You do a good job for all of your home inspection customers, but you still don’t have the work volume that you’d like. What’s the problem?

Maybe you’re ignoring your business brand. Branding happens whether you want it to or not. Fortunately, you can take control and develop any brand that you want.

Here are a few tips to get you started.

Decide What Your Brand Should Say

Before you can pull together a branding strategy, you have to decide on a message. What should your brand say about your business? Think about a list of qualities that you admire and want the public to think about when they see your logo.

Here are just a few:

Trustworthy Knowledgeable Versatile Friendly Helpful Approachable Affordable

Your brand identity should support the qualities that matter most. Business Knowhow says it’s more important to focus on what’s relevant than what’s different. Being different matters, but it doesn’t help your branding efforts if the thing that makes you different doesn’t really matter to your target audience.

Determine Your Target Audience

The most obvious people you’ll target are homebuyers. But that’s really just a jumping off point. Your audience should be anyone who can help you meet the goal of driving more business, including real estate agents, home builders, and the general public. Everyone knows someone who will eventually buy a house.

Within different categories, you might also have sub-categories. For example, marketing to senior home buyers might be very different from the way you market to Millennials buying their first house. For every category, there’s an opportunity to craft a targeted message.

Choose a Company Slogan or Motto

While it’s not imperative, a motto helps summarize who you are, what you do, and why your business is the best. Big Brand System calls it your “brand promise.” When a home buyer hires you, what do you promise to give in return? Trim it down to a sentence or phrase and you’ve got a promise to use on business cards, your website, and all of your promotional materials.

Encourage Customers to Become Brand Ambassadors

You know what they say about word-of-mouth advertising. A referral from a friend or family member can carry a lot more influential power than an online ad. But what you might not realize is that people who shop online for service professionals put a lot of stock in what total strangers say.

According to BrightLocal,  88 percent of people trust online testimonials and reviews as much as a referral from someone they know. Encourage customers to leave honest reviews on Angie’s List and on your social media business pages. They’ll help you build your brand in ways that no marketing on your part ever could.

Whether or not you take an active role in building your business brand, you will eventually have one. It happens organically as you work and customers talk. But when you get involved, you can steer your brand in the direction you want it to go.

Getting your certified home inspector business noticed is no small feat. You’ll gradually build a system of referrals over time, but what if you’re ready to grow now?

Every business, no matter how large or small, needs better visibility to survive and thrive. Here are four ways to help get your marketing off the ground and make it happen.

#1: Lose Your Fear of Cold Calling

Home inspectors get a lot of business from referrals, and referrals come from people. What do people respond to? Communication. Authentic communication, to be exact. Emails are great and so are social media conversation snippets. But there’s nothing like a good old-fashioned phone call.

ASHI Reporter says Dustie Amatangelo was almost hired by her current company to “run candy bowls to the real estate offices” and set appointments. But FBI Group home inspectors liked her vision better.

She’s VP of Business Development now and it all started with phone calls to real estate offices, which she continues today. Ten offices per week, she says, and each call has a personal touch.

#2: Create Memorable Presentations

What kind of presentations do you offer agents who’ve carved out a slot on their calendar? If they’re interesting and engaging, agents will want to attend and fewer of them might doze off.

Think about what you’d like home buyers to know. They’re your customers, after all. But agents have more contact with them, and from an earlier stage in the process. The more they know, the better educated your customers will be about the home inspection process.

Dustie says presentations should cover a wide range of topics that clarify the inspection process and special areas of concern, such as:

Home inspection basics How a home inspection is performed Mold, radon, pest, and other special inspections Areas of concern unique to your city or state

Get creative. Make presentations something special. The more value agents get from knowing you, the more likely they’ll be to make referrals.

#3: Keep Association Contact Information Current

Many home buyers go straight to the source to find the name of a good home inspector. Home inspector associations tend to have a professional directory that home buyers can search and review before making a call. How your information displays makes a difference.

