WHAT recession ?

I have been very busy for holiday season which is good that means all my industrial customers have orders and are busy.this is usually when we switch out machines and do maintenance and every one is running instead even the alarm side is busy.

Over the last few years I've lost a higher number of accounts than usual. Some (I'm sure) due to the economy. Lost jobs, people moving to another state because of job changes, etc. However ( and let this be of interest to those of you who have been in this business for many years) I've been in this industry for 43 years. One of the attrition issues that I never considered was that I would start losing accounts because they died. Other related losses are due to moving to Florida for retirement, can't afford fee because they're retired on limited income. One spouse dies or gets sick and the other can no longer afford it. Sold house and moved in with family/to gated community/ senior community, etc. So ..... the longer you're in business the more you have to deal with this kind of attrition.

There are a few delinquet accounts that I'm carrying for a while ..... just because they've been good customers for so long and are going through hard times. Some I've had to cancel after a while. Others I'll carry for a bit to see how it goes. Some I've carried have come back and I've forgiven past due. I play this by ear.

However. as far as growth, as far as alarm accounts go, I'd have to say it's about status quo or a little less. But ....... In the last

4/5 years I've increased my home theater and CCTV, automated lighting, whole house audio and residential network wiring, and setup business. It's not recurring income but the profit margin is lots better, so income is growing. And I peiodiacally increase monthly monitoring fees in small amounts too.

How about you?

I remember when my absolutely first consulting client died! He was more than just my first consulting client, he was a friend. Years and years of working with him, he had slowly gotten behind and owed me enough to run our firm on for a year. Upon his death, I just walked away, couldn't push collecting the debt since he left a widow and subteen daughter, and a lot of debts behind. Months later, the widow showed up with a truck full of his electronic test equipment and said they didn't offer her much money for this stuff and asked if I could use it. You bet! Along with the myriad of items buried in the truck were such goodies as BERT [bit error rate tester for communications channels], HP Function Generators, Tektronix scopes and spectrum analyzer with tracking generator option! and a full blown Intel Development System!

I have not taken on new clients for 4 years now I have enough work just in my current base to keep me busy between all the crazy stuff I work on and build loss couple gain couple accounts as customer shrink and grow .

RHC: Yes Nick, I'm pretty much in the same boat. I only do maximum two system installs a week which keeps me ahead of natural attrition as people move. Since I'm VERY near the 1200 account mark, it's just as well. Monitoring revenues keep me more than happy and compensated, so I can concentrate on giving top notch service to my client base. It seems this winter though, work has increased somewhat over the same time last year, but I just go with the flow, and try not to over stress myself . Minor service like battery changes and paperwork fills in the rest of the day

Ain't life grand...:))

I ended up working on a fire alarm on a tow boat today helping a electrical contractor out I sub for neat stuff I have around 300 accounts that's enough.

Hey ...... what ever happened to that 700 account .... ceiling? Remember?

Did you bring a level so you could make sure the panel was mounted straight?

I lost around 200 accounts when I got sick and in long run it was for the better as they where pain in the ass accounts that took up all my time . I would rather have small amount of well paying accounts than losers

:

RHC: Yes Jim, I remember my statements well ! When my old partner retired and my son joined the company 10 years ago, I figured as long as I was careful to ONLY take on good accounts, I could go to about

1000 to 1200 accounts without service overwhelming me. I'm now just under 1200 and things are busy, but not excessively so. But I am limiting growth severely, only doing a couple of installs a week, and we've stopped doing takeovers pretty much completely. So as a business, we're coasting, but the money coming in is more than sufficient to allow us to do that at this point.

I have to say, it's becoming difficult though to sit still and watch the large companies up here offer these new 2 Gig technologies, with whole house monitoring and all sorts of "whoopee" feature sets, and not respond. Especially so since I know how marginal most of this stuff is. Also they are targeting the high end of the market, appealing to consumers that like everything controlled from their cell phones. IMO, excellent "home convenience" but rather sub standard true "home security" compared to conventional panels with add on modules. But with monitoring rates bordering on $55 a month, you gotta wonder who's right and who's wrong...:).

