Devcon Buys Out Coastal Security, Adelphia, & Guardian

Well, I'm BAAAAAACCCK and I just couldn't resist responding to this pile of s*it.

RHC: With more no doubt !!

Really? Well I think you're a stupid son of a bitch too.

RHC: You have a right to your opinion; however, the feeling is mutual in some respects. Those who have little to say about things and have to respond with personal insults are the ones who can't back up the worth of what they say...

You make assumptions and exemplify your stupidity and lack of business acumen

RHC: Yeah, right, I ran a small part of a large business venture for 27 years with 60 some employees under my pervue and $850 million dollars worth of revenues, and I'm the stupid one....:)) Plus I've had two other small businesses that were both quite successful, and I can't run this one....hmmmm.... yeah, very good....nice try !

Frankly, I didn't bother to read the rest of your diatribe. I've heard it before ad nauseum ! And the constant insults just add to the fact that you are really not worth responding to. It's a free newsgroup ! Say what you wish; however, your conduct here speaks highly of the worth of your input. And I care so little about what you think that frankly, responding to your comments is just not worth the time it takes...

Jim, you are one really classy guy....

RHC

I choose Polesoft Lockspam to fight spam, and you?

Oh, you're just upset that he colourfully tore you a new one. I agree with almost all of it but would never express it quite so eloquently :-) And I've heard it from other dealers, wholesalers and suppliers. So? What's the big deal? You chose to live in a modest 4 bedroom home in an okay location instead of small mansion on the river, that's your choice, right? They make really nice Harley's these days but if you'd rather give that stuff to your customers, who are we to judge? I've heard of Silent Knight but I don't think White Night is taken, man, think of the logo... remember those old commercials where the knight zapped the clothes on the clothesline?!? the knight could ride by zapping ADT yard signs... I think yer crazy, Bob but those guys sometimes end up as mayors so it's not like this is a flame or nuthin'

No, I'm not in the least bit upset over anything he says. I would have to care to be upset ! I hardly call his posts eloquent ...long winded for sure...

Mikey, feel free to run your business anyhow you see fit. Lock 'em up tight if that suits you and your customers buy it ! I've never suggested my way is the only way, or the right way for most people. It's just the way I do it, and it works for me ! And when your company is even close to as big as mine, come see me for some other revolutionary new ideas that run "against the grain", or by that time, just watch my son.!!...

As for the rest of your post ???....man, what have you been smoking guy...:))

RHC

I gather you do not remember those commercials. It was bleach or something. The white knight gallops along from clothesline to clothesline zapping things like sheets and undies and stuff. The bored 50s stay-at-home moms are frothing at the mouth as the guy zaps their cothes to whiter than white, one lucky gal gets the shirt that she's actually wearing zapped, man, that's the climax of the commercial, you don't remember it !?!?

Anyways... the Knight from White Knight Security & Window Bars gallops along zapping ADT yard signs... jeeeze, no sense of ha ha

Jim...

Tell us how you REALLY FEEL......

since you wrote...

Well, I'm BAAAAAACCCK and I just couldn't resist responding to this pile of s*it.

R=2EH.Campbell wrote:

Really? Well I think you're a stupid son of a bitch too.

You make assumptions and exemplify your stupidity and lack of business acumen

On that I have no doubt. You've gone on F****NG ENDLESSLY for YEARs on this stupid bullshit of yours, constantly showing just what a stupid businessman you are.

But if you did write a book the title of it would be:

"How to run a business without the primary goal of making a profit and giving your customers everything they never needed or wanted, but making them think that you're the good guy and everybody else is a scam artist, but being able to do this depends upon the fact that I've got a pension and income from other sources that other small business competition doesn't have so that I don't have to depend upon this business to make a living for me and my family as most other small businesses do and also I don't have to build equity in the business as everyone else does as a retirement cache. And how you can try to jam it down the throat of everyone in a Newsgroup who don't give a damn WHAT I do but I'll still constantly bring it up and finally when someone takes exception to my incessant interminable and repetitive ranting, I'll get pissed at them for taking issue with me and accuse them of being a cheat and stupid and a scam artist and all sorts of unsavory things, even though

• I'm* the one who can't stop bringing up the subject of long term contracts when no one else does even though I know that what I do isn't the norm and that I know that I'm in reality insulting and calling everyone else in the group crooks, scammers, cheats, crooked, stupid, and out to get the client, knowing full well that one month contracts, free service, and holding rates for

There could be more but that would require a continuation of the title on the back cover.

Which simply adds to my point at how stupid a business plan you have.

