Glenn Wharton

Yes, I know Mike. If he helped you great. Mike is a good inspector and businessman, I just do not like his advertising campaign. The statistical probability of ever becoming a millionaire from running an inspection company is real low. I think his advertising message (for his course) is not entirely supportable. If he simply marketed based on his record, he could probably still fill a room. That said, I wish him well. One of my guys attended and enjoyed it. Mike does know how to market. He has a bunch to offer. My philosophy has always been to take several cources to glean the most I can. I did that in the Army and I still do it. The reason simple (and always true): No one person has the answer, but lots of people have a piece. My plan is for something a bit less expensive than Mike and then to advise after the class. Thanks for the input. Glenn

Gents For what it is worth, the statistic that you are more prone to be sued if you deliver on site, DOES NOT ring true. Insurance companies are good with statistics. If they had noticed this trend, they would have up-charged all of us that deliver on site. It has never happened to me. Once again, if you can get away with e-mail deliver, please continue, don't get pushed into on-site unless you are VERY comfortable with it. If for no other reason than the cost of paper and ink. My lifetime batting average is 99.55%. As in, I have returned fees, paid for repairs or paid my deductible to the tune of .45% of all fees ever paid to me. Cost of doing bidnis.[] Glenn

All, A buddy (from up north) and I are kicking around the idea of putting together a one day (8 Hour) seminar on Marketing, Customer Service and Handling Disputes. It is a lot to cram in, but who can afford to give up 2 days? Our reasoning is simple. Most new inspectors do not know how to market and many mid-experience guys have not learned good customer service or how to turn lemons into lemonade. The stuff provided by national companies is (in my experience) too generic and theoretical. Most of the inspectors that I talk too in Texas have never taken a marketing class. Many act like marketing is beneath them. So we are asking ourselves: If we give it will anyone care enough to come? [:-magnify If we do it, how many of you think that we could scare up enough guys to fill a room and cover our expenses, experience and time? Call it 20-30 guys. And what would a fair charge be? Since I am relatively new to this site, here is the background: I am a former Army officer (bring on the jokes) and have been an inspector for 12 years. I owned a franchise in the beginning, but that thankfully went away. I have conducted over 5000 new and resale home inspection. I have trained 10 guys, all of whom are still in the business and doing well. A few are now competing against me, but that is the way it goes. I am also a state approved CE instructor for HIs and REAs. My buddy has been in the business 17 years and has done over 8,500 inspections. He has trained better than 25 guys and written several training courses. He is also a state aproved instructor. We are both big on diplomacy AND sticking to our guns. It is a balancing act, but if you pull it off, you can be very successful. Feel free to throw in some comments on things you wish someone had told you when you started. Thanks for the input in advance. We really want to make this immediately useful and entertaining. Let me have both barrels. [:-wiltel] Why re-invent the wheel when you can just steal good ideas from someone else?

Basic Tenant of Military leadership: Know yourself and seek Self-Improvement. How you format and deliver a report really comes down to your own writing and organizational skills. I have completed over 5000 home inspections and have trained about 10 other guys. We have always delivered on site. Originally, I fell into using a lap top on site because of my terrible hand writing and grammar (I are a collage gradeate. No, really). At that point (just after the Crustaceous period ended) it was so new that it was part of my marketing plan. Once I figured out how few changes I made in reviewing at home, I bought a cheep printer and the rest is history. I am convinced that it works for me because of my skill set and personality. I want to be very careful to say that I do not think ill of anyone that does not deliver on sight. I understand the rational for reviewing it at home and posting or emailing that evening. What ever works for you is whatever works for you. If you do not deliver at site, I will repeat the question that I put to my sponsor as an apprentice over 12 years ago: How often do you change a significant point while editing at home? On site delivery is not for people that are not highly decisive in their language and evaluation. (No criticism intended) However, if you find that 99% of your edits at home are changing "happy" to "glad" then what is the point? Try site deliver, it may make you more efficient. As an additional point, do the math: you can do two a day and sometimes three a day if you are really good with a computer. I fully realize that some inspectors are vociferous in their opposition to three a day, however, that is also an issue of skill set and personality. In the end, you will never pull off a three a day week unless you are either a single workaholic or computer savvy. I have tied into a few clients over "problems" through the years (nothing major), but none of them would have been prevented by better editing. The one negative to delivering on site is the Realtors get spoiled. I am very tired of getting a call at 2 pm asking why they have not received a copy of the inspection I finished at 12:30. In the end the decision is a quality and marketing decision. Your quality, personality, diplomacy and professionalism will go a lot farther in winning business than whether you deliver on site or later. If you are considering on-site, look at Inspect-it Pro or 3D Solutions. No home inspectors were injured during the production of the foregoing message, however, a few may have been offended……Sorry. []