Restoration Rewind Delta Development Group Monthly Newsletter
March 2014
And then there were six‌ February 19, 2014 marked the grand opening of the sixth franchise for Delta Development Group. Delta Disaster Services of Southeastern PA, owned and operated by Erik and Faith Bones, is now officially opened for business. While the office has taken a few jobs since their soft opening at the beginning of the year, we were able to celebrate in true Delta fashion at their Grand Opening!
Their new facility is beautiful and their new trucks are also looking good and ready to parade around the streets of Philly. Mike Mastous, Dixie Feld and Steve Chapman were all in town to celebrate with the owners and their family and friends. We expect great things, as we do with all of our offices, from the group in Southeastern PA. Please feel free to reach out to them and welcome them to the family.
Insurers Mostly Unprepared for 'Third Wave' of Asbestos Exposure Insurers may be underestimating their exposure to a coming “third wave of asbestos liabilities” by relying on outdated assumptions and not accounting for factors such as longer life expectancy and advances in medical knowledge, a research firm says. In a January briefing, Assured Research, a research and analysis firm for insurance and investment professionals, states, “Some insurers have bravely, or naively, reported that the asbestos environment is little changed in recent years. We disagree.” The firm argues that an “evolving body of medical literature” combined with shifting societal and media trends point to “a third wave of serious asbestos claims that will likely stain the financial results of insurers for years to come.” Assured points out asbestos illnesses have a long latency period that could reach beyond 40 years. With rising life expectancy overall, the firm says people are more likely to live “into their asbestos-induced disease,” meaning they will live long enough to discover their illness and then report a claim. Advances in medical research should also concern insurers, the briefing states. It points to studies indicating that the risk of asbestos-induced lung diseases can be heightened not only by long-term occupational exposures, but also by short but intense non-occupational exposures, such as from a home renovation. Furthermore, the briefing cites studies, including one published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, that find a “malignant synergy” between asbestos exposure, asbestosis and smoking. As such, Assured says the typical plaintiff in this third wave may be longtime smokers with non-occupational exposure to asbestos. Assured says, “We believe the third wave
will be dominated by lung-cancer claims which are ostensibly lower quality than those of mesothelioma because the cancer was predominantly caused by smoking rather than asbestos.” The firm adds, “Nevertheless, large numbers of even lower-quality claims could raise pressure on defendants anxious to settle and minimize nuisance suits.” Assured also says the increasing use of high-resolution CT scans, rather than “cloudier X-rays,” may increase the diagnosis of asbestosis, and social-media outlets make prospecting for claimants by lawyers easier.
Worse for insurers, Assured believes current models used by consulting firms “and most likely insurance companies” rely on assumptions crafted in the mid-1980s and recalibrated once in the later 1990s, and do not account for the new data on medical research and life expectancy. The models, says Assured, generally only account for occupational exposures, for example. Speaking to the need to once again recalibrate models, Assured says, “The result, we expect, would be higher forecasted claims and an explanation for the series of annual ‘surprises’ that many insurers relay each time they fund rising asbestos payments with yet another ‘one-time’ annual reserve charge.”
You’re Invited! It is training time again. We will be holding our next franchise training Saturday, April 5, 2014 through Friday, April 18, 2014. All offices are welcome to send any of their employees that they think can benefit from the start to finish training. In these jampacked 2 weeks we cover the entire life cycle of Delta Disaster Services. From the first emergency mitigation call all the way through the last nail is driven in reconstruction, we cover every single integral step. We also have many guest expert speakers and we introduce you to many of our valued partners and vendors. We spend a whole day at the Denver Interlink Office learning about and demonstrating the exact equipment used in the field. Not to be left out, marketing, branding standards, industry information and much more. If you would like to send any of your employees to all or just portions of the training in April please contact Ragan at rneblett@trydelta.com. We can work with you on the best days for your specific employees to be present and get the most out of the information.
VEGAS BABY! The men of Delta Development Group made their mark in Las Vegas at the annual International Builders Show. The show amazed even the likes of Michael Mastous as they were able to take in all of the behind scenes work that some of the exhibitors put into their displays for this particular show. Entire living rooms and kitchens were built just for the show, assembled in the lots outside of the Las Vegas convention center and then brought into the huge facility for the 3 day show. Not to be intimidated by the huge numbers and very high caliber of attendees including our very own Mac Urie and Bill Krug, whom both stopped by the Delta booth; Mike along with Steve Chapman, VP of Franchise Development, setup the Delta booth and schmoozed among the masses. The two met quite a few great people including an international builder from Zimbabwe. They left the show with some very good candidates for our eighth franchise. Steve will be attending a few more of these tradeshow throughout 2014, so if you see the Delta booth and the red pants and khakis make sure that you stop in and say hello, and most importantly send people his way.
Masters of Disaster: The 2013 Insurance Fraud Hall of Shame
The Coalition Against Insurance Fraud convicted the worst-of-the-worst as they inducted new members into the Insurance Fraud Hall of Shame. Inductees were either convicted or had other legal closure in 2013, and range from the audacious, to the klutzy, to the downright strange. The Hall of Shame intends to call public attention to insurance fraud by putting a face on an $80 billion crime that many consumers consider a victimless hoax.
Armin Wand
Armin Wand of Darlington, Wisconsin killed three of his children, Allen (age 7), Jeffery (age 5) and Joseph (age 3), in the torching of his home in an attempt to receive renters and life-insurance moneys. Despite Wand’s efforts to shove his wife, Sharon, back into the burning home, she was able to escape the fire with the couple’s infant daughter, Jessica. Although Jessica was not seriously injured, mother Sharon suffered burns over most of her body, and will require oxygen support for the rest of her life. Wand will spend his life in prison.