Oh now that's simply BRILLIANT!

And another thing, your constant touting of your $15.00 a month, never seems to indicate that this is in Canadian dollars. Very deliberately deceiving, if you ask me, since most of the people in the Newsgroup and those who visit are from the US. This is really taking a direct slap at the simple little dealer out there, trying to make ends meet with you implying that $15.00 per month is adequate for monthly monitoring.

And you'd do anything and give anything away that is detrimental to implementing a viable business plan that would make your business as successful as it could be and provide a retirment cache. And then you have audacity to complain about people who are more successful than you are, because they've set a course that will be most profitable for them yet not unacceptable to the clientele. You are just about the most ignorant asshole I've ever come across. You go on and on about this stupid giving everything away to the customer as if it were an intelligent thing to do. As if the primary goal of every company should be to base it's business plan on giving the customer everything and making the least profit as possible. You go into a potential clients home and offer them everything they never wanted.Everything they never needed. You brag the fact that you're so stupid that you give things away to them at your expense. Not being as stupid as you, they take it. You don't even have the common sense to know that if you just offered them a standard system, standard contracts, standard service, if you had any talent at all as a salesman, they'd be your customer anyway. What do you expect them to do if you're giving away the store with every system? Of course they're going to take it if you give it away for FREE. And I mean actually FREE! If you walked backwards and bent over with you pants down around your ankles into a gay bar, would you expect them to say Oh ..... no thank you?

You're customers don't give two s**ts whether you give your assets away or not. Any smart business man should ...... but not YOU. And you, actually take PRIDE in the fact that you're stupid enough to not make the profit you could make. You're the kind of competition that I hope gets thousands of accounts cause that's all the closer you are to oblivion. You've yet to experience the service problem. Just wait and see what this is gonna cost ya. Likely your business or at least set you back a few years. It's comin ...... get ready.

If you believe that, you going to be in for a big surprise when it gets down to the wire. There's no investor in his right mind that is going to offer you anywhere NEAR what your saying unless he's your best friend. But again, even if it IS so, it can't be expected to happen the same to everyone else. If you still have the capacity to think, you tell me what YOU would do if someone came to you and said, OH, yes, I'm pretty new in this business but my customer base is comprised of clients that only have one month contracts, with 5 year guaranteed price, and all parts and service free for life. And I want 30 times monthly. But my company is a much better investment for you than that company over here, in business 36 years, with 5 year contracts, and collects $95.00 to $125.00 plus parts, per service call.

Yeah ...... sure! Talk about someone with a dream. You're it, asshole.

JEEEZUS you're dense. Why the hell do you think your have your clients? Because you're giving them the value of your company with every sale. THEY don't know what you're doing or how you're doing it , but you're getting the accounts because you're giving them little pieces of your business with every sale. No one else is that stupid, THAT's why your getting accounts. These people don't know if you're going to give them any better service or monitoring response than their last company. You're getting them as customers simply because you're giving them something for FREE! THAT's WHY! What the hell kind of salesman COULDN'T do that, for christ sake? You're doing the very same thing as the "Free systems" alarm companies do, except they're rightly getting their return on the higher monthly monitoring rate. You're giving the value of your company away instead. There's no difference between what you do to get a customer and them, except that your stupid.

And again, you must be ...... nope... you ARE stupid if you believe that any small dealer would work for 35 years earning a living, supporting his family and even though there was a way to set up a retirement nest egg, wouldn't do it because he wanted to give it away to his customers. And you're right, your clients are much smarter than you are. You give them what they never wanted and they're smart enough to take it.( Talking about smart, why don't you tell us again how many accounts your going to let your company grow to? What was that again? 300? 500? 700? And tell everyone what I told you was going to happen? ) And why does that happen? Is it because you don't "lock" them into a contract or is it because you're always there, to ...

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Ok, I get it now, but sometimes your humour is "oblique" to say the least...:))

BTW, while we're talking about your not agreeing with my business approach, how about you tell me how you handle your Medical Alert business. You install leased equipment, so it costs you perhaps a couple of hundred dollars to install it, then you lease the pendant for $40 a month. What happens when the old doll croaks after six months ? Do you sue the estate for the balance of your contract, or take compassion on the family, and just go out and remove the hardware ? So six months, you make....6 times $40 less your cost of installation AND removal leaving you exactly ...what ? And how do you handle the Elizabeth Frye societies of the world who give the same service for free ???

