Book More Home Inspections. Have Your Home Inspection Company Stand Out From The Pack!

Our competitor claims almost 80% of inspectors today use an online or electronic type reporting system.  If that's true, that's great news for our home inspector clients!!  The incredible reaction our clients get when they deliver HomeReport™ at the inspection is why over a million dollars in copies have been sold and why clients stay with HomeReport™ year after year!

We've seen a few of our home inspector clients that have left HomeReport™ to go the electronic route and some who have come right back to us!  Those inspectors have told us the main reason they came back was they lost the “WOW” effect HomeReport™ gave them at the home inspection.   These home inspectors also told us that while going the electronic route sounded like it would be the faster reporting route, it actually took more time when they factored in the online work they still needed to do after the inspection!

One of the ways to book more inspections and to grow your home inspection business is to stand out from the crowd.  If it's true 80% aren't delivering a detailed and comprehensive report onsite, one that is more that just a few pages in a flimsy folder, then inspectors that use HomeReport™ already stand out! HomeReport™ clients have no other work to complete when they get home.  When the inspection is over, so is the reporting.   These inspectors also don't leave their clients waiting to hear when their full report is finally ready for download.

Standing out "is" the result you’re after when you are marketing your home inspection services.  If you market the same as other inspectors and do everything the same as 80% of the pack, you can't stand out!  Our HomeReport™ clients make up part of the 20% of inspectors who offer the “Wow” effect at the inspection with a great onsite home inspection report.

It's kind of funny because our competitor must believe that doing the same as the rest of the pack must be a good thing.  If they didn’t believe this, why would they advertise 80% of inspectors do this, therefore, you should too? Reality is, it's doing the opposite of the pack that's going to get you noticed.  It's kind of like stocks, when everyone else is buying, smart investors are selling and when everyone else is selling, smart investors are angling for great buying opportunities.

If you want to book more inspections, take more market share and really see your business rise above the pack of other home inspectors out there, you have to market differently, report differently and deliver differently!   Building a great home inspection business isn't about doing what 80% of inspectors are doing.  It is about standing apart, above the crowd and creating a different experience, one that home buying clients will stand up and take notice of.

On a personal note, after taking a break from the business for a few years to pursue other interests, like trying his hand at house flipping, my husband is retuning to his first love, home inspections.  Well, to be honest, he never really completely took his nose out of the game.  He has and will continue to help support my HomeReport™ clients.  He even set up and continues to act as moderator of our tech talk forum which is an informative and educational resource, exclusive to HomeReport™ users.  This forum helps inspectors connect with other inspectors, get questions answered, offer each other valuable support and industry specific information that is often difficult to obtain on your own.

He'll be stepping out again in the coming weeks after his website is up and marketing material is printed. We are located in a completely different service area than we were when he last built up a single inspector firm to a six inspector firm.  He did that rapidly by taking more and more market share through always delivering the wow effect!  You can be sure he won’t be marketing the same as the other inspectors in this area, nor will he be using an electronic reporting system and handing just a few pages to the clients at the inspection.

There was no thought given towards any other inspection reporting system.  He'll be setting himself apart from the crowd again as he steps out with HomeReport™ from his very first inspection.   I look forward to sharing how it all goes with you as he once again builds an inspection company from scratch.   His last company is still going strong to this day because he sold it to one of the very capable senior inspectors that was on his team.

This time around, He will be in a similar boat to many new home inspectors out there, trying to break into a new service area.  An area where there are already many established home inspectors, most who have been serving this area for many years. 

To ensure he brings the "wow effect", he'll be putting all the marketing tips and suggestions I make in my Home Inspection Marketing For Success CD's to work.  He will implement the strategies on how to successfully market a new inspection company and then continue to market with consistency, just like I teach on the CDs.   This will put him on his way to booking more, and more, inspections and growing a viable home inspection company from scratch.

If you would like to learn more about marketing your home inspection company or wish to check out our report, please visit www.canspechomepublishing.com.   You might even be surprised to see some of the celebrity personalities good marketing can reach :) Wishing you success in all that you do, sincerely Sharon Purtill, owner Canspec Home Publishing.

