Restoration Rewind

Delta Development Group Monthly Newsletter

December 2014

Delta Disaster services is honoreD

again!

Every spring, Professional Remodeler

Magazine compiles a list of the market

leaders from over 20 different

remodeling markets across the nation.

This list is composed because, as we

all know very well, the remodeling

industry is a localized business. To

gain a national perspective on the

industry, the magazine publishes the

America’s Top Remodeler’s list. The

list is made up of exterior replacement

segments, full-service market

segments, and of course our industry,

Insurance Restoration is also

represented.

This year Delta Disaster Services of Denver was listed as #102 out of nearly 250 firms. The small number of insurance restoration firms that make the list, make our recognition that much sweeter.

Certifications for the Future We're seeing more changes within the recognition of IICRC certifications by the

insurance industry.

A brief history lesson goes like this. About seven years ago, Xactimate line items started recognizing IICRC categories of loss as well as product utilization. (Items like antimicrobials were not in their repertoire at one time, if you can believe that) We have seen a slow but consistent progression to address what we know are proven industry standards. Most insurance companies have a small division within their organization that is IICRC certified.

Allstate has a review division for mitigation jobs called Fire and Ice. State Farm and Farmers Insurance Companies have regional specialists that oversee complex or challenging mitigation jobs. These individuals have the same training that many of our franchisees have. This makes all of our jobs easier. Easier, only if you are following IICRC guidelines. If you are not, then you fall into the class of the typical restoration contractor that does not estimate based on specific protocols, and this is not the Delta way.

In Denver, we were recently dealing with a complex loss, and the response from the adjuster was followed with their signature as listed below. This is just a further example of certifications that insurance companies are putting their personnel through to better adjust claims.

XXXXXXXXXXX/ SR MITIGATION SPECIALIST CL IICRC WRT ASD OCT Certified #158392

Liberty Mutual Insurance | Commercial Insurance Claims | Mitigation Unit

The insurance adjusting world will only continue to increase their standards to be in line with proper IICRC mitigation protocols. It’s good to be in the Delta system!

We believe this further validates all of the pre-training and ongoing training that all of our franchisees, and their key personnel go through. If you have new employees that require training please get them scheduled for classes in your area. We can also help find available classes for you, do not hesitate to reach out for assistance.

Marketing for ‘15

This weeks’ Wednesday webinar focused on business planning for your 2015 marketing initiatives. Steve Chapman delivered a great presentation and we wanted to make sure that we also highlighted some of the most important points in our newsletter as well. Please let us know if you would like the entire presentation.

• As with any goal setting, it is important to know where you want to be in order to know how you’re going to get there. Let your 2015 planning begin the same way; figure out where you want to be and structure all of your planning and goals to get you there.

• Next, break down that end goal into achievable steps. A yearly goal of

$1,000,000 in additional volume breaks all the way down into the number of losses that you would need to bring in per week. Know that weekly number and your yearly number will follow right behind.

• Establish tight target goals that outline the number of jobs, or dollar figure of work that you would like to receive from your various referral sources. How much business would you like to get from your State Farm offices? From the one-stop plumber? From your local adjusters? Make sure you know these numbers so that you know where your focus should be.

• Be sure to establish an effective budget. What are you going to spend and what are you going to spend it on? Always make sure you know where your dollars are going so that you can effectively track your ROI.

• Create a marketing calendar, plan your month’s activities in detail and then delegate duties to make sure that items are getting done. These calendars will be working models, they will change often, but you can always look to the schedule for the big picture. A calendar will also help with accountability. By knowing who is responsible, it will help to limit the things that fall through the cracks. It also gives a clear direction of who to go to when there are problems or questions.

• Analyze your current book of business and figure out where your holes are and how you can diversify the accounts where your jobs are coming from.

• Schedule a planning meeting now so that you can have a good hold on these things and be ready to implement them around the first of the year. Also schedule a regular marketing meeting time for 2015 with Steve Chapman. Whether it is a weekly, bi-weekly, or even a monthly call, he is a great resource for your marketing. These meetings should include both the owner and the marketing representative and will be candid on the things you are doing, not doing and ideas for the future. Feel free to reach out to Steve about your 2015 planning and any other marketing conversations that you would like to have.

