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Raising monitoring rates without guessing
Work out what a monitoring price increase actually puts in your pocket. Put in your accounts, what they pay now, and how much you want to add, and it shows the new monthly revenue, the gain a month and a year, and the break-even cancel rate — the share of accounts you could lose before the increase nets to nothing. Then it writes the customer letter, the phone script for the person who calls to argue, and the order you should do things in.
Every number on this page comes out of your own book. We do not put a cancel rate in front of you, because nobody can honestly tell you what your customers will do — that estimate is yours to make, and the tool says so every time you move it.
Your book
Your numbers. Nothing here is sent anywhere unless you use the email form at the bottom.
$40 becomes $44 a month, up $4 (10%).
Enter your own estimate. We leave this at zero on purpose. Nobody can tell you what your customers will do, so put in the number you would defend to your banker.
What it puts in your pocket
Updates as you type.
New monthly revenue
$35,200
was $32,000
Net, a year
$38,400
at your 0% estimate
How many could you lose before it was pointless?
9.1%
That is 72 of your 800 accounts. Lose fewer than that and the increase leaves you ahead. Lose more and you went backwards.
increase $4 ÷ new rate $44 = 9.1%
This one is arithmetic, not a statistic. It is your increase divided by your new rate, and it says nothing about how many customers will actually leave. Only you can estimate that, which is what the slider is for.
The letter
Pick a tone, fill in your details, copy it or print it.
Straight down the middle. Says what is happening and why.
Pick an effective date.
Many monitoring agreements require written notice before a price change, and some states have their own rules on top of that. Thirty days is the shortest window most dealers should even consider, and longer is safer. Read your agreement's price change clause and check your state's rules before you mail anything. If the contract is silent or you cannot tell, that is a question for your lawyer, not for a calculator.
Edit these. The letter is stronger when the list is specific to what you actually do.
This is what prints.
Your business name
Effective date
A note about your monitoring rate I am writing to let you know that your monitoring rate is going up. Starting [effective date], your rate will be $44 a month, an increase of $4. This is the first thing you will see on the bill dated on or after that day. Your service does not change. You still get: - 24/7 monitoring, with the same response when a signal comes in - The same people answering when you call - Service on your system by our own techs The reason is straightforward: what it costs us to monitor and service your system has gone up, and we have carried it as long as we can without cutting anything you rely on. If you have questions, call me at [your phone number] and ask for [your name]. [your name] [your business name] [your phone number]
Read your agreement's price change clause and your state's rules before you send this. This is a letter template, not legal advice.
Six lines for the customer who calls to complain
Print it and put it next to the phone, so whoever picks up says what you would say.
- 1“Thanks for calling about the letter — I would rather talk than have you sit on it.”
- 2“Yes, it is real. Starting on that date it goes up, and that is the first bill you will see it on.”
- 3“What is behind it: what it costs us to monitor and service your system went up, and I held it as long as I could.”
- 4“What is not changing: same monitoring, same response, same people you call. I did not cut anything to pay for this.”
- 5“If the timing is rough, tell me — I would rather work something out with you than lose you.”
- 6“Anything else about the system while I have you? A sensor acting up, an app you cannot get into?”
The last line is the one dealers skip. A price call is the only time that customer will have you on the phone all year — use it to find the sensor that has been chirping since spring.
How to put a price increase through
- 1
Put in your accounts and what they pay now
How many accounts you monitor, and what the average one pays you a month today. Those two numbers are the whole basis for everything underneath.
- 2
Set the increase, in dollars or as a percent
Either way it lands on the same arithmetic. You will see the new rate and what the increase is worth across the whole book before anybody cancels.
- 3
Put in your own guess at the cancels
The slider starts at zero and stays there until you move it. There is no honest industry figure for this, so the number is yours — the one you would defend to your banker.
- 4
Read the break-even rate
Your increase divided by your new rate is the share of accounts you could lose before the increase left you no better off. Lose fewer and you are ahead. That is arithmetic, not a forecast.
