ASHI Web Leads

[midwestpro]

Hi guys hope your inspection schedules are full. My question is for you guys who have affiliation/certification with a national organization such as ASHI, INACHI, NAHI, etc. and listed on their website locator/finder. I have heard from various inspectors mostly ASHI members that they receive good success with being a member and receive a good amount of leads directly from the web. I would like to hear if you have received a good amount of sucess with any one in particular and if so how much success. Such as how many leads, you get etc. Thank you in advance and input is greatly appreciated.

[Mark P]

I've been a member of ASHI for about 3 years and I get around 6 jobs a year as a result of being listed on their website.

[Bill Kibbel]

A half-dozen from www.ASHI.org each year is about right. Much more from the local chapter website. Also, I get several referrals from other members.

I've also had a few inspections that are directly linked to my participation here at TIJ.

[Brian G]

My experience is similar, but in my little market it's more like 3 or 4 per year. I'm happy with that, all things considered.

Brian G.

Bidness Is Bidness [^]

[ghentjr]

Being retired and not active it was quite amazing that over the last two months I have received a dozen phone calls from folks who got my name and number from the ASHI web site. I have no way to follow up to see how many converted to jobs but that is the most activity I have ever had in a short time from ASHI.

[Les]

We typically get 4-5 calls per month from the ASHI site. We may be a little different than most as we have been around for many years and get most of bidness from past clients.

Converting those calls from ASHI site seem to be 100%.

[Scottpat]

After moving to a larger market, I have about the same results as Les. I think the calls all depend on just how many inspectors are in your market, if you answer your phone and how your name shows up on the rotation of names listed.

Note: If you are joining a national home inspector organization thinking that you will receive enough leads to keep you busy, you are wrong and you are joining for the wrong reasons.

My suggestion is to type in your city, state and home inspector or home inspection (Spring Hill TN home inspector), see what pulls up and that will tell you who is getting most of the search business. Folks search by the city they are in not the state, most then skip the paid spots and then go to the top 1-4 listings. I have also been told that many look for individual websites and not large search type websites. Ask your friends and neighbors what they would type in if they were looking for a home inspector.

[randynavarro]

I get about 1 call every 6 months from the ASHI site.

I wonder what I'm doing wrong. . .

[carle3]

The way in which the market works in your individual area is a factor in how many leads you may or may not get. My market is still heavly driven on the referals from the agents. I In the last few months I may have had one lead from the ASHI web site and have had none from the GLC's site. Even tracking hits I have to my web site there is little traffic coming from ASHI. I get just a couple of calls a month I can attribute to my web site. When I query my clients on where they got the name of my company the answers are, you were one of the cards my agent gave me or you were on the list from the brokers office.

[midwestpro]

Thank you for the great amount of responses. I think Scott is right you cannot soley live on receiving referrals from an association. The reason I posted the above question is because I think ASHI is still one of the best if not the best in the industry and I am very much considering becoming a member and I wanted to see if I join, if I can expect a return. As posted above, every market is different we receive most of our business from referrals RE agents in particular and little from anything else, but I am from a small community where most people do not seem to be using the internet as much. Anyone have any success with other organizations?

[Les]

Randy,

I went to your website and kinda liked it, except for the "us" "representative" etc verbiage. I know most folks like to use a specific inspector and if they know you are the Boss, they think they have gotten the best inspector. I stopped doing regular inspections a couple of years ago and turn all requests over to other ASHI inspectors in my office. I still do work for people I know or kids of past customers. However, if they get my name from ASHI or the website, then I usually work with them.

Try ASHI, you will be pleasantly surprised at what you will "get". They ain't perfect, but are the best association available!

[hausdok]

Hi,

I joined NAHI in 1996 and stayed with them for 4 years. I joined ASHI in 1999 and stayed with them for 4 years as well. In all of that time, I never received a single referral from their websites; however, I wasn't concerned with getting referrals from their websites, I was interested in becoming the best inspector that I could be.

