Gary
07-30-2014, 02:48 PM
4915
A guest post from Rob Gerhardt.
Five years ago, while working on a project for Lutron, we became aware of a looming opportunity for
the residential systems integrator to actually build a future that could be quantified.
During these discussions, we will learn about a true Recurring Monthly Revenue (RMR) opportunity that
is uniquely promising for our industry.
It has never been a secret that the contracting model builds no value to look forward to at the end
of your business career. It has nothing to do with how smart you are or how hard you work, it has
everything to do with the model itself. You can make money and a pretty good living during the good
times. But, unless you invest that money into something else, you will have nothing to show for it when
it matters most.
Now, that does not have to be the case. Now, there is an opportunity that requires the skills and
characteristics that many of you possess.
This opportunity is developing in what will apparently be termed, “the Connected Home”, and is being
heavily promoted by almost all of the cable companies (Comcast Xfinity Home, Time Warner Intelligent
Home, Cox Home Control, etc.), AT&T (Digital Life), and ADT Pulse.
Additionally, the do it yourself market is being assaulted by offerings from Nest, Staples, Home Depot
(Wink), Lowes (Iris), and Comcast. If you go to this link: http://connecteam.support/Cox/Cox.html , you
will see where Cox cable is claiming they can turn on the mood music when you enter the room.
The simple fact is that the cable and phone companies are making claims they cannot support while
they continue to appear in the “most hated companies” in America, and for good reason.
More about that later; for now, we need to celebrate that these global corporations are creating
a mainstream awareness that none of us, or any association, or any manufacturer could do. That
awareness creates a niche that allows you to actually “Design a Future”.
For the independent dealer, there are a variety of platforms, the best are:
• Alarm.com
• Honeywell “Total Connect”
• iControl via Telguard
Of those, our favorite is Alarm.com because it offers true energy management and wellness systems as
it develops the most aggressive suite of “Connected Home” offerings.
The hardware and the platform are secondary to the actual opportunity.
In order to consider the opportunity, you would have to answer yes to these questions:
• When I am selling, do the potential clients ask if I can do security?
• If I were to say yes, would I get the security system as well as my primary offerings?
• Could I do a better job than the security or Cable Company?
If the answer to all three is “Yes”, keep reading.
Because these service providers spend millions of dollars educating our neighbors as to what can be
done for an introductory price and a high monthly amount, they are creating an opportunity for you that
you could never have created on your own.
Many of us have seen the AT&T “Cabin –did you leave the house in good shape” 30 second summary of
what can be done to an empty home.
To accomplish what the commercial shows, a “subscriber” will spend almost $1,800 and commit to
$59.96 per month.
If you could do one of those per week, with modest growth over the next six years, you would achieve
an accumulated value of well over $1,000,000 (actually almost 2 million) that you could sell into an
established market of willing buyers competing for your accounts.
Most importantly, you can sell your accounts without selling your company. That means that you can
fund weddings, college educations, divorces, partner splits, and retirement without actually selling your
company and without a major change in what you do now.
If this seem interesting, we will be providing details through these articles several times a week. If you
can’t wait that long, here are some links:
For the content of our one day seminar, go here: http://designafuture.com/LeftBehind/LeftBehind.html
For our website, go here: http://www.groupgerhardt.com/
To see where we will be presenting our free seminars, go here: http://designafuture.com/registration
Rob Gerhardt
Group Gerhardt, LLC
4158 Oak Crest Drive
Tucker, GA 30084
Office 770.934.8926
Home Office 770.934.4558
Cell 404.510.9264
www.groupgerhardt.com
A guest post from Rob Gerhardt.
Five years ago, while working on a project for Lutron, we became aware of a looming opportunity for
the residential systems integrator to actually build a future that could be quantified.
During these discussions, we will learn about a true Recurring Monthly Revenue (RMR) opportunity that
is uniquely promising for our industry.
It has never been a secret that the contracting model builds no value to look forward to at the end
of your business career. It has nothing to do with how smart you are or how hard you work, it has
everything to do with the model itself. You can make money and a pretty good living during the good
times. But, unless you invest that money into something else, you will have nothing to show for it when
it matters most.
Now, that does not have to be the case. Now, there is an opportunity that requires the skills and
characteristics that many of you possess.
This opportunity is developing in what will apparently be termed, “the Connected Home”, and is being
heavily promoted by almost all of the cable companies (Comcast Xfinity Home, Time Warner Intelligent
Home, Cox Home Control, etc.), AT&T (Digital Life), and ADT Pulse.
Additionally, the do it yourself market is being assaulted by offerings from Nest, Staples, Home Depot
(Wink), Lowes (Iris), and Comcast. If you go to this link: http://connecteam.support/Cox/Cox.html , you
will see where Cox cable is claiming they can turn on the mood music when you enter the room.
The simple fact is that the cable and phone companies are making claims they cannot support while
they continue to appear in the “most hated companies” in America, and for good reason.
More about that later; for now, we need to celebrate that these global corporations are creating
a mainstream awareness that none of us, or any association, or any manufacturer could do. That
awareness creates a niche that allows you to actually “Design a Future”.
For the independent dealer, there are a variety of platforms, the best are:
• Alarm.com
• Honeywell “Total Connect”
• iControl via Telguard
Of those, our favorite is Alarm.com because it offers true energy management and wellness systems as
it develops the most aggressive suite of “Connected Home” offerings.
The hardware and the platform are secondary to the actual opportunity.
In order to consider the opportunity, you would have to answer yes to these questions:
• When I am selling, do the potential clients ask if I can do security?
• If I were to say yes, would I get the security system as well as my primary offerings?
• Could I do a better job than the security or Cable Company?
If the answer to all three is “Yes”, keep reading.
Because these service providers spend millions of dollars educating our neighbors as to what can be
done for an introductory price and a high monthly amount, they are creating an opportunity for you that
you could never have created on your own.
Many of us have seen the AT&T “Cabin –did you leave the house in good shape” 30 second summary of
what can be done to an empty home.
To accomplish what the commercial shows, a “subscriber” will spend almost $1,800 and commit to
$59.96 per month.
If you could do one of those per week, with modest growth over the next six years, you would achieve
an accumulated value of well over $1,000,000 (actually almost 2 million) that you could sell into an
established market of willing buyers competing for your accounts.
Most importantly, you can sell your accounts without selling your company. That means that you can
fund weddings, college educations, divorces, partner splits, and retirement without actually selling your
company and without a major change in what you do now.
If this seem interesting, we will be providing details through these articles several times a week. If you
can’t wait that long, here are some links:
For the content of our one day seminar, go here: http://designafuture.com/LeftBehind/LeftBehind.html
For our website, go here: http://www.groupgerhardt.com/
To see where we will be presenting our free seminars, go here: http://designafuture.com/registration
Rob Gerhardt
Group Gerhardt, LLC
4158 Oak Crest Drive
Tucker, GA 30084
Office 770.934.8926
Home Office 770.934.4558
Cell 404.510.9264
www.groupgerhardt.com