Convention, Convention, Convention! While March seems to be far away, we all know that it will come quicker than we even know. We are very diligently planning the details of the convention event, and with every layer that comes together, we get more and more excited.

Here are some great updates for you; we have made the offer to everyone to attend a DMS training session on the Thursday before the event kicks off, March 12. If you have not responded to this invitation or if you have more questions about the training please contact Ragan Neblett. This is something outside of the actual convention, but we will still need to plan for a meeting room, food and beverage and other training

needs so please let her know if you are interested in this training.

We recently met with our wonderful crew at Interlink to review their fire mitigation and remediation product lines. In an effort to continue to move the entire organization forward and to address ever growing environmental concerns, we will introduce some of these exciting new products at the convention. We are working with them now and proving that they meet all of standards within the Denver office, this will continue the trend of our franchises being environmentally friendly.

Please remember the convention is mandatory for all owners. All of your employees are welcome to attend any or all portions of the convention as well. Remember that sleeping room reservations need to be made directly with the hotel at www.thegoldenhotel.com. We will be looking for your attendance information around the end of January so that we can have accurate numbers for food and things like that.

Stay tuned for more information in the coming months. Next month we will reveal one of the phenomenal guest speakers that we have lined up!

Planning to Succeed, or Planning to Fail

We’re all guilty of it. We set our resolutions on the 31st of December, jazzed up to make progress in our personal and professional lives, and then, by the middle of January, we’re bored. Our goals, which had once seemed so within reach, have suddenly become infinitely far away. It’s no wonder that a mere 8 percent of people follow through on their New Year’s goals, according to University of Scranton research.

This year, rather than giving up preemptively, let’s all reset our resolutions and revive our excitement.

Here’s How to Reset Your New Year’s Business Resolutions, And This Time, Make Sure They Stick

Write your goals down.

Writing your resolutions down is the first step to taking them seriously. While it’s great to brainstorm goals, without writing down your mission, focus fades and continuity begins to decrease. Putting pen to paper forces you to focus, and to identify the specific goals that you are working toward.

One suggestion we read is to have a goals board. Everyone in the company gets to set professional and personal goals each year. Broadcast the goals on a formal wall for the entire office to see. Whenever you walk into the office and see your own goal, it reminds you to take action. Our brains work subconsciously to help us accomplish our mission when we keep our resolutions top-of-mind. What’s more, it makes you happy — it’s exciting to see so much optimism and ambition, and a reminder of how much there is for each of us to look forward to.

Be realistic with your expectations.

Whether it’s about weight-loss or ROI-growth, setting unattainable goals doesn’t help your success, it hinders it. Set goals that, though they require hard work and perseverance, are, in fact, doable. It’s better to set a smaller goal that can be expanded upon than something you feel you’ll never actually reach. If you aim to increase your bottom-line, think about what strategies you can use to hit that revenue goal. Pick a number; a realistic number. Going from 100K to 100 million in sales will not happen overnight. Think about the most important things that will impact your business that with hard work and effort, you can actually achieve.

Establish milestones to track success.

A year is a long time to stay focused. Here’s where the planning comes into play. If you fail to plan, you are, in essence, planning to fail. Think about what success looks like short term and keep yourself motivated. Be sure to set key performance indicators for each of the goals you set. Otherwise, how will you know if you’re on track? Give yourself a schedule and monthly (or, weekly, if you’re extra committed) milestones to know that you’re breezing through the things you want to accomplish.

Remember, when thinking about your own resolutions, ask yourself:

• Where do you want to be in 1 year, 3 years, 5 years?

• With these goals in mind, what will be different for your company? What’s the end-goal?

• What type of investment can you make to your goals, in regards to time, effort, energy, money? Is it doable?

So, which goals are you resetting this month? By sharing your goals with others, you train to hold yourself accountable.

Try using these techniques this year when you are setting your business and personal goals. Let us know tips that you have for effective goal setting and achieving. We would love to hear how you are all going to be meeting your 2015 goals.

And We Will Leave You With This…

Working hard every day, putting your head down, never observing what is going around you ….will only get you one

thing, old and tired! Get engaged in all aspects of your organization. Never rely on secondhand information. Get

out in the field when you can, get on marketing calls when you can. Make sure you stay in touch with all aspects of

your business and you will continue to prosper!

Somebody Successful….