It's a great day here in Orem, Utah! Father's Day came and went in a flurry. My four kids did everything that they could to make this a memorable weekend. Unfortunately, my wife Shelly could not be here to celebrate. Shelly's Grandmother passed away earlier in the week and she had to go to Southern Utah for the funeral services. We were scheduled to go to the funeral as a family, but my Mom went into the hospital just before midnight on Tuesday. She was just released on Sunday after every test possible was performed. They found an obstruction in her pancreas that would have taken her life if we had not gotten Mom into the emergency room.
So, how are things at the Leavitt household??? We have been taking things week by week and day by day. I have found myself making it through the struggles, but as of late I get tired much quicker. We have done our best to control our Michael Leavitt & Co workflow, but the hours have still been long. The bottom line is that I know that if we our anxiously engaged in a good cause that we will be blessed with the strength to endure the challenges placed before us.
Fellow AII™ Inspector Jon Gudnason answered this inspection question posed on another forum. Paul Tobolski is questioning the different methods of drumming up inspections. Here is his dream marketing idea.......
Technically, I think I am a very good inspector. I do lack skills in running a business and I do not have many inspections a year. Over the last few years, I have averaged slightly over 10 inspections a month (you big time inspectors may laugh at this).
I was listening to a marketing tape on the road yesterday and heard the story of building and marketing a better "widget". Well, I have an idea and since very few of my competitors are on this forum, I am soliciting ideas and also letting the cat out of the bag.
What I propose is to start advertising a 1/2 price deal. I want to buy some advertising which will feature something like the following :"1/2 price home inspection. X home inspections will carry out a full-priced home inspection on the property you are interested in buying. If for any reason, you do not purchase the property because of the problems associated with the home, 'X' home inspections will carry out a second home inspection on another property for you at 1/2 the fee you paid on the original inspection process. The only small print is that the home is the same size and age. 'X' home inspections."
Paul Tobolski -- Banff Alberta in the heart of the Canadian Rockies
Jon Gudnason shared some very good wisdom on the topic of image and client perception.......
Paul: This may be a controversial topic, but I am going to jump into it anyway.
First, I would not think that one could stay busy as a home inspector in a small community such as Banff without the support of the real estate community. I was in Banff 25 years ago as a young adult and unless it has grown a lot, I bet they don't sell a whole lot of houses each month. If an inspector can inspect more than 10 percent of the sales in an area, they are doing very well.
It has been my experience that the real estate business is the same as any other. There are good and bad individuals. There are agents that want to do what is best for their clients and those that want only what is best for themselves. I pursue referrals from the first group. With 12 years of experience in the inspection business, I have never heard of a successful inspection business that did not get the biggest percentage of their business as a result of realtor referrals. It is a fact that if one is to seek referrals from someone, then one must consider the feelings and emotions of the individual one seeks the referral from. This does not mean I allow their opinion to affect the way I inspect. It does mean I think a lot about how and what I say. The last thing any agent wants is for their client not to buy a house. The good ones realize that this is sometimes the result of an inspection and accept that as part of the process. Nobody, including the buyer, sees this as the desired result when they order an inspection.
When we advertise, we portray an image to the public. We make an impression. It is only brief but can be long lasting. I personally would not want the image of the transaction souring to be the image they think of when they think of me. I would prefer to portray some positive quality about myself or my business rather than play on their fear. When your advertising mentions the fact that their dream home may slip through their fingers, it doesn't give them a good feeling and I don't want that bad feeling associated with me.
Sell your qualifications, sell the fact that they can get confidence in knowing their dream home was inspected by a qualified professional. Offer a satisfaction guarantee. Portray a positive image. If they end up not buying the home and you really did do a good job, they will call you back. That is the time to offer the 50% discount. They will love it and tell their friends and the agents will be impressed and tell their associates. In the end, word of mouth is what will do it. If others speak well of you because you do a good job and they like you, your business will grow.