Use Consistent Marketing To Book More Home Inspections!

Successfully marketing a home inspection business has a lot to do with consistency.  I'd like to share with you a story that happened to one of my clients in order to demonstrate how consistency can impact your inspection business.

I was coaching a home inspector on reaching out to his target audience with quality information as a way to grow his business.   The target audience was the 2000 realtors within his specific service area.   We carefully planned out his first mailing, giving careful consideration to the topic, ensuring it would be of great value to realtors.  Next, we discussed the best timing of when this initial letter should go out.   We looked closely at every detail of this mailing, like the specific details I discuss on my "Marketing For Success" CD set.  Then this very specific, very targeted mailing was sent.   Now, when coaching this home inspector, I thought it was clear that in order for this effort to reap the benefits of more traffic to his business, it was only the first of several mailings that would need to be sent.  Apparently, as I found out six month's later, either this was not clear to the inspector or he chose to not heed the advice.

Six month's after the inital mailing went out to the 2000 targeted realtors, I was having a conversation with this inspector and asked how business was going.  He advised me that he had not had a single call or inspection booked that he could attribute back to his targeted mailing.  This was very surprising and disappointing to him as he had so carefully written and planned the mailing.   I asked him how he followed up to that initial mailing and he said he hadn't.   This was the problem, there was no consistency!

When we market, we must do so with consistency!   We can plan the best marketing piece and send it out to thousands of people, but if we never do any follow up or never send out another piece again after that inital contact, we will not see results.  This is because people don't react to the first piece of marketing they see.  Heck, they don't even react to the second or, often, not even the third!  If you are only going to take out one ad, send out one targeted piece of mail and never contact those people again, you are wasting both your time and your money!   If you have a specific budget in mind, you may find it makes more sense for you to send five pieces, over time, to 400 individuals rather than one piece to 2000 individuals.

Consistency is key to getting your phone to ring more often. Consistency is the key to booking more inspections.  In the story of my client that sent out one fabulous piece and never followed up or never sent out anything again for six months, well, the realtors he was targeting likely figured he went out of business.  If you reach out to someone and they never hear from you again, how can they be expected to know you're still out there?

I'll use a more common example to demonstrate how marketing with consistency so greatly affects you and I.   Let's say it's evening and you're watching t.v.  During your show, a snack commerical comes on the air.  No big deal, you may not have even noticed the brand of snack.   A few minutes later, another snack commerical comes on, you may not react but you may begin to listen to, or start to be aware of, the brand being advertised.  A few minutes later, another snack commerical comes on.  Well, by now, you are likely aware of the brand and even starting to think about the commerical itself or the product being advertised.  The next time the commerical for a snack comes on, you're really aware of it, you might even start to think you're hungry.  By the time you see a snack commerical again, you're up, you're off the couch, you're headed to the kitchen - for what, well, a damn snack, of course.  The power of consistent marketing has finally got you to take action!

So, if you have been marketing your home inspection services and felt that your efforts were failing you, consider the level of consistency that you have been marketing with.  If your marketing lacks consistency, your chances of success are greatly diminished.

Do you want your target audience to take action?  Do you want your phone to ring more?  Is your goal to book more home inspections?  Then, you need to market your home inspection business with consistency!   Consistently send out your mailings or newsletters.  Consistently follow up with those you contact and consistently build relationships.  Make sure those you market to know that you're still there, you're still in business and that you are ready to serve them.  Make sure they don't just see your name once and forget it.  Make sure they don't think you or your business have disappeared into the night.  Get in front of your target audience.  Stay in front of your target audience and the power of consistency can bring you the results you are looking for.

I hope you found this information helpful.  For more on how to market your home inspection business for success, please visit www.canspechomepublishing.com.

Happy Inspecting!

