It is
really great to be getting calls daily from inspectors
who are telling me that business is picking up.
We are
not out of the woods yet but it is beginning to look
like the economy hit bottom and is slowly climbing back
up. Indications are that real estate sales will be slow
again this year but better than last year. A large
percentage of inspectors got out of the business during
the recession. That means there will be more work for inspectors
going forward than there were before the recession. Even so, competition will be
tough.
The key
to surviving and prospering is not to continue doing
what you have always done. It may seem like the right
thing to do. After all, that's why you are still in
business right? Yes and No! You should continue to do
many of the things that got you to where you are.
There is no substitute for good performance and good
customer service. You need to continue to do a good job
and provide good customer service. You also need to
adapt to a changing economy and our changing culture.
This would be a good time to take a look at the way you
do business. Ask yourself what it is that you can do to
set yourself apart from the competition.
Here are some questions to ask yourself ...
1. Electronic Report Delivery
Are you
able to deliver reports electronically (and reliably) to
your clients and real estate agents?
We
often talk of "e-mailing reports" but that is not what
you should be doing. You need to upload your reports to
a server and e-mail a link to the recipient. Do not
attach the actual report to an e-mail message.
The junk e-mail problem is getting worse instead of
better. Large commercial e-mail providers are making it
harder than ever to send file attachments through
e-mail.
Online File Folder is a service that will
enable you to reliably host and deliver inspection
reports. Online File Folder is
available from RedDomains.com for less than $1 (that's
right – less than one dollar) a month.
2. Meeting Presentations
Do you
do presentations to real estate agents at local
agencies? This is a great way for you to introduce
yourself to real estate agents. Most agencies hold
regular meetings with the agents. They often invite
industry experts to do presentation at their meetings.
Get on the phone and call a few agencies. You are sure
to find a few that will be interested in hearing what
you have to say. It is effective and efficient use of
your time. Every inspector I know who uses this strategy
has told me that it has helped business.
Some people are more comfortable speaking in front of a
group than others are. Relax. Be yourself. Be sincere.
Be polite. Do not try to be someone you are not. Even
the dumbest people know when someone is not being
sincere.
Do not use words that you would not use in every day
speech. You are not there to impress anyone with your
vocabulary. You want impress the agents with your
personality. You need to be self-confident but not
arrogant. You want them to understand that you are a
person who capable but is also easy to talk with and to
work with.
3. Website
Do you
have a compelling website that begins with your photo
and highlights of your qualifications?
There is nothing you can do to promote your business
that will provide a better return on your investment
than a good website. With good websites costing less
than $5 a month, you cannot afford not to have a
website.
If you have a website and it is not doing anything for
your business, you need to fix it. On a
dollar-for-dollar basis, a good website will generate
more business than any other form of advertising you can
do. Nothing else comes close.
4. Well Written Reports
Are
your reports easy to read and to understand? Do
you make good use of color and layout in your reports?
Do you pay careful attention to grammar and spelling?
All I can say I hope you answered "Yes" to all three
questions.
The
typical home inspector has been out of school for a very
long time. You may not have thought about grammar much
in the years since high school or college but you are in
a business where you are communicating in writing so you
need to make an effort to brush up on your grammar. The
most costly mistakes are not the ones where you missed
something or made a technical error. Communication
errors are the cause of the most costly mistakes. The
quickest and easiest way to reduce grammar errors is to
make your reports more visual. The judicious use of
photographs and annotation will make your reports
clearer. Visual communication is usually more effective
and more accurate than written communication. I am not
going to spend too much time on the topic here because I
cover the topic in detail in How to Write a Better Home
Inspection Report.
There will always be a certain amount of writing you
will need to do. Good grammar, spelling, and word usage
are essential. People with a wide range of educational
backgrounds will be reading your reports. You should
follow the same rule that newspapers follow. That is,
your writing should be at approximately a sixth grade
level. Sadly, most American newspapers and television
broadcasts have serious grammar and word usage mistakes
in every issue.
Adults who do not write for a living tend either to
write the way they speak or write in a pompous
artificial manner. Neither is appropriate but the better
choice between the two styles would be to write the way
you speak. At least, when you write the way you speak,
your writing will seem genuine and sincere.
That which is acceptable in speech is often not
acceptable in written communications. There are many
free and inexpensive resources available to you. Invest
some time. Improve your communication skills; especially
your writing skills.
5. Community Involvement
Do you
volunteer for community activities? Community work is a
great way to meet people. Others will try to help you by
sending business your way when they see that you are
trying to help others.
