Restoration Rewind Delta Development Group Monthly Newsletter
September 2017
A Celebration of Success Colorado Springs Delta Disaster Services Franchise makes the Inc 5000 list for 2017 Delta Disaster Services of Southern Colorado has been awarded #1091 for 2017 Inc. 5000 list. With 388% three-year growth and #23 of Top Colorado Companies, the Colorado Springs location is well deserved of the award. Starting August of 2012, with five core staff members Delta Disaster Services of Southern Colorado has grown to twenty-two staff members and the business is grossing $4.3 million in revenue annually. This is a momentous accomplishment for new franchise with the emerging brand of Delta Disaster Services.
The Inc. 5000 list is made up of the fastest growing companies. Recognizing only privately-held companies in America that have created value and jobs. In 1979, Inc. Magazine first published Inc. 100, In 1982, the list expanded to the top 500, and in 2007, it expanded to the Inc. 5000.
Methodology The 2017 Inc. 5000 list was compiled according to percentage revenue growth when comparing 2013 to 2016. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2013. They had to be U.S.-based, privately held, for profit, and independent. The minimum revenue required for the first initial year is $100,000; the minimum for 2016 is $2 million.
Attracting and keeping quality employees. It's no easy task. In our industry, construction and restoration, it is very competitive and the skill set in the marketplace is varied based on how Delta does business. Having said that we all have been fortunate in growing and building our businesses with quality staff and giving them what we believe is an excellent opportunity to grow within our systems. The challenge any organization has is to motivate people to want to work for us and then keep them motivated once they are on board. Many of us have growing businesses and the opportunity to rise throughout the ranks is available. Bringing in a technician and giving them an opportunity to be a lead tech or a supervisor or even a manager is doable. However, there is a point in any organization where our team members will plateau. There are only so many seats on the bus and so many open spaces to advance. One of the keys to maintaining quality employees is the ability to keep them motivated. Some of the things that we do to keep them motivated goes beyond our culture and creating a team or family environment. How do we continue to enrich quality employees? Do we give them leadership opportunities within our organization? Do we give them outside training? Do we measure them in other areas both personally and professionally? The answer is YES, YES and YES. If you want to keep quality people around, you have to give them quality experiences to continue to grow and learn
CASH IN THE DOOR DELTA DISASTER SERVICES OF SOUTHERN COLORADO is leading the system with Cash in the Door. Great job everyone!
The Clouded Life Trying to stay in tune with the latest and greatest in technology can be exhausting, costly and leave your head spinning. Some things change quicker than dirty underwear, but one thing we have found that isn’t changing is the transition to clouded based systems and storage. Physical servers are becoming outdated, difficult and costly to maintain. Behind the scenes we have been consistently looking for options to be able to utilize more clouded programs. Clouded hosting for QuickBooks has been one that we have struggled with for a while now. Right Networks is probably the largest and most recognized provider of clouded QuickBooks hosting. However, Right Networks will not work with us to provide a stable environment for our QB Sync module. Enter SwizzNet. We found SwizzNet and have been working with them to test their hosting environment in combination with QB Sync Module and we have had much success. So much so that we are now introducing SwizzNet to all of you for your QuickBooks clouded hosting needs. SwizzNet services start at $54.99 per month, per license. All Delta Disaster Services receive a $5.00 discount per month! You can get more information from their website at www.swizznet.com If you’re ready to give it a try you can reach out to Holly Singer at hsinger@swizznet.com or sales@swizznet.com You can also call them at 1-888-794-9948 ext. 1 Delta Disaster Services of Eastern Gulf States has already signed up and are using the service. I got a great screenshot from Chris to share her excitement. Chris has been using QuickBooks for a very long time and she made the switch from Right Networks. You can give her a call or shoot her an email for her feedback as well.
