It’s Simple Math! Renew Your Membership Now

Every year when I receive my ASHI renewal form, the decision to renew or not comes up. Like you, times are tough, especially in the real estate market. With fewer home sales and the skyrocketing cost of fuel, utilities, food and the cost of living, it astounds me that my ASHI dues also have not gone up, but have stayed at only $399.

Like many of you, I not only have national dues to consider, but also chapter dues. Having a background in accounting and having owned many businesses, one of which was a marketing company, I understand you do not invest your business’s hard-earned dollars based on emotion or a “good feeling.” You base it on hard financial data. One of the laws of the marketing industry is to “test and measure.” You test and measure the results of your marketing campaign and determine your ROI (return on investment). If the return is bad, you kill the campaign. If the return is good, you continue and consider increasing your investment.

Since I started my home inspection business, I always have asked the client, “How did you hear about Certified Home Inspections, and what made you decide to select our firm?” I recorded the responses in the database I use to test and measure the effectiveness of how I spend marketing dollars. My $399 investment in ASHI membership annually comes back over 25 times in booked, paid inspections, in other words … cash in MY bank. I live in West Virginia, but my Ohio ASHI Chapter referrals have increased my Ohio inspections four times over the last six months!

Tell me, other than a Ponzi scheme, what other investment will deliver that type of return on investment year after year? Now the Chapter Relations Committee and ASHI headquarters have made it easy for you to make the computation. Each quarter you’ll be receiving an e-mail that contains your ASHI “Find an Inspector” quarterly and annual views from the website. Not all views equal a paid inspection, but my view-to-booked paid inspection rate is about 90 percent, so calculate the following:

Quarterly Referrals/views = QR
Conversion Rate = CR
(mine is 90% or .90 — yours will be different)

Your Average Home Inspection Fee = F
ASHI Annual Dues $399 = D
D/4 = $100 = QD (Quarterly Dues)

(QR X CR X F)-$100 = Quarterly profit on your Quarterly ASHI dues paid.

EXAMPLE: If you received seven quarterly referrals and have a 90% conversion rate and your average inspection fee is $425.

(7 X .90 X $425) – $100
 (6.3 X $425) – $100
 $2,577.50 – $100
 $2,477.50 profit per quarter

To annualize* this figure (to annual Profits), multiply by 4 $2,477.50 = $9,910 Profit on a $399 membership investment!
(*Or wait till the end of year to use actual numbers.)

I do the same calculation for my chapter dues based on the referrals I receive from its website and its annual dues.

Like I said “It’s Simple Math.” When you have the facts and do the math … it is a simple business decision to renew.