Sharon Purtill

Home Inspection as a Career

I was recently interviewed by onlinecollege.org and thought I would share the interview with you.   I hope that if you are considering Home Inspection as a Career Choice, you will find the following information helpful.  Sincerely, Sharon Purtill

Sharon Purtill, owns a company with her husband, Tim Purtill, and took the time out of her day to help answer the following questions from her husband's perspective as she personally is not a home inspector. Their company is http://www.canspechomepublishing.com/ and they both are delighted to be able to serve the home inspection industry through their company.

Why did you decide to pursue this career field?
With a background as a licensed electrician and building experience it seemed a good fit. I think those that look at home inspection as a career and have some type of building, construction or related trade as a background do have an advantage over those that come from unrelated backgrounds.

What type of preparation did you do to get into this field?
There are formal courses for home inspectors that vary by province or state. Someone interested in this training should start by contacting their Provincial or State Association for more information on when and where courses are available. Most education will lead to some kind of formal certification or license.

What types of classes and projects did you have to do?

A related background may allow you to write a challenge exam, for example an electrician can usually write a challenge exam and, with a pass, be able to skip the formal electrical training course, which was our case. Mentoring was critical, and no amount of class training can prepare you to be dropped in front of a house and told "Go. Inspect it".

How did your education help you in your career?
If what you mean is, how did my inspection education help, then I say….There are many good inspection courses out there and you can benefit greatly from those that offer real examples of real defects and gain a much greater understanding of the building envelope as a whole. Many courses will also take inspectors into the field which is even more beneficial. The education will also teach inspectors how to properly prepare written reports for clients and ensure that inspectors understand the legal risks involved with the profession. If what you mean, how did my prior education help, then in my case (electrical) the apprenticeship education was invaluable in thoroughly understanding the electrical system and how it relates to the rest of the house.

What was your career path like in this field? 
Very rewarding! We went from working with another inspection company to branching out on our own as a single inspector firm doing 3 inspections in our first week to becoming a multi-inspector firm performing over 1000 inspections a year in a very short time. It really boils down to the amount of work you are prepared to put in and the overall value of the services you can offer. While working for the other inspector firm in the beginning was not very financially rewarding, looking back, the apprenticeship was invaluable.

What types of skills is someone required to have to work in your position?
Unfortunately, in many areas, there is absolutely no formal training required. In some areas, one can decide to become a home inspector and hang out his business shingle the same day. But this is very scary! A home is the largest investment most people will ever make and stepping into a position of advisor without any formal education is only asking for a lawsuit. Having said that, a home inspector absolutely must have a thorough overall understanding of all the systems in a house and how they relate and impact each other. On top of that, an inspector must also have excellent communication skills in order to properly educate the client regarding the condition of the home.

What do you do on a typical work day?
As a property inspector, a typical work day includes always monitoring your phones, or having someone who can do this for you as we believe it is rude to take calls when on an inspection with clients present. You can be doing two to three inspections in a typical day and writing and delivering a full report onsite for each of those inspection clients. At the end of the day, your inspection and client information is usually entered into a client database. You may visit offices of realtors or mortgage brokers while in your travels to drop off marketing material to help promote your business. Of course, home inspectors are generally small business owners, so there is all the administrative upkeep for running the business as well..

Do you plan to advance to another position within your career field? 
At this point we feel we have advanced in that we are no longer doing inspections. We are now a company that services the inspection industry by providing marketing help, business consulting and a wonderful home inspection reporting system called HomeReport, which is now in its 11th edition. We sold the inspection side of our business to one of our senior inspectors following more than a decade performing home and small commercial inspections.

What type of person do you think is best suited for a job in your field?
As much as this is a technical job with technical training, it really is a people job and having a good personality and being able to connect with your clients is a huge part of what makes for a successful home inspector. So, while it's important to have the technical background and training, I think the best inspectors are the ones that can build rapport quickly and easily with their clients and have a good use of language so that they are able to explain things in a way that clients can understand and appreciate.

