marketing home inspection

This Link is to Discuss Marketing For Home Inspectors in North America

1. DIRECT MAIL: a good start in this business. You should mail to a target audience. One may be real estate professionals. Another...Real Estate Attorneys, and even to fellow Home Inspectors in an effort to network your business with them. You can generate your list to mail via the yellow pages, the white pages, buy a detailed list or even purchase a listing of businesses from:

http://www.merrellinstitute.com/25millionlistings.html

The typical cost for a state list can be costly, however we have extended our discount to NACHI members and those who are already in our message board to a fee of $ 30.00 per State, delivered. You will have to select from the thousands of entries and the dozens of headings who to mail to. You should have knowledge of excel in order to understand how to use the system, so you do not have to retype each listing. If you would have to retype each listing, a local yellow pages or yellow book may be better for you.

2. FOLLOW-UP: Yes follow up is important. You should either call each person you sent a mailing to or personally visit them. If you decide to visit them, you should be bearing gifts. Nothing major, but pens, notepads, business cards, mugs, etc. Whatever you find you have to market your business. We have had inspectors leave an office with gift certificates (ie. 10% off or $ 50.00 coupon towards a complete home inspection, etc.) These coupons stay in the waiting room and are read by potential buyers, who are your potential clients.

3. MERCHANT CIRCLE: almost every business in America is listed. If you are not listed, you should be. It is absolutely free and allows you the right to send a newsletter to up to 50 potential clients at a time, using their technology. You can also invite other businesses into your network, and create a network in your business circle. Here is a listing of Merchant Circle Accounts I have through the several schools I own and operate:

MERRELL INSTITUTE MERCHANT CIRCLE
http://www.merchantcircle.com/business/Merrell.Institute.631-567-6776

APPRAISAL EDUCATION NETWORK SCHOOL MERCHANT CIRCLE
http://www.merchantcircle.com/business/Appraisal.Education.Network.School.631-563-7720

HAUPPAUGE REAL ESTATE SCHOOL MERCHANT CIRCLE
http://www.merchantcircle.com/business/Hauppauge.Real.Estate.School.631-567-6776

4. E-Mails: You can send out e-mails to people. You have to be aware of the federal guidelines which allow an individual to opt-out. My mass e-mails have a section which anyone can opt-out at any time. They simply click on the opt-out button, and they are removed from the system. Some opt-out and then call and ask why they are not receiving future e-mails. I explain that when you opt-out- you opt-out. If you send someone a notice, the chances are they will thank you. If you send someone 25 notices on the same subject in the same day, chances are they will be annoyed.

5. FAXES: With new regulations, you are required to call each potential fax participant and cultivate your own fax list, then, if they want to be removed, you are required by law to remove them from the list. Once you have created a viable FAX list, you should send them a 1 page letter explaining what you wish to communicate to them. For Home Inspectors, a Heading of "PLEASE POST" will have many offices putting it on their bulletin board for other agents to see,

6. VIDEO E-MAIL: A new technology which does work for many potential leads. Video is still new for many people, and if you are able to get the information about video technology to them in a video which they can see in their e-mail they may find this a new and exciting technology. They are less likely to hit the opt-out button or the delete button. Video e-mail is normally expensive, but through a new company, VM Direct, the cost is way down. It is as inexpensive as under $ 10 per month for unlimited individual e-mails with video. The site to click on is:

http://www.vmdirect.com/merrell in which I have a 4 minute presentation to show you the potential and possibilities of this new service.

7. WEB BASED VIDEO: You Tube and VM Direct work well. We had a power outage which stopped the communication with You Tube on 4--07 in which the system had to reboot, which took over 1 hour. I recreated the video and made sure it was backed up on a permanent platform known as VM Direct, which stores all your audio and Video, and it is included in the price of under $ 10 per month.

http://www.youtube.com and http://ww.vmdirect.com/merrell and http://www.helloworld.com/merrell

8. AFFILIATIONS: I am sold on NACHI. Other Associations work fine, yet NACHI is on the cutting edge of technology and I like what they have to offer. I have even created a video for my students to let them know about the benefits of NACHI. The link is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tiEdYqDsSc

9. DESIGNATIONS: As a marketing tool, they are great. They will set you a part from others you are compteing with. If you are looking for National Affiliation,

I recommend: http://www.certifiedmasterinspector.org/

I am a member and I believe it is a great way to show your credentials in this business. Let's face it, we market ourselves every day and want to make potential clients want to use us. A designation shows a potential client that you have done more than the bare minimum needed to enter as a home inspector.

10. The Importance of a Clear, concise resume: People will want to know who you are before giving you hundreds of dollars. Make a page resume to explain who you are, what you do and why they should use you. You are not applying for a permanent position, but rather you are applying to be their inspector on 1 home. Gear the resume towards this goal.

11. The Web Site: Web sites come in all shapes and sizes. Many have said that my web site is over the top and an ad fest. They are right. I have multiple sites, which all accomplish the same thing.

First look at: http://www.merrellinstitute.com

Then look at http://ww.realestatefoundation.org

Then at : http://www.northamericanassociationnetwork.com

and you will see they all look different, yet they all have the same information. Each web site may have a different appeal rating for you and to you may like one site over another. They essentially have the same information in each site.

12. FIELD SERVICE COMPANIES: Ever think of inspecting out side of the box. Like equipment, just delivered by a lessee, or an item which the insurance company wants to make sure is corrected, such s a roof damage claim, fire damage claim, etc. You are looking at the final product to make sure it has been corrected. How about occupancy inspections, to see if the property is currently occupied. This is requested when a person does not pay their mortgage and the banks needs to see if the home must be boarded up and or secured. There are hundreds of firms in business today and the list gets updated quarterly.

Here is the link: http://www.northamericanassociation.com/FIELDSERVICESPAGE.HTML

13. ADVERTISING: This may include reader ads- if you take this approach keep the ad in the paper for an extended period. People see your name name you will brand yourself. Not everyone needs a home inspector, but when they do, they will see your ad and use you. Fliers on cars are not legal in some parts of the country, but they can be effective when there is a realtor related meting going on. A Booth at an event may be another way to get your name out there. At the last Nassau Coliseum event there were over 6000 people who attended the event and only 1 home inspector took a booth. Why? Over 100 lenders, dozens of attorneys and other professionals and only 1 home inspector. Needless to say that home inspector had a lot of referral work over the next 7-9 months. He was even surprised as to how long the referrals lasted from this 1 event.

As you can see, you could spend hours going through each link in this presentation to see what may benefit you in your marketing strategies. The next on-line topic will be on development of a Business Plan. Strategic Business Planning is essential in everything you do in Business. It determines your goals, and how you will get from point A to point Z. Since I am using the VM Direct Platform as a back-up, a power outage will not create the delay as we experienced yesterday.

Remembers, we will have a Q and A period in our Message Forum at 6pm edst on 4-4-07.

The web site is: http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/mb/newyorkpros

You must have pre-registered in order to post your information in the board and ask questions. The discussion will be between 6pm and 7pm. All who have registered will receive credit since they have logged in either 4-2-07 or 4-4-07 as long as they read this page, followed the links and watched the 2 videos.

Here is the link for the 10 minute Marketing Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ha0JCgG_wQ

We hope this presentation was beneficial to you and apologize for the delay caused by the power outage.

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