How Home Inspectors Build Relationships with Real Estate Agents

In a perfect world, home inspectors and real estate agents would work together in an effort to provide assistance for home buyers and ensure they can make knowledgeable decisions about the properties they should purchase. In some cases, this is what actually happens.

Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. Sometimes, real estate agents want to “get something” out of providing home inspectors with business. Regardless of what the situation is, as a home inspector you have to take the reins if you really want to get new business by utilizing connections you have with real estate agents.

Some tips to help you foster and grow these relationships and get more referrals from real estate agents can be found here.

Abide by the Four Times Rule

It’s estimated that you (as a home inspector) need to “touch” a real estate agent four times before you establish a relationship and before they begin referring clients to you. While this isn’t an exact rule, it helps you better understand how the relationship building process between home inspectors and real estate agents works.

The question you may have – how do you “touch” an agent four times?

This can be simple things, such as taking doughnuts to the office with a sticker highlighting your services. You can also visit their social media pages and “like” or “share” the posts they make. The key is to not seem over-eager and don’t “spam” the agent – this is going to have the reverse effect.

Coupons

This is a simple and effective tactic. Once you have created an email list of real estate agents, start to send coupons out. However, this is also a situation where you have to proceed with caution.

If you send too many coupons, or too large of a coupon, you may seem too desperate. If the coupon is too small, or if the coupon is confusing and you appear all over the place, then it will also be non-effective.

This is a great way to encourage agents you have been building a relationship with to go ahead and refer one of their clients to you. If you give them an inspection coupon, and they have a client short on money, it’s a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Schedule an Office Meeting

Once you have met the manager at a real estate office, ask about doing a five-minute presentation at their next office meeting. The majority of real estate offices will have a meeting at least once a week.

Be sure that your presentation is short, sweet, and concise. You don’t want to waste anyone’s time, but you do want to show them the value you offer. As a result, it’s a good idea to create a presentation that highlights all the great things about your services and how you are the go-to home inspector, rather than your competition.

If you are trying to grow your home inspection clientele, then you need to implement the tips and information found here. Doing so will help ensure that you can grow your business, regardless of if you are just out of school, or a seasoned professional in the field. The fact is, building relationships is crucial at any stage in the game and these tips can help you do just that.