Denise, a friend of ours needed a pre-purchase property inspection in a hurry. The auction was in a couple of days and time was short.
She’d read an article we’d written about a property inspector I’d met recently. Someone who went into a lot of depth when conducting an inspection. So I passed his details along.
Denise sent me this in response…
“As the auction was today, we did get another contractor. He gave us an incredible report, 51 pages which included indicative prices to remedy. You might think that of the 51pages most would be generic but that was not the case.
At the inspection he gave us a quick study on what to look for to identify concrete cancer and a few other things. We were totally won over and feel we have added a great member to our team.”
Intrigued, I checked out their site http://www.inspectors.com.au/.
Our sales process answers four primary questions every prospect has in this order.
- Why should I listen to you? What’s in it for me?
- What are you going to do for me? List everything you cover. All the features and benefits. What do they get?
- How will you do it? What are the steps involved?
- What if? What results can I expect? What will happen if I go ahead? What will happen if I don’t?
Here are my thoughts about how they answer these questions and where they could improve.
Starting with the “Why”
They elicit the pain – and answer the question “Why should I listen to you?” “What’s in it for me?”
One of the biggest issues with buying a property is understanding its physical condition and what it might take to bring it up to scratch.
As a purchaser I don’t just want to know the problems. I also want solutions. And I’d like a one stop shop. The last thing I need is to try and get different tradespeople out to get quotes while considering buying it.
This is straight off their home page…
“We inspect all types of houses & units in all areas.
Over the past 18 years we have inspected over 20,000 properties. Our clients include the legal profession, conveyancers, banks, mortgage providers and most importantly, the general public.”
“The What…”
The site lists the types of inspections they carry out. But every competitor does the same, so how could they differentiate themselves?
Well, they provide a real property inspection report as a sample you can download to experience exactly what you’d get.
And I’d have to agree with Denise. It’s incredibly comprehensive. Not only do they tell you what’s wrong, but what it would take to fix it. The tradespeople you’d need and an estimate of what it would cost to rectify the issues.
They also detail real examples of issues they’ve found (with pictures) and the remediation costs. This all adds to a feeling they’re solid and reliable.
They provide Social Proof
No one wants to be a pioneer. As a buyer I want an experienced building inspector who’s seen it all.
Credibility is built by listing the addresses of recent inspections down the right hand side. Listing addresses proves they actually have clients – it’s specific.
There are real testimonials. You know they’re real as they include email addresses and phone numbers. I would like to see more of them though.
“The How…”
Inspections are usually carried out within 24 hours and the reports emailed to you the next working day.
This is where improvements could be made. I’d want an “About Us” section with details of the inspectors, their qualifications and experience.
“The What if?”
From their site:
“After reading your report, you will know whether you want to buy the property, negotiate a better price for the property or look for a different property.”
Personally, I’d spice it up.
For example put in the average dollar cost of defects they’ve found and how much they could have saved a potential buyer from disaster.
I’d add more comprehensive case studies detailing the lists of defects they’ve found and the impact on the buying price.
My additional thoughts on how they could improve even further.
Their fees are prominently displayed so you know what you’re up for.
As I write this they’ve got special offers running for October. This list the retail and discounted price.
However as a buyer I might not have a property I need a report for right now. So I would have prominently said – “Take advantage of us. Purchase a pre-inspection now and you have 6 months to commission the report.”
This way they get the money and commitment now – which is good for their cash flow.
Having said that, I don’t recommend price discounting for professional services as a way to get more business. I’d go so far as to call it The Greatest Evil.
Why? Discounting slashes your profit margins.
For instance, working on 30% gross margins, and a 10% price reduction, you’d need to increase sales by a massive 50% to experience the same profit levels.
I’ve written extensively about it here – before you consider discounting your product or service, stop. Go here and read why you shouldn’t and what you could do instead.
And after you’ve read the article, ask me to send you a table which shows the effects of both discounting and increasing your prices on your profitability. Believe me, it’ll open your eyes.
All in all, a pretty good job.
Getting leads from the web is just a fact of life. Prospects will check you out online before making contact. So it’s essential your site answers the “Why”, “What”, “How” and “What if” questions and leads them to calling you.
Most of your prospects will leave your site without buying or at the very least contacting you for more information.
As such we’re offering full sales process and website review where we’ll focus on your lead generation activities.
We’ll put your site through the wringer (both normal and mobile versions) as well as dissect your sales scripts and recommend improvements so you close more business.
The review includes:
- Your sales copy
- Your offers
- Call to action
- Credibility factors (testimonials, case studies)
- The 5 questions every visitor must have answered before contacting you
We’ll then discuss our findings with you live, phone or Skype and recommend a course of action to make improvements.
Your investment $990 inc GST.
These are comprehensive reviews so we can only handle 5 in October. So first come, best dressed.
Call us on (02) 9499-7958 to get started.
