired to same company to upgrade their alarms and video systems. You should ask Life Safety USA to coach you in this area and explore this profit center.
22. FIRE EXTINGUISHER & FIRE EQUIPMENT SALES --- This is one of Life Safety USA's favorite profit centers. Dennis Riley, President of Life Safety USA, made millions of dollars from this profit center. He started Beltway Fire Equipment Company with $500 and sold it 23 years later for $2.7 Million. The key here was that after the 3-year start-up period, he average about 20 new monitored Alarm sales per month. You are talking about adding $20,000 per month of equity to the sale value of your business. The basic concept is that if you are opening a new business, you must have fire extinguishers to get your occupancy permit. When we installed the fire extinguishers we asked, “Can we have our alarm people come and talk to you about your needed alarms and video cameras”. We had 17 trucks on the road that were sales people for our Alarm Company Beltway Alarm Services. If you’re not already involved, you must take a look at our write-up on this industry.
23. FIRE EXTINGUISHER SERVICE --- This profit center goes well with the above profit center # 22. Again, a lot of the times, the RMR for this profit center is dictated by local codes, insurance requirements, etc. that state fire extinguishers need to be inspected once each year. This is good revenue and allows your technician/sales agent to check in on other needs of those clients once a year in a face to face visit. A major company in the Midwest that is one of the SDM Magazine top 100 Integrators, got into the alarm business a few years ago. With the strength of his 60 fire extinguisher accounts, he sold, installed, and monitored over 8,000 alarm systems. This led him into the Alarm Integration Business, which is now one of the largest independents in the country. These mobile fire extinguisher service vehicles also inspect and service door exit emergency lighting. They sell and install First Aid Medical Kit’s and that’s a big business by itself. They service these first aid boxes with replacement products. They can sell and install defibrillators and many other products off their service trucks. Life Safety USA can find you a small fire equipment business that will get you off to a good start in this market.
24. POLICE EQUIPMENT & SUPPLY --- This can be an interesting profit center. There have only been a few companies that ventured in this direction, but it worked well for them. All of them got into the business acquired a police equipment company that was for sale. This, like some of the above profit centers, can become an Internet business (see #25 below). Again, this will always be about cross marketing. Your sales force can consist of people who specialize in selling 4 or 5 of your profit centers which can be offered to the same buyer. If a person is selling just 1 product or service, it can be a rough road. If you only need 25% of your income from one profit center, it gets a lot easier when you have a variety of products to open doors for you. This profit center could provide you with 100’s of lead sources.
25. INTERNET SAFETY & SECURITY SALES --- Many Alarm-Security companies are adding an Internet sales profit center to what they are doing. They usually start with an in-house administrator, typically a sales person who needs more income. This person is in charge of this profit center and can also be a key sale lead developer for the outside sales department. One of their responsibilities could be to contact some large institutional buyers like a college or university Director of Security. You are informing them personally so that they are aware that you have security and safety products that they use and they can now be purchased via the Internet. Your Internet Specialist can e-mail construction companies that may need 100 fire extinguishers and cabinets for a construction project. You can sell all kinds of “Do It Yourself” security systems. Read the Life Safety USA document on this 21st Century profit center.
26. FIRE DEPARTMENT PRODUCTS & SUPPLIES --- Many of the same Alarm-Security companies that get into the Police Equipment business like this profit center as well. Every market has dozens of city, town, county and rural fire departments. They all buy running gear and a 1,000 other products. Again these people working in fire houses can be good lead sources for fire alarms, smoke detection, and other products and services that you sell. These products can also be added to your Internet business. You could be surprised at the types of manufacturers that would want you to “Rep” for them. You should already have a sales person that could add this to their existing profit centers. This can be a complicated business to start but if you could purchase one of these existing businesses, not only should it be a good profit center for you but it could help you sell 10 more alarms per month, and the current owner will train your manager on all aspects of operating the business. Life Safety USA can find you one of these businesses.
27. SAFES – GUN SAFES – HIDDEN SAFES – This can be a million dollar profit center all by itself. We know an Alarm-Security business that sells safes to chain stores nationwide, right? Every time the chain opens a new store, this company has the safe drop-shipped to the store directly from the Manufacturer. Then, they have a local locksmith safe company do the installation. The alarm company has never seen the customer or the safe, yet made a fair profit from this transaction. Gun safes are sold and installed for many homeowners when the residential alarm sale is made. Many alarm companies have done well going to gun shows and renting a table for $100. This is a good place for sales leads and you will sell a few gun safes while you are there. There is a lady in the Mid-West who has sold 3,000 hidden safes to residential customers. She has made a good living just off of that profit center. Her 2nd profit center is selling hidden safe rooms. These go for $25,000 to $200,000. She sells lots of them and of course a lot of times they are all in the multi-million dollar homes. You will hear more and more about the importance of this profit center as people start to keep additional cash resources at home during these uncertain times.
