14 Great Ways to Boost Your Business During and After Inspections

Marketing is the toughest part of any home inspection business. Accurate information that’s simple to follow is one of your best marketing tools during and after each inspection. Help your customers and referral sources understand homes and you’ll be surprised how much extra business can follow.

Every inspection provides marketing opportunities. Make sure your reports are easy to understand while you identify defects as needed. Then follow up by giving customers and referral sources additional useful information.

Build Your Business During Each Inspection
1. Establish expectations right up front. While explaining your services, make sure the buyer knows you are working for them—but this is a visual inspection and you don’t have x-ray vision. Set the stage for yourself as a hero with your inspection and report.

2. Make your customer a friend. Include them in every step of the inspection as you explain what you are doing.

3. Make sure your customer sees how hard you’re working for them. Let your customer see you lifting ladders, walking a roof and getting dirty in the crawl space. Explain why you are opening the electrical panel. Tell them about important components of the home’s operating system. 

4. When you find issues, explain them fully. This is a case in which illustrations really are worth a thousand words. How do you describe reversed polarity? Many inspectors and electricians understand the concept, but can’t make it clear to buyers. Why not include a great illustration explaining the defect? See Illustration E077C: Electrical Polarity at Light.

5. Don’t rush. Don’t ignore your customer’s questions. This is your opportunity to prove the worth of your inspection. 

6. Identify and explain all serious concerns and defects, and suggest evaluation or repairs. Illustrations can motivate your customer to remedy a serious concern. Does the garage door operator lack the photo-eye reverse? Does that older home have GFCI outlets, or is a GFCI outlet not tripping when tested? See Illustration E125C: Safety of GFCI vs. Breaker.

7. Accurately define maintenance issues and the consequences of ignoring maintenance. You never want your customers to have a wet basement, wet crawl or leaks on the slab. How often has a customer called you after a heavy rain? (“You did my home inspection and now the basement is wet.”) Suggest routine maintenance of grading, gutters and downspouts. See Illustration B158C: Grading, Gutters and Downspouts and Illustration B153C: Downspout Extension Fix.

Build Your Business After the Inspection
8. Your report is very important—for a few weeks. But after closing, will the buyer ever refer to an electronic report? Stand out from the competition by giving your customer a home operating manual, just like the owner’s manual for a new car. A great book provides valuable reference information for years to come. Put your name on the book with a sticker or a custom-printed cover so customers associate you and your business with this useful resource.

9. Before deciding to give any reference book to customers, read it yourself. The quality of the book should match the quality of your knowledge, inspection and report. It shouldn’t encourage homeowners to replace electric water heater elements, anode rods, or T and P valves. This kind of advice isn’t appropriate for most customers.

10. The wrong book harms your chances of future referrals. Beware of books that focus mainly on securing more business for yourself or an association.

11. Thank your referral sources. Giving a great book to a referral source is a simple way to reinforce the quality of your inspection and report. Most of those who refer business to you own their own homes; they will appreciate a manual on how to operate their home.

12. Consider sending an email newsletter to your customers and referral sources—but be careful. Make sure you’re providing useful, accurate information. All of us are inundated with too many emails. You can stand out in the crowd by providing a single useful tip with an illustration.

13. Limit self-serving marketing pitches in your customer contacts after the inspection. Just provide great information and the business will follow. Take advantage of multiple channels: email, website, social media and useful handouts.

14. You can save time and avoid those calls about simple problems by providing the answers in your reference book and website. Customers can do their own research and answer some of their own questions—with you as the resource. H

Tom Feiza has been a professional home inspector since 1992 and has a degree in engineering. Through HowToOperateYourHome.com, he provides high-quality marketing materials that help professional home inspectors boost their business. Copyright © 2016 by Tom Feiza, Mr. Fix-It, Inc. Reproduced with permission.

Tom will be presenting: Inspection and Develop- ment of Modern Plumbing and Sewage Systems at InspectionWorld® 2017 on Monday, January 23, 1:00-3:00 pm.