President’s Message
By Robert Few
November has certainly been one for the records books. It started off with our Presidential Election that saw record voter turnout and may still be contested by the time you read this. On a more positive note, we will close out November with my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. While I love most holidays, Thanksgiving is by far the best in my book because it reminds us to slow down and be grateful. It is not about gift-giving but instead the opposite. Thanksgiving should give us all some space to pause, enjoy quality time with family and friends, and take stock of everything we have.
If you woke up this morning with a roof over your head, food in your home, and a job that provides for you and your family, you do, in fact, have a lot to be thankful for. We all get caught up in our businesses’ hustle and bustle, family obligations, and the stressors life throws our way. That is normal. However, during this time, I encourage you to slow down and be mindful, even for a day, block out all of the distractions that weigh you down, and just enjoy time with your loved ones. As Ferris says, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
As I reflect on almost a year with GMS, I am incredibly thankful to the Chetta family for trusting in me to lead this wonderful organization to new heights. I’m also thankful for the emergency responders that support our industry and the fantastic team we have at GMS that works so hard to provide you and your customers with outstanding service. Our team has really turned the business around since last year. We hope you feel the effects of our increased service levels, more responsive and caring agents, and access to updated technology and services.
We have set some of our own records through our tremendous investment in training and professional development throughout the course of 2020. Over 4,000 hours of training for our Alarm Dispatch Operators have already been completed. In addition, our team has spent nearly 1,800 hours on performance and improvement training this year. We are heavily investing in our team to ensure we provide you with the best service in the industry.
Most importantly, thank you! Without your business, GMS would not exist. Myself and our team here at GMS are honored to serve you and your customers each day. We look forward to our continued partnership and hope that 2021 will be a better year for our country and our businesses.
As always, please call or email me anytime to discuss ways we may be able to better support your business or how we can help with any specific challenges you are facing. I hope you enjoy a wonderful start to the holiday season by spending time with your loved ones and soaking in the joys that surround us.
Happy Thanksgiving!!
Sincerely,
Robert Few - President & CEO
General Monitoring Services
(201) 838-0091
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What GMS Wants You to Know |
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Are You Doing All You Can
to Prepare for the 3G Sunset?
Are you preparing for the 3G Sunset? If not, we at GMS highly recommend that you start now. Why? For the 2G Sunset, many waited until the last possible moment to make necessary changes, which ended up being unnecessarily costly and time-consuming to their business…
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What is Gratitude?
By: Sarah Deluca, Human Resources
What is Gratitude? It is an emotion. It is a feeling. It is an expression of appreciation. It is also a really great Beastie Boys song, but I digress.
Why is gratitude so important?
When gratitude is expressed to someone, both parties feel happier and more united. Cultivating an organic connection is what keeps compassion at the forefront of humanity. Whether personal or professional, these relationships that you engage in helping to heighten your emotional awareness, making you more open to these kinds of connections.
Gratitude creates perspective; it is a way of acknowledging the good things you have in your life that you may not be cognizant of. Something that may seem harder to accomplish now, more so than ever before. The next time you find yourself in a not so ideal situation, I challenge you; remember, you’ve overcome 100% of the complicated and uncomfortable situations that you’ve had to deal with in the past. Be grateful for the lessons that those experiences opened you up to. Once you realize that one is only given what one can handle, you can approach these hardships from a place of strength.
Gratitude can create a chain reaction. Try and find one thing every day that you are grateful for. Write it down in a journal and reflect on what you’ve written at the end of the week. Throughout the days, you’ll find yourself discovering more and more things that you are grateful for. It will become a part of your everyday routine.
You’ll have great days, and you’ll have less than perfect days but try to keep your pockets full of promise and your heart full of hope. Tell the people you love that you love them. Take the time to reflect on what drives your happiness and motivates you. When you put your satisfaction as the main focus in your life, everything else will become clearer.
And if that doesn't work, rinse, reflect, and repeat.
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GMS Staff Achievements and Appreciation |
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We have a lot to celebrate at GMS this month!
Congratulations to Joshua Hendrix, who has been promoted to Advanced Operator for the third shift. In less than a year at GMS, Joshua has become someone his shift can rely on to help out whenever needed while consistently being a positive presence for his team. We are excited to see Joshua’s journey at GMS.
