Tips and Tricks
What Happens to Your Alarm Company’s Cash Flow When a Customer Cancels? (And How to Stop the Bleeding)
In the security industry, we talk a lot about growth — new installs, new RMR, new accounts. But there is a number that quietly threatens everything you build, and most alarm dealers are not watching it closely enough: your attrition rate. The right alarm company management software can change that. Customer cancellations are one of…
Read MoreBeyond the Quick Buck: Why Growing Your RMR the Right Way is the Secret to Long-Term Success
In the security and fire-life safety industry, “getting paid fast” is the drum everyone beats. We see marketing everywhere: flashy promises to help you get paid as fast as possible. While cash flow is undeniably the lifeblood of any business, there is a fundamental—and often expensive—difference between chasing a quick payment and getting paid right.…
Read MoreThe Evolution of Alarm Payments: What Alarm Installation Companies Need to Know for 2025
In 2015, Cornerstone Billing Solutions looked ahead to see how customers would pay in the future. Now, ten years later, it’s clear that a lot has changed for Alarm Installation Companies. Technology has moved fast, and so have the rules around handling customer payments. This means if you’re in the alarm business, you need to…
Read MoreGood Quoting: Fast, Flexible & Classy
Winning a new customer starts with a good conversation, and then a good quote. The conversation should uncover the prospect’s needs and priorities in making a decision. The quoting process should then address those needs and priorities, in a professional and compelling way. A good quote can be the difference between winning and losing the…
Read MoreNeed to Find the Pulse of Your Alarm Business? Robust Reporting Has the Answers!
Life safety companies need software that gives them immediate answers about their key business drivers. Good reporting and clear dashboards help alarm company owners answer the big question: How are we doing? Five Key Reporting Metrics You Likely Want to Track For our customers, this big question will break down into several other questions, all…
Read MoreSurcharging for Life Safety Companies: How to Avoid the Hassle
With inflation driving up operating costs recently, more life safety companies are opting to add surcharges to customers that pay by credit card. Surcharges are simply fees that a business can add to recover its merchant fee expenses. Say you have a customer that pays a $100 quarterly monitoring invoice, and your company has adopted…
Read MoreThe Value Of Integrations!
Cornerstone added its first integration about 13 years ago—with the US Post Office site. That was a simple integration that confirmed the address for a newly added account, including zip + 4. Since then we’ve added over a dozen integrations, with central stations, collection agencies, and other software providers. Here’s a partial list: https://alarmbills.com/integrations/ Integrations…
Read MoreReduce Stress: Invest in Expertise for Effortless Collections
Most of the office managers we work with would rather have a root canal than try collecting money from past-due customers! It’s stressful to put pressure on customers you worked so hard to find and win. Well, Cornerstone has a solution that takes the pressure off. Cornerstone’s Solution – Billing Plus! Our Billing Plus service…
Read MoreUpdate Part Costs Instantly! With Portal.io and Cornerstone Billing.
One of the biggest headaches for our life safety customers is this: keeping inventory costs CURRENT in their alarm business software. Especially with the inflation of the last few years, part prices are changing constantly. Well, Cornerstone Billing Solutions has solved the problem with our newest alarm business software integration. The payoff for our customers…
Read MoreG/L vs. Alarm Company Software: Why Integration Can Be Risky
In the dynamic world of business technology, the life safety software decisions you make can be the linchpin for your company’s success. One pivotal decision that businesses often grapple with is whether to integrate their General Ledger (GL) with their Customer Management Software (CRM). While the allure of an all-in-one solution is strong, there are compelling…
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