Restoration Rewind

Delta Development Group Monthly Newsletter

November 2015

NatioNal CoNveNtioN update

Introducing one of our keynote speakers for our 2016 National Convention. Mr. Dick Wagner will be joining us for an entire day to deliver his specialized program on Commercial Marketing.

Dick Wagner has served the disaster restoration industry for over 17 years, providing disaster recovery services and specialized consulting to clients nationally. He brings expertise in structural drying, contents, fire and smoke restoration. His specialized programs include: “Marketing to Commercial Prospects”, “Soaring with Eagles”, “Weathering the Storm” and “Ramp it Up Now”. His nationally recognized PREP certification program serves to build a coalition of contractors offering a commercial pre-disaster priority response program. Mr. Wagner specializes in consulting and coaching for disaster response contractors helping them build a base of commercial clients.

We are very excited about Mr. Wagner joining us for our convention. He will bring a wealth of very good information and bring that marketing aspect that our convention has been missing. If it is possible for your operation, you will want to have your Business Development Representative here for this, they don’t want to miss this.

Now is the time to decide whom of your employees will be joining you at the convention. Please don’t forget to make your hotel reservations as soon as you can.

More details are going to continue to come your way as we march closer to the event. Keep checking your newsletter and your email for all the latest and greatest. If you have any questions, please contact Ragan Neblett at rneblett@delta-us.com

What Happened When a Brand Fails … In This Case, A Whole Country Goes Down With It!

Dark Cloud: The emissions fiasco has helped knock Germany from No. 1 to No. 13 in one ranking of national brand power. Illustration: William Waitzman for Barron’s

Ach du lieber Himmel! Germany is suffering a collective headache, and it’s not just an Oktoberfest hangover. Rather, it’s from diesel fumes—those that Volkswagen sought to hide in emissions tests, with the aid of stealth software installed in as many as 11 million of its cars.

Brand Finance, a London-based consultancy, estimates that Germany’s value as a brand has slid by nearly $191 billion, to about $4.2 trillion, largely owing to the VW scandal. The drop has caused Europe’s largest economy to lose its spot as the world’s most powerful nation brand, falling all the way to No. 13, the firm says, and making Singapore No. 1.

Nation brand strength is based on factors such as investment-friendliness and perceived honesty, efficiency, and product quality, adjusted for a country’s size. The U.S., at $19.7 trillion, and China, at $6.3 trillion, dominate in national brand value due to sheer size; Germany is still third by that measure.

The VW fiasco is particularly pronounced, given the auto industry’s importance to Germany, especially when it comes to the “people’s car”—one of Deutschland’s most recognizable exports. “With most companies, it wouldn’t have this effect,” says Brand Finance’s Robert Haigh. “But with Volkswagen, it’s due both to its economic scale and its iconic position in late 20th century and early 21st century German culture.”

Why is Singapore now in the pole position? Brand Finance gives the city-state high marks for investment opportunities, lack of corruption, and a welcoming disposition to ex-pats, particularly the wealthy. And it doesn’t have a car industry.

-- Michael Vallo

Stock up for the Cold Weather

One hard freeze and you’re off to the races! Emergency Services will burn though your supplies in no time. And guess what? Suppliers and vendors will soon be depleted as well. So stock up in advance of the possible weather conditions.

CASH IN THE DOOR! Based on September Royalties…

Delta Disaster Services of Southern Colorado hits it out of the park! What a great month with over $350,000 cash in the door. Congratulations Emmis, Rosey and Crew!

Cyber risk survey finds majority of businesses

were hacked in 2014 We have all, very recently, felt the pains of computer viruses and hacking. While the results can be painful and expensive, at least we are not alone. The recent survey done by HSB shows that a large number of businesses were compromised last year, many more that once. We are doing all that we can do, or that we think we can do at Delta Development Group to protect your email from attacks. Please make sure you are consulting with your own IT Company to make sure the rest of your network is protected. If you need resources or assistance with this, please let us know. We can refer the company that we use in the Denver office, they have been very helpful when our systems have been attacked.

Preparing for the End of the Year Financials

Remember: Garbage In, Garbage Out! If your QuickBooks is not accurate, your reports are not accurate, your financials are not accurate and the information you are relying on to run your business is not accurate!

Check your P&L. You are specifically looking for errors in data entry:

1. Are all costs coded correctly? 2. Are all income items coded correctly? 3. Are there things that need to be moved either from one cost code to another

or from one job to another? 4. Do you have things charged to overhead that should have been job charged? 5. Is your GPM running within industry averages? (40-50%) 6. Is your Net Profit where it should be? (5-10%) 7. Going forward, you need to do this at least once a quarter.

Check your Balance Sheet. Again, you are looking for data entry errors:

1. Assets. If you have purchased anything that has a life longer than a year and costs over $500 you need to talk to your accountant. It may be an expense or an asset; but your CPA will make this determination. a. Be sure to point out any purchases to your accountant.

2. Is everything coded correctly? 3. Are there things that need to be moved? Do NOT move anything from 2014.

Because of taxes your CPA will need to take care of any prior year adjustments!

Do you have customer balances over 12 months old? Discuss writing these off with your CPA. You can still collect and he/she can make the necessary adjustments. But end of year is always a good time to clean these old accounts up.

If there are changes you need to make to your Chart of Accounts or Item Lists, now is the time as you plan for 2016. If you inactivate an item or account in the middle of the year, it can alter the way your report looks, prints, merges, etc.

Set a “Closing Schedule” and discuss with your CPA and others in the office.

For Example:

All credit card data entry complete by 01.05.16

All jobs invoiced that are complete by 01.05.16. Some of these may need to be dated 12.31.15. Discuss with your CPA.

Make sure your subcontractors in QuickBooks are current and accurate. Have 1099’s in the mail to the subs by 01.31.16.

Make sure all employee data is accurate in preparation for W-2’s to be sent out. Know who is sending them; you or the payroll processing company.

The more you prepare, the smoother your year-end will be and the better reports you will have. Please do not hesitate to contact Dixie if you have any questions about your year-end preparation.

And we will leave you with this…