Do you have any advice for those who are looking to launch a career in your field?
Know going in that it is a tough industry to break into because there are many good established inspectors out there. Problem for the new inspector is that people don't want to work with the new inspector. It would be great if you could befriend a seasoned inspector and get some time training in the field under this inspector prior to going it alone. Working for an established company for a while first might help you get some inspections under your belt before you go it along. With some experience, it will be easier to convenience clients they should hire you. You will need to market yourself aggressively. You should price yourself in line with the experienced inspectors in your area so as not to send up a red flag that you are new, which is often taken as inexperienced, something people don't want when being advised on their largest investment. Be sure to market value, not in price but in the full service that you offer. You need to offer more and be more than the competitor. If a home inspection career is really what you want, don't give up! It is a fun and rewarding career that can have good financial benefits as well.

If you would like information on how to Market Your Inspection Business for Success, please visit our website and check out "Marketing For Success"  
Happy Inspecting!
Sharon Purtill, Canspec Home Publishing

Home Inspectors Can Save Money With Email Money Transfer!

A great way to offer convenience and save the small business owner money at the same time.

Are you looking for another way to take payment from your Home Inspection clients but are hoping to avoid the high costs associated with accepting credit cards?  Email money transfer may be the solution you are looking for.   If you and your client are both set up for online banking, you can transfer money via email.  It's safe and neither party needs to share any of their banking information.  

It's super convenient!  May inspectors and their clients carry smartphones now which means you have instant access to log in to your online banking right at the inspection.   Client forget their cheque?  No problem.  If you both have smart phones, the client just logs into their online banking service, selects the option "send money by email"  and then enters the email address they wish to send the money to (this would be the inspectors email address) and the amount they wish to transfer.   They select the account they wish the money to be transferred out of and enter a security question that you (the receiver) will need to answer to receive the money.  This could be as simple as the contract number or the street the inspection was done on.   Then hit send.  

Within minutes, you will receive an email notifying you that someone has sent you money.   In the email, there will be a link that will open up a window allowing you to select the bank you bank with.  From there, you will be able to log into your own online banking account.   You will then be asked what the answer is to the the sender's security question.  If you correctly answer this question, you will be asked which account you would like the money deposited to.   Then, bam! - the money is now in your account.

If you know the client or you don't carry a smart phone with Internet access you could even have the client pre-pay so this transfer is complete ahead of your arrival at the home inspection.

So easy!  So convenient!  The cost of the service varies and is based on the sender's bank's rate for the service, but at most major banks, the cost ranges between $1.00-$1.50 per transfer.   This is paid by the sender.  

So, save hundreds on credit card merchant fees and, instead of accepting credit cards, suggest all your clients pay you by email money transfer!

I hope this article was helpful.    I wish you continued success in the home inspection business.

Happy Inspecting,

Sharon Purtill
Canspec Home Publishing

Home Inspection Marketing, Get Linkedin!

Network Marketing is a great FREE way for anyone to grow their business!    For today, I'd like to discuss Linkedin.   Linkedin is used by many business professionals to promote and advertise their businesses.  It is also used to post job postings and actively search for potential employees and business associates.   So, how can this help home inspectors?

There are over 35 million people using Linkedin, not all in your service area granted, but nevertheless, that's an awful lot of people you can promote your business name to without paying a penny!    There are already many home inspectors on Linkedin, so if your competitors are using it, don't you think you should be, too?   There are tons of Realtors using Linkedin, and are they not one of the target audiences you try to reach with your home inspection marketing efforts?

There really is not a single downside that I can think of as to why a home inspector, or home inspection company, would not want to be part of this free networking community!

Setting up your profile is easy.   The setup is a step by step, very straight forward process.  By ensuring you use key phases like "home inspection", "building inspecting", "property inspector" and "home inspector" in your profile, and past places of work, you will improve how you rank in the searches.

You'll have an opportunity to draft a summary of what it is that makes your company or services special. Here's where you'll want to focus on the value you offer.   Talk about what you do differently from your competitors.

You will benefit by being able to put a direct link back to your website in your profile as well as a link to other network marketing sites you may use (facebook, twitter).  There will even be a place to tell other users how they can get in touch with you i.e. phone or email.

