You can’t grow if you don’t have a few hiccups in your career. This proves absolutely true for property inspectors who are just entering their profession. Keep in mind that even seasoned individuals have shortcomings but, it’s important to understand that your missteps can be corrected if you learn from them and how to move forward. The biggest mistake, however, is remaining unaware of how to change and make improvements, which can lead to more blunders down the road. Remember you’re not the first, and you most likely won’t be the last, to error in the ways listed below. It’s all part of the life’s experiences and will eventually help you evolve into the successful inspector that you’re trying to become.
1) Underpricing Services
With today’s unstable economy, it seems like everyone’s trying to cut corners in hopes of saving extra pennies. Although you realize many of your prospects are on tight budgets, you shouldn’t get into the habit of lowering your rates in order to gain a new customer. Always strive to get paid what you’re worth. Furthermore, the true mark of an inexperienced inspector is their eagerness to over-compromise which could end up causing some clients to take your kindness for weakness.
2) Failure to Promote Properly
You can build a successful enterprise if no one knows about it. When it comes to attracting more customers, you can’t be shy about networking and making what you do known to the general public. Try your hand at social media platforms that enable to you regularly post updates about the direction of your business. Also, consider joining reputable, likeminded associations where you can exchange information with others who are in similar situations. Start an email campaign and aim to send weekly or monthly newsletters to a listserv of clients so they’ll be kept inside the loop. All of these are examples of effective marketing tactics for professionals in property inspection who aspire to become prosperous change-makers in their communities.
3) Not Being Thorough
Performance always matters, especially to individuals who expect you to give them a decent inspection report after the end of an examination. Don’t commit to evaluating a residence if you can’t provide quality results and overlook components that are clearly part of the process. Doing a mediocre or sloppy job makes a bad impression and causes unnecessary conflict between you and your clients. Try to avoid these kinds of actions that can be detrimental to the growth of your business by being more discerning. If you’re pressed for time, for instance, it’s better to opt a reschedule and risk the customer refusing to consent than to rush through the procedure and offer less-than-adequate results.
4) Misdiagnosis
The only thing probably worse than not being detail-oriented is providing an inaccurate analysis to one of your customers. This can cause the client to have to fork up money for repairs on an item that actually didn’t even need to be fixed. Again, you could find yourself in serious trouble and lose the support of some unhappy clients.