August
2012
In this issue: 1 Business Development 2 Servpro Owners should invest in maintaining key client relationships Winners Blueprint 3 Personal Best, Volume Leader 5 Customer Service First, Chart toppers 6 National Preparedness Month 7 Training Certificates Advertising Resource 8 Words of Wisdom 10 Hurricane Preparedness Tips
SUN
T HE
SERVPRO速 of Southern New England and New York
Business Development By Robert Willis
SAVE the DATE
Connecting with and adding value to people is at the heart of the SERVPRO速 System. Building strong relationships allows us to identify needs and solve problems for customers and clients.
December 1, 2012
If a customer has an issue while services are being performed, and there is a clear path on how to discuss the issue, it is likely there will be a resolution with little damage to customer satisfaction. These relationships are easy to establish and can be developed quickly during the initial phases of mitigation.
Annual Awards Program and Tradeshow Foxwoods Resort
During the initial walk-through, make sure the customer accompanies the project manager, and make sure the customer knows the project manager is there to answer any of their questions and alleviate their concerns. The project manager should be available to the customer. A crew chief will be working, and directing the crew; he may not be able to answer the many detailed questions customers may have. The project manager should not make a single appearance at the start of the job and then disappear. A daily visit to the job site, complete with notice to the customer, should take less than one hour, but will provide immeasurable value to the customer from a service and satisfaction standpoint. The same principle holds true for developing and strengthening relationships with clients. If a relationship with a client is already established, and work is consistent, it can be easy to ignore the need for continued client management. Successful business managers avoid this trap. Just because a relationship exists and has been profitable in the past does not mean it cannot disappear if another, more satisfactory, relationship is presented. As a SERVPRO Owner, you must make sure these relationships are seen by the client to have continued value. Do not rely on the standard compensation package for job leads, or an impersonal thank you gesture. Find out something about your client and focus on that. Make sure the client feels appreciated, and independently valued for more than job leads. When a SERVPRO Owner is able to focus on business development and adding both actual and perceived value, problem solving will become less of an issue, and problems will not escalate past minor initial issues. When an Owner has time to develop personal relationships with clients, it will allow these relationships to flourish and solve many issues or problems before they arise. Connect with your clients, connect with your customers, develop these relationships, and watch your business grow.
2 - SERVPRO® SUN
Servpro Owners
Should Invest In Maintaining Key Client Relationships By Robert Willis
“Why is it so slow?” All Servpro Owners have been there at one time or another, wondering why the phone is not ringing, why there are no new leads coming in, and whether other service providers are busy. This is the time to consider how you can work to mitigate permanently a seasonal slowdown. It is the time to reach out to your key relationships and gauge the pulse of the industry; but who are your key relationships? Key relationships are long-term, established, and vital to the success of your business. They might require more investment, both in time and in resources, to develop and maintain, but these are the relationships that help you build a stable foundation and take your business to the next level. It is your role and responsibility, as a Servpro Owner, to develop relationships with vendors, colleagues, customers and Centers of Influence that extend beyond the responsibilities of the Marketing Staff. It is these relationships that help your business thrive in times when others are asking why the phone isn’t ringing. Key relationships open avenues to leads in both traditional and innovative ways. An emergency board-up company might be a great lead during the storm season, but will not be able to help during a stretch of good weather. Those in Real Estate can provide great opportunities for show-house cleaning or putting the final touches on recently purchased homes, but this work is not consistent. A plumber, HVAC professional, or even an insurance broker will have different source of leads and different types of work, and each relationship must be maintained in order to be effective throughout the year. The Sales and Marketing Staff at Servpro are there to ensure route-level relationships are maintained. As an Owner, you must have your own set of individuals and resources that you can call on in the event that the route-level is not generating sufficient new business.
Each Owner will have a unique set of key relationships, and the variety of these partners is the strength of a successful brand. Keep your key relationships up-to-date; make sure that you are a participant in the relationship, not just a beneficiary; and remember that the value of a key long-term relationship far outweighs the short-term cost.
WINNER’S BLUEPRINT FOR ACHIEVEMENT: BELIEVE while others are doubting. PLAN while others are playing. STUDY while others are sleeping. DECIDE while others are delaying. PREPARE while others are daydreaming. BEGIN while others are procrastinating.
