Posts

Teaching Inspection CE Courses for Realtors

September 26, 2019

By Bill Erickson Whether you’ve recently entered the inspection business or you’re a seasoned pro with NPI, you may have heard us talk about the benefits of introducing CE courses into your marketing plan. At NPI corporate, we’re always working to get new courses approved in your state, and for good reason: CE courses are one of the best face-to-face marketing tools in your arsenal, giving you more quality interaction with real estate agents. What’s the deal with CEs?NPI’s proprietary CE courses are designed to fulfill real estate agents’ continuing education (CE) requirements. When you market yourself as a CE instructor to the agents and realtors in your area, you’re providing a service they need to further their careers. You’ll be invited to present your course to groups of real estate agents, and while these groups vary in size depending on your area, it’s common to see groups of 15 to 20 agents or more sign up for a CE course—you should seize your chance to get their attention! What special skills do I need to teach CEs?None! We give you all the materials and direction you need to run a successful CE course. Combine our presentations with your expertise

Mastering the Art of Delegation

July 17, 2019

By Zach Vesper As a small business owner, sometimes it’s hard to hand responsibilities to your employees. After all, you built your business by yourself and know what works and what doesn’t. As your business develops, though, you’ll reach a point where handling everything yourself doesn’t make sense any more, and can even stifle future growth. It’s one thing to understand this, but learning how to delegate effectively is something else. Here are 5 things to keep in mind when assigning tasks to your employees. 1. Be mindful of the tasks you’re assigning.Through thoughtful delegation of tasks, you and your employees can all accomplish more to push your business to the next level. Take stock of the things you do on a daily basis and determine whether these tasks are making the most of your skills and experience (you need to be very honest with yourself here). If not, these are perfect opportunities for delegation to someone with a different, more applicable skill set. And since you don’t want “delegation” to be a task unto itself, make sure to build it into your current workflows with a solid project management plan. 2. Be an educator.This may seem counterintuitive, but sometimes

Our Top 5 Time Management Tips

June 3, 2019

By Stepha Vesper When you’re out inspecting a home or business for clients, your time is practically managed for you. You have your set routine in place for inspecting and reporting and it usually takes a fairly predictable amount of time to complete. But what about time outside your day-to-day inspection schedule? Or weekdays when you may not have an inspection at all? Time management is among the top challenges small business owners face. There’s always so much to do, and you probably feel the pressure to do it all . . . and more! While it’s up to you what tasks you prioritize, we’re here to help you buckle down and get those tasks done. Follow these tips to make the most of your time and have more left over for summer fun with family and friends. 1. Actually decide what your priorities are. Keeping yourself busy is easy as a small business owner. Prioritizing is a different story. With a full plate, it can be challenging to determine the tasks that matter most. Start easy: which tasks on your list will have the most direct impact on your bottom line? Which will help you advance toward your goals

7 Ways to Stay Positive as a Small Business Owner

May 24, 2019

By Stepha Vesper As a small business owner, it’s normal to experience short periods of doubt from time to time. The keyword being short. If you find anxiety setting in more often than you’d like, it’s time to reel in the negativity and embrace all things positive. Here’s how to keep your head up and get things done: 1. Keep an open mind.Minimizing risk is one thing in small business, but you don’t want to be dismissive either. That new opportunity might seem downright scary at the moment, but what if it works out? Getting stuck in your marketing tactics or day-to-day work routine can mean getting stuck in a rut. Remember, there’s more than one way to get a task accomplished—in fact, there’s hundreds of ways! 2. Be amenable to change.If everything stayed the same, we would never get anywhere. Whether it be an industry-regulating policy change to adhere to or learning new inspection software, staying flexible will come in handy during the myriad changes that will take place over the course of running your business. If you’re prepared to roll with the punches, you’ll come out that much savvier. 3. Jump on opportunity.While not every opportunity may be

3 Things You Need to Know About Online Reputation Management

May 17, 2019

By Stepha Vesper Managing your online reputation across social media platforms and review sites is a crucial part of being a small business owner in our tech-savvy, Google-driven marketplace. It’s also one of the most challenging. Here’s how you can streamline your approach to online reputation management and get the most out of your customer feedback. 1. Consistency is key.Like most things related to owning a small business, consistency is the key to successful online reputation management. Once you have all of your social media accounts set up and a good system for posting on a regular basis, monitoring your reputation is something that should always be at the back of your mind. Setting up Google alerts and being on top of your email notifications is a great place to start when it comes to overseeing activity. Make it a habit now so that you don’t struggle with squeezing it in when business picks up. And if you find yourself spending an hour or more a day on reputation management, consider hiring a part-time employee. 2. Respond to all negative reviews – and preferably positive ones, too!Receiving a negative review is tough, and we can’t promise it’ll get any easier

