Tips to help you prepare your business for the holiday season!

11/4/2019 (Permalink)

The holiday season is upon us!

Here are 5 tips to get you ready for the holiday season:

1. Hire extra help. It may seem obvious, but September is when you hire people so you have plenty of time to assess if they are a fit for your business. Make sure you let them know that whether someone stays or goes in January is determined over the next several weeks.

2. Train everyone. Holiday help often gets less attention and that’s a mistake. Training goes much further than knowing how you should be greeting your retail customer. With more people coming through your doors, how your employees engage shoppers will make the difference between hearing I’ll take it and watching them take out their smartphones to purchase from a competitor. Here are the three most important things to train:

• How to engage a stranger
• How to sell your merchandise
• How to spot shoplifting behaviors

3. Set your holiday store hours. If you’re in a strip center or shopping mall, these should be already set by your landlord; if not, demand them now. If you are a freestanding store, refer to last year’s hours but remember, the longer you are open, the more likely you’ll make more sales. Post your hours now in the back room so your employees know how to plan.

4. Set staff schedule around your busiest times.  You schedule for the traffic, then fill the need. The less shoppers have to wait, the more likely they will enjoy your shopping experience. Create the necessary shifts to create an engaging customer experience and hire to fill it; don’t hire employees then create a schedule when they can work. And don’t go lean - associates get sick, emergencies come up, etc. Bad customer service examples are littered with complaints that there was no one to wait on me. 

5. Make sales a daily focus. The best retail crews make sales a daily focus with a huddle before shifts start. Role-playing how-to add-on, the benefits of the most expensive items you carry, how to open a Window of Contact can all be done in a five-minute start of every day huddle. Make huddling a habit now and it will pay off big time in December. Remember, you don’t hire people for tasks, you hire them to sell your merchandise.

Give back to your community!

9/25/2019 (Permalink)

It is good for you and the community to volunteer!

At SERVPRO of Decatur/Forsyth we believe in giving back to the community. We encourage all our employees to do the same.

In the United States more than 62 million people volunteer every year. Many choose to give their time to volunteer work because they find it deeply rewarding. It feels good to put energy into a cause that improves your community. Volunteering can also enable you to awaken dormant skills or practice a hobby in a more meaningful way. You could make new friends, professional contacts, and probably have some fun. You may even explore a new potential career path. So, how do you start?

Identify your interests and the skills you want to use. Do you enjoy working with children? Do you like working with numbers and financial data? Do you have a soft spot in your heart for someone who has a certain type of disability? Are you skilled at conversation, cooking, fundraising, mentoring, or in another area?

Once you've identified your area of interest and the skills you’d like to use, get tactical. Find organizations who need your skills and check out their mission statement. Make sure the group’s goals align with your values. Look at financials to see how funds are allocated and make sure their affiliations line up with your intentions. Find statistics about whom they serve and how they make an impact.

Don’t over-commit. Start volunteering a little and increase your volunteer time if it’s working for you.  

Here are just a few of the ways that a little volunteering from you can make a big difference.

Tutor a Student

Today students include people of all ages--not just children. Teaching literacy to adults can change lives. Helping someone learn English can expand his or her horizons. You could tutor in an academic subject or teach others about computers and the Internet. Don’t forget life skills like cooking, sewing, budgeting, and home repairs.

Visit a Nursing Home

Many Decatur area nursing homes have plenty of residents whose families and friends are gone or not available. These residents are often lonely, desperate for conversation, and eager to connect with another person. By spending an hour or two a week you can make a huge difference in someone’s attitude and outlook on life. And you may learn something about life from those who have already traveled the journey before you.

Organize a Yard Sale for Charity

Do you enjoy tag sales? Then think about putting one together and donating the funds you raise to a local charity or nonprofit group. We bet most of the people in your town have electronics, furniture, clothes, or equipment that they’d be willing to donate to help the right cause. These items have value and can be recycled to those who will use them again.

Serve on a Community Board

Charities and community service organizations around the Decatur area compete with other bigger, for-profit businesses for the community’s attention and support. In many cases, nonprofits are at a distinct disadvantage. They may lack the resources to attract, compensate, and retain the best executive staff and administrators. If your talents are administrative, or if you have executive or board experience, your knowledge and insights could make a huge impact at a not-for-profit, community-based organization or charity.

