Tag: small business

National Property Inspections Franchisee Spotlight: Cory Anderson

April 19, 2022

National Property Inspections’ Franchisee Spotlight recognizes our most innovative and successful NPI and GPI franchises. By sharing their stories, helpful tips and lessons learned, every franchisee can learn what it takes to grow their business. We’re proud to feature our reigning 2021 Franchise of the Year, Cory Anderson of NPI East Tennessee. After purchasing an existing franchise in 2017 in Knoxville, TN, Cory and his team have been on an upward trajectory that’s landed him in the top four percent of our organization. He’s also recently expanded to cover both Chattanooga and the Tri-Cities area. Tell us about yourself! What was your previous career, and how did you come to NPI?Cory Anderson: I have an agricultural technology degree from the University of Tennessee and worked in the agricultural field for about 7 years prior to coming to NPI. During my agricultural career, my wife and I purchased multiple rental homes and loved learning about and investing in real estate. Our home inspector was Steve Hancock, who started the original NPI Knoxville franchise in 1995. During our last inspection with Steve, he announced that he would be retiring and told us that we would need to find another inspector. After many

7 Ways to Boost Traffic to Your Business Website

April 12, 2022

By Stepha Vesper, NPI, Inc.’s Marketing Communications Specialist It’s time to get a little creative with the way you drive web traffic! Below are seven ways you may not have thought of that can make a remarkable difference in your site visitor counts month over month: 1. Mix up your content.Diversifying your content (that is, posting something new every day) will help ensure that your audience never gets bored, and that you don’t either. Post links back to your website, but also post photos, articles, giveaways, videos, and share others’ posts as well. If your followers know they can always expect something new and fresh from you that’s super relevant to them, they’ll be that much more likely to navigate to your website to learn more about your business and services. 2. Don’t neglect your LinkedIn profile.Most of us think of LinkedIn as a great resource for active job seekers or those looking to expand their B2B network. Those things are still true, but these days, LinkedIn is so much more. If you’re not posting content to your profile, you’re missing out on a great opportunity to interact with potential clients and real estate professionals. Did you know that the

Top Tips for Marketing Effectively on Instagram

March 29, 2022

By Stepha Vesper, NPI, Inc.’s Marketing Communications Specialist The Instagram app has been downloaded more than 3.8 billion times since its 2010 release. Needless to say, it’s one of the world’s most popular apps. With all that attention, it’s easy to see why companies love using it in their digital media marketing portfolio. Instagram in an Instant Instagram started out as a place for people and their friends to share and like their best snapshots. The app then began adding updates to make it easier to find and connect with other users. Three years after launch, users had the ability to add hashtags and share short videos. As more businesses joined, Instagram incrementally made the platform more advertiser-friendly, and 12 years later, it looks very different from when it first started. Not only can users upload Stories, host live chat rooms, and post long-form videos, businesses have a robust suite of paid ad tools and e-commerce options. Businesses and Instagram As a business owner, you have the option of setting up a business account that allows you some different features than a standard one. For instance, you’ll be able to see your interaction and demographic insights. This is especially helpful

7 Tips to Lower Your Stress

March 22, 2022

By Kimberly Stevens, NPI, Inc.’s Marketing Coach Dealing with the everyday challenges of running your own business can result in high stress levels. In order to keep yourself and your business healthy, you should always be actively trying to reduce your stress. Here are some ways you can keep your cool as you operate your business. Figure out what’s stressing you. The first step in treating your stress is identifying what’s making you feel overwhelmed. Take a step back and look at everything you have to deal with in a day. Make a note of everything that makes you feel like you’re stretched thin. Knowing what’s causing your stress will help you develop better techniques to deal with it. You might even start to feel more relaxed just by pinpointing your stressors. Build a more solid schedule. It may be easier said than done to create a concrete schedule as an entrepreneur. You could have a client schedule a meeting last minute or maybe that “quick” project ends up taking longer than you thought. While you can’t predict the unexpected, developing a schedule around your typical day will help manage your stress. If you find it hard to nail down

Properly Incentivizing Your Employees for Growth

March 1, 2022

By David Stamper, NPI, Inc.’s President & CFO Your employees are the most valuable asset you have for your business. And the more motivated they are, the more productive they’ll be to help grow your business. Here are some ways you can incentivize your employees. Why Incentivizing is Important Properly rewarding your employees for their hard work is important for a number of reasons. First, it makes them feel like they are a valued member of the company. Employees that feel they are needed are more likely to contribute. That willingness to contribute also leads to better teamwork and collaboration. Overall, there’s sure to be a boost in morale when your employees feel as if they’re valued members of the team. Pay Benefits Money is a common incentive most business owners use. It can motivate both newer and longer tenured employees. You of course want to give adequate bonuses based on how long an employee has worked for you, quality of work, and likelihood they’ll stay with you. You can use either a one-time bonus or bump their salary permanently. If you can afford it, doing these annually will further motivate employees. Vacation Time As much as we may love

