Restoration Rewind

Delta Development Group Monthly Newsletter

April 2016

2016 Convention – Commercial Success!

Another convention, Delta Development Group’s 4th Annual Convention, is in the books. After months of planning, the event went off smoothly for everyone. We were fortunate enough to be joined by almost all of the offices in the Delta Disaster Services network and a couple nationally known speakers. We all learned a lot, and overall, it was truly a

great event.

Day 1 began with the State of Delta, delivered by President Michael Mastous. The Delta Disaster Services network is on an uptrend, with all of our offices improving their numbers since last year. We even had a couple offices that DOUBLED their income from last year.

Delta Development Group as a franchisor has made some really great strides in technology this year. At the convention, we were able to introduce those pieces of technology all of which allow for more efficient work from both the office and the field. T-Sheets, DropBox, Docusign

and the QuickBooks Sync have all be integral to the success of Delta Disaster Services of Denver and we are confident they will also help all of our offices.

Day 1 also brought Mr. Mickey Lee to Denver. Mickey Lee is the current chairman of the IICRC committee which writes the S500, the governing book to water mitigation.

Mickey Lee is also a nationally known instructor and speaker and we were very grateful that he was able to join us and deliver a smaller version of the IICRC Commercial Water Mitigation class. Mickey brought with him a wealth of information, everyone was able to learn a lot from his presentation. Delta Development Group has also secured Mickey Lee to come back to Denver and deliver the entire IICRC Commercial Water class privately to Delta Disaster Services network members only. Get with Ragan for more information on this class.

As if that wasn’t enough for one day, Friday evening we were pleased to be joined by some of our great vendors for an after-hours reception. Sponsored by CRDN, the

after-hours event brought together many people that only ever communicate via email. Getting to put smiling faces with names and voices always helps to solidify relationships.

Day 2, whew, yes we made it to a second day. Day 2 was opened with an Owners Only meeting to discuss financials and program accounts. After the money talks, we were joined by another national recognized speaker, Mr. Dick Wagner. Dick is an expert in Commercial Marketing and presented a condensed version of his proprietary 3 day class. Dick’s presentation got thoughts swirling around and a lot of interest sparked as to how we can all get more out of the commercial space of our industry. Because of that interest we have secured dates with Dick Wagner to present, privately, his 3 –day class to the Delta Disaster Services network. Ask Ragan for more information on this class as well.

We packed a lot into Day 2, also inviting NDT/AMC Elite to join our event. They brought in their mobile fleet of equipment for a visual demonstration of the large desiccants and generators that they supply for our use on large commercial losses. Aaron Foreman, President, also delivered a presentation about their company and how they can assist us all in the commercial space. We were very pleased they could all join us.

Saturday was culminated with our awards banquet. It is such a great feeling to be able to recognize those who are really standing out as business operators. Caroline Hornback, General Manager of Delta Disaster Services of Northern Colorado, was given a Teamwork award for helping us at the IBS Tradeshow. She was a great addition to the group that we have in the booth at the show and helped to bring in some very good prospects. Thank you Caroline!

Mac Urie, Owner of Delta Disaster Services of Southern Utah, was awarded the Urie award. He made another intuitive marketing decision and put a house into the Cedar City Parade of Homes after they had restored it due to a fire. Great Job Mac!

Tyler & Bruce Milyard, Owners of Delta Disaster Services of Western Colorado were given the MVP award. As a company they have made a decision to mimic the prototype office exactly and that has lead them to see great growth and success, with much more to follow. Way to go Tyler and Bruce!

Emmis Chellman, Owner of Delta Disaster Services of Southern Colorado is this year’s Franchise of the Year! He has truly built his operation from nothing, and is leading the network in every possible way. He has become a leader in the Delta network and across his market as well. CONGRATULATIONS EMMIS!

If that wasn’t enough, we brought everyone together for a third day. We had presentations from three of our offices who have worked large commercial losses over the last year. They gave us great views on how the projects went for them. Challenges that they faced, things that went well, what they would have done differently and what the estimates and billing looked like. It was great to have actual experiences to share with one another. We were also very lucky that Mac, Emmis and Tyler agreed to present to the group, thanks guys, public speaking is never easy.