Volunteer at a Hospital

Hospital volunteers provide crucial support to the hospital staff. Volunteers also offer comfort and convenience to patients, families, and visitors. Volunteer opportunities include everything from manning information booths, to sitting with patients, to providing a roaming book and magazine cart, or working with children. Your volunteering might also involve helping with food service or pushing wheelchairs.

The opportunities to volunteer in the Decatur area are endless. You might build a house with Habitat for Humanity. You could donate your old clothes or volunteer at a soup kitchen. Think about giving your old eyeglasses to an organization that collects them and distributes them to people in need. Or consider volunteering at a food bank or homeless shelter. Volunteering is a great way to make your community a better place.

School will be here soon! Be prepared with these helpful tips

7/25/2019 (Permalink)

As the lazy days of summer slip away, it will soon be time to put away the beach chairs and corner lemonade stands and prepare for going back to school. Here are some tips to make the transition easier.

Adjust to the new routine

Ease into the school-year schedule. Getting back into the school routine can be a challenge for everyone in the family. To make the adjustment easier, start early.

• A few weeks before school starts, move bedtime back to an earlier time.
• Put a positive spin on going back to school. Talk about the fun things your child will learn, the old friends he’ll see and the new friends he’ll make.
• If your child is anxious about starting the next grade, reassure her that other children have these feelings too.
• Don’t make plans for big trips right before the start of school.
• Establish school-day schedules for homework, TV, baths, and bedtime.
• Arrange play dates with friends from school to re-establish connections that may have been dropped for the summer, or to create new ones.

Get organized

Take advantage of the slower pace during your time away from school to set up for the busy school year ahead.

2019 Macon County Fair

6/10/2019 (Permalink)

Alan Dobrinick (Marketing Manager) and Joel Robb (Owner)

2019 Macon County Fair

SERVPRO of Decatur/Forsyth are proud Platinum Level Sponsors. 

SERVPRO of Decatur/Forsyth has been in the community for nearly 30 years. We are glad we got to help out this wonderful event in Macon County. We are her to support our local community. 

Here are 10 ways to give back to your community:

Promote Local Businesses

One of the best ways to support your community is to help out other businesses in the area. Buy local as often possible and set aside an area of your website to link to your favorite local companies. Cross networking with non-competing companies with similar markets helps you reach more people and help out other local business owners just like you--a win-win!

Participate in Holiday Food Drives

During the holidays, many businesses encourage employees to bring in unopened non-perishable canned and boxed foods that can be donated to local food banks. This is a fantastic way to help you community, and it requires very little additional tie. You'll only have to set aside a half hour or so just before Christmas to transport the items.

Sponsor a Youth Sports Team

Chances are someone on your staff has a child on a youth sports team. By finding a local team to sponsor, you'll be able to help with the funds it needs and get publicity in exchange for your support. This is a simple way to help out with very minimal time investment.

Set Up a Collection Jar

This is a way to support your community with no time commitment. Simply choose a charity that is important to your team and collect money in a high-traffic area inside your business.

This is a great way that I have seen children be able to participate in their own way. You can teach them important values that will last with them for all time.

Hold a Contest

You can support your community while also encouraging your employees to have fun by holding a contest. Each employee chooses a local charity and instead of prizes, money goes to the charities chosen by the winners.

This was one of the most successful ways that I've been able to help some of the local charities around my business. Popular TV shows like the Apprentice and other shows have done this as well to help out charity organizations.

Sponsor an Event

Sponsoring a participant in a local marathon can be a great way to show support, especially if you can support your own employees who are participating in such events.

Adopt a Brick

Occasionally new civic buildings will offer local residents the option of purchasing a brick or stone, either on a walkway or building. Such a purchase gives you the opportunity to contribute to progress while also enjoying a little publicity.

Build a House

Organizations like Habitat for Humanity offer businesses the opportunity to participate in construction projects that benefit disadvantaged residents. The best thing about this type of volunteerism is that many builds are done on weekends.

Offer Your Skills

As a leader in your industry, you likely have an area of expertise that's of value to others. Consider teaching classes on entrepreneurship to local residents or offer to teach a specialized skill that could be of value to those who have been out of the workforce for a while.

I personally help with the Open to Hope foundation on a daily basis. This has brought me some of the biggest personal wins. Helping be apart of something that's bigger than yourself will deliver happiness in your life.

Encourage Employee Volunteerism

Many businesses are now encouraging employees to volunteer by offering paid time off for volunteering. A business can show its support for the community by giving employees a specific amount of time each month, quarter, or year for volunteer work, which boosts morale while also increasing a business's community involvement.

