Thread: Meeting Realtors

Good day!

What is the best way to get in front of Realtors? Open houses, office meetings, tour of listings, etc.?

To get into office meetings for an introduction, who is the person in the office to set that up through? Office Manager? From experience, is that conversation best had in person, email, or phone?

All help/experience/knowledge is appreciated.

Thank you!

Originally Posted by Lucas Parish

Good day!

What is the best way to get in front of Realtors? Open houses, office meetings, tour of listings, etc.?

To get into office meetings for an introduction, who is the person in the office to set that up through? Office Manager? From experience, is that conversation best had in person, email, or phone?

All help/experience/knowledge is appreciated.

Thank you!

Hi Lucas

Leg work, lots of leg work.
But even that has very little results.
Realtors are not very responsive to HI's, and the ones that do listen to you, well, very often they expect you to do something for them.
You would be better off putting effort into a web site and search engines.
Sending flyers to FSBO houses (they may need an inspector when they go to buy a house).

Show up with food. Tape your business cards on top of the box or whatever...

They will love you! Might not get you any business but they will love you.....

Google - Mike Crow Home Inspector Program

Mike's been very successful running various inspection companies and even more successful selling a system to get into offices and get noticed by agents.

I've never signed up for his system but from the bits and pieces I've picked up in a couple classes I've taken at conferences from him, his program consists of placing a candy dish at offices and dropping off marketing materials that he sells you.

You have not done many inspections. After just a few you will know how to best get in front of the Realtors.

Yes, they like food.

I have no idea
I just concentrate on not letting them stand behind me so they can't stab me in the back

CHAPSTIK, LOTS OF CHAPSTIK!!!! they look at you as a needed nuisance! and if you are new, someone who will kill the deal, or get them in the middle of a legal suit. No good answer aside from the website thing. AND know your $hit.

Good luck with soliciting the Realtors. Too many inspectors doing the same thing. In this day and age you really have to stand out amongst the established inspectors, not to mention the price variance.

In my local RE office the other day there were 7 competitors brochures, and I know that there are at least a dozen more in the surrounding area plying their wares to the same office.

As for me I don't solicit agents, but then again I am established and work solely on repeat clients, & referrals.

Good luck you will need it.

Best,

This all sounds like a chicken or the egg thing. You can't get inspection jobs unless you have experience and people know you, and you can't get experience unless you do inspections and people know you.

But as the old adage says, most of the time it is not what you know, it is who you know. So network, network, network.

I'm just an outsider who has barely begun my journey, so what do I know.

-dave

The reality is that when you are starting out, you need to cultivate business wherever you can. Realtors are natural gatekeepers. Try to meet as many as you can, and try to get their business.
As long as you hold true to your ethics, and not compromise your service, you will be fine. You will meet some that will continue to give you business, and not expect you to alter your reports, or overlook things just to make the sale.
In your quest, you will also meet the bottom feeding, low life, scum sucking people that will do anything to make a buck. These are the ones you avoid, and don't look back when they refuse to refer you because you won't toe their line.
You will find you may do 10 inspections for one Realtor, then never hear from them again after a deal goes south. It took 10 jobs to find out what they were really made of. There are others that will continue to refer you because you do a good job, even after a deal has gone south.

The more inspections you do, the larger your refer base becomes. Ask every one of your clients to refer you to a friend. Ask every one of them to "like" your company Facebook page. Ask every one of them to write you an endorsement and put it on your web site. Follow up with your clients.
Engage the seller of the property you are inspecting. They are a potential client too.

There isn't a magic answer. Its just a lot of hard work, and pounding the streets. Like someone said, network, network, network.

Originally Posted by Maya Blue

This all sounds like a chicken or the egg thing. You can't get inspection jobs unless you have experience and people know you, and you can't get experience unless you do inspections and people know you.

But as the old adage says, most of the time it is not what you know, it is who you know. So network, network, network.

I'm just an outsider who has barely begun my journey, so what do I know.

-dave

Dave, what do you expect? We are home inspectors, not publicist.
Do you think you are the only one who has asked how to "get in with realtors"?
Read books on marketing, go to chamber meetings, heck, smooze with the realtors if you think it will help. As I said, "lots of leg work".

There are a ton of people wanting your money. They will sell you success in 5 easy lessons. All of them will get you some business, but you will be lucky if you get enough business to even pay for the course.
You may want to read this book. He has some ideas that are feasible, (and it doesn't cost much). The Hungry Home Inspector by P Nathan Thornberry

Originally Posted by Rick Cantrell

Dave, what do you expect? We are home inspectors, not publicist.
Do you think you are the only one who has asked how to "get in with realtors"?

I'm not sure what you are saying by this. I wasn't being negative in the least. I was just making an observation.

Originally Posted by Maya Blue

I'm not sure what you are saying by this. I wasn't being negative in the least. I was just making an observation.

Yeah, it's hard for me to express my thoughts using a forum, and easy for someone to misread what I thought I wrote.
Sounded like you were disappointed with the reply's you received.

Thank you everyone for your words and wisdom - it's much appreciated! Thank you!

Have you tried marketing to new home buyers/ 1 yr warranty inspections?

If I was in need of additional work and was into buying food to get inspections I would try to sponsor a block party in a new sub- division.
I never tried it, but I would think buying food for a group of new home owners would have more effect than buying food for realtors that have their own preferred inspectors.

Originally Posted by Rick Cantrell

Yeah, it's hard for me to express my thoughts using a forum, and easy for someone to misread what I thought I wrote.
Sounded like you were disappointed with the reply's you received.

Understood, no worries.

But no, I was just observing just what seems like what will happen to me. I'm not an inspector yet. I'm just starting out and figuring out what training I want/need to do and so on.

Yup, lots of legwork.

I remember a quote I read once, "I don't know any one way to find 40 new clients, but I know 40 ways to find one new client and I use all 40 of them."

Without writing a book, here are a couple tips:

Put yourself in the client’s shoes and think about how you would find a HI, ask friends and associates how they would find one (or found one) and create a list, then work the list.

The problem with realtors is they already have the people they want to "recommend", so it's tough to get on their list, but it can be done. You will need to talk to them a few times, as one contact will usually do nothing, as with most marketing efforts. The first time you make contact and give them a card it will probably end up in the trash or under a pile.

When I was in construction, I didn't start buying from a certain supplier until he contacted me about the 3rd time. The first card he gave me was on a jobsite, he was just driving around (legwork), and it never made it to the truck, think I wrote some measurements on it...

On Saturday and Sunday, hit the streets and go to Open Houses. But get out of the way if any possible buyers show up. It's tough to get started unless you have a great resume in the trades.

As others have said, Its difficult as a new Inspector. You should create a good website and consider part time inspecting until client referral base builds up! Performing a good inspection will create referrals' and never stop learning! Continuing education is upmost in this biz and don't be afraid to admit when you just don't know something! Faking it will come back to bite you in the But!!!

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