It seems we had one discussion already regarding “Professionalism” which you are welcome to view on this previous thread http://www.nachi.org/forum/f22/abs-cast-iron-any-plumbers-online-63864/ .
Ms. Friend has asked a very good question and your response above does not quite fit the bill for “Professionalism”. In fact it is quite rude, crude, and totally inappropriate for the original question!
Hello Jennifer,
I won’t repeat the other good and valid answers to your very appropriate question. I would like to welcome you to the BB and hope you do return in the future to contribute regardless of the other crass individual(s) responding here.
Good luck in your business!
When starting out I thought that the simpler I could make it for the caller, the better. I thought why would I want to bother them with questions like neighborhood, mls number, age of house, when they close, garages etc. I have come to realize that the questions I ask my (potential) client provide great conversation and a way to stretch out a simple price inquiry call into an opportunity to inform them about why they should hire me. Bottom line; I have yet to gather too much information from a client, some I turn away because of what I learn.
Rick is correct. But I’ll share a secret technique with you:
Aside from making the conversation two sided (which helps with the sell), I have very smooth transitions that get my caller to reveal things about themselves including where they work. I have a database of all my former clients with all the info I have on them (most of which I gather later at the inspection). While on the phone with a potential client, I might ask (for example) how close to the home is to where they work. They’ll often then reveal that they work at the school down the street or at XYZ Company on the other side of town or whatever. Within a few seconds of that revelation (I can do a search on my database nearly instantly), I have pulled up every past client who works at that same company on my computer and I reply: “XYZ Company?.. do you know John Smith over there? He is one of my former clients.”
At that point in the conversation, the inspection is getting booked… WITH ME!
Sometimes I get lucky and my database query pulls up a relative. If I see they have a unique name I might ask: “Belingor with one “L?” Do you happen to be related to Linda and Bob Belingor?”
It’s a small world, and your local market is even smaller.
Don’t try this sales technique at home gentlemen (unless you are a CMI of course ;-)), I’m a professional. LOL!
Nick it right, it is amazing how much information you can obtain if you ask the right questions. I usually will start with commenting on something, ie, their car/job. Let them open-up, I then listen. I then find out what is important to them. My discussions and inspection become much more effective and they feel valued.
In the same way some inspectors go home or back to their truck or to the kitchen counter in the home they are inspecting and enter in the pertinent information about the furnace into their computer… you should also enter information about the client into a master database of past clients.
That data can be used to acquire more business.
If your schedule gets light, snail mail every past client and ask them to email you the contact info of anyone they know who might need a great inspector soon. Explain exactly what you are going to do with that contact information and that you won’t use it for anything else or share it. Explain that your intention is to help protect any of their friends, coworkers, or relatives who might be buying real estate in the future.
If you really want a large percentage of your business to come from word-of-mouth… you have to work toward that end.
Thank you so much for this great advice! Its good to know what I should be asking and how you really can’t ask too much - its good to stimulate conversation. The database is a great idea I never would have thought about on my own!
Thank you to all and good luck in your businesses as well!
Jennifer Friend
BTW - in response to the earlier post, we are in Colorado!
www.accutechcolorado.com](wlmailhtml:{700E3512-D767-4666-ABB3-8734132D7DDD}mid://00000422/!x-usc:http://www.accutechcolorado.com/)
jennifer.friend@accutechcolorado.com
720-440-2345
Come visit me in Boulder. I’ll hook ya up with a bunch of stuff.
You may note that I was the 1st one to provide a valid, professional answer earlier in the thread. Lighten up. Life is fun.
Jennifer,
In my opinion, asking to see disclosures is like saying “I’ll probably miss a few items, so I’ll take all the help I can get”!
Ask lots of questions, learn everything you can about your client and make sure they know what to expect from you. One other thing, I always get a credit card number while they are on the phone as “confirmation” you’ll be surprised at how many people “forget” to bring their checkbook.
Steve von Ehrenkrook
White Glove Home Inspections