Participating in community activities provides you and
your neighbors with an opportunity to get to know one
another. Home inspection is a person-to-person,
face-to-face business. Home buyers are more likely to
call someone whom they have met than someone whom they
have never met.
Carry a
pocket full of business cards with you at all times.
Most of the cards will be lost or discarded but most
people will at least keep your card for a while after
having met you at a community event. The goal is to have
others remember you when the need for an inspector
arises. 6. A Clean Vehicle
Is your
vehicle always clean when you arrive for an inspection?
Like it or not, image is important. This is an easy one.
Think of it as an investment. A quick run through an
automatic car wash a couple of times each week is an
investment that will pay nice dividends.
Nice
lettering on your clean vehicle is one of the best ways
to advertise your business. This is your business
so why not show everyone who you are and what you do.
Vehicle lettering is surprisingly inexpensive and will
add to your overall look of professionalism. If
you cannot, or do not want to, put lettering on your
vehicle, then get a set of nice three magnetic signs,
one for each side and one for the rear.
7. On-site Report Delivery
Do you
deliver your reports on-site at the conclusion of the
inspection?
I have probably heard every reason and rationalization
there is for not delivering reports on site.
Three
out of four inspectors deliver their reports the next
day or later. The majority of them sincerely believe
that it is not hurting their business delivering reports
the following day.
Whether the topic is report delivery or anything else,
there are several major flaws with thinking in terms of
"it is not hurting my business". The question you should
be asking is it helping my business. Here again, many
inspectors sincerely believe that it is helping
business. It absolutely, unequivocally is not!
The
good news for you is that three out of four inspectors
deliver reports the next day or later. On-site delivery
is easy and it is efficient. When you deliver reports
on-site, you will stand out among your peers. You will
get more business and you will make more money because
of the improved efficiency.
8. Be Confident, Exude Confidence,
Inspire Confidence
Do you
exude confidence? Do you inspire confidence? You cannot
expect others to have confidence in you if you do not
have confidence in yourself.
The confidence readers of your reports have will be
greatly diminished when you tell them that they should
seek advice elsewhere (qualified plumber, engineer,
electrician, etc.) or that you are not responsible for
this or that.
Put
yourself in your customer’s position. How would you feel
after paying someone $300-$350 for his opinion on
something and all you got was “have someone else look at
this”, “I’m not responsible”. Is it any wonder that
states such as Kansas and Texas are saying that
inspectors are responsible for their findings? The
message is clear, if you are going to accept a fee for
doing a job then do it and accept responsibility for the
job.
I
certainly do not like the Kansas or Texas requirements
any more than any other inspector does but if we cannot
accept responsibility without government intervention
then, guess what – the government will step in.
Home
Inspection is a professional occupation. We collect a
fee to do a job. Stand tall. Accept some responsibility.
If you act like a scared mouse, your customers will see
you as a scared mouse. If you are afraid to be a
professional, afraid to be an inspector, then perhaps
you need to consider another line of work.
I
realize this is tough talk. I have no misconceptions
about the fact that some inspectors who read this will
be angry. They have been so brainwashed by lawyers other
weak inspectors that they have become milquetoasts
afraid to accept responsibilities for anything.
Home inspectors who have too much time on their hands go
on to inspector forums to espouse their philosophies of
weakness to other inspectors. What better way can they
appear not to be weak other than to make all other
inspectors appear to be, weak, timid and lacking in
self-confidence?
The
problem is that it is other home inspectors, not home
buyers, who are reading the inspector forums. When home
buyers are dealing with you, they are not interested in
whether or not inspectors get together on forums or in
meeting to rationalize all the reasons for hiding in
shell like a turtle. At the point where they have hire
you to inspect the house they are buying, they do not
care about how good or bad other inspectors are. They
are looking at you and you alone. They want and expect
you to inspect the house. They do not want or expect you
to have to tell them to get six other people to come to
do the job because you are afraid to do it.
I saved
this one for last because I know it is a difficult pill
to swallow. Had this been the first item in the list,
you may not have read the other items. I could tell you
all the things you want to hear but I will not ever do
that to you. That would be wrong.
When I was a young guy at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri in
the early 1970s, my platoon Drill Sergeant used to say
to us recruits, “My job is to save your life!!”. I
listened to everything he said and did whatever he told
us to do because I believed him. He was an experienced
combat veteran with the skills to survive. It was more
important to him to give us the skills we needed to
survive than to have us like him.
Just as it was my Drill Sergeant’s job more than 35
years ago teach me the skills to survive, my job today
is to give you the skills to survive. Long-term success
and financial prosperity will come to the inspector who
is capable and confident, not the one who lacks
self-confidence.
