Looking For Inspiration

[davesplace007]

My question is for any inspector that started his business from ground zero, which im sure at one point in time that should just about cover everybody.

I am a newly established business and have just started solicting about 5 weeks ago. My main focus has been on trying to establish a realtor referral base. I pimarily do cold calls and will sit down with a realtor one on one and do a casual presentation as well as do a little small talk to try and develop a relationship. Im still doing that as well as making a second round of visits on ones I called on three, four or five weeks ago. To date I have only done one inspection. My question is 'How long did you guys (or gals) go before you started to see some results from your sales work when you first started out?'

Thanks

DH

[hausdok]

I remember that when I first got into this business the franchise people pounded it into my head that people have to see you over and over again for at least 90 days before they begin to automatically think of you when they think of an inspector.

Don't ask me where they got the 90-day figure; I just assumed that it was the results of some survey somewhere.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Scottpat]

It will take about 2-3 years to get your business up to a point that you should be happy with, sorry I'm not very good at sugar coating things!

I'm not familiar with Summerdale AL, but a great deal of your success depends on how well homes are selling and home many other inspectors are in the area.

When I moved to the Nashville area in July 2006, we had around 45 inspectors. It climbed to around 60-70 inspectors in a few months. Today from what I have been able to tell we are down to around 30 or so inspectors. They started dropping like bugs over a hot griddle when the market slowed late last summer.

I have been re-establishing my company for about 14 months and I must say that my website has done more for me than anything I have done. IMO, those one on one meetings and office visits do little to make the phone ring. I booked 3 jobs today and they came straight from my website.

[Les]

Dave,

Five or six weeks is not even scratching the surface of the amount of time. In this office it takes about 7-8 months of going with an established inspector before anyone remembers your name. All markets are quite different.

Inspections have been "normal" for buyers over the past several decades in many areas, so buyers have experience with a particular person or company and no amount of your schmoozing will change their mind. Around here we see our past clients about every 5-6yrs. Often they have a different real estate salesperson - but the same inspector - US.

I don't have a problem with your marketing to agents, just there are a zillion other ways to pick up jobs. The folks around here laugh at my reminding them about passing out yo-yos. At one time a 10cent yo-yo given to a home show attendee would often result in an inspection. We have kinda a fierce no nonsense reputation, so the yo-yo showed folks we had a lighter side.

Scott and many others have posted ideas in many other topics on this forum - search and read all of them, then come back here and ask the same question.

I think you will find that most of the old timers on this board will tell you it is a very long process and just when you think you can feed your kids, you upset an agent with a nice clear factual report that takes food out of their kid's mouth.

This is a tough job.

[Brian G]

It helps to get lucky, but you can't force-generate that. When I went around looking for jobs one of the big brokers in town just got the shaft from another HI over a deal on his own house (the HI was selling). She wasn't happy with him at all, and there I was. She had more to do with my survival the first year and a half than anyone else, despite my the-client-is-the-only-client style. God bless her.

These days I don't hear from her. That's life.

Good luck Dave. It ain't gonna be easy.

Brian G.

Starting From Nothing Is Hard [:-crazy]

[Phillip]

Hi David,

Wellcome to the best BB around. I am always glad to see other Alabama inspectors posting here. It is a hard start up doing inspections.

There is going to be an ASHI South meeting in Biringham on the 5th. Come and talk to the other inspectors. You can get more info about the meeting at www.ashisouth.org .

[Tim H]

Hey David,

I noticed that you dont have a web site linked to your profile page. Get your web site going ASAP. Search the archives here and find the thread on improving your site ranking. The first couple of inspections we did were referred to us by a former colleague turned agent. After that, it has been our web site and referrals from satisfied clients that have kept us going. We have cold called RE offices exactly twice. Horrible experiences. Nothing wrong, IMO, with getting your name in front of Realtors, there are just more efficient ways to do it.

One thing that you can do is get an 'in'. Get an "in" from an agent you already know. Everybody knows one, or knows someone who knows one (especially in Baldwin Co/Gulf Shores). You will be much more comfortable in a reeltor office if you can walk in and say " Hi, I'm a Home Inspector and I'm here to see Joe Brown" (warm call), than you would be just walking in and saying "Hi, I'm a new Home Inspector and I would like to leave some cards for any random reeltor". An open house presents the opportunity to talk to a reeltor one on one. Always a better deal than leaving cards at the front desk. While your talking to the agent at the open house, tell them you would like to stop by the office and leave some cards (you now have an"in"). Follow up with a thank you note to the reeltor with a couple of more cards. Rinse and repeat.

Get a web site up. If it is nice clean site, and you do the grunt work needed to get good placement, you will get calls. You wont get as many as you would like to get at first, but they will call.

Phillip didnt mention that one of the scheduled speakers at the ASHI South meeting will be making a presentation on "Marketing Yourself".

Good luck,

Tim