The Hidden Benefits of Starting Your Own Business

February 22, 2022

By Sammi Marcellus, NPI, Inc.’s Recruitment Coordinator There are many clear incentives to starting your own business. More free time, no pressure from a boss, and being able to make more money are just a few of the benefits that attract people the most. But there are other pros to venturing out on your own as well. Here are some of the added benefits to running your own business. Build your own self confidence. You may find that as you start to grow your business, you’ll also start growing as a person. You’ll have to break out of your comfort zone a bit and strengthen your belief in your own abilities. It’s easy to doubt if you’ll be successful, but the more you improve, the bigger boost you’ll give yourself. Soon you might notice that speaking to new people or trying new strategies isn’t as scary as before. Your clients will also notice how confident you are, and they’ll be impressed by it! Make new connections. Going on your own sometimes means leaving your old social circles. But that’s not always a bad thing. Soon, you’ll start meeting new people, whether they be clients or fellow business owners. Building a

Gearing Up for Tax Season

February 1, 2022

By David Stamper, NPI, Inc.’s President & CFO As we head into February, we move one step closer to that all important time of year– tax season. If you let out a small groan every time you hear those words, you certainly aren’t alone. It can be a headache to file taxes and be sure that you do it correctly. A small mistake or simply not getting your return in on time could cost you. Nearly 10 million people each year incorrectly file their income tax form. To avoid being one of that group and paying fines, get a head start! Know Deadlines To avoid panicking at the last minute and trying to get your taxes in order, make sure you know when you have to file. The dates will vary depending on your business structure and if you use the calendar or fiscal year. In the U.S.: For more information on your state’s tax deadline, check their tax division website here. In Canada: More information about Canada’s tax deadlines can be found on the government website. Keep Your Receipts Being a business owner means you’ll now incur a variety of expenses. Travel, tools, and additional training are all purchases

The Top Qualities REALTORS Look for in Inspectors

January 25, 2022

By Kimberly Stevens, NPI, Inc.’s Marketing Coach As an inspector, you might already have an idea of the perfect client you want to work with. And when you get the chance to work with someone that fits it, it makes your job that much easier. The same holds true for your clients. Real estate agents have an idea of the inspector that they want to work with, and they always want to try and find the closest match. Good Communication You most likely prefer a client who is responsive, so it’s only natural that agents want the same thing from you. Agents handle multiple transactions each month and need to move quickly between each one. If the inspector they’re working with is hard to reach, it can delay the buying or selling process and result in a lost sale. While you can’t be available 24/7 running your business, do your best to promptly reply to agents. Set up your voicemail or consider a call center so that agents can leave you a message when you can’t answer the phone. If you plan on leaving town for a vacation, let them know ahead of time and set up your out of

Another Dollar: How to Save Money While Growing Your Business

January 18, 2022

By David Stamper, NPI, Inc.’s President & CFO Correctly managing your finances is necessary to be a successful business owner, yet it isn’t always the easiest thing to do. Close to 80 percent of entrepreneurs fail due to poor money management. If you’ve never owned your own business before, you might have a million questions about how much to save and what’s the best use of your money. Luckily, you can get things sorted out with a few tips. Common signs you have a money problem. Figuring out that you’ve got a problem with your accounting will help you know the right steps to take. You’ll know right away when you run into a cash flow issue. If you’re struggling to pay for your expenses and finding that you’re dipping into your savings, you’re probably hemorrhaging cash faster than is sustainable. When you first start out, you might not turn a major profit as you get set up. But the important thing is to not let yourself get behind in accounting for every dollar that comes in and goes out. Don’t try to outrun your spending. At first, the simple solution to not having enough money coming in is trying

Business Resolutions for 2022

January 11, 2022

By Kimberly Stevens, NPI Inc.’s Marketing Coach As we enter a new year, we look forward to new opportunities. About a quarter of people make a resolution to improve themselves in the new year. However, less than ten percent of those individuals will actually follow through on their goals. Here are some simple resolutions you can make as an entrepreneur to grow yourself and your business! Keep Learning One trait that every successful business owner has in common is that they never stop being a student. You can always find new ways to better yourself and make your business operate more effectively. This year, make it a habit to continue your education. This can be in the form of attending conferences, talking to fellow inspectors, and following news updates. Listening to audiobooks or podcasts is another easy way to get useful information. You can play them all day in your car through your phone! Clean Your Email List Email marketing is a highly effective way to stay in contact with your customers and reach out to new ones. But if you haven’t updated your mailing list in a while, you might not be seeing the results you want. Kickoff 2022

