If we have NACHI members who’ve taken the time to invent something new… software, a set of narratives for a particular reporting system, some kind of tool or equipment, or anything else they’d like to offer for sale, why not give them a forum on which to offer it?
It should do away with the temptation for them to post in inappropriate areas of the Boards, and some of us may benefit from what they have to offer.
I spent weeks reorganizing and re-writing my Inspectvue narratives. If someone had been offering a set I liked for sale I might have made some money during that time.
Now I have a set that maybe someone else would like. I write books that maybe some people would like to know about.
Many Inspectors write their own narratives, a few have software, maybe someone will come up with a seamless, ready-to-use (almost) Voice Recognition System. How much would you fork out for that!?
Membership would have to be a requirement and if it got out of hand… we could dump the whole thing. Or it could be moderated by someone with good judgment. Everyone knows we’ve got lots of people with good judgment.
-Kent
With regard to http://www.nachi.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=32 , I like the message board because it is similar to Consumer Reports. If members are having good experiences or bad experiences with a vendor, everyone can read about it. The silly suggestion that NACHI staffers have some magic ball that allows them to predict the quality of what a vendor’s product or service will be in the future is so ridiculous that I no longer even respond to members who insist we use our non-exisitant magic ball to “check them out”. I just alert members to all the new products and services that come on to the market. That system works.
www.InspectorMall.com gets boo coo traffic and so I use the leverage we have with the traffic it generates to squeeze NACHI member exclusive discounts out of the vendors. There is no rent paid to NACHI by these vendors. They simply must agree to offer pricing to NACHI members that can’t be enjoyed by non-members anywhere. That system works.
For vendors that go all out and create NACHI member exclusive portals on their sites or vendors that consistently offer NACHI members the moon (examples include Porter Valley Software and PRO-LAB), I then announce their stuff on the one page at NACHI that gets the most hits: http://www.nachi.org/whats_new.htm This encourages them to keep up the good work for our members. That system works.
Our industry would be hurtin’ somethin’ fierce if it wern’t for vendors. We need them. They are good for members and consumers. Can you imagine our industry without them? We have a duty to consumers to support industry vendors.
And to keep NACHI clean… NACHI does not accept paid ads. You won’t find a single banner ad on our 106 million hit/year website. Instead, we give the ad fees to our members in the form of NACHI member exclusive offers provided by the vendors. In other words, NACHI members get paid the advertising fees NACHI charges.
Furthermore, I’m really getting sick and tired of sheepish Vendors.
If you have a good product or service that will help our members and you are offering it to NACHI members at a special price…
TELL US ABOUT IT DANG IT!
Don’t be shy! We want to know all about everything. And if there is anything I can do to help you get rich while you help us… just let me know. There is no shame in this. Innovative vendors are a cornerstone to any industry.
I think it is right to allow vendors onto the open message board, like Nick has just said if the product or service is not good we the members soon let all other members know about it just look at the IBS thread (I just had to get that one in). In the same way if someone does have a good product and thankfully there are a lot of vendors associated with NACHI that are very good we also get to spread word.