The 4th annual convention was fantastic! We would like to thank all of our offices for taking time away from the businesses to join us. A special thanks to our speakers, Mr. Mickey Lee, Mr. Dick Wagner, and Mr. Aaron Foreman. And the biggest thanks to our sponsors; CRDN, ServiceSoftware, NDT/AMC Elite, SpeedPro of Denver and Interlink-Aramsco. See everyone next year!

Revolution™ LGR Dehumidifier We can't say we're crazy about the color, but the Dri Eaz Revolution Dehumidifier can be a game changer for a restoration contractor. Simply look at the output and the size compared to a traditional large dehumidifier, and as you can see in the picture below, it truly does make a difference.

Space comes at a premium in a restoration vehicle. We are starting to see not just dehumidifiers but also air movers coming in smaller scale sizes.

When you think about the amount of equipment needed to correctly stock a vehicle for emergency services calls, any amount of space that can be saved by smaller pieces will become the choice of most contractors. Especially for those of us who are operating with a utility van type space versus a larger commercial vehicle.

Many of you that were at our national convention had an opportunity to see the revolution up close. If you are interested in knowing more you can contact John Geyer at Interlink/Aramsco, our equipment specialist.

Cash in The Door

Delta Disaster Services of Southern Colorado does it again in February with over $250,000 in the door.

Great Job!

A Quick Laugh…

Financial Corner Everyone’s favorite Dixie Feld has journeyed into semi-retirement. And while she might not always be sitting in the office, she is still available for questions, conversation and any financial or compliance that you might need. We can also continue to look forward to her monthly contributions in the financial section of the newsletter.

QUICKBOOKS The current nemesis of Delta Disaster Services of Denver!

For a quick background story, we have incurred data integrity issues off and on for over four years while using QuickBooks. And while we still believe it is the software of choice for all of our offices, we have learned some things in our experiences and we want to share our knowledge with you. Here is what we have learned:

1. QuickBooks is great for small companies with small amounts of data. As you grow and have more data, more records, and more upgrades, you may face different problems and potential corruption issues.

2. QuickBooks Premier is much better than QuickBooks Pro and allows you to have more data, store more data, maintain more data and run better reports.

3. Once you reach approximately 14,000 records in your QuickBooks Premier, you will need to upgrade to QuickBooks Enterprise. The data limit in the Premier version is real and you will have corruption issues and lost data issues when you start to exceed that amount. Assume you will start to come close to this limit approximately year six to year seven of your business.

4. QuickBooks Enterprise is significantly more expensive. However, it also has some definite advantages. You are issued a five user license immediately, you will have much better reporting, much greater data limits, and tech support (from inside the US).

One of the biggest disadvantages is that you are required to upgrade annually and that cost is approximately $1,200. Adding your next five licenses is another investment of $5,000.

5. Now to the past two weeks and all the Great New stuff we have learned!

a. Your QuickBooks company files should be started over every 7 years. If you do not start a new company file, you will face more corruption issues. As the corruption issues continue, they become harder and harder to correct.

b. Every time you upgrade your QuickBooks to another version, change all of your users and roles. Do not delete a user or you will lose your audit trail. Just set up a new user for everyone and give them one role. When they have more than one role, it will “confuse” QuickBooks.

c. Every time you upgrade your QuickBooks, delete all of your memorized reports and all of your memorized transactions. Trying to carry them from one version to another will also “confuse” QuickBooks.

d. When you start a new company, Intuit QuickBooks will assist you. You will NOT be able to bring any transactions into the new company if you have data integrity issues. Regardless of what you can or do bring into the new company, you will also want your CPA or accountant involved. This is a daunting and time consuming process with several potential problems. Try to plan to do it at the year end. (Not April 1…)

I know five to seven years seems like a long way away. However, please keep these things in mind and feel free to call or email for any additional information.

