Restoration Rewind Delta Development Group Monthly Newsletter
February 2017
New Franchise Training Forgive our tardiness on this month’s newsletter. We have been training our new franchise group. Delta Disaster Services of Eastern Gulf States has officially completed their franchise training. With heads spinning, and information falling out of their ears, they are all back in Mobile, Alabama putting the education they received right into practice.
The team, owner Jim Cagle, General Manager Zack Lane, Regional Comptroller, Chris Mitchell, Executive Assistant, Katie Rutland, and Business Development Representative Michelle Small, were all in attendance, in Denver, for the 14 days of intense training.
We were in the classroom, out in the field with Denver employees, out on field trips visiting vendors; we had this crew all over the place to educate them and prepare them
to be a Delta Disaster Services. The whole crew passed their final exams with flying colors and will be presented with their certificates at their grand opening in April. Special thanks to Tyler Milyard and Emmis Chellman who both took time away from their own locations to come and speak to our new franchisees about their experiences as Delta Disaster Services owners.
Delta Disaster Services of Eastern Gulf States will open their doors officially the first week of April in Mobile Alabama. Feel free to come join us for the celebration, please let Ragan know if you would like more details on the event. If you haven’t reached out to Jim and his team yet, please take a moment to introduce yourselves and get to know our newest team in the South. CONGRATULATIONS DELTA DISASTER SERVICES OF EASTERN GULF STATES!
WHAT TO DO? “Hello Michael my name is xxxxx xxxxxx. Team leader with the xxxxxxx Insurance Company. So I got your email regarding needing overhead and profit on this job. I discussed this with my claims handler as he brought this to my attention earlier and informed him we do not owe overhead and profit. This job does not require it. We had two trades there. We do not allow it. That's where it's gonna stand. Thanks.”
This is an excerpt of a transcript from an actual voice mail that I received in our Denver office when I escalated a settlement of a claim to an adjuster. This job consisted of a full roof replacement and a section of fencing. Let’s discuss this issue further: This was from a carrier who we’re currently a preferred vendor for. As with any vendor program we join on with, we read the guidelines and it stated overhead and profit was afforded on multi trade losses but…”it was also up to the discretion of the handling adjuster to make the final determination”. We made the following arguments. First, we are in fact a General Contractor and our overhead and profit requirement doesn’t change based on the number of trades we oversee. That didn’t work. Second, we incur the same costs to oversee one trade, two trades or 10 trades. Per guidelines we performed the job walk with our subcontractors after sending the work order, we reviewed their bid and built the job in Xactimate. We handled scheduling of the work and confirming it was done properly. We also performed the invoicing and we have paid the subcontractor, well in advance of us getting paid. We are also holding the contractor’s liability for three years under this particular program. That didn’t work. Third, your program is essentially asking us to work for free or at a loss. If we are working from true subcontractor bids and we are not getting our due overhead and profit, then we are losing all of our general and administrative expenses in addition to the cost of our supervisor. That didn’t work either.
Moving forward with this and all programs that we join up with; we have to look at the book of business the carrier refers to us. Are we going to make up the O&P on another job or jobs? In this particular case, it is a new TPA for us and they are the ones that are steering the estimate before it goes to the staff adjuster to review. We have had accounts like this before where over time, we reviewed the book of business and it was in fact profitable. This particular TPA and carrier have not allowed us a profit on any of the five jobs that we have received to date. I have personally spoken with the vice president of the TPA and told him that we are not in a position to continue to work on jobs that are not profitable. His response was that he has many other contractors that would like to take referrals from this TPA and this particular carrier. I was comfortable enough with the vice president of claims to discuss the following: The better firms are the firms that he wants on his TPA, this is what will sustain relationships with his clients. The better firms at some point are going to walk away from a relationship of this nature. The lesser firms, will have production issues, quality issues, warranty issues or worse go out of business based on the work he is giving them and the margins they will be able to achieve. At the end of the conversation he acknowledged what I said however, I don’t believe he will change the way he does business. Unfortunately, some insurance companies just do not see the benefit in building strong and financially equitable relationships with their vendors. This actual case is one of the reasons why we have the Denver office vet many of the newer TPA programs that pop-up. When a new TPA comes onto the market place one of their selling points is obvious, “We can save you dollars on your claims settlement�. Unfortunately, that is only one portion of the value proposition that a preferred vendor offers an insured. We will continue to monitor this particular client relationship and if it continues on this course, we will back out of referrals from them.
Ooo‌Ahhh! Something New and Shiny!
WOW! Look at that cool machine. Delta Disaster Services of Southern Colorado has purchased an Ultrasonic Cleaning Machine for content restoration jobs. They have said they will be gracious and allow other franchises to rent this equipment on an as needed basis. For large content jobs, it is an absolute benefit to be able to have this type of equipment available. Please contact Emmis Chellman and his crew at (719) 599-4200 for more information.
Marketing Corner In 2017 be prepared to take your marketing to the next level with personal branding. A few of you have heard this message before but this article really is concise on the importance and how to develop your own personal brand. I encourage you to review and adopt a few of the actionable items to start creating your own personal brand. This will ultimately raise your referrals ability to remember you and the one that they remember is the one that gets the referrals. Take the time and make yourself memorable. Enjoy!