How to Communicate More Effectively with Clients

June 20, 2023

By Kimberly Stevens, Marketing & Business Coach Running a successful service-based business requires a significant amount of technical skill and knowledge. As such, the sorts of people that tend to be drawn to these industries tend to have a highly analytical disposition and a preference for structure and detail. In the property inspection industry, these traits are particularly beneficial since missing little details can lead to big problems down the road (and part of why we’ve found veterans are such great home inspectors). While these traits are beneficial on the technical side of inspecting, they can sometimes come at the cost of being a good, empathetic communicator. Property inspectors have to communicate with a lot of people, so owners who might struggle in conversations with clients would be wise to invest in some introspection. To get started with upgrading your interpersonal skills, let’s take a look at the basic pillars of client communication in business. Prioritize Clarity EarlyWhen coordinating a home inspection, it is crucial to establish an open line of communication early between the inspector and client. A significant amount of negative reviews or otherwise dissatisfied client experiences can be traced back to misunderstandings, assumptions, and a lack of

Surefire Strategies To Increase Your Market Share

June 13, 2023

By David Stamper, NPI, Inc.’s President & CFO Running a small business is a lot of responsibility to take on. Owners need to not only become experts in their field and in their industry, but they also need to stay up to date on key market research if they want their business to succeed. When it comes to building your small business and tracking market research, there are few concerns that outrank your business’ market share. Market share is, simply put, a percentage of your business’ earnings compared to the total business done within your market over a particular period of time. While a business owner’s goal should always be to build their business’ percentage of market share, there are many benefits to tracking direct competitors’ market share as well. To learn more about how to build your market share, let’s review some strategies on how to get started. Perform a Competitive AnalysisThe first step to increase your market share should be to gain an awareness of your business’ position in your market compared to your competitors. Although it may be difficult to find hard numbers that break down your competitors’ exact market share, you should be able to check

Essential Steps For Setting Your Home Inspection Business Up For Success

June 6, 2023

By Celeste Black-Harr, NPI, Inc.’s Recruitment Coordinator Becoming a home inspector is a great profession that allows for incredible flexibility and the potential for impressive profits, but many enter into the industry unprepared and uninformed. Starting a home inspection business requires an investment of both time and money, and too many start up while missing key details that cause their businesses to stagnate or even fold prematurely. Don’t let a lack of research end your entrepreneurship dreams before you’ve started! Avoid these pitfalls, and your home inspection business has the opportunity to meet its potential. Understand the ProfessionAlthough this may sound surprising, one of the most common mistakes that new home inspection business owners make when setting up their business is that they do not fully understand what the job entails. Business owners who start out inspecting homes themselves need to be aware of the physical nature of home inspections, for example. To examine roofs, home inspectors should expect to carry and maneuver ladders, as well as climb up and down them on a regular basis. Additionally, inspectors should feel comfortable with navigating attics and crawl spaces. Some newer technologies such as drones and crawl bots enable those who might

5 Strategies to Get More Reviews for Your Small Business

May 30, 2023

By Zach Vesper, Senior SEO & Marketing Strategist Let’s say you’re heading out to eat in an unfamiliar city. You want to try something unique and high-quality, but searching online leaves you with an endless list of options. Mood and taste will certainly come into the picture, but how do you make your final choice? Check the reviews. Across all industries that rely on pulling in new clients and customers consistently, online reviews are crucial for instilling confidence in service quality. Adding positive reviews on websites like Google, Facebook, and Yelp improves where small businesses rank on Google and increases overall visibility through SEO. According to marketing analysts at Entrepreneur.com, 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. To start improving upon your online advocacy channels, here are some great strategies for getting more reviews online. For more help building your online marketing strategy, reach out to your Omaha marketing team. today! If you’re interested in learning more about franchising with NPI, get your free info packet.

Expanding Your Online Following with YouTube

May 23, 2023

By Sydney Bailey, Director of Marketing Successful small business owners know the incredible value that a fully optimized online presence brings to their business. Facebook, Google Business, and LinkedIn all work alongside a professional business website to direct and convert visitors into clients. Depending on the industry, business owners might prioritize some of these platforms over others, but it’s clear that each plays an important role for small businesses. One platform that might get overlooked more often than it should is YouTube. Receiving billions of new views and videos every single day, YouTube’s international footprint is astounding. Present in over 100 countries around the world, the video-hosting website is also localized in 80 different languages. But with that said, small businesses usually aren’t interested in reaching an international, or even a national audience. Small business owners are rightly more concerned with reaching clients in their own cities. So this begs the question: How can YouTube be a benefit to small businesses? How Can YouTube Benefit Businesses at a Local Level? Out of all social media platforms on the market today, YouTube is perhaps best known for its intensely competitive nature. Vastly popular creators tend to dominate attention, and often leaving

