January Newsletter 2020
Measurement Systems & You
Do you know that we measure almost everything at Denver Concierge? We wouldn’t expect you to, but it is a big part of what we do behind the scenes to make sure your home is spotless and done right every time.
You might notice we announce our monthly (and annual this month) winners for top Cleaning Associates and Team Leaders at the bottom of our newsletter each time. Some of you may be wondering just how we figure all of this out, so this month we will explain it a bit.
Every person that is in your home is evaluated on a number of different categories. First and foremost is your feedback! Compliments and complaints/issues are logged for each employee and factored into the rating. How each person manages their equipment and vehicle is also part of the evaluation.
We also measure things like the time it should take to perform the work, how efficient we are, overtime, and all sorts of things that might bore you to tears, but it’s the lifeblood of how we operate.
Every month, we put the names in lights, not only in the newsletter but on our company communication board. This way each person knows exactly how they are doing relative to everyone else. Someone very smart once said “what gets measured, gets made”, and we take that to heart.
So, the next time we are in your home, please know that there is a lot going on behind the scenes in not only how we clean your homes, but in continuous improvement and having an engaged, aware workforce.
As always, thanks for being part of the Denver Concierge family!!
A Decade of Home Pricing Growth
As we celebrate the numerical passing of a decade, it’s always fun to reflect on what has happened, especially with our home values.
Denver and the Front Range have experienced wild growth over the past 10 years, and according to Redfin, the median home price in Denver increased 109%, from $202,896 at the start of 2010 to $424,051 at end of 2019.
That is a ton of growth and should be very good news. Unless you are a new homebuyer, because also according to Redfin, annual median income growth was 2.8% in Denver over the past decade.
That makes it pretty tough to keep up!
The nice people at the Denver Business Journal published this article, along with a list of the top neighborhoods for growth during the last decade.
Denver Arts 2020
We know that many of you love the arts. We do too, and we wanted to share some of the big exhibits that are coming in 2020.
First and foremost, any of you that love Monet will be blown away by the current exhibit at the Denver Art Museum. With 120 of his paintings on display it is quite spectacular.
Beyond Claude Monet, you can find Norman Rockwell, Robert Rauschenberg, and others in 2020.
Denver.org published a list of the must-see art exhibits coming to our fine city here.
5280 Magazine also has their take on the most important exhibitions to arrive in Denver in 2020, and that includes everything from sculptures to photography.
The complete list of what they are excited about can be found here.
Do you need Winter Tires?
We weren’t so sure until we read up on this. To be honest, we have always been the “all-season” tire type, but we think it might be time to change our ways (and our tires).
Did you know that if you use all-season tires throughout the winter you will experience 25-50 percent less traction than winter designated tires?
Despite the name, it’s a myth that your “all-season” tires will perform as well in freezing weather (or even in near-freezing) as they do in temperate weather. Because of their composition, all-season tires start to stiffen up and lose traction in temperatures under 45 degrees Fahrenheit.
The folks in Canada, who are experts in crummy weather use them, as more than half of Canadian drivers install winter/snow tires on their cars, and they see a real benefit.
There are fewer winter-related accidents, injuries, and deaths when cars are required to be fitted with winter/snow tires, a recent Quebec-based study found.
And the most recent survey report from the Tire and Rubber Association of Canada suggests that two-thirds of Canadian drivers are using winter/snow tires (which are required in some provinces).
The full article from our friends at AAA Colorado can be found here. Be safe out there Denver!!!
7 Lies that Rich People Tell
Ok, so maybe not lies…how about exaggerations? Or maybe advice about money that they simply don’t follow?
We saw this article on one of our favorite content sites, Medium.com, and it immediately required our attention.
It seems that many of the tried and true things that we are told about ways to accumulate wealth just aren’t factual.
Things like “diversify”, “save your money”, “avoid debt” that most of us accept as fact, simply aren’t true when it comes to the super wealthy.
Reading this article gave us a fresh perspective on money and made us think long and hard about some of the things we have been told in the past about money management and creating wealth.
For example, Warren Buffett himself said that people that diversify simply don’t know what to do with their money!
2019 Award Winners
Please join me in congratulating our best performers for December 2019, and our annual award winners!
Our top Cleaning Associates for the month were Josefina Quinonez, Maria Zapata, Sandra Vidales, Aurora Dominguez and Enedina Mendoza.
In the Team Leader ranks, our top Team Leaders were Natalia Olivas and Rosa Chavez.
For the year….drum roll please!
Our top ranked Cleaning Associates were Aurora Dominguez and Maria Zapata. Both were tied at the top for number one, with Josefina Quinonez coming in 3rd.
Our top Team Leader of the year was Rosa Chavez. Natalia Olivas finished 2nd.
Thanks to all our team members for their hard work, and a special thanks to our annual award winners!
Congrats ladies!
Queen Bee Corner
by Angela
Now that the holiday season is officially over, we are able to get our clients back on their regular schedules with their regular teams. Yay!
We appreciate you working with us to accommodate our ladies’ holidays and days off to be with their families. Rearranging days, hours and teams is annoying for clients and equally so for us in the office doing the rearranging!
On the other hand, it pales in comparison to the great attitude our ladies bring to their jobs each day. There are glitches here and there, but I can say in all honesty that every team’s mindset throughout the day is to do their very best in each of your homes.
As an employer or as a client it doesn’t get much better than that.
Bee