Opportunity For Lateral Growth In The Low Voltage Telephony Market.

I know that it has been a while since I last posted, but I have been rather busy lately. I think that the economy is beginning to show signs of picking up despite Obama's war on prosperity. Several side jobs have come my way lately. I suspect that a few of them were pent up demand for services that businesses were just holding off on until they could simply wait no longer. Others are simply the direct result of some semblance of stability returning to the business environment as a whole.


It is nice to know that a good reputation for quality service precedes me, as I have been able to expand laterally into a new market for low voltage work. A very good customer of mine, (a commercial properties management and investment company) called upon me back in the spring of 2004 to restore service for one of their tenants. It seems that one of their electrical contractors was working in an adjoining vacant suite doing demolition work and had cut the T-1 for the tenant. Well, I had their computers and phones back up and running later that very afternoon. The tenant was rather impressed and took one of my business cards. They subsequently called me to work on their phone system about a half dozen times over the next year, and then again when they moved into a larger suite it was I who cabled it and moved their phone system for them.

Well, that tenant just so happens to be an HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) company. They sell, install, service and repair HVAC units and they also remotely monitor and manage them for their customers. Up until now the units that they have monitored have been large commercial type rooftop units that control the climates for common areas in office buildings and warehouses however, they have started to push into a new market; controlling individual office suites with IP addressable thermostats. That is where I come in. They asked me to bid out a job for them, and they liked my quote. They liked it so much so that I have been told that we may get the opportunity to bid on many more of these jobs that they are looking to sell! 


So I have moved laterally from doing primarily the traditional telephony work on business phone systems, voice mail systems and data networks into a contractual relationship within the HVAC market. This comes as the telephony side of things are beginning to pick up for me as well. This is good news. There is still some sluggishness in the telephony market however, as my receivables are cycling longer. They languish for an average of 40 to 45 days before payment, in spite of offering incentives to pay earlier.


So it would seem that the credit market is not dead after all, because I have continued extending credit to my customers. But my customers are creditworthy and it behooves me to do so, or they may look elsewhere for service.