From Rookie to Asset: Tips for Training New Employees

May 16, 2023

By Stepha Vesper, NPI, Inc.’s Senior Communications Strategist In the home inspection industry, it should be every business owner’s goal to expand their team. New employees can expand marketing efforts, allow for more property inspections to be completed in a shorter amount of time, and improve on client satisfaction due to increased efficiency. Both in the case of adding a very first employee and when adding to an already large team, owners cannot overlook their training processes. To build your home inspection team the right way, let’s discuss the importance of training, and review a few tips on how to help transition your new employee into an invaluable contributor to your team. Highlighting the Importance of TrainingAll business owners understand to a certain extent the value of a solid training process. New employees are an investment, and the quicker that these team members can get up to speed with the rest of the business the better. Business owners are incentivized to make their training processes as quick and efficient as possible in order to get their new partners contributing. Though these goals are understandable, business owners who are only focused on the speed of their training schedules are missing out

Level Up Your Digital Marketing with LinkedIn

May 9, 2023

By Zach Vesper, Senior SEO and Marketing Strategist We’ve previously discussed best practices for getting set up on LinkedIn as a small business, but as new features and opportunities become available, it can be difficult to know how to navigate through LinkedIn’s tools effectively. LinkedIn stands out from the crowd due to its focus as a business-oriented digital networking platform. As such, LinkedIn should not always be treated the same as platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok. If you are looking to expand the use of your LinkedIn Business Page, it’s important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of LinkedIn as a platform. To optimize our efforts, let’s take a minute to explore LinkedIn’s unique features and how you can use them to strengthen your business’ presence online. Reviewing the Strengths of LinkedInIn many ways, LinkedIn is set up similarly to other social media platforms. LinkedIn allows users to post content and build an audience over time, it promotes engagement, and it invites users to interact with relevant content based on what their interests are as determined by LinkedIn’s own algorithm. The main distinguisher of LinkedIn is its intended function as a social platform for businesses and business owners

Diversification In Small Business: Why It’s Important To Try New Things

May 2, 2023

By Chris Bates, Vice President of Sales & Development When entering into a new industry or starting a small business, sometimes it can take time to find your footing. It’s important to learn the business, establish relationships in your area, and refine your service quality, but sometimes breaking through can still be difficult. With that said, one of the most frequent mistakes business owners make when they’re slow is avoiding trying new things. Opportunities frequently come knocking at the door, but a fear of losing what little market share they have, or concerns related to their ability to recoup from an unsuccessful investment too often lead to inaction. One of the biggest benefits of owning a franchise is access to a network of industry professionals who are plugged into the latest trends, technology, and business strategies that can help you pull ahead of your competition. Additional add-on services and opportunities to access new leads come up every day. The only way to guarantee that things stay slow in your business is to refuse these new opportunities. If you find yourself stagnating in your business, then the time is right to take action. Whether you’re busy and looking to expand or

Technologies That Are Innovating Home Inspections

April 25, 2023

By Jon McCreath, NPI, Inc.’s Training Director The home inspection industry is a far different animal than it was just a decade ago. With new toys and tools designed to provide more thorough and precise services, home inspectors have the potential to elevate their product to higher levels than ever before. While adopting new technology can be viewed as intimidating or overly expensive compared to the value added to a single inspection, home inspectors should consider how much these tools can separate themselves from their competition. Many trending home inspection tools not only add increased accuracy to their inspection reports, but they can cut down on the time it takes to perform an inspection considerably. As any small business owner knows, additional time means more opportunity to market or book additional jobs, leading to more revenue. Read on to learn more about some of the advanced, industry-changing tools that every home inspector should consider adding to their toolset. Drones, Robots, and ScopesThe first major category of tools that can elevate a home inspector’s value are those that offer increased access and mobility. Tools like aerial drones and crawling robots give home inspectors the ability to view areas that were previously

Watching For Wildlife: How To Add Value By Inspecting For Animals

April 18, 2023

By Jon McCreath, NPI, Inc.’s Training Director Good entrepreneurs are always looking for ways to pull ahead of their competition. In the property inspection industry, business owners often will achieve a larger market share by expanding their add-on services, or through emphasizing their own unique strenghts that separate themselves from the crowd. These strategies are great things to build upon! However, the best thing an inspector can do to establish themselves is to deliver the best primary product possible. This can mean writing an unmatched inspection report, or consistently catching things that the other guy misses. A great way to add value to a property inspection that other inspectors might skip out on is to inspect for animals. What To Do When Inspecting For AnimalsSome property inspectors may feel the instinct to shy away quickly from anything related to wildlife during a property inspection, and this is understandable! Property inspectors are trained to evaluate key home systems and aren’t experts on animal species or the best wildlife defense strategies. According to InterNACHI’s Home Inspection Standards of Practice, a property inspector is not required to determine “…the presence of evidence of rodents, birds, bats, animals, insects, or other pests.” Property inspectors