| |
home inspectors: A Shareparian Prose "To Hire or Not To Hire" by Dave Park "The Maverick Builder" - 02/20/10 10:59 AM
Many people read "do-it-yourself" books and think they now know everything about construction, home improvement, and even home inspections. But that's not really the case. With his firm Advantage Inspection based in Raleigh, Dave Park serves the entire Triangle area of North Carolina, and talks here about why it's important to hire a professional home inspector to carry out your next home inspection, instead of trying to do it yourself...
Every year the number of home inspections rises. Every year the price of home inspections rises. Every year the "do it yourself" subculture rises.
The "do it yourself" subculture is here … (2 comments)
|
home inspectors: Is Common Sense a "Paine" by Dave park "The Maverick Builder" - 02/20/10 08:04 AM
Common Sense is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine. It was first published anonymously on January 10, 1776, during the American Revolution. Common Sense, signed "Written by an Englishman", became an immediate success.
Paine wrote and reasoned in a style that common people understood; forgoing the philosophy and Latin references used by Enlightenment era writers, Paine structured Common Sense like a sermon and relied on Biblical references to make his case to the people. Historian Gordon S. Wood described Common Sense as, "the most incendiary and popular pamphlet of the entire revolutionary era"
One of the major concerns in the … (6 comments)
|
home inspectors: Right! - 07/12/09 09:30 PM
Last week I made an early morning trip to a seminar/book promo breakfast. After breakfast I decided to check out other areas of the facility and I caught a few moments of a morning with Jack Welch, the former CEO of GE.
As I stepped through the door, a question and answer session was in progress. A woman stepped up to the microphone and asked "Is the client always right?"
Jack smiled and said, "You might not think so, and they may believe so, but if you don't make it so, you're dead!"
That is a pretty strong consequence. . . … (2 comments)
|
home inspectors: Find Your "Groove Thing!" - 06/08/09 04:42 PM
Many inspection businesses are in an awful "groove" these days.
They don't know the steps it takes to tap into "bad economy wealth." There's much more economic activity going on, even now, in the midst of what many are calling the worst economic downtown since the 1930s.
I am going to share with you 7 ideas, real things that successful businesses are doing in order not just to ride out the recession but to grow and flourish as never before.
•· Break down your numbers. Not just month to month, year to date, and year to year, but also into categories … (0 comments)
|
home inspectors: You Sell Like a "GIRL"! - 05/18/09 04:01 PM
Yup, it's Girl Scout Cookie time in our part of the world. [And, yes, my English teacher DID tell me never to start a sentence with the word "Yup."] For those of you who are unfamiliar with the sights, tastes, and overall experience of helping your daughters sell Thin Mints, Samoas, and Do-Si-Do's, you're missing a fundamental and wide-ranging education about the dynamics of sales, selling, and salespeople.
Here are some points I've garnered while helping my daughter, Nicole, age 12, and Troop 429, make their sales numbers. These pointers are hard-earned, field-tested, and as applicable to you and your business … (8 comments)
|
home inspectors: Talk'n 'bout My Generation! - 03/16/09 09:09 PM
When Mick Jagger belted out this tune for the Stones, I do not think he could have envisioned anything like the kids of today!
I've heard them called by many names as of late: Generation Y, Gen Y, The Plug-and-Play Generation, The Gotta-Feel-Good Generation.
What they're all referring to is the new young generation - our current 20-somethings. Every generation "deals" with the generation who comes after them. Their different views, their different ways of doing things, and so on; this generation is no exception.
Why is everyone talking about this new generation now though? They've been coming along for years. … (8 comments)
|
home inspectors: Yes . . . Dave Can Read! - 02/15/09 10:12 AM
One of the greatest memories of my childhood is spending time among books and paper. I've enjoyed books since I can remember. The best place to spend quality private, family or business time is in the library.
Don't shush me!
Over the last 10 years, however, the Internet has irrevocably changed both access to and obtainment of information. We have the capacity to take a trip to our nearest wireless device rather than a trip to our local library to get the same information and possibly more.
