We all know the beginning of the year is a time for making resolutions to improve ourselves and planning for what’s to come. For business owners in all industries, the beginning of the year is also an ideal time to make resolutions and plans for the organizations they lead.
If you are a business owner in the alarm industry, January is a great time to assess your company and determine what steps you can take to position yourself and your organization for continued success.
By taking a close look at a number of elements and spending a bit of time reflecting on the past and preparing for the future, you can set yourself up for success in the coming year – and beyond.
Aspects of Your Alarm Business to Review
At the start of the year, it’s a good idea to take a look at the following aspects of your business in order to determine where improvements or adjustments can be made.
Contracts
It’s always a good idea to make sure your contracts are up to date, but the beginning of a new year is an especially good time to do so. Make sure the terms and conditions are updated, as well as any other information that may have changed over the course of the last year. Your contracts are an incredibly important asset, so taking the time to review and revise them is imperative.
Contracts are also key from a sales perspective. If you’re thinking of selling your alarm company in the coming year, ensuring that your contracts are intact and up to date is one of the most important steps you can take if you hope to sell for top dollar.
If you’re revising your contracts and looking to make some changes or updates, be sure to check out the industry contracts offered by Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC. You’ll find industry contracts, standardized contracts and more, all professionally created and thoroughly detailed.
Service Providers
In order to ensure that your business is as profitable as possible in the coming year, be sure to review and analyze what you are spending on the utilities and services you use to run your business. From insurance to phone and internet providers, simply reviewing your contracts, agreements and invoices to make sure they are as expected and contacting providers to find out about any opportunities for savings is a simple way to augment your profitability.
Recurring Monthly Revenue
RMR is one of the most important sources of income for alarm companies, and increased RMR in most cases means increased profitability. Take some time early in the year to review the RMR component of your organization and determine whether and how you can leverage this revenue into increased profits during the coming year.
By offering new services, raising rates if appropriate, or adopting new technologies, you may be able to further increase your alarm business’ value and profitability.
Service Revenue
If you run a fire or integration business, you may have service revenue to consider as well. Service revenue is hugely valuable, and it is well worth reviewing on an annual basis (or perhaps even more frequently) to determine whether you’re taking full advantage of all the opportunities your company has to generate service-based profit.
When you’re reviewing contracts at the beginning of the year, it’s also a good time to consider up-selling services, adjusting your prices, or offering new services to both current and new clients and customers in an effort to bolster this aspect of your business. It’s also a great time to consider where you might expand your service offerings in the future to continue increasing your business’ value and profitability.
Key Actions to Take for Alarm Business Success
In addition to reviewing certain key aspects of your business, a few strategic actions can also help you to position your organization for success moving forward.
1. Set Goals
Take a look at where you are as an organization and compare that to where you want your company to be. Set goals for your business that will help you to reduce the discrepancy between the two. These goals should be realistically achievable. Making a step by step plan for tackling each goal will set you on a path towards success.
2. Update Contracts
Don’t just review your contracts – update them! Things are constantly changing – and changing fast – in the alarm industry. After reviewing your client contracts, take action to update all that are outdated.
Again, the industry contracts offered by Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC are an outstanding resource when it comes to updating your contracts. You can access them here:
3. Get a Business Valuation
Part of running a successful, profitable business is knowing exactly how much that business is worth. To truly understand the value of your alarm business, consider getting a complete business valuation. Having your business assessed by a knowledgeable broker will provide you with valuable insight and information you can utilize to keep your organization moving in the right direction.
4. Implement New Sources of RMR
Now more than ever, recurring monthly revenue can help fuel a successful alarm business. At the beginning of the year, review opportunities for increasing recurring monthly revenue carefully in order to determine if any might be feasible for your organization. If any options are viable, take the necessary steps to implement them as soon as possible so you can capitalize on the opportunity for augmenting profits while adding value and services for your customers.
5. Seek Out Additional Sources of Service Revenue
As mentioned previously, if you are in the fire or integration industries, the new year is a good time to consider seeking out new sources of service revenue for your business. Whether that means expanding to service larger facilities, expanding your service offerings to current customers, or actively marketing service agreements to new customers, it may be worth venturing into new territory if it means you can grow your service revenue.
Augmented service revenue can benefit your business in the short- and long term, so it’s a valuable place to invest your time and effort. You can learn more about opportunities for increasing fire alarm business service revenue here.
6. Plan for The Future
When making plans for your organization at the beginning of the year, look ahead to the end of the year and beyond. Where do you see yourself or your business headed in the next five to ten years? Whether you’re planning to sell your alarm company or you plan to grow your business exponentially in the coming years, having a plan in place to keep you moving in the right direction is key.
Set Your Alarm Business Up For Success This Year
When it comes to ensuring your alarm company is positioned for success, now is the time to take action! From reviewing what you currently have in place to implementing elements that will help you continue your success in the coming months and years, taking some time to reflect and establish goals is imperative if you want to keep up in this rapidly changing industry.
Want to feel sure that your alarm company is moving in the right direction heading into the coming year? Give Rory Russell of Acquisition and Funding Services a call today at (800) 354-3863 (cell).
As an experienced alarm company broker, Rory can provide you with industry insight to guide you, and provide a confidential valuation of your alarm business. With guidance from AFS, you can feel confident that your organization is well-positioned for success in the long- and short-term. Contact AFS today!
Looking for additional insight to help guide your business decisions in the coming year? You may find the following resources helpful:
Alarm Company Performance KPIs – Take a closer look at some of the key performance indicators that can help you monitor the health of your security business during the coming year.
New Security Integration Trends – Review some of the up and coming trends in the security and life safety industry so you can determine whether or not your business is headed in the right direction.
How to Increase the Value of Your Alarm Business – Want to grow your business’ value in the coming year? We share 7 straightforward tips for doing so.