The Importance of Photo Documentation During an Inspection

May 8, 2019

By Jon McCreath, Technical Supervisor & Training Administrator A picture is worth a thousand words. We’ve all heard this before, but it’s especially true in the field of property inspection. Not only does top-notch photographic documentation of a home or commercial property provide value to your client, but it also protects you and your business from potential litigation. As we dive deeper into this topic, we’ll see that taking plenty of photos on an inspection isn’t just for your customers’ benefit—this best practice also serves as evidence of your job well done. In addition to photos of obvious (or not so obvious) defects, here are the three types of photos you should focus on during your inspections to optimize your process and protect your business and reputation. 1. Areas Without DefectsAs inspectors we pay a lot of attention to defects in homes, but it’s equally important to document areas without defects. The reason might not be immediately clear. While photos of non-defect areas won’t necessarily end up in your report, they can be incredibly valuable as a visual record of the condition of the home on the day of the inspection. If you don’t have a thorough visual record of

How We at NPI Make Your Small Business Website Stand Out

April 19, 2019

By Stepha Vesper Having a polished website is one of the most important aspects of running your small business. At NPI, we’ve done all the research for you. Our marketing team knows what goes into a great business website and we’ve made it our priority to ensure our inspectors’ sites are sharp, easy to navigate and effective. Here are the top elements we keep in mind as we work to make our websites better and better: A Clear Call to ActionWhen a potential client lands on your website, what is it that you most want them to do? Whether it’s to call you to book an appointment, contact you for a quote or maybe a little bit of both, your website should make it crystal clear for visitors what steps they need to take next. Multiple Contact MethodsCustomers appreciate options when it comes to contacting you. Maybe email is most convenient for them or their turnaround time for purchasing a home is urgent, so clicking to call from their smartphone would be best. These contact methods are easy to locate on your homepage and designed to draw the eye—it ties right in with the clear call to action we were

5 Ways of Looking at Self-Discipline

April 4, 2019

By Stepha Vesper Let’s talk about discipline. Self-discipline is a major factor in running a successful small business, but most of us have the wrong idea about it. And no, it’s not that we’re too lax on the concept. In reality, lots of widespread beliefs about discipline are too strict. So strict, in fact, as to be demotivating—we simply try to do and be too much until we shut down and accomplish less than we’re capable of. As you strive to hone your day-to-day business operations, keep these things in mind: 1. Self-discipline isn’t the only ingredient for success.While it’s undeniable that self-discipline is pretty important for achieving success, it’s not going to get you far unless you pair it with that all-important driving force, motivation. You can be the most self-disciplined person in the world, but without clearly defined goals, you’re just going to spin your wheels. To accomplish something big, you need to identify an objective and work diligently toward it through—you guessed it—self-discipline. 2. Discipline and willpower are not one and the same.Self-discipline and willpower are so entwined, it can be difficult to distinguish the two. But taking the time to understand the key differences might just

The Pros and Cons of Paid Search

March 29, 2019

By Zach Vesper, NPI, Inc.’s SEO and Marketing Specialist When it comes to digital advertising for your business, you’re not short on options. One choice many business owners overlook, for a number of reasons, is paid search. The major player in paid search is Google, and their Google Ads platform makes it easy to reach your ideal audience and increase your marketing ROI. We’ll break down the pros and cons of starting a campaign with Google Ads and help you decide if paid search is right for you. Pro: Paid Ads Can Extend Your ReachAbove all other digital marketing methods, Google Ads can help you achieve better market saturation, increase your brand recognition and put your business in front of your perfect customers. With a Google Ads campaign, you can choose exactly who sees your ads and when they see them, and you can even target your audience by geographic area to make sure you’re not showing ads in places that aren’t relevant for your business. Con: There are No GuaranteesLike any other aspect of digital marketing, your results with paid search will be based on how thoroughly you perform your initial keyword research and how often you experiment with

How to Ethically Refer Repairs

March 22, 2019

As a home inspector in an evolving industry, sooner or later you’ll probably be faced with the question of whether to refer your clients to qualified contractors who can repair the issues you find. Home inspectors used to not deal with this question at all—many worried (and many still do) about the liability involved, as well as appearing to have a conflict of interest. As more millennial first-time homebuyers enter the market, however, this “hands-off” approach is quickly becoming outdated. The bottom line: millennials expect a higher level of service from anyone they do business with. In order to stay competitive, home inspectors have to look at new ways of referring repairs for their clients while avoiding potential ethical pitfalls. 1. Don’t Repair Items YourselfYou might think you’re going above and beyond by performing small repairs yourself as you see them. Replacing a burnt-out light bulb or tightening a loose drawer pull doesn’t seem like a big deal, but you should never repair any items in a home you’re inspecting. Your professional standards of practice dictate that an inspection should be visual and non-invasive, and performing repairs yourself, no matter how small, crosses that line and could potentially open you