28. INTERCOMS --- Unlike the above, higher quality “Sound & Audio” profit center. Many buyers still want the less expensive intercoms with music. Each profit center should add to your profits. Our job is to continue “Suggesting” ways to improve profit centers, and in some cases, we will suggest that you should divide one profit center into 2 or 3 new profit centers with a refocus to improve the overall marketing strategy. The intercom business profit center can be improved by commercial intercoms which can be stand-alone systems not connected to the phone systems. In many cases, these are in industrial locations, factories or distribution centers.
29. BILLABLE SERVICE – TIME & MATERIAL --- This profit center includes service contracts and income from service calls, but not work performed under warrantees. There are many ways to improve this income source that we will share with you. You may want to consider doing billable service work for others. When management gives good focus to this profit center there are about 8 key areas that can improve these sales and in some cases double your profits from this group of technicians. Our document takes a look at how you handle your charges and billing. You will want to remember that this is a profit center and not a break even center.
30. SWIMMING POOL ALARMS --- Ah hah, how many of you have thought of this profit center? There are several manufacturers that provide quality swimming pool alarms. Most Alarm-Security company owners do not get excited when we suggest that they add this profit center to their P&L statement but when you look at this program you will see how to add 2 or 3 new RMR accounts each month by having 2 of your sales people focus on calling or emailing these prospects. People who have swimming pools need to make sure that a small child does not fall into that pool and they certainly want to know if trespassers are not using their private pool when away from home. The new motion detection video cameras do well in this sales market. You need to visit every pool service & installation company in your market to offer them your expanded services in this area.
31. CABLE TV SERVICE --- Again, there you are in a new custom home, installing the “Structured Wiring”, including cable for TV systems. You can sell the service for one of the many competitors. A few Alarm-Security companies install “Dish” systems or have a separate division that is a sub-contractor to a cable company. A key value we want to present to you about this marketing opportunity is that when a new homeowner wants his Internet service and/or cable TV installed, this is your opportunity to get their alarm system, or a home theater system business. Our document on this profit center will give you a lot of marketing ideas.
32. PROCESS MONITORING ---- Temperature monitoring, water flow, any process that you can put a switch on. When my Alarm-Security company (Beltway Alarms) focused on this profit center for 2 years, we sold and installed more than 200 new systems that produced RMR. See our detailed document on this lucrative profit center. This profit center also included the monitoring of freezers. We contacted about 10 laboratories and biological research centers; in five of these facilities we received over $100,000 of installations and 4 dozen monitoring agreements. In this same marketing effort we receive the monitoring contracts for the Red Cross Blood Bank storage facilities.
33. GUARD RESPONSE ----- Most Alarm-Security businesses will never be in the guard business, however, we can show you how to sub-contract and out source with guard companies and earn money for doing so. We want to show you how to market to all the guard and investigation companies in your market area. They will be happy to send you their alarm referrals. Life Safety USA wants to show you how to get a lot of new business from these guard companies. Life Safety USA’s management has worked for, and had a lot of experience with guard companies and we want to transfer this knowledge forward to you.
34. MOBILE EQUIPMENT PROTECTION ---- This has been a great profit center for many Alarm-Security businesses, construction equipment, tool rental businesses, the petroleum industry, and dozens of others. GPS and other cellular equipment have made this a growing profit center. The expanded document on this profit center will tell you 10 ways that you can find more customers to sell monitored RMR to. There are literally thousands of pieces of equipment of all types out there that need to be protected.
35. CELLULAR WATCH ---- There are a lot of people in your market area that other authorities or individuals need to know where they are at all times. Undercover police officers, dignitaries, multi-millionaires and others that can be kidnapped need some form of tracking in case of emergency situations. This is another product for your internet sales person to offer. There are new GPS products on the market that can tell you where your kids are and where your teenager in your car is located. All the detective agencies need your products to do their shadowing and now ,more than ever, individuals are doing their own reconnaissance. You can build a nice little revenue stream just off this interesting profit center.
