It’s your home inspection business and it runs by your rules, but a little flexibility never hurt anyone. Certified home inspectors who go the extra mile for their customers build better relationships, which should lead to referrals. Referrals could land more confirmed appointments, especially with clients who would otherwise skip the inspection because they’re pressed for time.
It’s rarely a bad idea to offer more than the competition is willing to give. Here’s what’s in it for you and all of your customers.
A Flexible Policy Helps Breed General Goodwill
You’ve probably dealt with a dour, humorless business that almost made you regret making the call in the first place. Nearly everyone has, it seems. After digesting the experience, how likely are you to recommend that business to a friend? How much different might your opinion about that business be if the representative had shown a genuine interest in helping you?
Whether or not every inspector believes it, the home inspection industry is one of service. Flexibility and an accommodating nature help breed goodwill with the customers you serve. Being nice isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s also good for business.
Given a choice, according to Heleo, customers do business with companies that are nice. They also tend to trust the businesses that cultivated a good experience.
Plenty of men and women enter the home inspection industry because of its flexible nature. You can make your own rules (within reason), set your own schedule and work as little or as much as you like. That also means you’re empowered to work outside the normal nine-to-five.
If a customer has three kids in soccer and works a strange shift, you can work around that. And if you do, you’ll be more likely to earn confidence.
Being Helpful Encourages Customers to Trust Your Expertise as a Home Inspector
Flexibility and a helpful policy help customers perceive you as trustworthy. If that sounds like a stretch, consider the brain’s reaction to the stress of a negative experience. According to Psychology Today, a negative experience, such as dealing with a hateful boss or perhaps an unyielding or unfriendly business, “triggers a cascade of hormones,” which erode trust and make you look for the door.
A business that genuinely wants to help customers can have the opposite effect. The act of being helpful elicits a positive response, which psychologist Jonathan Haidt calls elevation.
The elevation experience doesn’t have to be heroic or dramatic. In business, it can be as simple as caring about whether or not a customer in need finds a home inspector who’s willing to go the extra mile.
Trust is the glue that binds the whole referral process together.
Customers Tend to Refer Friends to Businesses They Trust
Texas Tech University confirms something you probably already believed: when customers are happy, they’re willing to refer a friend. Because friends trust the word of a friend, they’re more likely to take the referral and follow through.
But what makes a business referral-worthy? Duct Tape Marketing says it’s a combination of things.
“People have to believe you can help, have a great price, and will show up as promised (logic), but, they must also feel good about helping you, trust that their friend will be treated well, and like the experience of doing business with you (emotion.)”
Something that starts as simple as being flexible with home inspection appointments can grow into a level of appreciation and trust that gets around. After all, how many businesses go out of their way to help customers today? They’re few and far between, and those that make the effort get all of the great press.
You might arrive home later than other inspectors in your area, but the tradeoff is likely worth it.
In Hot Markets Where Inspections Slide, Flexibility Protects More Home Buyers
It’s no secret that certain housing markets are fast and furious. Seemingly the minute a new home hits the MLS, the listing agent gets an onslaught of bids. Hot competition is an emotional experience.
What if someone else has the winning bid?
What if my bid comes in late?
Will I ever find a good home?
Worries about timeliness in a market with too many house hunters and not enough real estate inventory often lead buyers to skip one of the most important steps of the home-buying process: the inspection. If the inspector has strict hours and can’t set an appointment for days or even a week or two later, the temptation to hope for the best often wins.
According to Doug Schmidt of the Windsor Star, says anxious buyers who feel the need to act fast make a mistake in skipping the inspection. Bob Price of Price Home Inspections tells Schmidt that it’s a “new trend, something we’ve never seen before.” In such a crowded market, buyers “have to come with a clean, ready-to-go offer,” he said.
For some motivations, no amount of fast inspection scheduling can make a difference. Buyers are too often afraid of what the inspector will find, says Schmidt, which nudges them along into dangerous territory without any real knowledge about the investment they’re bidding on. But for people who are just in a hurry, flexible scheduling makes the important inspection attainable instead of a frustrating hurdle to cross.
Being flexible in business gives you a competitive advantage. While some home inspectors might be sticklers who won’t deviate from their schedule, you can work around the schedule of your customers. That puts the home buyer first, which is something the real estate industry lacks.
A great home inspection business policy needs inspection reporting software that keeps up with your busy schedule. Report Form Pro gives you the flexibility you need without any complicated bells and whistles that you don’t. Download the home inspection app for Android or get it for your Apple device at the App Store.