Why It's More Important Than Ever To Build a Successful Personal Brand Hussein Hallak
Whoever you are, wherever you come from, whatever you do, and in whichever direction your life is heading, you are a brand. You may not think of using this word when describing yourself because you usually associate a brand with a product or a big company. Regardless of what you think, the reality is still that you are a brand. What is a brand? The industry definition is; A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or other feature that distinguishes one seller's product from those of others. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising. Based on this definition you might think that a personal brand is a name, term, design, symbol or other feature that distinguishes you from other people. But this way of defining a personal brand is limited, simplistic, inaccurate, and dangerous. Mainly because it gives you the false impression that you own your brand, that you can somehow build a brand by hiring a designer and copywriter, and that a brand is only important if you want to be a public figure. It's no wonder very few people invest in building their personal brand, which is why very few people achieve success, for success is not the product of hard work, it's the product of building a powerful personal brand.
So what is your brand? Put simply, your brand is what people think you are. That means you have a brand whether you actively built it or not, cause people have thoughts about you even if you don't know them, and they know nothing about you! That also means you don't own your brand; people do, so the only way to build a personal brand is with people, not in isolation of people. You can't commission someone to build your brand for you; you must be involved fully in the process. And if you have a negative personal brand, anything you create will be viewed negatively, rejected, and will most likely end up failing no matter how hard you work. Why Building a Personal Brand is a must? Your level of success in life correlates with your ability to build a personal brand! So the thought that only public figures must build and maintain their brand is false, everyone who wants to be successful must build their brand. When you invest time and energy in building your brand, it naturally extends to everything you do and everyone around you. In the same way, what you do and who you surround yourself with impacts your personal brand, so your parents were right in asking you to hang around good friends in good places :)
What are some of the practical steps to building a personal brand? 1. Start with a Choice of what you stand for: Everything in life starts with a choice, so does your personal brand, you must choose what you want your personal brand to be and what you stand for. Answer these questions: • • • • •
What do you want to be known for? What are the words you want to come to mind when your name is mentioned? What do you want to leave people with after they meet you? What's your legacy in the world? When you die, what do you want people to say about you?
Answer with authenticity, don't just choose what sounds good, choose what matters most to you. A good way to test your answers it to think of the words and things you would never want people to say or think about you, they most likely will be the opposite of the answers to the above questions if you answered with authenticity :) 2. Listen and Learn: Listen closely to what people say about you, and get curious about what makes them say that. Listen deeply to their feedback. Be careful not to make it mean something more than what is said, don't take it too seriously, just listen and ask questions, and never defend, or else people will stop openly giving you any feedback, and you will hurt your brand. A bonus is that your brand will get a boost in the minds of people the more you listen to them. In addition to listening and learning from the people around you, you must learn everything you can about what you want to be known for; read books, go to workshops and learn from the masters. 3. Take Action: More than just your words, your actions shape your brand. If you want your brand to grow and shine, you must take action towards making your vision of the world a reality. 4. Build A Tribe: The fastest and most effective way to impact how people think about you is to build a tribe of advocates; people who believe in you, believe in your vision and are willing help you. They will talk about you, and share your message with the people they know and the networks they are part of.
Why use social media? The people you want to impact are on social media. While it's not the only channel to reach them, it's certainly the most ubiquitous. It's also one of the fastest and most efficient. With the continuous rise of various social networks and apps, social media will stay at the center stage of influencing people's lives, and will be the main way to connect and communicate with people.
Using the massive reach of key social media channels like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to build your personal brand and tell your story will keep fans, customers, and followers engaged. Using social media to connect with people, publish relevant content anchored in what you stand for you, and share your actions, you can start to build a tribe of engaged advocates, build a powerful personal brand and extend its reach way beyond what you thought is possible.
Winner‌Winner! A huge congratulations goes out to the western slope. Jake Tegtman, Business Development Rep for Delta Disaster Services of Western Colorado scooped up the $500 prize from DDG for being the first BD rep to bring in a job from P.R.E.P efforts. Jake’s efforts in his P.R.E.P marketing brought in a job from a Holiday Inn Express. The large water loss will be a great job for the crew in Grand Junction and they will be able to continue to show that town what great work they can do. Great Job Jake!
Improve Your Bottom Line How do you improve your bottom line? Or, increase your margins, thus increasing your profits! Number One: Follow The System. Simple as that. Do what you were taught it training. Do the things we ask you to do. Number Two: Have your estimates reviewed by someone else! Mike, and in his absence, someone in the Denver office will always review your estimates. Leaving money on the table will affect your profits. Even if it appears to be a simple estimate, or if you have been in business for years, please consider having Mike review it. You would be surprised how simple can change to complex very quickly. You lose out on nothing and have only money to gain. Mitigation: The number one way to improve profits on mitigation is with labor. • •
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Watch your overtime. You may be able to hire another person for what you are paying in overtime. Every trip to the job costs money. Plan your trips, and minimize those trips. Unnecessary trips are wasted money. That extra trip back to the shop because someone forgot something is very costly. For the franchises in major cities with traffic concerns, this become even more of an issue. It can take two hours round trip in Denver to make an unnecessary trip to a job site. Two people, with a box truck and two hours will easily cost over $100. On a small job, this could equal as much as 510% of your profit. • Make sure everyone on the job is productive. A tech that is “watching” rather than working can be very costly and can drastically effect the margins. Do not waste supplies. As easy and obvious as this sounds, your mitigation supplies are costly and you can only bill for so much. Make sure you bill for all legitimate equipment usage, supplies and labor. This comes back to your estimate reviews. Are you billing for trash bags on those big jobs? We had a job that used over $1,000 in trash bags last year. Billing for these does make a difference in the bottom line of the job.