Rick Renzi
In order to cover the costs for his first election campaign, Arizona Republican Rick Renzi looted his family-run insurance agency in Flagstaff, Ariz. By stealing premiums from clients who had entrusted him to buy their insurance, Renzi funneled much of the
money into his campaign, while his clients were left unprotected. Although Renzi tried to cover up the crime, he was sentenced to three years in federal prison. He is appealing his case.
Karl Karlsen
To steal a $700,000 life insurance payout, this Rochester, N.Y. father crushed his own son underneath a 5,000-pound truck. Karlsen asked his son, Levi, to make repairs to the truck, and while working on the transmission, Karlsen kicked out the jack and walked away. The vehicle fell on Levi, crushing his chest and ultimately causing him to suffocate. Karlsen could spend the rest of his life in prison.
Game Over! Fire Loss Update: Days 160 – 190 - As we suspected from the start, this was a customer that planned to take back control of this project after all of the complicated portions were completed. The customer came to us a few weeks ago and essentially said that she had all of the necessary subcontractors needed to complete the remaining work by herself. We contacted Allstate Insurance Company, notified them of this issue
and although they were very understanding, they were still frustrated by the fact that now they had to deal with the customer and not a professional restoration contractor. Delta Disaster Services of Denver had to do some damage control and explain that there was nothing that could be done to control the customer’s unrelenting request that were hindering the job from moving forward. This required a fairly comprehensive meeting, held to review of all of the items that Delta had done to date and the items that remained within the scope of work. Now Allstate Insurance Company will need to deal directly with this challenging customer on all of the remaining tasks. Once everything is all said and done we will have performed about $110,000 worth of reconstruction work on the home. Our overall gross profit margin will be about 36%. It would have been much higher if we could have completed the work, as the remaining work is going to be very profitable. Drywall, insulation, cabinets, and flooring: on many jobs that’s where the good portion of high margins are, but sometimes it is worth more to the morale of your employees to walk away from a difficult customer.
Your Speech Pattern Can Directly Influence Sales By Steve Chapman, Vice President of Franchise Development Most people listen at the same speed they speak and it is important that you communicate on the same level as your customer. For example, when talking to a fast talker you should increase your rate of speech. You don’t have to match their speed, but a fast talker typically takes in information quickly and will lose patience (and interest) with a slower pace. If your prospect is constantly interjecting the conversations with: “Yeah”, “Ok”, “Uh huh” in a fast clipped style, they are hinting that you need to pick up the conversation. Slower talkers, on the other hand, tend to process information more thoughtfully. For this group you’ll need to have lots of pauses for them to absorb what you’re saying and to not feel you are pressuring them. Whenever possible adjust your speech patterns to conform to those of the other person with these exceptions: • The person loses her cool or becomes loud/abusive • The person uses crude or profane language • The person speaks agonizingly slow or incredibly fast HANDLING EXCEPTIONS TO NORMAL SPEECH PATTERNS Loud or abusive callers: • Lower your voice—a calm, unemotional voice is important to quickly stabilize an upset person. Remain under control and do not match their level of anger or frustration. • Slow your rate of speech—by slowing the rate of your response you force the conversation to slow down. This is important to give the upset person time to breath and to gather their thoughts. Crude/profane language: • Keep your language professional at all times regardless of what the other person says
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Practice selective deafness unless language becomes personal. If a person continues to be abusive polite remove yourself from the conversation and suggest you continue when they can speak civilly.
Slow/fast speakers: • Adjust your rate of speech, but do not completely mimic • Respect that the other person’s rate of speech may be due to unknown issues such as a stroke
A Financial Upgrade If you are using a QuickBooks version that is older than 2013, you need to consider updating. The 2013 update has numerous changes and 2014 has some additional changes as well. You should plan to upgrade your QuickBooks every two years. The new version usually comes out in October. However, wait until late February of March to install it – after the majority of the bugs have been fixed. You will receive a discount on your purchase or upgrade through our National Account Program: Call the Franchise Order Desk, 1.800.498.7401 ext. 86493. You will receive a 30% savings. Your QuickBooks comes with a Single User License. This means only one person can be in QuickBooks at a time. If you wish to purchase additional licenses, call the Franchise Order Desk and they will help you. Again you will receive a 30% discount.
Another item to consider using with Intuit/QuickBooks is Intuit Payroll Processing. Using their payroll, allows you to job cost all field labor automatically. You can also job cost the payroll burden with some minor adjustments in QuickBooks. Delta Disaster Services of Denver has been using Intuit Payroll Processing for nearly seven years and have been pleased with their services. They also send all tax forms and W-2’s as a part of the service. If you have an interest, please call or email Dixie for some additional information.
One final Intuit/QuickBooks item is the merchant services for credit card processing. Their fees are typically less than your local bank and the money appears in your bank account the next day. They will also furnish you with a scanner for your smart phone or iPad either free or for a nominal fee. Scanning the card will always get you a discount on credit card fees. Within the next six months, Delta Disaster Services of Denver will be going clouded with its QuickBooks storage. We believe we have settled on a vendor to house this data. This also will allow some ease of use when trying to log in or get information when out of the office. We will keep you all posted! We are also considering an “interface software� that will talk to QuickBooks for payroll processing. The software would be loaded on smart phones and/or iPads and everyone would enter their time electronically via the phone, iPad, or computer rather than turning in paper timesheets. We hope to have this in place within the next two to three months. Again we will keep you posted! Please do not hesitate to contact Dixie if you have any questions about QuickBooks.
And we will leave you with this‌ Every man's work, whether it be literature, or music or pictures or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself. Samuel Butler