I do know if I so choose, I could do the same thing with the purchase of a $165 module for the newest line of Paradox panels, and offer pretty much the same kind of thing at NO increase in monitoring rate. Being well versed in IP technology, once again I'm tempted to move ahead and jump in, but I know if I do, I'll be swamped with business I don't want or need, living off the "avails" of their advertising stimulation. I've thought about expanding from my "core business" interests and offering IP cameras, since this is easy and reliable technology today, and can be so inexpensive to do, that it's a bit mind blowing (I set up 5 cameras around my home as an experiment, at very little cost, and I can see instantly from anywhere in the world via a smartphone)

My son and I have some hard decisions to make soon, since I don't want to do the physical stuff anymore, and I personally don't want to expand into new markets. I can look after the admin side of the business, and do the tax work, but climbing ladders and running in attics ain't my cup of tea anymore. I also love the IP stuff, so that temptation is always there...

So many decisions, so little time....(sigh)

On Jan 13, 9:58=A0am, tourman wrote:

Again .... as I've said. There are people out there who would never be my customer in the first place.

I don't see any reason what so ever to compromise my integrity by offering them nothing for something simply to get their business. I've got to feel as if I've offered and given them something of value. On the other hand, feeling that way, I find that I still take it as a personal loss when I occasionally lose a customer. It's not simply business with me ... I guess.

I was just thinking the other day while I was working ..... that now ..... I install for the satisfaction it gives me to do a job that meets MY standards. I doesn't seem to make as much difference anymore how much short term profit I make on a job as long as it's installed and operating the way that I want it to. And the way I want it to is always better than the client expected. Maybe that's one of the little thought of factors that keeps bringing the business in over the long run. Although I guess you could call it reputation.

Well, it seems likely that it might be time to see what your son would like to do since the old man is beginning to step back some. After all, he's the one that's going to carry it in the future. If the company doesn't keep up with the trends to some extent, it's just going to dwindle away. Sounds as if HE's the one who's got to do some soul searching. As you know, there's always a tendancy for the younger to THINK they know what it takes to run a business but many times they just know the routine but not what's at the heart of being successful. There's an inclination to just let things go as they are because it's been successful. YOU know that there has to be that sense of the heart beat of the company and the market to forsee and take action before there's a problem. If you're like me, you do these things without even thinking about it. You do preperation and inquiries in multiple areas and make decisions on the fly that seem insignificant to you but that is constantly guiding the direction that things progress. Someone watching from the outside think that it's just the "flow" of things. You've got somewhat of a similar background as I, in big busines and had the opportunity to learn from your mistakes and the mistakes of others in a large work force with some insulation to the consequences for errors. Someone who hasn't had that experience, watching you run your business cannot imagine what history, knowledge and background you are drawing from to make your decisions. So don't assume that just because your son has been working along side you that he knows that all that other stuff is going on or even exists and which is so necessary to keep things moving forward.

It's like the installers, in the past, who have worked for me. I've offered to teach them the trade. Send them to school. Work with me for at least 5 years. Pay for their training for earning their license. Eventually start buying me out and taking over the company in maybe 10 or so years. Every one of them left prior to two years. Went off on their own and failed before they reached 100 accounts. Sure, they know about panels and installatons and buying equipment and technical, but didn't know that there's more to running a business than doing installations.

Yes, there are decisions to make at your end but it's your son who's got to do some serious soul searching about his talents, interests and limitations. It takes quite a number of years for the subtleness of the talents necessary to the success of a business, to prove themselves. And sometimes it's all just intertwined in the personality of the leader with no way to identify, define it or pass it on.