Then, to add even more marketing value to your new Linkedin account, you can do a search to see if some of your former clients are on Linkedin and, if they are, ask them to provide a Linkedin recommendation about your services.    This is like collecting testimonials for others that view your profile to see.

You can build your own list of connections, like Realtors or Mortgage Brokers or even potential future home buyers themselves that are currently on Linkedin.

When you first go to set up the account, you'll even have an option to have Linkedin reference your current email database to search and see if anyone you have in your email contact list is on Linkedin and then automatically suggest the connection to you.

So, if you haven't already "Linkedin", I suggest you get going.    You just never know where your next lead will come from!

To connect with us on Linkedin, just follow the provided link near the top right of this blog.   Once viewing our Linkedin profile you'll see a "join today" icon at the top right of the page. 

Here's a direct link: http://www.linkedin.com/

Happy Inspecting!

Sharon Purtill, Canspec Home Publishing

Realtors have used this idea for years....

Let's talk about putting a twist on a marketing idea that Realtors have used for years.   I'm sure at one time or another you've recieved a "Just Sold" or "Just Listed" postcard at your door.  Well, here's a way to put a twist on this old idea and make it very effective for your home inspection business!

First, you'll want to pick postcards that say "Just Inspected", include your logo and other important information about your company and the specialized services or extra value you offer.  The cards should be generic.   What I mean by this is there will be no actual street address of the home "Just Inspected".  Instead, the cards will say something like "We've just inspected a home in your neighbourhood".

Keep your "Just Inspected" postcards in your vehicle at all times.   Now, every time you are leaving an inspection and pass a home for sale on your way out of the immediate area - stop, pull into the driveway of the home for sale and go up to the door and leave your "Just Inspected" postcard there for the vendor to find.  

The great thing about "Just Inspected" postcards is it is absolutely targeted marketing.  I think you'll agree most people that have their house for sale will be in need of another home.   This means your postcard is targeting those that are most likely going to be in the market for your services.   Realtors don't get this kind of target results with their postcards.  This is because they usually blanket an area in the hopes that a percentage of the homes receiving their cards may be thinking of buying or selling.    When you only drop your cards to homes already listed for sale, you should expect to see far greater results for your very targeted marketing efforts!   No postage required, only a few minutes of your time to stop and deliver as you drive through neigbourhoods where you do, or perhaps would like to do, business.

Now, here's a link to one marketing/printing company that is already doing these cards for inspectors.  This will give you an idea of the design ideas for your cards.    You can disregard the cost because this is based on mailing your cards for you.   While this is an option, mailing your "Just Inspected" postcards wont get you the targeted results you will get if you hand deliver them only to homes already listed for sale.  

Here's the link http://www.colourtech.com/generalstore/postcards-homeinspect.php

Something else to consider is a door hanger with your "Just Inspected" message instead of a postcard.  This option allows for a perforated business card at the bottom which the home owner can easily remove.   This product is also available from the company at the link above.

I hope you find this idea interesting and I wish you much success in your home inspection business!

Sharon Purtill,
Canspec Home Publishing

The Right Business Name For Your Inspection Company

Your home inspection company name is so important and deserves some serious thought.   First, you'll want to pick an inspection name that is easy, short and memorable.   A simple name is always best because others are more likely to remember it and be able to easily recall your name when in a position to refer your services to others.   

You'll want to think about growth and even exit strategy when naming your business.  I know it may seem strange to be thinking about exiting the business with a name when you may be just starting out or feel you'd like to continue inspecting for many years to come.   However, your business name can become one of your biggest assets when it does come time for you to exit the business and will greatly impact the value others will place on your business at that time.    You will want to have a name that can be "branded".  A name that you can market throughout your home inspection career.    This is why I strongly discourage inspectors from naming their company after themselves personally!   While this may seem like a good idea originally, it will dramatically reduce the branding effect you can achieve with another more generic name and will reduce the value your company will have down the road.    