Some of the biggest corporations on the planet allow a specific number of hours each year that are allotted to a company to volunteer at a charity of their choice.

As a vital part of your community, it's important to regularly show support for the residents and businesses who support you. By researching various ways you can participate in local events and organizations, you will be able to come up with your own unique way of giving back to your local community.

Promoting the Crew

8/7/2018 (Permalink)

Crew Bonding!

We at SERVPRO of Decatur/Forsyth have an amazing production team! We enjoy working as a group and finding solutions that help the home. We want things done right and quickly so that we get the homeowners back into their homes. We are proud of the differences we make! We make it "like it never happened"! 

Here is a few of our team leaders, Andrew and Austin are true standouts!! They love what they do and it shows. Our customer satisfaction surveys are literally the best in the industry thanks to the hard work, dedication to detail, and expertise we offer to all of our clients. Call us today and let SERVPRO of Decatur/Forsyth show you the difference in partnering with us! 217-428-2371

SERVPRO Flowers

8/7/2018 (Permalink)

The peek of the flowers!

The owner of SERVPRO, Tracy Kent and the Marketing Manager, Anisa Gallagher took the time to plant these flowers. So, your local SERVPRO of Decatur/Forsyth is out and about dropping off “thank you for helping us grow” flower jars.We just want to show all the gratitude to the jobs that make us feel like we are barely working. To all the customers that are so kind and cooperative.

We appreciate the people who help us grow as a company. We love what we do and letting customers know that we are glad to always give an extra hand. SERVPRO understands fully all situations and feel for all casualties. We really acknowledge your business and look forward to SERVPRO-ing you in the future! 217-428-2371

SERVPRO Cookies

8/7/2018 (Permalink)

The glimpse at the deliciousness!

As you may know about the flowers we give out to the past customers we help. We also take the time to pass out SERVPRO cookies to the Insurance companies that direct people that are in need of us. We order dozens of cookies and we make homemade goodies and mixes. SERVPRO is always ready to do work and is happy when recommended to do so. We feel very honored to be what insurance companies think first to call. We show appreciation to them for helping us truly do what we love to do. Your local SERVPRO of Decatur/Forsyth is out and about dropping off cookies. We really give thanks to the businesses and look forward to SERVPRO-ing you in the future! 217-428-2371

Tanner Tough

8/2/2018 (Permalink)

We at SERVPRO at Decatur/Forsyth are supporting 13 year old, middle school student, Tanner Gillen, who is battling brain cancer.  He is seeking radiation treatment in St. Louis, MO currently.  He has suffered a few setbacks along the way.  His spirits are still high and his family attributes a great deal of his positiveness from Tanner's friends/family/community.  We at SERVPRO of Decatur/Forsyth ask that in support of Tanner and the entire Gillen Family, please share and spread this information to raise awareness of an upcoming fundraising car wash will take place from 10am-4pm at the Decatur Conference Center and Hotel.  The car wash has a minimum $5 donation for all partcipants.  #TannerTough.  Hope to see you there and thank you for participating!

Food Drive

10/3/2017 (Permalink)

This is the SERVPRO trailer being filled with food!

SERVPRO of Decatur/Forsyth is working with Warrensburg-Latham school to help with a food drive. A local radio station along with many companies, volunteers, and amazing people put on this food drive every year. The school and the community always find great ways that make doing this exciting and fun as a team. This year the goal is 1.5 million pounds of food! It may seem like a lot, but we have reached it before.  We are always eager to reach pass the goal and continue helping the drive. We hope to do as much as we can when it means coming together as a community. the school also rewards the students for the massive gestures they do during the event. 

SERVPRO of Decatur/Forsyth is thrilled to be helping withs event!

Graditude

6/6/2016 (Permalink)

As a local business owner in the community, I am often asked to make monetary donations: to social programs, local causes, and schools.  

Last fall, I was asked to donate money to help purchase books for each first-grader in Warrensburg-Latham Elementary to take home. The school wanted to provide a resource that the kids could take home and discuss with their parents, and refer back to.  The books tackled a variety of social issues.  The books explain the importance of manners, respect, and how to be a good friend. 

Imagine my surprise when I receive these notes in the mail. The students wrote me individual thank you letters.

 It appears the kids also learned a lesson in gratitude.  Well-done Mrs. Herman's class!