An update on another clouded program we have been testing, DocuWare. But first, a brief history lesson. We found and introduced a clouded document management solution to the Denver office about two years ago called PinPoint. Quickly we learned we had unfortunately made the wrong decision and scrapped the use of PinPoint. We went back to the drawing board and began researching and interviewing other clouded document management solutions and found DocuWare. Truth is, we actually vetted DocuWare at the same time we were vetting PinPoint, but ultimately did not choose them because of the higher cost. With the DocuWare, PinPoint comparison we have definitely learned that you get what you pay for. The Denver office is almost in full use of DocuWare at this time. There is a lot of excitement around the software. It is pretty user friendly and has the ability to perform the simple tasks of a document management software, like storing and searching for documents and it can do even more robust tasks like electronic invoice and other document routing. While some of you may not quite be ready for something like DocuWare, there will come a time when everyone will be looking for effective document management. Now is a good time to put DocuWare on your radar, before you become buried in stacks of paper or lose job documentation from your first year in business. I will keep you posted as the Denver office uses it more and more. Please reach out to Ragan Neblett if you have questions about the software.
Insurers Are Set to Use Drones to Assess Harvey’s Property Damage Pilots work with adjusters as some firms look to speed up time-consuming claims
An aerial photo after Hurricane Harvey hit the area shows a storm-damaged home in Rockport, Texas, on August 27, 2017
Property insurers are preparing to fly dozens of drones over homes and businesses to assess damage in the wake of Tropical Storm Harvey, the first widespread use of unmanned aircraft to size up catastrophe claims. Insurers have been testing drones and using them on a small scale since getting Federal Aviation Administration approval in 2015 to use the technology for U.S. inspections. Drones provide aerial images that can help insurance adjusters inspect buildings faster and more safely, executives say, part of a larger industry effort to speed up time-consuming claims.
The storm presents the first opportunity for some of these insurers to test their new fleets on a large scale. Harvey, which made landfall in Texas last week and moved to Louisiana on Wednesday, is estimated to have caused up to $20 billion in insurable damage Travelers Cos., a large commercial and personalproperty insurer, has about 24 drones ready to be used in Texas and about 200 Travelers employees certified by the FAA as drone pilots, according to a spokesman. Allstate Corp. expects to make hundreds of flights a day and thousands a week with drones that it uses on a contract basis, according to a spokesman. It already routinely uses drones to settle claims in Texas and three other states. Farmers Insurance, one of the top homeowners’ insurers in Texas, has seven drones available for use in Texas and 14 adjusters who are trained to use them. Adjusters using drones can inspect three homes an hour, while an inspector without a drone could take more than an hour to climb onto a badly damaged roof and inspect it, according to Jarrod Murrieta, head of claims catastrophe response at Farmers. “We are pretty confident� that the adjusters can make accurate estimates based on photos, Mr. Murrieta said. The company has received more than 14,000 claims reports as of midday Wednesday, a spokesman said. There are potential complications to the use of so many drones at one time after a storm. The FAA has temporarily restricted flights of all types, with exceptions, over most of Houston, meaning operators have to get federal approvals to fly.
