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Archives for December 2011

South Shore Diamond Exchange launches campaign to fight hunger

Food insecurity is quickly becoming a serious problem that more and more families are struggling with on the South Shore. One of the area’s premier jewelers, South Shore Diamond Exchange, Inc of Pembroke, has launched a fundraising campaign to help fight hunger on the local level by raising money for the Greater Plymouth Food Warehouse, a program of South Shore Community Action Council.

Now through December 23, 2011, South Shore Diamond Exchange will donate $1 to the Greater Plymouth Food Warehouse for every new fan of their Facebook page (up to 1,000 fans). To support this worthy cause and become a fan of South Shore Diamond Exchange, visit www.Facebook.com/SouthShoreDiamond and “like” them.

“The economy has hit everyone hard. There are so many folks suffering from hunger and food insecurity. We’re not talking about people in another country, but those who are right outside our door,” explained Charlie Fierimonte, owner of South Shore Diamond Exchange.

He continued, “We want to give back to the community and we believe our friends, neighbors and customers feel the same way. This is a time of year when so many South Shore families are struggling to put food on the table. The Greater Plymouth Food Warehouse is there to help and we’re supporting them. Now, our Facebook fans can support this very worthy cause as well with just one click. Jenn Anderson of ViaMark Advertising, our advertising agency, suggested this partnership and we agreed that it was timely and well deserved.”

For more information on the Greater Plymouth Food Warehouse and the services it provides, visit the South Shore Community Action Council’s website http://www.sscac.org/food_warehouse/index.html.

About the South Shore Diamond Exchange
For more than 15 years, South Shore Diamond Exchange has been providing high quality diamond engagement rings, diamond gifts, gold, silver, and platinum jewelry, bridal sets, watches, anniversary bands, and exquisite pearl and gemstone jewelry to customers on the
South Shore, Cape Cod and beyond. With a staff of experienced and knowledgable sales consultants, South Shore Diamond Exchange are the experts that customers turn to when looking for beautiful jewelry at a price that won’t exceed their budget.

South Shore Diamond Exchange is a 2011 Reader’s Choice Award winner. Their exquisite collections include Gabriel & Co., Bridal Bells, Benchmark and the “I Do” collection. They also have a convenient on-site repair facility and offer a number of attractive financing plans, including “no interest” plans. As one of the South Shore’s premier jewelry retailers, South Shore Diamond Exchange is located at 254 Church Street, Route 139 in Pembroke which is just a 35 minute drive from Boston. Visit their website and check out their informative blog at www.southshorediamond.com. For more information, contact 781-829-0060.

South Shore Diamond Exchange launches campaign to fight hungerRead More

Appreciating depreciation. Cost segregation studies deliver earlier than expected tax breaks for commercial property owners.

Jeff Hiatt
Jeff Hiatt of Performance Business Solutions, LLC

 HAMPTON FALLS, NH…

In today’s economy, commercial property owners face an uphill battle in finding the funds to make the necessary improvements to retain and/or enhance a property’s value.  Cost segregation studies offer some property owners an opportunity to write off depreciation of building assets over a shorter period than the traditional 39-year depreciation period for a real property asset. This can generate funds in the form of a larger tax deduction. The funds that would have been paid in income tax could then be reinvested in renovations for that property or leveraged to help acquire another property.

A cost segregation study itemizes assets in a building into real property assets and personal property assets. Loosely speaking, real property refers to anything connected to the structure of the building (e.g. the foundation), while personal property assets can be items ranging from non-structural items like carpeting or aesthetic improvements like landscaping. By separating personal property assets, which have a shorter life expectancy than real property assets, you claim a greater rate of depreciation over a shorter period of time.

“Let’s say you buy an inn or resort with millwork and IT wiring.  Prior to cost seg studies, owners would have deducted depreciation of these items over 39 years instead of five or seven years,” said Jeff Hiatt, founder and CEO of Performance Business Solutions, LLC, based in Hampton Falls, NH. “For many commercial property owners, the personal asset depreciation deductions can result in a sizable return.”

Hiatt’s company, Performance Business Solution’s, LLC, specializes in expense reduction consulting for all types of business. One area that he has helped thousands of property owners across the US is with cost segregation studies. “Cost seg” studies can be applied to a wide variety of commercial properties, including apartment buildings, restaurants, manufacturing facilities, grocery stores, office buildings, etc. The process requires examination of any available building plans, site surveys, appraisals and/ or invoices. A site visit is also usually involved so project engineers can take photos and get a feel for the building.