So I spend (for example) $500 worth of equipment AND labour in one day and walk out with $1000. Say, the client leaves after 6 months (which probably happens less often than a aged client of yours dies), and I have only made an additional $54 of profit on those same six months. So I walk away with $554....Who's kidding who ?

Now I realize this pricing example may be taking things out of context a bit, Your clients don't die all that often, and my clients don't leave me that often....again, no flame intended, so things would level out over time. However, don't throw stones while you live in a glass house.

But I would be curious how our business approaches differ that much. Neither of us has "guaranteed longevity" (especially your business customers, most of whom likely have one foot in the grave already...:))) Mine usually stick around for five to ten years...

Do I think you're crazy ? No ! I don't know the details of how you do it, but I don't condemn you for your business approach. Try to think "outside the box"....

RHC

YOU'VE heard it before?

What about the rest of the people in ASA that have been listening to your garbage about contracts and ADT for f****ng YEARS! WHAT? Do you think that you've got a free license to repeatedly pound this group with your ridiculous brain farts and no one is supposed to object to it? You're work experience is truly indicative of your asinine business plan, designed to destroy any equity any alarm dealer would accumulate in his business. That's EXACTLY what any one with large corporate ideas would consider acceptable. Piss on the little guy. Who cares about what the small dealers do or can't do.

And you're not responding because you can't. You know Goddamned well that what I've said is the truth and you don't have one excuse for doing what you do in this group and to alarm installers long term business plans and reputations. There's no more reason for you to have to direct end users away from alarm dealers in their area, then there is for Paul to constantly post his wireless tripe. You give a piece of your business away with every sale you make and you expound endlessly that what your are doing is right and that every other alarm company who uses long term contracts is scaming their customers. You're wrong and your attempt to misdirect people who come here, away from dealers who don't conform with your view of the world will be met with what ever opposition you deem necessary.

You're f****ng - A right, I am.

Especially compared to a sleeze bag in sheeps clothing, like you.

Speaking of class.......... Have you unlocked any panels for end users lately that have owed their installers any money?

Oh ...... that's right ......... you wouldn't know ....... would you?

Have you been the cause of some end user not using a dealer in his area because of your misguided business advice? What's that again? How do you say it?

"Any one who "locks in" their clients with a long term contract is" ........ what was that you called them? Oh ...... that's right. It doesn't make any difference. Long time in business. Loyal customer base. Giving great service. You don't give a s*it about that. What's important is that you get your f****ng long term contract obsessions aired and to hell with how it affects anyone else or reflects on good, honest, and hard working dealers who've worked a lifetime building their businesses.

Speaking of Class acts.............. that ought to fit right in at the bottom of the list.

What an obtuse jerk you are.

You don't know the details because unlike you .......

HE ISN'T BROADCASTING HIS POLICIES HERE IN ASA, AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY TRYING TO MISDIRECT PEOPLE WHO COME HERE TO THE NEWGROUP FOR INFORMATION AND IN THE PROCESS BELITTLING AND SHOWING CONTEMPT FOR DEALERS WHO DON'T CONFORM TO HIS IDEAS.

T*H*A*T*'S W*H*Y !!!!!!!!!!!

Many a truth is said in jest. I've seen feuds flare up over nothing in here and I'd regret us taking that route so I like to soften my stance with humour. But I really can see you on that horse.

I would like to be making more money, Bob and if I could, I'd charge more. I charge what I think the market will bear. It's pretty much a given you could charge more, I can't. Hence the jibes. I can't sit here and listen to you jump all over the "free" systems when you provide "free" service. To me, free service and cheap monitoring over a 10 year period is a very similar business model.

And yes, my attrition is horrible... I've had units in for less than 2 months!

And I assure you Mike that I meant no disrespect when I asked those questions. I truly wonder how you do it sometimes. I do consider you a personal friend in the business. I was a bit concerned that I might have across a bit too "heavy" in my post to someone I respect.

I know it often seems strange that I can offer free service and 100% warranty, but in actual fact, it is built in to my rate...$2 a month per customer for service, and $1 a month for warranty. The original rate model I used at startup suggested these rates and it was some years before I was comfortable with them. However, detailed records I have kept tell me I'm far ahead of the game. I pay myself (sort of) $1700 a month to service my 850 accounts and pay myself (again sort of) $850 a month to warranty all my systems. I have few trouble calls besides batteries and customers changing doors or windows. Last year was my biggest year's worth of expenses when I had five panels destroyed by lightning strike. This year so far, nothing of the sort. And the real benefit is that I can offer my clients a truly worry free alarm system, without them having to worry about the usual limitations and fine print clauses !! My profit margins are more than high enough for me, and most of what I would get if I raised my rates would simply go to Revenue Canada.