If your name is Bill Denison, for example, and you call your company Bill Denison Inspection Services Ltd., those using your services will know you as Bill Dension.  While it is true that it's not a difficult name to remember when your company and your own name are the same, think about 5, 10, 15 years down the road when you decide to exit the business.   You have spent years branding Bill Denison and once you are gone, what do you think Bill Dension Inspection Services Ltd. is really worth without Bill Denison?    The answer is: not much!  Sure, you may be able to sell your phone number to another inspection company for a few dollars so they can try to capture the calls that may still come in, but how is it going to go when the caller wants Bill Dension?  After all, it's always been about Bill Denison.  

If you had named your company with a generic, easy to remember name,  lets just use "ABC Inspections" as an example, you could have spend those 5, 10, 15 years branding ABC Inspections.  If your company has a good reputation, volume of calls and your printed material and website etc. all promote ABC Inspections, the ability to retain clients after Bill leaves the company is greater.   The reason retaining clients is easier is because it's always been about ABC Inspection and what ABC Inspections can do for the client.    When branding an inspection company under a name that can grow or continue to grow even after the founding inspector leaves, that inspector can leave with some serious financial reward for the company he has built.

We did this very successfully with our former inspection company and, under an easy simple company name, took a single inspector firm performing 3 inspections in his first week to a multi inspector firm performing over 1000 inspections a year in a very short time.   When the business was sold over a decade after it began, it was a very profitable sale and the new owner benefited greatly from the name branding we had done during the time we owned it.    The new owner stepped in and was able to enjoy continued success.    This would have been much more difficult for the new owner if the company was originally named after the founding inspector.

Another way using a name that was not that of our founding inspector helped us was that when it became time to add other inspectors into the mix, we didn't experience the same resistance we would have if all our marketing had been branding an individual inspector.   Customers did not think of only one inspector's name because our marketing (both print and online) marketed a company, not an individual.  

Branding a company successfully for growth means looking at everything from your business cards, brochures, mailings, website etc. to ensure the emphasis is on the company "we" "us" "our" rather than "I" and "my".    While the inspector should personally have a business card with his or her own name on it, there should also be generic cards (as soon as you become a multi-inspector firm) that promote the company without the name of any particular inspector listed.  These generic company cards are the ones you should use to brand your company through your marketing.   It is these cards (without the inspectors name) that should be used in mailings or left in places like real estate offices, mortgage brokers or anywhere you have a brochure/card stand.   

If you send out a personal letter to someone, of course insert your personal card, but if you are including other cards for them to pass out to potential customers, it really is effective for a company interested in branding their name to use cards without a specific inspector's name or where the branding places higher emphasis on the company name than the inspector's name.    This is very important as soon as you have even one more inspector in the mix.     This is extremely important when you really become a multi-inspector firm and/or are looking at an exit strategy.

Lets say, for a minute, that this all sounds great if you were just starting out, but maybe you have already named your company after yourself, what then?    I would recommend changing it and starting to immediately market the new name.  For the first while, note "formerly known as Bill Dension Inspections" on your marketing material.   If it is not feasible for you to change the name of your corporation, then I recommend developing a tag line or acronym that you can use on all marketing material in place of your own name.   You can still show your legal name somewhere in smaller text on your material but the heading and emphasis should be on the tag line or acronym.

Here's what I mean....Bill Denison Inspection Services Ltd.   could market as "BD Inspection Services".   With a tag line of "Best Delivered Home Inspections"   BD Inspection Services is short, easy to remember, especially with the tag line BEST DELIVERED utilizing the BD.    If this company was built up and branded well at the time Bill Denison decided to exit the business, the new owner would be paying for the BD Inspection Services, Best Delivered Inspections name and would definitely value that higher from a financial standpoint.

So, give some serious thought to a company name.   Once you have one you're comfortable with, brand it well and when you are ready, it will be there to serve you well as you grow and expand your business.  Then, when the day comes for you to move on, you can enjoy the added financial benefit a well branded inspection company can provide.

Happy Inspecting!

Sharon Purtill,
Canspec Home Publishing