Federal regulations also prohibit drones from being flown too close to airports, and insurers can only fly over a home with permission, preventing the companies from filming over a widespread area. To be sure, insurance adjusters will still be climbing on thousands of roofs to inspect damage in person. State Farm, the largest homeowners’ and personal car insurer in Texas, isn’t currently using drones in its Harvey claims handling, a spokeswoman said. “Our claims adjusters will likely need to inspect both the interior and exterior of the home to assess coverage and damages,” she said. “For this situation, we find that the best way to service our customers and evaluate coverage and damages is through onthe-ground claims handling.” Other insurers want to evaluate the situation further before they commit their fleets. United Services Automobile Association, or USAA, had 10,000 claims as of Tuesday from various places hit by Harvey, but it hasn’t yet made the decision to use 12 of its own drones and additional ones under contract. It had adjusters in Corpus Christi, Texas, on Tuesday assessing the situation. “We’re trying to survey what type of damage is there to know whether or not we need to deploy the drones,” spokeswoman Rebekah Nelson said. San Antonio-based USAA used drones to assess damage in April after a heavy hailstorm in its home city. “We are still in the infancy stage of using our drones,” Ms. Nelson said. The test showed “we were able to…get to our members faster.” Most of the wind damage from Harvey is in Rockport, Texas, and the surrounding region, where the hurricane first made landfall Friday, according to catastrophe
modeling firm AIR Worldwide. That may be where private-sector home insurers report the highest losses. The damage in the Houston area, northeast of Rockport, has been caused more by flooding, which largely isn’t covered by private insurance. The federal government’s National Flood Insurance Program writes the vast majority of residential flood insurance in the U.S. Private-sector commercial property insurance does often cover flooding, and claims costs for those insurers are expected to total billions of dollars in the Houston area. Chubb Ltd., a big business insurer that also specializes in insuring expensive homes and other property of wealthy people, will mostly use drones for commercial property or to reach areas that are inaccessible, like barrier islands, said Fran O’Brien, who heads the company’s high-net-worth business. “If technology is the way to give good service, we will do that,” she said. “If it can be done through human adjusters with lots and lots of experience with these kinds of claims, we will” go that route.
Marketing Corner All of us have a golden checkbook with endless value and it will never run out. Ever heard of this? No, its not made of money but something way more valuable, praise and good words. Telling someone what a good job they have done, or they made your day, or just the way they answer the phone. These are all free to give and come straight from the golden checkbook. Another great way to use this checkbook is by hand writing a note or letter to someone. As a marketer, this is a great way to personalize your first visit or recognize a referral source for a job or an award. What is the one thing you love to get in the mail? The odd shaped colored envelope… because you know it’s for you from someone who thought of you. Try it today and give five people a note letting them know they are important. Below is a great article on hand written notes. Enjoy, Jason
THE POWER OF A PERSONAL HANDWRITTEN NOTE By Shephy Ken There is a lot of power in a handwritten, personal note. This isn’t just about a thank you note to a customer, although those are important as well. This is also about the note of appreciation to someone who has done a great job or hit their goals. You get the idea. Anything you might want to congratulate them on. Ted Janusz is one of our amazing trainers at Shepard Presentations. He was conducting a half-day customer service workshop, and during a break, the client, who happened to be the president of the company, walked up to Ted and congratulated him on doing a great job. He mentioned how impressed he was that Ted had done his homework to truly learn about the company, their issues and their objectives. Of course, Ted was flattered and very appreciative of the kind words. Two hours later, when the program was finished, the president of the company wrapped up the day, again congratulating Ted on job well done. But there was more. As Ted was leaving the president handed Ted an envelope. No, it wasn’t the check for the presentation. It was a personal handwritten note, again expressing his appreciation for a job well done and the obvious work that he put into personalizing it for his company. Ted couldn’t wait to share it with us. He was so proud of the note, and who wouldn’t be?
When was the last time you received an accolade from your boss, a colleague at work, or even a customer? How did it make you feel? Some people who get notes from people they work with save them, because they are special. They have impact. Years ago, I wrote about my client and friend, Glenn Brown, who at the time was CEO of Contract Freighters, Inc. (CFI), a trucking company. He had a stack of cards and was using them to write notes to employees who deserved accolades or had a birthday or anniversary. He mentioned to me that he tries to write a short note to his employees who don’t get to see him at the office at least twice a year. He said, “It lets them know I appreciate them, even though we never see each other.” Many of CFI’s employees are truck drivers that seldom, if ever, make it into the office. Glenn knew how to make them feel good about working at CFI. Sure, there are other ways to show appreciation. Verbal praise, an email, a small gift, an appreciation lunch for employees and more. All of those are great signs of appreciation, and I’m not suggesting giving up any of those. However, after seeing how much Ted appreciated the note from our client, which made me think back to Glenn Brown, I believe the handwritten note takes a gesture of appreciation to the next level.
And we will leave you with this…