I actually welcome service calls because I get a rare chance to schmooze with my customers. And frankly, with my son doing most of the heavy duty stuff now, I still want to stay involved on the installation side. I know you've met David, and he is turning out to be a valuable asset to the company. He's one of the best installers I've ever seen, and he is fabulous with people. He's even starting to show me better ways to do certain things, and that's always a good sign when the student is starting to show the teacher new tricks. I think I will have no difficulty turning over my company to him knowing it's in good hands.

Hope to see you again in person sometime soon....perhaps the Xmas party at the station. Hope all is working out OK on your side

All the best

RHC

I choose Polesoft Lockspam to fight spam, and you?

I think what might be saving your ass is that electronic stuff is so reliable these days. I've had a similar pleasant surprise in that transmitter batteries (which I replace) are lasting much longer than I'd budgeted for, trouble is, I don't use the extra free time constructively :-)

I'm reluctant to be so forward with my numbers but I think my model works pretty good, I just think we're worth more :-)

limitations

Hey Mikey, I might suggest that you talk with Tom, about marketing your product, and skills. Tom is just about the best sales person I've come across in a long, long time. Why don't you give him an E-mail or a call and see if he can throw you some ideas on how to get you "over the hump"

I don't know how long you've been doing this, but there are definite "hills and valleys" that, if you're not aware of them by previous training or experience, you can get really stuck in the valleys. This is pretty common in this industry since most people come into it from the installer level. For the most part, anyone having prior business and sales, education, training or experience can usually get around these obstacles. I've been questioned constantly through the years about how I can run a company with so many accounts with so few resources. It's always the installer based people who ask.

Give Tom a shout, I think you'll be surprised at what he's accomplished. He's a great guy to know and always willing to help people.

To Tom:

HEY S*****AD!

WAKE UP!

THE PHONE'S RINGING!

Thanks for the compiment, Jim. I am wide awake but unlike you I am actually working. Not everyone can post to the newsgroup from their yacht like you do. Throw the skipper hat away (why do old men with boats ALWAYS own one of those silly ass captain hats?), grab the drill, and get your old ass up here to work.

Mikey is always welcome to drop me a line, but he's Canadian and they don't have phone service yet up there. Being that smoke signals are chinese to me that leaves him emailing me letters where he abuses the letter U.

Now this is just an assumption based on what I have read from Mikey's posts, but it appears what would best help Mikey would be a leasing company. A leasing company would allow Mikey to move more systems without a risk of chargeback, by making the system more affordable to the client via payments, and would provide him with enough upfront capital to purchase equipment in bulk, as well as spend on additional advertising. Will some clients end up paying more for their system? Yes. But those would be the very same customers who wouldn't be able to take advantage of Mikey's service without time payments. Rather than charging $200.00 for the install (or whatever it was he charges) along with a $40.00 per month service fee he could charge $1200.00 for the install, have the customer finance that system thru the leasing company, and charge a monthly service fee of around $15.00. Between the lease, and the service payments the client would be paying roughly $45-$50.00 per month total, without having to come up with that $200.00 install fee upfront. The leasing company would in turn pay Mikey the $1200.00 he's charging for the system (usually within 3 days from date of install), and Mikey would retain all monthly service payments (smaller yes, but the volume will adjust the total company RMR to more than what he currently earns). The leasing company profits from it's factor, and doesn't take any of Mikey's cabbage. It's the identical concept to what our industry does with zero downs, but our industry doesn't offer much out there where funding is concerned. I have quite a few leasing companies that would fund on medical systems so if Mikey is interested I'd be willing to give him the info, and offer him a few marketing ideas.

Note to Mikey (you stupid f****ng canadian anti-war liberal peeing in the snow tree hugging moose humper): Everything I posted was an assumption so don't kill me on the dollar amounts, nor on the assumption that you don't already know everything I just said. And don't pay mind to any of these fuckwads who tell you that zero downs are the devil. Their yapping about full-perimeter, or mini systems has no place in your field. You sell a receiver and a transmitter. Either way, Good luck, and hope this was some help.