Marketing Here is a great article to follow up from convention. Written by one of our presenters Dick Wagner. His plea is to get you to think about the questions that you are asking and how they separate you from the other twenty competitors and how they create curiosity about your business. Enjoy! -Jason-

Can You Sell Your Intangible Services? Much of the selling (or attempted selling) done by sales people today in the disaster recovery industry involves offering an intangible service. Intangible in the sense that you are trying to get an agent or adjuster to refer you to the end-user (policyholder) when they have a disaster. Even the actual “benefits” of your service are often intangible as well, so that makes the challenge even greater.

Some of the intangible aspects:

• The speed in which you get to the loss • Skill level of your technicians • How quickly you can get it dry • How great you “dry in place” • How little tear-out is done • How good you are a communication • How happy the policyholder will be

I continue to be amused at sales people calling on an agent bragging about company certifications, number of trucks or employees, the latest hotshot equipment, how much more they “care” about their clients, etc. Really people? This does NOT separate you from the other 25 – 50 contractors you are competing against in your market! It’s about being Different, not being all the Same! Customers today are more concerned about the perceived value of the benefits than they are about the actual product itself. Even more interesting is that businesses today are spending far more effort on creating a perceived value to those benefits, concentrating less on the actual product or service. The better you are at that, the better your differentiation.

Remember, most sales people start their job in sales with little or no credibility and that makes it difficult to have early successes. By first asking precise and simple closed-end questions you can get your prospect comfortable interacting with you. Once you have succeeded there, it’s time to quickly get into the kinds of questions that can help solidify a more credible persona. Intangible services usually require you to become good at selling the intangible benefits to expand and enhance the relationship.

In one of my previous articles, I wrote about (Differentiation – and how important it is to the sales process because of the massive number of products, services and businesses – all competing for the same customers. Every day, it becomes more and more important to identify and shout about what makes you different (and hopefully better) since customers are making emotional decisions based on that difference! At the very least, sales people need to convey credibility and believability. Without these they aren’t generating trust, and without trust, people won’t buy! No trust – No sale.

I’ve also been preaching for years that it’s not about a “solution” to their problems. Your “solution” usually involves attempting to sell them something, and nobody wants to be sold something. Your service should enable them to solve their own problem, not force a “solution” on them where their only alternative is to buy your product or service.

A great differentiator is simply making your client “thirsty” or another way to say it is to make them “curious” about you, your services and your ability to help take away their “pain.”

The well-known TV commercial about “The Most Interesting Man in the World” (Jonathan Goldsmith) has enabled Dos Equis beer sales to be among the top three fastest growing beer sales in the US. I believe a major part of that success is simply that the marketers created curiosity! This curiosity has dramatically escalated the sales growth because we are all “curious” about the product. Their sales increased 22% while other beer sales dropped 4%! That’s a huge increase in a down beer market. Imagine becoming good at asking engaging powerful questions to your prospects that created interest and curiosity. Suddenly, you have differentiated yourself, your company, your services, and elevated your credibility. With great believability and credibility comes trust – the vital ingredient you need to actually make the sale. As a salesperson, become “the most interesting person” for your industry. I am confident your sales will go up.

http://www.askdickwagner.com/articles/disaster-recovery/155-can-you-sell-your-intangible-services Author: Dick Wagner

June 21-24, 2016 Las Vegas, Nevada

Caesars Palace Las Vegas Hotel and Casino

This year's annual Crawford Contractor Connection Convention will be a no miss opportunity for all of the franchises in our system. There is never a guarantee that you will be put on Crawford's vendor program by attending. However, last year the three offices that were in attendance, all received work as a result of being at this conference.

The conference offers you an opportunity to take industry supported classes. It further allows you to hear prominent national speakers discuss the state of the restoration industry.

Vendors and suppliers from across the country bring in their latest products and services. It is a good opportunity to see what the future of the restoration history holds by attending the vendor show.

We hope to see everyone there. As many of you know. Delta Development Group is a Gold sponsor of this conference this year. See you in Vegas!

We Will Leave You With This…