Are you having your best year in the inspection biz or worst year or in between?

[belliott (Bob Elliott, 450.0002662)]

Kind of excited as I have a place to myself today and Dom just sent an update for mobile .
Only limiting factor with me is strain of reporting time and I refuse to back off my presentation format as it is also tied to my collection method which is suited to my visual thinking style.
Sitting and focusing through an entire report is and so far always has been my only real challenge.

Hopefully this new Beta will push me to mobile.(fingers crossed)

[jpope (Jeffrey Pope, CMI, CHI, CPI, ICC)]

@mauger

Jeff, I have some $199 guys any size house too, I find that only 1-2 of 10 calls are strictly looking for the cheapest guy. Most of the time the fee is secondary to the inspector they want, if you make a good impression.

I agree.

[jpope (Jeffrey Pope, CMI, CHI, CPI, ICC)]

@tsmith8

I have always been curious to compare the number of inspections performed to the approximate population served. Has a survey such as that ever been done?

That wouldn’t really do you much good, as far as I am concerned. The “population” includes renters and seasonal residents, which aren’t your “target.”

Get a list of home sales per month and/or per year. Your target should be to inspect the highest possible percentage of homes-sold in your market area. JMHO

[twitt (Thomas Witt, CMI MD. Lic. # 30933)]

@jmurray7

I started this spring, and it’s been really challenging. I had some success this summer, but I haven’t had a paying gig in the last 3+ weeks. It’s starting to get frustrating. I’ve doubled down on the marketing, with new brochures, expanding the marketing radius, calling and hitting the streets. I’m keeping the attitude up, but starting to re-think myself.

Hey John, don’t give yourself too hard a time or re-think too much!
It takes time to get a new business of any sort up and running and profitable.
Remember you’re in it for the long haul and keep doing that marketing as much as you can. It WILL work out if you hang in.

Tom

[lkage (Larry Kage, CMI)]

@jmurray7

I started this spring, and it’s been really challenging. I had some success this summer, but I haven’t had a paying gig in the last 3+ weeks. It’s starting to get frustrating. I’ve doubled down on the marketing, with new brochures, expanding the marketing radius, calling and hitting the streets. I’m keeping the attitude up, but starting to re-think myself.

Be persistent and consistant…

[belliott (Bob Elliott, 450.0002662)]

@jmurray7

I started this spring, and it’s been really challenging. I had some success this summer, but I haven’t had a paying gig in the last 3+ weeks. It’s starting to get frustrating. I’ve doubled down on the marketing, with new brochures, expanding the marketing radius, calling and hitting the streets. I’m keeping the attitude up, but starting to re-think myself.

You should rethink.
Nobody here has even mentioned your lack of a real website which is ironic because having a good website is the only thing that ever got me going.

You quite simply are not trying .

[ldapkus (Linas Dapkus, CMI)]

@jmurray7

I started this spring, and it’s been really challenging. I had some success this summer, but I haven’t had a paying gig in the last 3+ weeks. It’s starting to get frustrating. I’ve doubled down on the marketing, with new brochures, expanding the marketing radius, calling and hitting the streets. I’m keeping the attitude up, but starting to re-think myself.

How many home inspections do you expect to do in a town of 13,000 located in the middle of nowhere? You do OK on Google. Knoxville is the closest major city at 60 miles away. Don’t quit your day job just yet.

[jjonas (Jeffrey Jonas)]

@jmurray7

I started this spring, and it’s been really challenging. I had some success this summer, but I haven’t had a paying gig in the last 3+ weeks. It’s starting to get frustrating. I’ve doubled down on the marketing, with new brochures, expanding the marketing radius, calling and hitting the streets. I’m keeping the attitude up, but starting to re-think myself.

John…

I, like you, are based in a rural area, thus making MARKETING the most challenging aspect of our businesses.

Bob has hit it on the head. You need a “REAL” website. Not just a free ‘anything will do’ website. You need to invest heavily in it, and I’m not (just) talking $$$. It needs to tell everyone what you would tell them, if they were on the phone with you, or in person. It needs to be literally packed with GOOD information, not full of all the BS that many like to clutter their sites with.

Here’s a no brainer that MANY have no clue about until it is pointed out to them… Where are you located? A town or county name means NOTHING to those searching the internet, and especially to the SEARCH ENGINES that they are using to locate you to begin with! You need to tell Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. where you are. It they don’t know, how are they going to direct any clients to you? I had to Google your phone area code to discover you are in TN. Trust me… NO potential clients will do that (for you). That, and a whole lot more info needs to be “up front and center” on your website, and most info continued across the multiple pages that your site needs to be. The pages don’t need to be fancy… just uncluttered, organized, easily navigable, and have the pertinent information potential clients are looking for… mainly your “well defined” service area and contact information (email AND phone)!

Use the search feature of this MB to find a plethora of threads discussing websites and SEO. Read them all! I feel this should be your primary marketing task until you begin getting results from your website. Websites are an ongoing battle. I dedicate time every week to work on mine.

Good luck.

[kleonard (Kevin Leonard, CPI/CMI)]

The number of inspections I performed this year is down & not for a lack of business, but because that’s the way I want it.

On the other hand my gross earnings are up, & the trend has been that way every year I’ve been in the business.

Less work for more money.

The only time I was really scared was during & following the September 2008 crash. For months business slowed to a crawl & many in this industry didn’t make it through it.

Not to go negative here but times are good now & we all need to be prepared for the next downturn, which could happen next week or in the next decade, regardless of when, it will happen.

[jmurray7 (John A. Murray, P.E.)]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. It is appreciated. The funny thing is, 20 minutes after I posted that, the phone started ringing. Things still aren’t great, but they are looking up.

The website is a POS. I recognize that, and it’s being addressed. I started with the full InspectorPages package, then got frustrated on how limited it was. I’m now having a local guy work on it, but it’s going really slowly. I’ve about decided to fire him and just do it myself.