I declare InterNACHI the winner of the Home Inspection Association Wars…and their resources are probably something you use in your business regularly.
For those of you involved in other Associations, what’s your favorite feature? What do they have that InterNACHI doesn’t at this point?
For those of you involved in the Home Inspection industry, especially those around it for 30+ years as I have been, you can’t think of it all without fond memories of conferences and gatherings hosted by an alphabet soup of Associations, all clamoring for superiority, all clamoring for the best titles & badges, all clamoring for inspectors to choose their flag to wave proudly along with endless iron on logos to affix to their home inspector uniforms.
Whether it be the great ASHI, notably the second largest Association, its Canadian counterpart CAHPI, or one of the many regional and state Associations, one can’t help but recognize that while some of their members remain loyal to their clubs to this day, the numbers have dwindled to lows while InterNACHI seems to do nothing but gain year after year.
It’s not because InterNACHI’s members are “better”, in fact a majority of the members of these other small organizations are members of InterNACHI as well and several thousand InterNACHI members were members of other Associations at some point. It’s not that their standards are “better”, in fact almost every Association’s “Standards or Practice” are identical to each other. It’s not because InterNACHI’s logos, brands, certifications, etc. are “better” or even more recognizable to the public than the other small Associations, in fact you’d be hard pressed to find a consumer that could name any Association, Certification, or even a home inspection company for that matter.
It was always about one thing: ROI
When an inspector pays their dues to InterNACHI, they get more back than they put into it monetarily. It’s that simple and by delivering the way they did, then investing seemingly 110% of every dollar back into more and more resources for members, they created an insurmountable challenge for any would-be competitor as it would take millions of dollars to build anything resembling InterNACHI’s members resources and even if you did…do you think members would leave? Perhaps, but you’d have to offer it either cheaper or spend many, many millions and perhaps even tens of millions beating them in that regard.
Ironically the one association that had the most round logos relied on them none.
Whatever you’re selling, here are two things that Nick Gromicko and I have both stuck to in every business venture that will ensure your success;
- If there’s any practical way to offer a free trial, do it. If not, create marketing materials that give prospective clients a clear picture of what being a client will be like for them. Free trials, clear pricing, simple offers.
- Whatever someone is paying you, make sure it’s less than they would be willing to pay. Make it a great deal always and ignore anyone telling you to “charge more” for sport. Better to have thousands or even millions of ecstatic clients than a handful of people unexcited about the shitty deal they get from you.
There are so many great things everyone and every association bring/brought to the table, and we’re thankful for all of it, but the numbers are in and they are undeniable: InterNACHI didn’t just win, they Dominated.
Nathan Thornberry