We have the equivalent of the volumes of books in a library at … (2 comments)
|
home inspectors: Men's Underwear? - 01/27/09 04:04 PM
It's the year 1982 when Calvin Klein underwear burst into the intimate apparel market with a sheer force. It's a big gap of twenty-five years, still the company holding the top slot in the market of intimate apparel.
The design for Calvin Klein underwear is high in demand these days. It's the design of the product that has certainly raised the popularity for Calvin Klein underwear. Men prefer to buy Calvin Klein underwear from the market due to its comfort and good-looking design.
Now how does this tie to the Real Estate Business.
•1. Innovative design. Credit the people behind (haha) … (13 comments)
|
home inspectors: Swinging a Hammer! - 01/27/09 03:36 PM
Are you a builder or a chaser?
A builder envisions what they want their business to become. The vision eventually becomes a plan based on analysis of personal and competition strengths and weakness, the marketplace, and strategies of ways and means to materialize the vision.
A Opportunity chaser will go to any invitation. They under achieve because time is spent looking for and trying out the best deal on the hottest trend instead of building business with strategy focused with personal values, business growth, and the customer base that drives it.
While all these characteristics may be present in any opportunity, … (2 comments)
|
home inspectors: P.M.S. Yikes! - 01/22/09 06:27 PM
We appreciate. We criticize. We laugh. We mourn. We are moved by postcards.
Since its introduction up to the present time, postcard is still one of the best medium of communication. We can recall that postcards were used as means for brief communication. It was the best choice then because they are light and inexpensive.
Nowadays, postcards are not only used to express our hi's and hello's, it is now popularly used as a marketing tool. Whenever there is an upcoming event, a product launching or a new service to be made available postcards can be your reliable ally.
Postcard is … (8 comments)
|
home inspectors: Soul Man! - 01/22/09 06:11 PM
Advocate Respectfully
This is one of a series of articles on holding difficult conversations. In earlier posts in Business in the Crawlspace, I suggested ways to open communications that create mutual respect; we talked about the importance of knowing your purpose for the conversation; and we added Inquiry and Curiosity to our conversational toolbox.
Here the topic is Advocacy.
Advocacy is the flip side of Inquiry - the opportunity that you open for yourself to tell your story. What can you see from your perspective that they've missed? Can you clarify your position without minimizing theirs?
For example: "From what … (2 comments)
|
home inspectors: 32 Is All You Need to Succeed! - 01/22/09 05:45 PM
We all have ways of testing opportunities that enter our lives. Some of us just dive right in based on feeling, others walk straight into what they know is right by a gut feeling or intuition. And if it's not gut feelings or emotions that are the tests of opportunities, it is the logical mind persuading us to ignore those feelings and emotions and test it with our reality of reason.
Most of us do not have a predetermined strategy for testing opportunities, or even more generally to test the actions we take and the choices we make in our lives.
… (4 comments)
|
home inspectors: "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash" - 01/22/09 05:33 PM
I've unearthed some surprising bits of wisdom for new Realtors by listening to Johnny Cash lately. I thought I would share some of these tidbits from the Rockabilly legend.
1) Understand Your Man ...er, target market!
That's right. Do you understand your target market? Yes, Realtors should have a target market or segment of the population (niche). Are you aware of the markets needs, desires and driving ambitions? Does your website, copy, premiums, marketing, and lingo speak to your target audience? If not, perhaps you should make some changes or you customer will be "as gone as a wild goose in winter" … (2 comments)
|
home inspectors: Maverick Mindset - 01/18/09 02:16 PM
Sometimes we can all use a friendly reminder to keep us from backsliding into old ways of thinking about selling that lead us down the wrong path with potential clients.
New Thinking = New Results
Maybe it's time to take a different approach. Maybe we need to seriously analyze our sales thinking so we can identify why we're not making more sales. Take a look at the table below and think about your current selling mindset. How would your selling behaviors change if you changed your sales thinking?