WORK while others are wishing. SAVE while others are wasting. LISTEN while others are talking. SMILE while others are frowning. COMMEND while others are criticizing. PERSIST while others are quitting. - William Arthur Ward
Personal Best Volume Month June 2012
Mitch Kaikow & Stuart Cleary SERVPRO® of Garden City/Hempstead PERSONAL
$404,031.43
BEST
Top Ten Volume Leaders Gross Volume Leaders June 2012
Per License Average Volume Leaders June 2012
1
Dave Kluger
950,972
Kaikow/Cleary
404,031
2
Steve & Brenda Young
856,098
Doug & Lisa Jameson
266,964
3
Frank Mattos
507,114
Steve & Brenda Young
214,024
4
John Maughan
476,360
John & Shayna Luciani
205,949
5
Mitch Kaikow & Stu Cleary
404,031
Lance & Jennifer Harvey
203,221
6
Lou & Michelle, Danielle, Justin Sepe & Nicole Travis
390,672
Scott O’Donnell
166,414
7
Joe Pelli
355,125
John Maughan
158,786
8
Doug & Lisa Jameson
266,964
Dave Kluger
158,495
9
Charles & Donna Vingoe
244,525
Greg Geaski
154,639
10
Brad & Barbara Johnson
224,307
Anthony & Danielle Palumbo
139,561
4 - SERVPRO® SUN
Customer
Ser vic
e First
Chart Toppers March 2012 Associated Revenue Cleaning Commercial
July 18, 2012 Sue Steen CEO SERVPRO Industries 801 Industrial Blvd. PO Box 1978 Gallatin, TN 37066 Dear Ms. Steen: find water leaking from the bedroom On Tuesday, July 10, I arrived home to an overflowing toilet in the unit ceiling in my condo. It was coming from o directly under mine. During the upstairs, flooding my condo and the cond , I was given the telephone number of next 24 hours, after many phone calls in my area. It was my good fortune 2 cleanup and restoration companies 2 hours later Tony Palumbo, this to call SERVPRO of Paramus. Less than greeted by a frustrated, anxious and franchise’s Owner, rang my bell and was in fans and thoroughly explained tired woman. He immediately brought time he left I was at ease and confident the restoration process to me. By the made whole. It was such a positive that in the end my residence would be pany to both my neighbors. experience that I recommended the com s, lead by Rick Cristofol, was at work. The following day one of Tony’s team John Dolan arrived at precisely the Each day Matt Proust, Kyle Meehan and ir uniforms were always clean; they time specified the evening before. The ectful of my possessions. In short, moved furniture carefully and were resp as if my comfort and well-being were their attention to detail made me feel their top priority. a nightmare into relief. My thanks to this franchise for turning Sincerely, Rosemarie A.
R. Morrison & K. Spinner D. Kluger Cleaning Residential Duct Residential Fire Commercial Pelli Fire Residential Pelli Geaski Mattos In-house Construction Young Mold Commercial Mold Residential Maughan Johnson Young Resale Rookie Gedney Rookie Subcontract Water Commercial Pelli Water Residential Pelli Total Volume Pelli D. Kluger Young
July 2012 - 5
continues on page 6
NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH National Preparedness Month website on ServproNET® As many of you are already aware, September is National Preparedness Month (NPM). Servpro Industries Inc., has been a proud member of the National Preparedness Month Coalition for several years and will be participating once again this year. There is a wealth of information, tools, resources, custom pieces, handouts and deliverables, etc. available on the National Preparedness Month website, which can be found on ServproNET® under the Marketing Services home page, Marketing Resources section. While most of the resources and material, including emergency contact cards, family communication plans, etc. are undated and good to use year round, there will be some 2012 material added soon. Be sure to check the website around August 1, 2012 to review this year’s material. If you are not familiar with the National Preparedness Month website, I highly recommend that you take some time to review all the available tools and resources to promote preparedness in your community. Be sure to check out the success stories on the NPM page to see how other Franchises found success marketing and promoting preparedness planning in their local communities. Jessica Vaughn, Weekly e-Zine: July 16, 2012
The National Preparedness Month website on ServproNET® has been updated with 2012 information. The direct link is https://www.servpronet.com/users/marketing/ preparedness/. The September Restoration Newsline is also attached for your review. If you have questions regarding the Newslines or are interested in purchasing packs to deliver on routes or hand out at preparedness events, please contact Kim Kramer at kkramer@servpronet.com or by calling 615.451-0200 ext.1644. This issue sells out every year so act quickly if you plan to order and are not on a monthly subscription.
July 2012 - 7
SERVPRO Training ®
Crew Training
Water Certification
Binghamton East
Sarah Munley
Sarah Munley
Binghamton East
Brian Bradbury
Brian Bradbury
Brian Bradbury
Binghamton East
Christopher Manderville
C. Manderville
C. Manderville
Binghamton East
Mark Dumas
Mark Dumas
NE Somerset Co.
Alvaro Estrada
NE Somerset Co.
Eder Mota
Salem County
Eric Jarrell
SERVPRO® of
Fire Certification
Carpet & Upholstery Certification
Eric Jarrell
Eric Jarrell
We extend congratulations and best wishes to those receiving their SERVPRO® TRAINING CERTIFICATES
The Advertising Resource Guide is your reference to advertising policies, graphic design standards and sample print advertisements. This Advertising Resource Guide replaces the 2011 Advertising Resource Guide. The 2012 Advertising Resource Guide provides SERVPRO® policies and standard operating procedures for advertising.