After an inventory of assets is taken, a report of the building, per IRS Standard, is then completed. The numbers from the report can then be interpolated into the building owner’s client’s tax forms and filed with the next return.

The entire project can take from three to eight weeks to complete, with minimal disruption to the building’s activities or work flow. The price tag of the cost segregation study can range from $5,000 to $25,000, depending on the building’s size and tenant count.

“Performance Business Solutions conducted a cost segregation study on our property in York Harbor, Maine, the Stageneck Inn. They were extremely thorough and detailed in their study,” said Mark Foster, owner of Mark Foster, who also owns the Days Inn in Dover, New Hampshire. “When we turned the report over to our accountants, they felt very comfortable with the information provided and applied it to our tax returns. That gave us a fairly sizeable return, which we used to convert a house adjacent to the Stageneck Inn into a furnished rental property. Without the cost seg study, that might not have happened as quickly.”

Performance Business Solutions, LLC is located at 87 Lafayette Rd. Suite 11, Hampton Falls, NH 03844. The company helps businesses nationwide reduce expenses in a variety of areas. Performance Business Solutions, LLC, works with accountants, attorneys, and other experts to determine the best way for clients to reduce costs and increase profits. 

For information on arranging a cost segregation study on your commercial property, call (888) 989-0054 or (603) 926-2888. You can also send an e-mail to jdh@revenuebanking.com, or visit www.RevenueBanking.com.

Appreciating depreciation. Cost segregation studies deliver earlier than expected tax breaks for commercial property owners.Read More

HR Knowledge Inc. Shares 7 Key Points for Building A Strong Sales Team

Jeff Garr, CEO
Compensating your sales people correctly can be a great challenge to the average business manager or owner. If you don’t compensate correctly or adequately, sales production may suffer, which will directly affect business growth and profit. If you do incentivize sales staff correctly but pay them too much, it could create future problems related to growth and or profitability of your business.

HR Knowledge, Inc., a leading human resources Business Process Outsourcer (BPO) serving emerging to mid-sized companies throughout the East Coast with offices in Mansfield and Waltham, shares their “7 Key Points for Building a Strong Sales Team”:

1. Consider a Compensation Model prior to targeting and hiring sales people. It helps to have a good understanding of what makes some people “tick”, yet not others. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs states that there are a number of aspects that generate needs for any person, some of which may be of more interest to one person and less interest to another. Once you understand which aspect(s) motivate people, you can create a better environment to help create greater success.
2. Hire the right team of sales people. Before hiring, understand the type of sales person you need and then target them. Are you looking for an “order taker”? This is a person who can call on existing accounts and build great relationship with the client. Are you looking for a sales person who can “make it rain”? This person has the ability to create and generate business. If they are able to “find” business then they are the “hunter”. Understand what type of sales person you need and then target them in recruiting.
3. Adhere to the “Three A’s” when hiring. Once you understand the type of sales person you are looking for, remember the “Three A’s” when hiring for a sales position in your company. The first and most important “A” is Attitude. The right attitude is everything when hiring people. If they have the right attitude they will go through the wall for you to close business and follow the direction of the company. The second “A” is Aptitude. Ask yourself if s/he has the aptitude for the position of the company. Webster Dictionary defines aptitude as “capability; ability; innate or acquired capacity for something; talent”. The final “A” is Altitude, meaning, how high can they go? How high do you need them to go? Will they plateau at a certain point and coast?
4. Beware of complacency. The next concern when hiring sales people and thus managing them is complacency. Most sales people will reach a point of complacency and then coast in the job. Less work and more play becomes their mantra. The key challenge for management is to do all you can do to prevent complacency by your sales people. Most people become satisfied (and have obtained fulfillment of Maslow’s higher level emotional needs) once they attain job satisfaction or reach a particular level of income or status. With sales people, the challenge is to prevent this from happening.
5. Utilize your Compensation Model. It is vital to keep sales people motivated and “in the game”. From a managerial standpoint, it is far easier to compensate sales people and steer them in the direction the company wants them to go than it is to create compensation models to drive operations people, where you have to rely on coaching and management techniques. Sales people are experts in understanding compensation models and how they can maximize their income in the quickest time frame. They are usually very highly motivated and understand how the game works. This being the case, it is imperative to find a compensation model to drive the sales team to do what you want them to do.
6. Understand what your company’s objectives are and then create the compensation model to attain those objectives. For example, if your interest is to expand and grow your client base, then the compensation model needs to reward your sales team for new business and retention. You can create additional incentives to ensure that a large portion of their pay will be derived from new business acquisition. If it is imperative that your sales team be involved in the retention of clients, then you need to find a compensation model which will reward them for retaining and maintaining great relationships with clients. If they lose clientele, you must ensure that this will affect their compensation. This is a delicate area because if your operations team is not equally committed to retaining clients and the service or product you are delivering is not up to standard, then the sales team has no chance to retain the business no matter how great their relationship is with that client.
7. Do all that you can to ensure that the product or service you deliver is “remarkable!” Make sure that your company is setting the tone and the barometer in the marketplace for what you do. This will allow your sales people to confidently and comfortably sell your product or service. Without this, no sales person of any quality can survive and thrive in today’s business environment. Make sure that your operations team are as committed and passionate about clients as your sales team.
For more information about compensation, HR and or benefits contact Jeff Garr, CEO at HR Knowledge or 508-339-1300.
About HR Knowledge, Inc.
HR Knowledge, Inc. is a leading Business Process Outsourcer (BPO) serving emerging to mid-sized companies throughout the East Coast. HR Knowledge has the experience and technology to efficiently provide best-in-class integrated HR services at an affordable cost to clients.

