What is your most successful marketing strategy?

[Jbrow327]

Whether it's offering ancillary services, being a bit cheaper, getting attention of real estate agents, etc.

What strategy has led to the most success for you?

[Les]

Do a good inspection.

[Jerry Simon]

Join networking groups; lots of 'em.

 

BNI, etc.

Edited August 13, 2022 by Jerry Simon

[Tom Raymond]

Do a good job. Provide excellent value. Be patient. 

[Jbrow327]

16 minutes ago, Tom Raymond said:

Do a good job. Provide excellent value. Be patient. 

 What do you mean by be patient?

[Marc]

The vast majority of inspectors succeed by making themselves more appealing to agents then their competition, but that has never worked for me because agents don't like my reports.

I won't change my reports because its the client that's paying for it and they love it just the way it is.

I've never experienced much success in this business. I realized long ago that there was nothing I could do about it for as long as I remained dedicated to the client's needs.

I love this business, despite the difficulties, but I'm quitting soon.

Edited August 13, 2022 by Marc

[Les]

7 hours ago, Marc said:

I love this business, despite the difficulties, but I'm quitting soon.

Marc, you have had an extraordinary influence on this profession.  I have great respect for you, your candor and patience.  Stick around and be a fellow gadfly! *

 

*A gadfly is a person who interferes with the status quo of a society or community by posing novel, potentially upsetting questions, usually directed at authorities. The term is originally associated with the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates in his defense when on trial for his life. Wikipedia

 

[Jim Katen]

1 hour ago, Les said:

Marc, you have had an extraordinary influence on this profession.  I have great respect for you, your candor and patience.  Stick around and be a fellow gadfly! *

I echo those sentiments and I'm sorry to hear that you're planning to quit. The home buyers of Louisiana will be the poorer for it. 

[Tom Raymond]

On 8/13/2022 at 11:38 AM, Jbrow327 said:

 What do you mean by be patient?

There are two ways to build a referral based business; be exceptional and wait for the referrals to come, or pander to others for their client base. 

If you're good at home inspections the Realtors won't refer you regularly. It's a broken model.

Market directly to your audience. Do good work. Word will get around, eventually.

[Jim Baird]

On 8/13/2022 at 3:01 PM, Marc said:

The vast majority of inspectors succeed by making themselves more appealing to agents then their competition, but that has never worked for me because agents don't like my reports.

I won't change my reports because its the client that's paying for it and they love it just the way it is.

I've never experienced much success in this business. I realized long ago that there was nothing I could do about it for as long as I remained dedicated to the client's needs.

I love this business, despite the difficulties, but I'm quitting soon.

They don't like mine either.  Often they say it is too technical, but the client can read them.

[John Kogel]

All of the above and Marc, I have been there too. I am retired now due to a health issue and age. The stress of the driving to so many sites a week and then being 100% everywhere every day can wear on you.

I had a hard time breaking in at first, but joined a team, made more money due to volume and quickly got experience. A couple of decades in building trades helped, but inspections go beyond that. Study up on the weak areas in your knowledge base.

There are two kinds of realtors, them that are successful and them that are wannabees. Getting black-balled by a wannabee won't hurt your business much. I went back sometimes thru all the characters I'd met and saw hundreds only once or twice. They don't all survive.

Keep doing your job and crawl all the way to the back to see what nobody else saw. Successful realtors are not devastated when a sale falls through. They find their client a better house. You get to do another inspection. You're a hero for diverting the sale to a better house that won't become a headache or cost someone their profits for the month.

Successful strategy - I helped train a new inspector and watched him take half the work in town, so that he had to hire a couple of guys right away. He offered a free IR sweep of the house. Not a dedicated IR inspection, just a 10 minute sweep, checking every room. IR pics were saved and a couple of pics went into each report, such as a pic of heat from a floor register, or an air leak somewhere. Realtors and clients were really impressed, the new technology included for the same price as everybody else.

Included is a disclaimer that this is not an IR inspection which takes hours at double the cost. Nobody wants to pay for the dedicated IR inspection, but you offer that to distinguish the real thing from your 10 minute pass for free with no guarantee. Costs a couple grand but pays off big time. Sometimes you find a hidden leak, bonus for all.

Good luck and don't give up the fight!

[ejager]

Get great reviews.

It means a good inspection*, good customer service, and a polite insistence on getting a review.


*a "good" inspection is, because of the state of affairs in the industry,  WAY above average. Doing a great inspection is even better of course.