Restoration Rewind Delta Development Group Monthly Newsletter
May 2017
Training Machines The Delta Development Group team are some training machines! We just completed the April training class for Delta Disaster Services of Northern Los Angeles.
Having the two great gentlemen from California here in Denver and teaching them the Delta way of life was exciting for all. Anthony Tatikian, Owner and Eddy Khalil, General Manager had a great class and learned a lot. They of course left with their heads oozing Delta information, but we see nothing but great things coming from this location.
Mark your calendars, the next Delta Disaster Services franchise training is scheduled for July 13 through July 27.
ROYALTY REMINDERS We find that reminders are always good. As time goes on and we all get busier, it becomes easier to make errors. The following will address some of the royalty questions that we receive on a regular basis: 1. Royalty reports are due in Denver on the 6th of each month. If you need an extension for some reason, please let Dixie know as soon as possible. 2. The ACH to pay royalties is scheduled for the 13th of each month. If the 13th falls on a weekend, the ACH is scheduled for the following Monday.
3. Warranty Fund payments start 2 years from grand opening. Monthly contribution is 1% of total sales. You pay a lifetime total of $15,000 into the warranty fund and then all payments stop for the remainder of your agreement. 4. The National Marketing Fund payments start 2 years from grand opening also. It is 1% of total sales. There is no cap. 5. Mitigation Royalties: 8% of Total Mitigation dollars received for the month. Mitigation includes all water mitigation, structural cleaning, contents. It is all inclusive of the work your “Emergency Services/Mitigation Team” does. 6. Construction Royalties: 4% of Total Construction dollars received for the month. Construction includes all reconstruction and asbestos. It is all inclusive of work that was invoiced as construction. Most of our franchises have existing businesses. For this example, we will call the existing business “ABC Construction”. The question has come up when a customer of ABC Construction calls you, Delta Disaster Services, for mitigation or reconstruction work. IF YOU SECURE AND DO THE WORK, ROYALTIES ARE DUE ON THIS WORK. Just because this was a customer of ABC, this is still considered a Delta job. Hopefully, this helps to address some of the questions that might arise. Please feel to call if you need additional clarification.
Expectation versus Reality
Skills you need to lead a business…. Including Delta Disaster Services! What does it take to succeed? A positive attitude? Well, sure, but that’s hardly enough. Success, however it’s defined, takes action, and taking good and appropriate action takes skills. Some of these skills (not enough, though) are taught in school (not well enough, either), others are taught on the job, and still others we learn from general life experience. Below is a list of general skills that will help anyone get ahead
Public Speaking The ability to speak clearly, persuasively, and forcefully in front of an audience – whether an audience of 1 or of thousands – is one of the most important skills anyone can develop. People who are effective speakers come across as more comfortable with themselves, more confident, and more attractive to be around. Being able to speak effectively means you can sell anything – products, of course, but also ideas, ideologies, worldviews, ideas and most importantly the ability to motivate a group to buy into your vision to move your company forward.
Critical Thinking We are exposed to hundreds, if not thousands, of times more information on a daily basis than our great-grandparents were. Being able to evaluate that information, sort the potentially valuable from the trivial, analyze its relevance and meaning, and relate it to other information is invaluable. How many people are after you for your attention on a daily basis? How many sales pitches do you receive? Your ability to expose the valid from the invalid is important in moving your business forward.
Decision-Making The bridge that leads from analysis to action is effective decision-making – knowing what to do based on the information available. While not being critical can be dangerous, so too can over-analyzing, or waiting for more information before making a decision. Being able to take in the scene and respond quickly and effectively is what separates the doers from the wannabes. We all know many people who spend their whole life aiming at targets. Sometimes you just need to pull the trigger and hope for the best.
Math You don’t have to be able to integrate polynomials to be successful. However, the ability to quickly work with figures in your head, to make rough but fairly accurate estimates, and to understand things like compound interest and basic statistics gives you a big lead on most people. All of these skills will help you to analyze data more effectively – and more quickly – and to make better decisions based on it. If you don’t know how to read a profit and loss statement, or understand how a balance sheet works, you’ll be hard pressed to be a successful small business owner.
Research Nobody can be expected to know everything, or even a tiny fraction of everything. Even within the restoration industry, chances are there’s far more that you don’t know than you do know. You don’t have to know everything – but you should be able to quickly and painlessly find out what you need to know. That means learning to use the Internet effectively, learning to read productively, and learning how to leverage your network of contacts – and what kinds of research are going to work best in any given situation. Make sure that you are actively engaged within your restoration community. This includes LinkedIn groups, publications geared toward our industry as well as associations.