Traditional Sales Mindset Vs Maverick's Mindset
1. Always deliver a strong sales pitch. … (0 comments)
|
home inspectors: Negotiation Ninja - 01/16/09 08:42 PM
Real Estate negotiating is a skill that like warfare tactics must be honed.
(Honed is a funny word but right for the context.)
It is important to be mentally prepared to win. Do the ground work well before your reach the negotiating table and decide on the "path" you are going to take.
You need to set aside any doubts you may have and stride forward prepared to win at all costs.
The four cornerstones of successful negotiation skills are placing emphasis on common points.
•1. Presenting clear arguments (price, options, financing, condition, etc)
•2. Being innovative and open … (5 comments)
|
home inspectors: The RunAround - 01/14/09 07:41 PM
Viral marketing is an integral part of a campaign strategy that is used to achieve objectives. It is not the objective itself. If the main objective of an e-mail campaign is branding, in order to achieve greater branding success exposure you craft your message or offer in a way that it encourages pass-along.
Producing a message with a quality offer or an incentive for pass-along is what viral marketing is all about.
Just suggesting that e-mail recipients forward your message to their friends and relatives is not viral marketing. A message at the bottom of your e-mail that reads "Feel free … (4 comments)
|
home inspectors: In Maverick We Trust! - 01/14/09 02:08 PM
Sometimes we focus too much on learning all the great tips, strategies, and techniques for mastering a skill ... while we ignore the "mechanism" that's responsible for putting them into action.
Trust!
Trust is a combination of the value that others perceive in you, and their willingness to harmonize with and accept your advice to help them succeed.
Trust is people seeking and taking your advice both as a counselor and a confidant.
Someone who trusts you to a point where they call at some critical stage, because they know you are the one who can help them in a way that … (0 comments)
|
home inspectors: Will You? - 01/13/09 08:36 PM
Last year a well known New York restaurant was struggling with a problem that afflicts all dining establishments: no shows. Indecisive patrons would frequently make reservations and then, without notice, fail to appear. The result is wastefully booking times and tables that paying customers would have happily occupied; instead it causes the restaurant to unnecessarily foot the bill for the unused labor and the unsold food. The owner solved the problem by asking his hostess to change two words of what she said to callers requesting reservations. Instead of saying, "Please call if you have to change your plans, " she … (6 comments)
|
home inspectors: Re-Read . . . . Twice! - 01/11/09 12:16 PM
The best business management has the foresight to recognize that the business development process (that is, becoming successful in all areas of your business so that you can grow sales) has less to do with online magazines, blogging, Websites, brochure designs, SEO, or any other tools you use when engaged in marketing and advertising. In fact, most of your successes will be derived from avoiding time-wasting mistake early on -- and that's why I write here on Active Rain.
Now back up because we will discuss the use of marketing platorms, sales generation techniques, blogging, websites, etc., to "turn up the … (4 comments)
|
home inspectors: Do You Want To Know A Secret? - 01/11/09 11:23 AM
Listen . . . .
Do you want to know a Secret? . . . . .
Do you promise not to tell . . . . . .
Closer . . . . .
Can I sell you a CD that will tell you the secret?
Can I sell you the DVD that will open the gate?
Will you subscribe to my Blog or Website to study the secret?
Once I give you the secret will you try and reverse engineer the secret? Will you look at other sites to see it they have a better secret? Will you ask … (8 comments)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dave Park "The Maverick Builder"
Raleigh,
NC
More about me…
Advantage Inspection Raleigh
Address: 4020 Wake Forest Road #111, Raleigh, NC, 27609
Office Phone: (919) 850-2526
Cell Phone: (919) 796-1141
Email Me
Mentoring by creating business platforms and structures that foster ideas and innovation.
Advice on Real Estate sales strategy development through visualizing innovation and streamlining its implementation.
Sales and Marketing tips for the Home Inspection Industry.
 Links
Archives
|
;)
;)