Jon Gudnason, Placerville, CA
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We get a phone call about twice a year from an ad agency that puts together a "buyer's packet" for one of our locally owned real estate offices asking if we would like to advertise on there packet cover. Of course, we would be the only inspection company offered this fantastic deal. I always tell the salesperson that this would amount to paying for referrals, which is not only illegal in Oregon, but it is against my morals & ethics. The salesperson then goes on to argue with me whether or not this is paying for referrals or not. I feel that if you are an honest inspector and treat EVERY client as if they were part of your family, then you will never need to pay someone to refer work to you, the work will be there. Nathan Buckley - Klammath Falls, OR
Many of you use the Adobe Acrobat 4.0 program to complete your inspection reports and make them e-mailable. About 2 months ago, the newest version of Acrobat came out and the offer to upgrade for $89.00 seemed to be a no brainer. However, I recommend that you keep the money in your pocket until compatibility flaws are overcome. Version Acrobat 4.0 still works well and there is no current need to upgrade. Below is an email I sent to Donna Tarkowski at 3D Inspection Systems.
Donna: There is a major incompatibility flaw with 3D and the new Acrobat 5.0
With 5.0 there is just one print driver instead of 4.0's two drivers. The driver for 5.0 is just Acrobat Distiller. When you first open a report and print it out, all of the information prints out. Then, with any subsequent report, it drops out the headers and footers. This can be seen by either previewing from 3D or by printing to the distiller driver. If you close both programs and reopen 3D, then the headers and footers once again return until the first printing is complete. Then you lose the headers and footers again. If you exit 3D and then reopen, you get the headers and footers back even though Acrobat was never shut down.
This is a bizarre one, Donna, but we need to overcome the flaw. This challenge came to light from a fellow 3D user, Randy Whitlock. I'm going to check the Adobe site for any patches. Keep me informed on what you find out. Michael Leavitt
Hello, Michael. The problem you report *could* be due to Adobe resetting the programs current folder so that the 3D program is no longer looking in the right place for the database information. I will have to check into it. We are aware of other problems relating to Adobe changing the current folder after printing. For example, errors that 3D can't find the database when attempting to add a new record after printing from Adobe. Likely, Charles can make 3D reset the folder to solve these issues.
However, we have been recently made aware of a more serious problem in Adobe 5 that does not occur in Adobe 4.0 at all. This has to do with lines of text intermittently disappearing from the reports, leaving a blank line or space instead of the text. We've already confirmed that the problem is not 3D related and that we have no control over this. We are still waiting for Adobe to confirm that they are aware of this particular problem, but they inform us they are currently working through hundreds of calls and cases that have occurred since release of Adobe 5.0. In the meantime, we will be issuing an Advisory to our users via email recommending that they do not upgrade to Adobe 5.0 until this problem is resolved, otherwise, they should carefully proof their final PDF reports to make sure nothing is missing. Donna Tarkowski - 3D Inspection Systems -donna@3dinspection.com
CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED!!! Michael Leavitt
For Immediate Release Contact: Mark Ross (301) 504-0580 Ext. 1188 June 11, 2001 Release # 01-168
WASHINGTON, D.C. - About 350 children under 5-years-old drown in pools each year nationwide, and over half of these incidents occur in June, July and August. Among unintentional injuries, drowning is the second leading cause of death to this age group after motor vehicle incidents. Another 2,600 children are treated in hospital emergency rooms each year
for near-drowning incidents. Most of these cases involve residential pools. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) wants to reduce the number of children drowning this summer.
Many people assume that, at a residence with a pool, the danger of drowning occurs only when the family is outside or using the pool. But, a common scenario takes place when young children leave the house without a parent or caregiver realizing it. Children are drawn to water,
not knowing the terrible danger pools can pose.
"Drowning happens quickly and silently, often without any splashing or screaming," said CPCS Chairman Ann Brown. "It can occur in just the couple of minutes it takes to answer the telephone."
The key to preventing these tragedies is to have layers of protections. This includes placing barriers around your pool to prevent access, using pool alarms, closely supervising your child and being prepared in case of an emergency. CPSC offers these tips to prevent drowning:
CPSC offers three free publications consumers can use to help prevent child drowning: "Safety Barrier Guidelines for Pools," "How to Plan for the Unexpected" and "Guidelines for Entrapment Hazards: Making Pools and Spas Safer." Copies of these publications can be obtained at CPSC's website www.cpsc.gov or by writing to "Pool Safety", CPSC, Washington, D.C., 20207.
Here are the links
Steve, thanks for the observations on this hillbilly installation. I am interested in the type of things that you are seeing in Post Falls, Idaho. Pass some of your gems along so that we can be glad that we are not inspecting in your area...... Who thinks that they have the worst inspection area and why???
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