36. AUTO ALARMS – GPS ----- LoJack is the big name in this industry, but there are many new products available. Again, this can be an important profit center in the process of selling these products you will sell the same customers many of your other security related services as well. If you are not already offering this is a product we suggest you use a sub-contractor and outsource the installations. On your P&L statement you will have income for auto alarms and on the expense side you have the amount you pay your vendors. That can be a 30% to 40% margin and your new RMR is where you are improving the value of your business. This same profit center can also sell, lease, and install the interlock device that allows a DWI or DUI convicted individual to drive his or her car.
37. SIGN SERVICE ----- Advertising is an important part of the Alarm-Security business. The industry has always used our decals and yard signs for advertising our company as well as protecting our customers. Everyone knows that they are a deterrent. I went several steps further and made much larger signs that I sold to construction sites and many outdoor storage areas. These sign were often promoting the outdoor protection systems. Ask us about how to make money from you signage and turn it into a profit center. It’s amazing how many signs you can sell at a gun show that lead to real accounts.
38. HOME AUTOMATION ---- This is a profit center that we are exploring. It’s a great companion profit center for the home theater and residential alarm divisions. Every Alarm-Security business is scrambling to make their system “smart phone” capable. Smart phones, like the Iphone, have the ability to link into a home’s network and control the alarm as well as what lights or entertainment items can be turned on and off remotely. We will continue to research and make suggestions on how to improve this profit center. Would you like to double your income in this area? You can start by reading the detailed document on this profit center.
39. BUILDING AUTOMATION - Just like home automation, businesses are automating services in order to make things more cost effective and efficient for the “Building Engineer”. A lot of newer buildings use these systems to monitor and supervise their boiler rooms, HVAC systems, water flow, flooding and more. This allows one Building Engineer to monitor and be responsible for more than one building at a time and to have almost instant knowledge that an alert/issue has occurred. This allows the engineer to be more proactive in the approach to fixing a problem before it’s at its worst point. We want to suggest several ways for you to integrate this info you marketing programs.
40. NANNY CAMS ---- This also is a growing profit center needed for most child care providers around the country. When both parents needing to work, it's nice when they can do a quick check on the children. The term “Latch-Key Children” rings well here. These products and services can also be used effectively to protect children that may be home alone for extended periods of time without adult supervision. The two way audio features allow a parent to speak directly to the child, or hired adult, who is watching over the child. You will see a lot more marketing in this area as more people are unable to afford childcare.
41. RADIO – CELLULAR BACK MONITORING --- Many companies are doing well with this added RMR. Now with the phone company “POTS” problem and the fact that many people do not want a home phone line any longer, these optional communication options give you additional income. IP & Internet monitoring are now being used on a regular basis. Life Safety USA is now researching this profit center and will have a detailed report soon.
42. EMERGENCY POWER & LIGHTING --- Electrical contractors who are expanding into the Alarm-Security industry like this profit center. If you like the sound of this business you can find Sub-Contractors who will work with you. Life Safety USA and Dennis Riley suggest that you go on the Internet and find every Emergency Power Company in your market area and invite them to your office. Let them know you want to be their agent and sell their products and services to your customers. You will want to make sure you ask them who is doing their Alarm work for their Office/Shop, as well as their Home.
43. OUT DOOR PROTECTION --- Yes, you can put any of these sales in one of the other above profit centers, but if you want to focus, and set some high goals, you need to look at each of your profit centers each month and make improvements. I know a few Alarm-Security businesses that this is their best profit center. One company I am thinking of leases “Tower Trailers” for construction projects. They pull on to the jobsite, crank-up their tower which have 3 or 4 cameras with motion equipment; cellular communication, and they are immediately connected to the central station. In many cases these units can also have 2 way voice. Again you may wish to use Life Safety USA’s Coaching to expand into some of these profit centers. ******************** To order up to date Standard Form Alarm / Security / Fire and related Agreements click here: www.alarmcontracts.com *************************** To order up to date Standard Form Alarm / Security / Fire and related Agreements click here: www.alarmcontracts.com *************************** CONCIERGE LAWYER SERVICE PROGRAM FOR THE ALARM INDUSTRY - 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. *********************** ALARM ARTICLES: You can always read our Articles on our website at ww.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/alarm-articles updated daily ******************** THE ALARM EXCHANGE - the alarm industries leading classified and business exchange - updated daily ************************* Wondering how much your alarm company is worth? Click here: https://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/what-is-my-alarm-company-worth ****************************** Getting on our Email List / Email Articles archived: Many of you are forwarding these emails to friends or asking that others be added to the list. Sign up for our daily newsletter here: Sign Up. You can read articles and order alarm contracts on our web site www.alarmcontracts.com ************************** 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