Relaxation Stress will not only kill you, it leads to poor decision-making, poor thinking, and poor socialization and can destroy your family life. Being able to face even the most pressing crises with your wits about you and in the most productive way is possibly the most important thing on this list. Find something, outside support, an activity, a social group, forms
of meditation; the point is you need to be able to tune out and get your mind on something other than the fixation of work.
What Else? Surely there are more important skills I’m not thinking of (which is probably why I’m not telling Bill Gates what to do!) – what are they? What have I missed? What lessons have you learned that were key to your successes – and what have you ignored?
CASH IN THE DOOR Based on March Royalties, the winner is…SOUTHERN COLORADO WITH NEARLY $600,000. Great job, Emmis, Rosey, TJ, Jess and the rest of the crew!
Marketing Corner Following up on our last Wednesday webinar for marketing on how to stay top of mind, I would like to share this article which has a simple breakdown of how to be memorable and how to stay top of mind. It covers many of the aspects to the business development positions that are very applicable to our day-to-day interactions. The opening statement is so true on how to get above the rest of the field and competitors. I will plan to review this as well at our next webinar. Enjoy!
Be SMART to Be Memorable BY: HEATHER BALDWIN HTTP://WWW .SELLINGPOW ER.COM/CONTENT/ARTICLE/INDEX.PHP?A=1401/BE-SMART-TO-BEMEMORABLE&PAGE=2
Someone once said the toughest part about getting to the top of the ladder is getting through the crowd at the bottom. That statement sums up one of the biggest challenges sales people face today – standing out from the other sales people selling similar products. So how do you become memorable? You start selling smart, says Lynn Zimmerman, president of Sales Mindshare, a sales training organization that provides customized training and proprietary workshops. Together with personal branding strategist Catherine Kaputa. Zimmerman developed the SalesSMART process reps can use to become memorable to their prospects. Here are the five components. S – Sweet spot. Tennis players call the point on a tennis racket that has the most effect on a ball the sweet spot. Likewise, the aspect of your message that will have the most effect on your customer is your sweet spot for that sale – and that’s where you need to spend the most time. While this is common sense, too often sales reps forge ahead with their
preplanned calls without developing the flexibility to concentrate on one area and leave out another. Yet spending time promoting the sweet spot of your message is what will make you memorable, says Zimmerman. M – Mindshare. Mindshare is just what it sounds like – share of mind. In today’s overloaded society there’s only so much information our brains can store; the rest we dump. Have you been dumped? Or do prospects think of you when they need your product? “People do business with those they think they know better; people who are top of mind,” says Kaputa. “So you want to do things that will build mindshare, whether it’s making a really unique presentation, sending out things your competitors aren’t or articulating your solutions in a different way. Mindshare is about being different, being relevant. It’s all about being remembered.” A – Answers and advice. This component is all about asking smart questions to get smart answers that move the buying process forward. Smart questions start with phrases such as: What has your experience been with…. How have you used…. How do you currently handle…. Zimmerman says one of the best questions she has heard came after she had waffled for weeks on the design aspects of her business note cards. Finally the designer said: Lynn, what is the reaction you want people to have when they open this envelope and look at this card and your note? Zimmerman says the question really got her thinking – and prompted a decision within days. R – Reaction. Don’t spend time thinking about what you’re going to say to a prospect, says Zimmerman. Instead, think about the reaction you want from that prospect and then what you need to do or say to get that reaction. Take Zimmerman’s business. With a sales cycle that typically is six months to a year, her goal with most communications is to hear back from prospects so she knows her name is familiar. When they know her name, they are more apt to agree to a second meeting and she is top of mind when a buying decision approaches. To reach that goal, Zimmerman looks for articles of interest to her prospects, which she copies and encloses in an engraved note card. Even a quickly emailed thank you from a prospect means she accomplished her goal. T – Tactics. Tactics are about what salespeople do on a day-to-day basis, specifically in the area of verbal cues and reminders, called triggers, and footprints, which are more tangible reminders. “We can’t be physically in
front of our customers often enough so we have to be in front of them in other ways,” says Zimmerman. Think about those other ways you have of getting in front of your prospects. When you leave an outgoing message on your voicemail system do you listen to it so you know what your prospects will hear when they call you? Do you replay the messages you leave for others when their phone systems give you that option? What physical reminders, or footprints, do you provide your prospects? Is your contact information on all your emails so people can find it easily? “You want to make it easy to buy from you,” says Zimmerman. In conclusion, Zimmerman points out that the path to being memorable in the eyes of your prospects isn’t complicated or time consuming. “It’s about letting people know you’re thinking of them,” she says. “Don’t you like to be with people who think about you and like you and are thinking about your success? So do your prospects.”
And we will leave you with this…