I joined those association for the chance to meet in-person and online as many other experienced inspectors as I could, so that I could pick their brains and learn as much as I could, as quickly as I could. I wanted to shorten the time it would take me to go from being just another mediocre inspector, that didn't know what he didn't know, to one that was competent, thoroughly informed and could conduct this business independently, without the need to constantly lean on others, and without the constant fear that I'd screw up so badly that word would get around that I was a greenhorn and didn't know what I was doing and end up getting me sued.

By the time I felt I was there, I'd learned that, though there are many extremely competent and honorable inspectors in these associations, there were just as many independents with the same attributes and the majority of inspectors who remain in business, whether members of an association or not, do so because they do superior work - not because they have a pretty website that gets more "hits" than others or because their association has been around longer than another or because their association is more "inspector friendly."

The thing about the association sites is that the association must remain neutral and ensure that all members' information is given out for any given area. That means that your name is always displayed with a bunch of other folks who are allegedly, because of their affiliation, at least as competent as you are. From my point of view, that's not the way to stand out from the crowd and get those referrals coming. You can get your name around lots of other ways without spending hundreds a year to help fuel the coffers that contribute to the never-ending association wars and try and give folks the impression that, because you have joined an association, you are somehow more knowledgable or responsible than other inspectors and to give you an excuse to pound your chest and trumpet your alleged dominance over the rest of the profession.

If your sole interest in joining an association is driven by a desire to get referrals from a website; don't even bother to join any association; just hook up with a programmer that can do a decent website for you and really, really knows how to work your site to the top of the internet search heap. However, if you want to join an association to learn, then join one where the majority of its members' time on their site is spent helping others learn the technical and professional aspects of this businessand where the bullshit wars for association dominance are a minor distraction rather than the overwhelming theme of the day. Oh, wait a minute, that's TIJ and we aren't even an "association;" imagine that.

Personally, I prefer independence.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[randynavarro]

Great arguments for being an independent. Certainly makes me think.

[midwestpro]

Thanks for the compliments on the site. Their is alot more work and changes being done, still needs about another 1-2 months of changes, additions, and SEO. I agree with hausdok's point of view and he's spot on with superior work; however with that being said I think it is important if you are considering joining a site for whatever reason (for me in particular, education, exposure, leads etc.) that a return on investment and possible gain of profit is made; and from the above sites this is exactly what ASHI could deliver for me.

[MMustola]

I get 3 to 4 referrals from the ASHI site a year. 100% of them are converted to booked inspections.

I love ASHI and I am active in the Great Lakes Charter. Most of the time inspectors operate in their own little world. For me the biggest advantage of joining an association is the interaction you get with other people in your profession.

The education seminars are great but what you can learn from face to face interaction with other inspectors is priceless.

[kurt]

I've got at least a dozen bitches about ASHI, but I paid up again this year for a couple reasons.....

1) I receive more in referral fees than I pay in dues. So far, it's net gain.

2) There are some educational and information sources that are a decent side benefit, and the association does do limited lobbying on a Federal level that benefits the biz (not necessarily the profession).

Independence is OK too.

[Les]

If all else does not make sense, join the Indagators. I think the dues are low.

[charlieb]

Originally posted by Les

If all else does not make sense, join the Indagators. I think the dues are low.

Satire

[Jim Morrison]

What the heck is an Indagator?

[SonOfSwamp]

Originally posted by Jim Morrison

What the heck is an Indagator?

Never heard of 'em.

WJ

[randynavarro]

I wouldn't let one babysit my kids.

[Les]

I have to allow a couple of them visititation rights. The middle kid has impecable grammer and a Southern Drawl!

[Phillip]

Originally posted by Les

I have to allow a couple of them visititation rights. The middle kid has impecable grammer and a Southern Drawl!

Is that WJ or Bill L?

[SonOfSwamp]

Originally posted by Phillip

Originally posted by Les

I have to allow a couple of them visititation rights. The middle kid has impecable grammer and a Southern Drawl!

Is that WJ or Bill L?

I'd say both of us. My fancy-educated daughter tells me that I've mostly lost my Southern accent, although I still use the vernacular. Folks expect me to be colorful...

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