At ASHI, the directory is called “Find an Inspector.” ASHI Reporter recommends updating your information and checking it regularly to see how your business ranks.

Here are a few tips:

Upload your company logo. If you don’t have one, ASHI has free graphic design services for members. Double-check contact information for accuracy. Update anything that’s outdated. Fill out every field, including a company description and which services you provide. Check out other certified home inspector profiles to see how yours compares.

The more complete and accurate your Find an Inspector profile, the more page views, and hopefully appointments, you’ll get.

#4: Learn About Google Search Rankings

Your website looks great, it’s mobile friendly, and everything a prospective customer needs to make an appointment is handy. Your profile is updated at your association, too. So where is all of the business?

If Google doesn’t favor you in search rankings, your beautiful efforts won’t help much at all.

Marketing expert, Neil Patel, recommends nine steps that boost your Google search rankings to help customers find you:

Learn about the Google ranking algorithm Find out where you rank among other home inspectors Track and measure important metrics such as organic site traffic and keyword ranking If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, make it so Learn about Google penalties, such as spammy links, and fix any that ail you Put in the legwork to research keywords Get Search Engine Optimization (SEO) down to a science Weave the top ranking keywords into your content Build better, healthier links

There’s yet another way to pull all of these threads together. When you’re ready to hire a new employee, choose someone for marketing so you can delegate the work. Hire someone part-time or outsource a dedicated professional who doesn’t find cold calling intimidating, understands how to build an engaging presentation, keeps your contact information current, and won’t go cross-eyed when talking about Google search rankings.

There’s plenty of time to hire another inspector in the near future. With all of your marketing ducks in a row first, your business will grow enough to support them and more.

At one time, home inspector licensing didn’t exist. Little by little, more and more states have come around to the idea. That was bound to happen as the fledgling industry matured. Virginia is one of the most recent to adopt licensing requirements. It’s safe to assume that more will join the ranks.

What happens if this happens in your state? Not to worry. Chances are, you’ll have plenty of advance notice and ample direction for how to become compliant.

Here’s what the process usually looks like and how to find out more.

Understand What Drives Licensing Throughout the Industry

The most logical and common of all reasons for home inspector licensing is consumer safety. In states without licensing, almost anyone can decide to be a home inspector and go to work. The ease with which someone can work as an inspector puts both the inspector and the public at risk.

Licensing, on the other hand, standardizes service. It’s also accomplished through home inspector association memberships. In states without licensing, a membership that requires adherence to a well-developed code of ethics and inspection standards of practice helps keep inspectors informed and on the right path. But almost no one is required to join an association. Pennsylvania is an exception, says ICA School. It does license inspectors, but the main requirement is an association membership. Members automatically get a state license.

Tap Into the Conversation About Licensing in Your State

If you don’t belong to a home inspector association, it’s a good time to think about joining. Associations aren’t just for support and guidance in your work as an inspector. Most associations make it their business to know about anything that affects the industry, such as new legislation that comes down the pike.

In some cases, association officials take an active role. They might head up state-level committees or work as lobbyists when new home inspector regulation legislation comes up for debate. But the bottom line is that associations are the best place to learn about new legislation. If you don’t have a membership, you might still find public information at an association website.

Think About Your Education

In most, but not all states, licensing and education requirements go hand in hand. That’s reasonable since a license implies that the home inspector knows his or her stuff. If you’re a new home inspector and haven’t taken any industry-related coursework, a home inspector education course is probably in your future. But there may be other options.

Most states allow work experience to stand in for a formal education. With enough inspections under your belt, years in the industry or both, you might not need to take classes. The same applies to inspectors who transfer in from out of state. If you have experience elsewhere, education might be a non-issue. This varies by state.

Plan for the National or State Home Inspector Exam

If you’re required to obtain home inspector education credits, you’ll probably be required to sit for and pass an exam before the state will issue a license. Most states use the National Home Inspector Exam. Some states have their own version with state-specific details.