HR Knowledge’s leaders have more than 100 years of combined experience and provide expert guidance in Human Resource management, Group Benefits Brokerage, Payroll Processing & Managed Services, Financial Services and Recruiting and Hiring Process Management (HPM).
Through their comprehensive Human Resource Services, HR Knowledge helps organizations minimize operational risks, reduce administrative costs and better serve their people.

HR Knowledge has been recognized as a Gold Level Broker by Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare. The company is headquartered at 905B South Main Street, Suite 203 in Mansfield and their second office is located at 890 Winter Street, Suite 208 in Waltham, MA. For more information, contact (508) 339-1300 or visit their website at www.hrknowledge.com

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A hairy Movember comes to a close. PR Works raises more than $900 for Movember fundraiser for prostate cancer research

Steve Dubin on Nov 30

When business owners say “it’s been a little hairy lately”, typically that’s a reference to workload or the frenetic pace of taking care of business. Things were a little hairy, but it had nothing to do with business as PR Works Principal Steve Dubin and Account Manager Joe D’Eramo grew mustaches and raise money as part of Movember, an international fundraiser for prostate cancer awareness. The duo raised $910 for the cause. 

Movember involves men growing a “mo” or mustache during the month of November as a rallying point for raising funds and awareness for prostate cancer health and other men’s cancer-related issues via Prostate Cancer Foundation and LIVESTRONG. In addition to collecting funds, we also spread the word about this worthy cause by posting regular updates on our blog and Facebook pages.

According to the Movember website:

  • One in six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime.
  • A man is diagnosed with prostate cancer every 2.2 minutes.
  • One in two men will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime.
  • 24 percent of men are less likely to go the doctor compared to women.

In 2010, Movember generated $80.7 million globally, $38.4 million in the US. Eighty three percent of the funds were allocated to programs supporting prostate cancer and other cancers affecting men. Seventy percent of that went to Movember’s men’s health partners, the Prostate Cancer Foundation (35%) and LIVESTRONG (35%) and 13% funded Movember’s awareness and education program. 

Joe D'Eramo on Nov 30

“It’s been a fun fundraiser and besides increasing my awareness of prostate cancer and other male-related cancers, it increased my awareness of the number of friends and colleagues who have had prostate cancer and beat it,” said D’Eramo.

In addition to Wendy Dubin and Karin D’Eramo, the significant others who had to tolerate the mustaches, we would like to thank everyone who donated to this very worthy cause, including: Jan Veyt and Els Goeman; Dr. Richard Wolfert, Domenic D’Eramo, Maria Russo, Gordon Whitten,  Phillip Henault, Greg Malerbi, Michael Roussos, Jon Richmond, Doug Adams, Joseph Cummings, Coralie Kraetzer, David Soper, Kevin Cully, Marilyn Gilchrist and Jerry Levine, Barbara Arena, Murray Vetstein, Pam and David Snell, Brad and Julie White, Jim Farrell and Irwin Abrams.

There’s still time to donate to Movember. You can find out more about the type of work you’d be helping to fund by visiting the Movember website: http://us.movember.com/about. Movember is a registered 501 (c)(3) charity; donations are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law.

For a final look at the mustache efforts of PR Works, you can visit www.facebook.com/PRWorkZone.

A hairy Movember comes to a close. PR Works raises more than $900 for Movember fundraiser for prostate cancer researchRead More