You made the right decision Mr. Buyer.
One of the things we do when we finish an inspection is give the buyer a simple survey questionnaire to fill out at that moment. It has questions like was the inspector on time or was the inspector clean and courteous or would you hire this inspector again? Buyers would never think these things are important to them, but the simple fact of asking these questions, builds a level of trust inside them going forward. They don't know what they don't know. When someone asks them how was the inspection, they just might remember a few things from the survey, along with any significant issues the home may have had.
Before all of this happens at the inspection, there's the initial phone call, where we really have to do our sales job and explain what we do and why it makes a difference between choosing us and the other guys in town. What they really want to know is what are you going to tell me that is so valuable and worthwhile and important in making my decision to schedule an inspection with SLS Home Inspections so I don't feel like I can get a better deal if I call another inspection company. It's really very simple. What's in it for me?
I've been a home inspector since 2007. I've seen the mortgage crisis in 2008, the steady recovery in the years after. I've witnessed the craziness of the Covid years and the ensuing red hot buying frenzy. I have also learned a lot along the way about what buyers are looking for when they are making one of the biggest decisions of the biggest decision money-wise in their life. They want peace of mind. They want to know that their family will be safe and secure and that the surprises that come in time with any new home purchase will be reduced or non existant.
Want to know what every untrained inspection company will say if the buyer asks a few questions on that call? They'll say things like "We are very experienced." or "We do a very thorough inspection." or 'We show up on time for your inspection." or "We wear a name tag so you know it's us when we show up." or "We take color pictures of the issues we see." or "We take showers so we don't stink." All great things that an inspection company should do, but are these things really helping you stand out or be exceptional? I strongly submit NO. Honestly, every inspection company should be thorough, show up on time, be clean and professional and better be taking pictures and not stink from BO. What else are you going to do that tells a buyer that you're the company for them?
The SLS mobile through a blossoming tree on a roof.
It comes down to trust. Trust of the client in their agent when they give our name to the buyer. Trust in the agent to us that they know we will be fair and honest in explaining the issues we find. Our business was built over the years on the strength of referrals from real estate agents. Over 80% of our referrals are from Realtors. They tried us once and were so happy with the way that we reported the issues in the house while explaining the issues to their buyer client that the agents knew going forward they could TRUST us with their buyers and not scare the living daylights out of them. Observe and report, that's what we do. No sugar coating. If it's bad it's bad and the report will say so. But if it's not that crazy bad, why would we make it sound worse than it is? We work hard to give the buyer and their agent the same experience each and every time, and to make sure it's an exceptional one that they will then feel comfortable with in their new home purchase and also when referring us to their friends and family and co-workers.
If you build a business on a foundation of honest, reliable trust, and can explain that in a sincere way to new home buyers, then you will get more than your fair share of business.
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