Jim wrote:

Funny you mention Tom. Yep, I recognized the marketing expertise within days of wandering in here. How do you think I've lasted this long? I hit him up for some advise years ago. I can't remember all the details but there was some juicy stuff, and lots of it, much of which I put in to practice. He may not remember though but I am very tolerant of that sort of thing as I deal with it on almost a daily basis. Now I'm a tad worried about you too. I hit you up for some idears as well... The newsletter was one I put in to use but unfortunately I let it slide... some of my gals really enjoyed it too. I am actually doing quite well and bag some retirement homes from time to time. I just subscribe to the credo: "If your warm and happy in a pile of s*it, keep your mouth shut"

This from a guy who calls his president "bush". I had to read that f****ng lease idear paragraph about 6 times, I'm BUSHED.

Hmmmm, it's clever but not competitive at single user level but for bigger systems, I'd look to put together a package for retirement homes. The last leasing outfit I talked to we're bored with my numbers... a referral would be great, give them my contact info if you like, I have a quote to put together now as a matter of fact. They can't afford 5K let alone 20K. You can have them e-mail to anythingATmedi-call.ca, even smokesignals@ and I'll get it.

constructively :-)

He's standard wallpaper fare in hundreds of Porta-Potties up here though.

English we understand. Now "Ameriglish"... That's different. For that we need to hike down to the local Walmart and buy a "Dikshunary".

much obliged, paawdner I can't play now, have to go to work and that damn igloo door is frozen again

Can't let the Newsletter slide or it loses it's value. I've been sending out my Newsletter for so long now, I've lost track. I send it once every quarter. A single sided page, no frills no color or pictures. Just in four newspaper columns format with a heading. I start typing and in about an hour I've got to start editing it to keep in on one page. Some things I write about are seasonal, such as being careful in shopping malls and parking lots. Locking doors and lighting etc. Since I've been writing it for so many years now, I sometimes go back on 10 year old issues and pick an article to update. I pull statistics out of the trade magazines and articles out of the local newspapers, that apply to my clients. It's a way to inform them about such things as VoiP and DSL hookups and about things such as medical alerts for their parents and the home theater and residential computer networking I can do for them. I always put a paragraph in about my boating experiences just to add a little personal touch. You can't imagine the response I get from this. People drop me notes with their checks, wishing seasonal good tidings, and when ever I go to their homes, they've always got a comment about the boat or something that I've written about. In a few cases, I've been requested to send my newsletter to members of the household who've moved away and live in other areas.

In your case, there's got to be a Gazillion things in the local papers regarding the elderly that you could write about. Subscribe to a retirement magazine or two to pull information from and just write briefly about it and give the source or where more info can be obtained, telephone numbers etc. You'd be surpprised how quickly a single page will fill up with useful information.

I used to schedule talks at the local library, regarding household security. I'd bring control panels set up on boards and show people what they could expect if they were looking for a security system for their home. Get's your name around town and some additional work too. In your medi alert business, I'd be making constant efforts and making arrangements to speak at retirement clubs. Make it an annual thing. Bring some handouts and some giveaway pen's or flashlites with your name on it.

I'm sure that there's got to be some census information available either at some public office or the library regarding the demographics of elderly folks. In the US we have a directory available in libraries that lists people by a multitude of factors. Once getting their address, there's lots of ways you can market to them. Leave brochures in doctors offices. Just drop them off

occasionally. Find cardiologists and other doctors that would have patients who would need your serivices. Just leave it on the magazine tables. You'd be surprised how many people will pick them up.

I used take note of where the well-to-do areas were, and put door hangers on their mail boxes or door knobs, as I was passing by. I did that for years because mailing and yellow pages didn't work. In your case, with the medi alert, keep in mind that if you market to only elderly people, most times they just don't have the money and wouldn't think of asking anyone else for it. It's actually to their children and relatives, that CAN afford to get it for parents, etc .... for THEIR convenience, and peace of mind, that would be an important source of your business.

I think the most important thing I can say about advertising is to budget it, don't elimiate it just because you're not getting an immediate response. Just set aside a specific amount a month and make sure you spend it. And keep it constant. People may not use it the first 20 times that they see it, but once they see it constantly, it's in their mind the next time they or someone else mentions it and they know right where to look to find you. Small local paper, co op with someone who deals with elderly, like insurance agents, or other companies providing services to the infirm. Local private EMS companies would be an example.

I could just never not keep trying to get that next sale. Keep in mind that you only have to try 5% harder than the next guy to put you in the upper 80% of successful businesses. And don't be afraid to test the market occasionally by asking for more money. If you miss a job or two, because of price, you can always revert. If you don't try, you'll find that you're getting a lot of work and not making any money. Balance your work load by the prices you charge. That works for me. You don't have to give away the store to get business.

That's just my .... off the top of my head...... take on it. You may already be doing some or all of it. but I thought it may help