Construction: The number one way to improve profits on construction is with your subcontractors and using subcontractor budgets. • • • • • • • • •
Are you requesting and getting discounts from your subcontractors? Are you using DMS? Are you “factoring” your sub bids correctly? Have you really worked to find two or three “handyman” type subs to do just as much as possible on those smaller jobs? Are you trying to run the jobs like a traditional GC? If so, this will drastically effect your margins and you will never meet your objectives. Are you managing the job and managing the home owner and their expectations? Are you tracking your supplements and making sure they are billed correctly with the insurance company? Are you holding your subcontractors accountable to their warranty issues and back charges? Are you truly treating your subcontractors like your business partners and appreciating what they do for you?
Admin: • • • •
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Collect the money! Collect the money timely! Watch your D.S.O. If it is over 50, why? How can you reduce it? Why are you not able to collect? Are you “booking” everything correctly in QuickBooks? Remember, the job is booked as income or a receivable when the job is completed. If you book it before you can collect it, it is effecting your D.S.O. If you have difficult collection accounts, be aggressive and do not let them sit. Turn them over to a collection company; have your attorney help; file liens; go to small claims court. In short, do what you have to do to collect the money. Always, have signed work agreements! Without a signed work agreement, you cannot collect the money.
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Always, have signed draw agreements when you are collecting money direct from the home owner.
Hope this helps! Anyone of these items can and will affect your margins. Having multiple problems, also multiplies the amount of loss you take on the job.
Trucks, Trucks and more Trucks
New vehicle update: Both of the GMC Canyon and the Dodge ProMaster are now available at a discounted fleet rate from Johnson Auto Plaza out of Brighton Colorado. The ProMaster can now be ordered turnkey which will include the vehicle, a red bed liner interior, LED lighting, a full aluminum racking system and a complete exterior wrap. The price is extremely competitive and certainly less expensive within the franchise system as opposed to doing it yourself. Johnson Auto Plaza is going out of their way to obtain our business. Their representative, Gary Spaw, will be at our national convention and they are going to assist in sponsorship of the event as well. This is an excellent vehicle for all of us to utilize as an all-in-one emergency services response truck.
DMS Update For our January Leadership meeting, our leaders actually met with another leader. This monthly meeting was held at the corporate offices of ServiceSoftware, the company that develops Delta Management Systems (DMS). We met with President, Dan Long and a couple of his trusted engineers to talk about the system and the direction we would like to see it go. Our conversation took many rabbit trails as conversations about technology usually do, but we did come away from that meeting feeling very confident about the things Dan and his team are working on and the direction we see DMS going. Some of those topics were: Document Management: We explained the problems we see with the lack of usability for the document section. Specifically the ability to name, save and access documents multiple times easily, and quickly. Dan assured us this is a fix his team can achieve and fairly quickly. We expect to see some work ups from his team on this in about 2 weeks. Route Management: With the 9.0 release we saw the “Map Me� feature come out which allows you to map a route based on jobs. Because we use DMS also for our BD reps as a CRM we impressed upon Dan the need to use the Map Me feature for route management system wide and not just based on jobs. Dan and his developers were also confident this could be easily fixed. This fix combined with the open API they are working on should allow us to easily create daily routes for our BD reps. Open API: API is the fancy acronym for the code that allows one online based system (like DMS) to talk to another online based system (like google). Dan and his team have purchased the open API code to google which will allow them to do things like the Map Me function, it will also allow us to connect via DMS to online web based programs like phone apps, other software programs, etc. Xactimate Integration: ServiceSoftware already maintains an integration with Xactimate, but because this integration only allows for the communication of estimates built with T&M, we cant take advantage of it. In our meeting, we were able to break down our job flow process, from a software standpoint for Dan and his team. To give them understanding on how much computer time we face without this integration really opened their eyes to our plight. We will be working with Dan over the next year to complete this Xactimate integration for the line item estimates that we create. This will
be quite a big project and it will take a bit more time than some of the others, but we can expect great things from this integration. Hopefully less screen time for all. If you have any questions about this meeting or would like more details on the directions we are taking DMS, please contact Ragan. She is also open to hearing your ideas about the system and she can bring those ideas to the next meeting with Dan and his team.
Remember the system is only as good and the data you put in. Good data in‌good data out. Please do not hesitate to contact Ragan if you need training on DMS for yourself or your employees.
And we will leave you with this…