Jack Feldmann
01-03-2010, 07:59 AM
End of the year, closing the books, etc. Did the tally of where we got our business in 2009.
We try to track every job to see where it came from. Going thru our work orders, it seems we are not all that great getting that info, or making it clear. There were a few blanks, and some where the referral is somewhat blurred, such as when someone may be given our name by their Realtor, but also by a previous client.
I have to say that I did not visit a Real Estate office in 2009 at all.
Here is what I found for 2009.
Realtor referrals 54%.
Previous clients 28%
Realtor lists 2%
Previous Sellers 4%
Yellow pages <1% Total of 5 jobs for $2010
Web based - ASHI site, web page, internet search etc 5%
Networking groups 6%
Now some of these numbers may have been noted as a Realtor referral because they called to schedule, but the client was actually referred by a friend and just had the agent call.
Some of the P/C's may have been previous clients themselves, or were referred by previous clients.
It was also interesting to see the list of Realtors that used me a bunch , and then stopped. Some I could remember the inspection where they stopped using me. Others, I remember picking up because they liked my work over the last guy they were using.
I had several on my list where I did over 10 inspections for them, in this poor market. The leader was 17 inspections, but I have known her for 14 years.
The yellow pages also surprised me. I know that almost all the "shoppers" come from the yellow pages, and it appears we are not very good at "selling them". Probably the real reason is we are priced too high for them.
Interesting stats this year. In past years the referrals from Realtors was much lower, and previous clients much higher.
We try to track every job to see where it came from. Going thru our work orders, it seems we are not all that great getting that info, or making it clear. There were a few blanks, and some where the referral is somewhat blurred, such as when someone may be given our name by their Realtor, but also by a previous client.
I have to say that I did not visit a Real Estate office in 2009 at all.
Here is what I found for 2009.
Realtor referrals 54%.
Previous clients 28%
Realtor lists 2%
Previous Sellers 4%
Yellow pages <1% Total of 5 jobs for $2010
Web based - ASHI site, web page, internet search etc 5%
Networking groups 6%
Now some of these numbers may have been noted as a Realtor referral because they called to schedule, but the client was actually referred by a friend and just had the agent call.
Some of the P/C's may have been previous clients themselves, or were referred by previous clients.
It was also interesting to see the list of Realtors that used me a bunch , and then stopped. Some I could remember the inspection where they stopped using me. Others, I remember picking up because they liked my work over the last guy they were using.
I had several on my list where I did over 10 inspections for them, in this poor market. The leader was 17 inspections, but I have known her for 14 years.
The yellow pages also surprised me. I know that almost all the "shoppers" come from the yellow pages, and it appears we are not very good at "selling them". Probably the real reason is we are priced too high for them.
Interesting stats this year. In past years the referrals from Realtors was much lower, and previous clients much higher.