RHC: God, I couldn't have said it better !! My son is good, and does care, but without that breadth of experience to draw on, he does have a lot to learn. The last ten years shows me he has what it takes but needs some polish in some of the old school values, but nothing that he can't learn under my tutalege and direction.

RHC: Jim, know that I've forwarded on the content of your message to my son. I will keep this post handy for the future. I thank you for putting it so eloquently

Sounds like a win-win...

You cut out some chaff and found out who the backstabbers are.

'Course... the downside being you got sick...

I don't know if you do it or not already but .... try asking him what HE would do in certain circumstances as they arise. Ask him why he would do it that way. What is his thought process and considerations in making the choices he makes. If you don't agree, try to give each other reasons for doing it each others particular way.

Even as small a business as it is, it might be an idea to have a regularly scheduled "meeting" once a week/month to discuss past and future events and directions. "Formally" talk about jobs done and to be done. Parts to buy. Quantity purchases and the economics of it. just for a half hour or so. Take notes. Anything ..... to get the two of you communicating in a manner that will give each more of an insight to each others information processing talents. At this point I'd say that your job should be becoming more and more about planning ways to convey your experience to him and less about running the business. I think you'll find that if you subtlely plan this all out, you'll find that as you gradually convey your instints and finesse, he will gradually fill in where it's needed. As long as you are there to do all the things that you do .... he'll never step in nor even think about it. Probably thinking that he wouldn't want to hurt your feelings by acting like he wanted to take over. In the meantime, he's not learning "the rest of" whats is necessary to run the business. But .... you've got to make it gradual, not obvious ..... just subtlely slide out, over what ever period of time you feel you want to stay at the wheel. You probably should privately set a time table for that too. Not said to him though. That would put too much a of deadline on it. When you feel ready and you know he's ready ......

Thanks Robert. That's a nice compliment.

RHC: Yes Jim, I remember my statements well ! When my old partner retired and my son joined the company 10 years ago, I figured as long as I was careful to ONLY take on good accounts, I could go to about

1000 to 1200 accounts without service overwhelming me. I'm now just under 1200 and things are busy, but not excessively so. But I am limiting growth severely, only doing a couple of installs a week, and we've stopped doing takeovers pretty much completely. So as a business, we're coasting, but the money coming in is more than sufficient to allow us to do that at this point.

I have to say, it's becoming difficult though to sit still and watch the large companies up here offer these new 2 Gig technologies, with whole house monitoring and all sorts of "whoopee" feature sets, and not respond. Especially so since I know how marginal most of this stuff is. Also they are targeting the high end of the market, appealing to consumers that like everything controlled from their cell phones. IMO, excellent "home convenience" but rather sub standard true "home security" compared to conventional panels with add on modules. But with monitoring rates bordering on $55 a month, you gotta wonder who's right and who's wrong...:).

I do know if I so choose, I could do the same thing with the purchase of a $165 module for the newest line of Paradox panels, and offer pretty much the same kind of thing at NO increase in monitoring rate. Being well versed in IP technology, once again I'm tempted to move ahead and jump in, but I know if I do, I'll be swamped with business I don't want or need, living off the "avails" of their advertising stimulation. I've thought about expanding from my "core business" interests and offering IP cameras, since this is easy and reliable technology today, and can be so inexpensive to do, that it's a bit mind blowing (I set up 5 cameras around my home as an experiment, at very little cost, and I can see instantly from anywhere in the world via a smartphone)

My son and I have some hard decisions to make soon, since I don't want to do the physical stuff anymore, and I personally don't want to expand into new markets. I can look after the admin side of the business, and do the tax work, but climbing ladders and running in attics ain't my cup of tea anymore. I also love the IP stuff, so that temptation is always there...

So many decisions, so little time....(sigh)

:

Is it possible to work out a function, or service, that uses IP, but has REAL value? That way, you would be able to supply something you have interest in developing and would also feel good about supplying since it would have value.

This is definitely one of those diamonds Jim often talks about. A keeper. :-)