- 5
Generate the letter and set the date
Pick a tone, fill in your details, and set an effective date at least 30 days out. Read your agreement's price change clause and your state's rules before you mail anything.
- 6
Brief the office before the first letter lands
Print the six-line phone script and put it next to the phone, and work through the timing checklist so nobody hears about the increase from a neighbor first.
The order to do it in
Most of the damage from a price increase comes from the sequence, not the number. This is the order that keeps the phone calm.
Tell the office first
Whoever answers your phone should know before the first customer does.
- Show them the letter and the effective date, and let them read it before it goes out.
- Print the six-line phone script and put it next to the phone.
- Agree on what they can say yes to on their own, so nobody has to say “let me ask the owner” twenty times.
- Agree on who gets escalated to you: anyone who says the word cancel, and anyone with more than one account.
When to send it
- Count back from the effective date and make sure the letter lands at least 30 days before it, with time for the mail.
- Send early in the week. A letter that arrives Saturday sits and stews until Monday.
- Do not send it in the same envelope as a bill. It reads as a bill increase notice instead of a note from a person.
- Mail the whole book at once. Staggering it means one customer hears it from a neighbor before they hear it from you.
- Put the same note in your billing portal and your outgoing voicemail the day it lands.
The customers who prepaid for the year
- Do not change a price mid-term on someone who already paid for that term. Honor what they bought.
- Their increase starts at their renewal. Note the renewal date on each one before you mail anything.
- Send them their own version of the letter that says plainly: nothing changes until your renewal on [date].
- Decide up front whether you will let anyone prepay another year at the old rate before the change, and apply that answer to everybody the same way.
After it goes out
- Write down every call: who, what they said, what you agreed to. You will want that list next year.
- Count your actual cancels against the estimate you put in this tool. Now you have a real number instead of a guess.
- Do not chase the quiet ones. Most customers never call.
Give yourself at least 30 days
Many monitoring agreements require written notice before a price change, and some states have their own rules on top of that. Thirty days is the shortest window most dealers should even consider, and longer is safer. Read your agreement's price change clause and check your state's rules before you mail anything. If the contract is silent or you cannot tell, that is a question for your lawyer, not for a calculator.
Questions dealers ask
- What is the break-even cancel rate?
- It is the share of accounts you could lose before the increase leaves you no better off than before. The arithmetic is the increase divided by the new rate. If you charge $40 and go to $44, the $4 increase over the $44 new rate is 9.1 percent — lose fewer accounts than that and you are ahead.
- Why does the cancel slider start at zero?
- Because it is your estimate, not ours. There is no honest industry figure we could put there, and whatever number we pre-filled would become the number you planned around. Move it to what you would defend to your banker.
- How much notice do I have to give?
- Read your own agreement's price change clause, and check your state's rules. Many monitoring agreements require written notice and some states add their own requirements. This tool warns you if your effective date is less than 30 days out, but it cannot read your contract. If you are unsure, ask your lawyer.
- Should I raise everybody at once?
- Mail the whole book at once so nobody hears it from a neighbor first, but honor anyone who has already prepaid through a term. Their increase starts at renewal.
- What do I do with the customer who threatens to cancel?
- Answer the phone, for a start. Most of them want to be heard and want to know nothing got cut. The six-line script is there so whoever picks up says the same thing you would.
An increase makes the phone ring.
Every letter you mail comes back as calls, and they land on the same week, often after five. If those calls go to voicemail the increase starts costing you accounts it did not need to cost you. Our AI 24/7 Support Line picks up day or night, handles the beeping keypad and the app reset, and hands you the ones that are really about the price. From $297 a month for dealers under 1,000 accounts.
Call and try it: (737) 339-5541. Tell her your keypad is beeping.
While you are here: price a service plan from your own costs. An increase on monitoring is one lever. A service plan is a second line on the same bill.