TOPIC: Home Advisor

Home Advisor used to be Service Magic.  Was a member for about 5 years.  Some months I got no leads.  Other months I would get 5 leads.  Found you had to call them back immediately.  First person to call usually got the job.  10 minutes and you missed the opportunity in my area. 

Yeah, many are price shoppers.  I ran the numbers.  I paid about $1200 in 5 years.  I grossed about $7000 in sales.  I figured it took about 3 leads to book a job.  So I was really paying about $36 a lead.  Even so, I made money and I increased my exposure to more agents and more clients.  Win for me. 

Lots of other people complain about too far to customer, price shoppers, incorrect leads (looking for a tile installation, etc  instead of home inspection).  Any time I got a bad lead, I callled them.  Explained the lead was looking for something besides a home inspection and got the charges reversed.  Not every lead is going to be a sale.  You are buying LEADS not SALES.  Keep that in mind.

I used to send out direct mail marketing to new home buyers at 11 months.  Advising them about my 1 year warranty inspection.  Got about 3-5 calls for every 100 letters.  Booked most of those calls.  Average return on direct mail marketing is about 2-3%.  I was above the average.  100 letters cost me $100 bucks.  Book 3 jobs at min $350 each for $1000.  Cost me 10%.  There were several times I would perform one inspection in a new build neighborhood.  All the houses were built within 6 months of each other.  Neighbor would tell neighbor who would tell neighbor about how much stuff I found and the builder fixed.  They started calling me.  That one direct mail letter actually got me mulitple jobs.  In one neighborhood I inspected 17 of the 36 houses on adjoining cul-de-sacs.  That $1 letter paid for itself many times over. 

Service Magic/Home Advisor leads can act the same way.  An agent sees you do the job and reads your report.  They choose to recommend you to their next customer.  Yeah you paid $36 for the lead but you got an ongoing agent referral from that job.  How much is the lead  worth to you now?

Bruce,

Thank you for the reply and your way of thinking is exactly like mine.  When my phone rings, it's up to me to sell the job!  The way I look at it is that's one less call I would have gotten if not with Home Advisor.  I had a Home Advisor lead this Saturday from a rentor looking to buy the house but was concerned about the foundation and some cracks.  She said that she would call a foundation guy 1st and then call me inspect only if her foundation wasn't that bad.  She lives about 2 miles from me so I told her that I would come by at no charge and take a look to save her from getting sold into a foundation repair by some guy she found in the phone book.  I went by and the house was pretty bad at the back right side...3/4 vertical crack!  It needs to be fixed ASAP.

Mississippi has a 6 year new home warranty that specifically applies to the structural components www.hbam.com/ccmfiles/NewHomeWarrantyActJuly12012.pdf?site=15 and this house was only 5 years old.  I passed this link on to her and the rest is up the her landlord and the builder which I'm sure will be pissed of at me!  Needless to say, I didn't get the job yet, but what I did do was meet her and her family, exchanged cards and made an impression on her for doing the right thing.  Only time will tell if I close this house but I felt good about what I did and when it comes time for her to buy the home, I'm sure she will call me because her dog loved me!!  Ha!

Tracy- I have been with them for about a month.
Bruce- you are correct. 36 dollar is a great deal to get a solid lead and meet a realtor. I love that letter idea. 

Bruce, I sure would love to take a look at that letter myself!! 

Great points, Bruce and Tracy! I agree, the bottom line is that it's always up to you to sell yourself, whether the lead comes from Home Advisor, a real estate agent, the person behind you at the grocery line, or your website or Google Search. And doing the right thing always generates more business than all the leads combined-people remember who treated them good, bad, or "righter than right".

My last 5 or 6 calls all wound up in getting the inspection. Funny thing is, by the end of the phone call, the customer books the inspection, goes over the time, and forgets that his initial question began with "What do you charge for a Home Inspection?". I usually have to remind them. The point is if you can explain they need you and don't need to call anyone else, they will book with you without concern of price anyway.

Some guys will give you grief over doing the right thing, exceeding the SOP, or making a simple repair just to help someone out. It all works. It's up to you to work it.

Michael,

Bingo, I have been in outside sales 100% commission jobs for the past 20 years until I started my HI business.  My 1st paid inspection was February 3rd, 2013.  I have done 34 inspections to date.  I have only had 3 calls that I didn't book and all 3 of those were tenants that were wanting to sue the landlord for one reason or another!  I sold "myself" out of those 3 and glad I did.

My point is that I try to sell my benefits (Recallchek, HON, etc...) and personal service which at this point in my career would have to say is 2nd to none in my area...I know that I am going above and beyond with some clients but word gets around and I'll do whatever I need to get started.  It's working and the phone is ringing more than it was 3 months ago but 3-4 inspections a week makes me smile as new as I am!  Next year, I expect more but only because I'm the one out marketing myself and treating people with respect and doing what my parents taught me to do...the right thing!  I have not and will not pad my pocket at someone else's expense.  Karma can be a bitch!!