If you enroll in an education program, your exam prep is largely taken care of. Not only will you learn most of what you need to know while in training, with the possible exception of state-related material, you’ll probably have access to national exam prep materials. When you’re ready, then you can register.

Licensing is considered by many to be a step forward for the home inspection industry. It pulls inspectors together in a more uniform way and gives consumers more confidence in the industry. That’s what a professional home inspection reporting app does, too.

Continuing education courses help improve your home inspection proficiency.

Once you’ve completed home inspector training, you’re ready to start a new career. But that doesn’t mean your education is over, or that it should be. Continuing education (CE) helps you become a better inspector, and stay informed about changes in the industry.

Not every area requires licensure, so not every area requires CE units for home inspectors. But if you want to maintain membership in an organization such as InterNACHI, you’ll need to acquire and report earned and approved credits each calendar year.

Here’s where you can find the courses that you need:

As with licensing, continuing education requirements vary by state. At this time, Quality Education Group services Oregon, Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. They offer live and online courses, with the widest selection at one time being online.

Attending a conference can help you meet others in the field, and earn CE credits.

NAHI Offers CE Units for Members

The National Association of Home Inspectors (NAHI) offers a wide range of CE opportunities for members. You can earn credits for attending a conference, chapter meeting, and in an approved ride-along inspection.

Other credit possibilities include publishing an article, speaking at a NAHI training session, presenting at NAR or another approved program, producing a training video, becoming a NAHI board member, among many other choices.

InterNACHI courses could fulfill your membership and state licensing CE requirements.

InterNACHI CE Courses are Free to Members

Anyone can take advantage of InterNACHI’s CE courses, but it makes sense to join the organization and have access to courses for free. Paying for the courses as you go equals what your membership would cost, and membership offers so much more than just continuing education.

InterNACHI has general CE options, such as the Home Energy Score for Real Estate Professionals course. And it offers some state-specific options, too, such as the Nevada Home Inspectors Standards of Practice and Legal Rules course.

You may find other CE possibilities through your state licensing board, and also through ASHI’s Smart Track and ASHI-endorsed programs. The choices are anything but small, so you should have no problem finding and fulfilling your requirements.

Even if you elect not to join an organization and your state doesn’t require it, continuing education makes you a better inspector. Nothing is static, especially not the home inspection field. Taking courses regularly ensures that you know what’s current, and that you’re prepared to handle it in an inspection. That’s what keeps you relevant in the competitive world of home inspections.

ICA School gives you more tools to succeed.

You’ll Feel More Connected

Online learning can give you a detached feeling on the best of days. Iowa State University lists a feeling of isolation and disconnect as one of the primary drawbacks of learning online. Instructor-led video helps you feel connected as a student instead of out there on your own.

Online learning is easier when you can watch demonstrations.

Video Lets You See How It’s Done

You can read about a theory or technique used in home inspections over and again, but nothing can compare to seeing it with your own eyes. A picture is worth a thousand words, and so is video. Where it’s particularly valuable is for demonstrating a complicated procedure or unfamiliar topic.

When you see how to perform inspections, you won’t have to guess about whether you’ve got the right idea. There’s no room for confusion because you’ll learn it correctly the first time. This is a useful tool for students without construction experience, but it’s also valuable for seasoned pros.

No matter where or when you study, video lets you watch and listen step-by-step as often as you like.

Real World Experience Comes Through

There’s a certain trust that comes through when you realize that not only has your instructor performed home inspections before, but he’s got years of experience in the field. Real knowhow brings more to the learning process than any amount of reading a book could match.

Trust is imperative when planning a brand new career. If you can trust the instructor to teach you the right way to perform inspections, then you can rely on that same knowledge once you’re out on your own in the field.

If you want to see one of our inspector training videos in action, get a free demo and start watching within minutes. We’re confident that you’ll agree: Instructor-led video training is the best, most-effective tool available to prospective home inspectors.