Congratulations are also in order for the day shift’s new Advanced Operator, Cindy Lagunas. We have been lucky enough to have Cindy on the GMS team for four years now. Cindy has displayed a calm demeanor and attention to detail in those four years, making her the ideal person for this new role.
We would also like to share our recent recognition of our 3rd shift personnel. Under the leadership of Angelina Wampler, the 3rd shift continues to be a shining example, meeting an unprecedented level of targeted response times and superior customer service! Working the “Graveyard” 3rd shift does not always have the level of interaction with the majority of fellow employees and or senior-level management. We want to share our appreciation of the 3rd shift’s continued achievements of targeted response times and their high level of customer service satisfaction. It is certainly acknowledged by senior level management and all co-workers here at GMS.
We appreciate you all. Thank you again to the entire 3rd shift team for your dedication, hard work, and to the inspiring leadership that Angelina brings to her team every day.
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Industry Insider Insights |
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Conducting Due Diligence For an Acquisition
By: Jim Wooster, Jr., Alarm Financial Services, Inc.
This is the third article in our six-part series outlining the many aspects of making an acquisition and financing that acquisition using the recurring monthly revenue (“RMR”) accounts as collateral. The previous article was titled Determining How Much to Pay for RMR Accounts.
Let’s start with what the term “due diligence” means. It is the reasonable investigation a party should undertake before entering an agreement or transaction, commonly conducted by the acquirer of a company or a company’s assets. Due diligence is typically performed after the buyer and seller have agreed to some general terms and conditions spelled out in a Letter of Intent (LOI). The word “intent” signifies that the buyer intends to pay the seller according to the terms of the LOI, but only after due diligence reveals whether what the seller is selling is really as advertised.
A fundamental focus is determining exactly how much “qualified” or “eligible” RMR the buyer will be acquiring. Examples of accounts that are not qualified (or eligible) would be those that are significantly past due on their payments or those without good monitoring contracts. This step determines how much RMR the seller has to sell. Next, the due diligence attempts to determine how good that RMR is. This consists of a long list of factors, including whether the profit from the RMR accounts is a lot or a little, what the historic attrition rate of the account base has been, what future revenue opportunities the customer base provides, etc.
At the end of the day, the buyer is looking under the hood, and they are trying to avoid surprises. Surprises represent a great deal of risk to a buyer, and buyers don’t like risk. So, if you are a potential seller, anticipate what the buyer will want to investigate, perform due diligence on your own accounts first, and have that information well-organized for the buyer. If you are a potential buyer, use due diligence to really get to know the accounts you will be buying. Be able to answer the question, how will these accounts perform for me when I own them? If you can’t at least come close to answering that question, you haven’t completed your due diligence.
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NEW from Resideo: ProSeries
Sales Tools to Help You Grow
A Dealer’s Game Changer
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Industry News and Tips Links |
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VMS Solutions Evolve to Address Emerging Needs
As the world adjusts to a new normal, security integrators and users must change the way VMS solutions are sold, installed, configured, and used.
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Safety, security, and emergency communication in the Age of COVID-19
One of the most significant ways to improve employee health and safety is through effective communication.
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As Winter Season Fast Approaches, Vigilance Around Home Fire Safety is Critical
While the pandemic continues to impact our work and lives in countless ways, we can’t afford to be distracted from keeping communities safe in the months ahead when the public’s risk to fire increases.
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How DIY Security Dealers
Defend Themselves
You may assume that DIY security companies are more likely to face liability losses. Legal expert Ken Kirschenbaum explains why that’s not true.
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Let’s Take a Break to Learn Something New |
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Why are Firetrucks Red? - Courtesy of the NFPA
We could all use a break from 2020. So in a more lighthearted approach to Learn Something New™ by NFPA Journal®, this month, we explore why most firetrucks are red—as well as the reason why red may not be the best choice for emergency vehicles after all.
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Current and Active Dealer Partners will receive up to $1,000.00 in the form of an invoice credit for referring a new dealer to GMS for Monitoring Service Solutions. |
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