“Every employee, every uniform and every truck sends a vital branding message to our customers ... Make it a positive Brand message!”
In addition, the Advertising Resource Guide Web pages provide Franchisees with preapproved advertisements consistent with and supporting the National Advertising Campaign. Franchisees must comply with the guidelines in this publication by January 31, 2012. WHY IS BRAND AWARENESS SO IMPORTANT? • Consistency Builds a Brand • Brands Build Trust • Trust Builds Relationships • Relationships Build Revenue IS BEING THE BRAND MORE THAN JUST CONSISTENT ADVERTISING?
“Every employee, every uniform and every truck sends a vital branding message to our customers...Make it a positive Brand message!” Rick Isaacson, Executive Vice President
8 - SERVPRO® SUN
April 2012 - 7
Words of Wisdom Personal leadership is the process of keeping your vision and values before you and aligning your life to be congruent with them. ~Stephen Covey Not a tenth of us who are in business are doing as well as we could if we merely followed the principles that were known to our grandfathers. ~William Feather A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both. ~Dwight David Eisenhower The principles of living greatly include the capacity to face trouble with courage, disappointment with cheerfulness, and trial with humility. ~Thomas S. Monson Treating people with respect will gain one wide acceptance and improve the business. ~Tao Zhu Gong Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice. ~ Heber J Grant Things only have the value we give them. ~Moliere A stockbroker urged me to buy a stock that would triple its value every year. I told him, “at my age I don’t even buy green bananas. ~Claude D. Pepper Nowadays people know the price of every thing and the value of nothing. ~Oscar Wilde Every science has for its basis a system of principles as fixed and unalterable as those by which the universe is regulated and governed. Man cannot make principles; he can only discover them. ~Thomas Paine There are three constants in life... change, choice and principles. ~ Stephen Covey Our principles are the springs of our actions. Our actions, the springs of our happiness or misery. Too much care, therefore, cannot be taken in forming our principles. ~Red Skelton Failure comes only when we forget our ideals and objectives and principles. ~Jawaharlal Nehru We don’t accomplish anything in this world alone ... and whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one’s life and all the weavings of individual threads from one to another that creates something. ~Sandra Day O’Connor We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results. ~Herman Melville
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FYI and a word to the wise — a NE hurricane may be coming A FEW HURRICANE EVACUATION SAFETY TIPS
EMERGENCY SUPPLY LIST
1. Know the escape routes and where you will stay during evacuation
1. Additional Items to Consider Adding to an Emergency Supply Kit:
2. Keep cash on hand; carry all your credit cards, and a copy of your homeowner’s insurance policy
2. Prescription medications and glasses
3. Keep your car full of fuel, your cell phone charged
3. Infant formula and diapers
4. Keep an Emergency Kit in car and home*
4. Pet food and extra water for your pet
5. Keep batteries charged and change regularly
5. Important family documents such as copies of insurance policies, identification and bank account records in a waterproof, portable container
6. Bring inside anything that can be moved by the wind 7. Unplug all electrical devices, shut off gas if officials advice 8. Secure your home, pre-drill holes for boards to facilitate fast install 9. Move to safe shelter in home or shelter site 10. Monitor weather advisories: if advised to evacuate, go immediately!!!
EMERGENCY KIT FOR EACH PERSON
6. Cash or traveler’s checks and change 7. Emergency reference material; such as, a first aid book or information from www.ready.gov 8. Sleeping bag or warm blanket for each person 9. Consider additional bedding if you live in a cold-weather climate
1. First-aid kit and essential medication - See Red Cross
10. Complete change of clothing including a long sleeved shirt, long pants and sturdy shoes
2. Canned food and can opener- peanut butter/crackers, candy/gum
11. Consider additional clothing if you live in a cold-weather climate
3. 3 gallons of water per person!!!
12. Household chlorine bleach and medicine dropper – When diluted nine parts water to one part bleach, bleach can be used as a disinfectant. Alternatively, in an emergency, you can use it to treat water by using 16 drops of regular household liquid bleach per gallon of water. Do not use scented, color safe or bleaches with added cleaners.
4. Personal Hygiene items 5. Rainwear, protective clothing, bedding, change of clothes if possible 6. Hand or battery-powered radio, flashlight, extra batteries 7. Special Need items for young, elderly, or disabled and for your pets 8. Healthcare numbers 9. Instructions to turn off electricity, gas, water if authorities advise 10. Contact information And, if there is no hurricane, only lots of rain? Have a picnic, drink lots of water, charge your batteries, fill up the car with gas, make sure your can opener works, and call us in the morning for drying equipment. *www.redcross.org
13. Fire Extinguisher 14. Matches in a waterproof container 15. Feminine supplies and personal hygiene items 16. Mess kits, paper cups, plates and plastic utensils, paper towels 17. Paper and pencil 18. Books, games, puzzles or other activities for children www.ready.gov