Commercial Property Inspectors Roundtable Meeting #36: Becoming the Expert

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Rob Claus (00:05)
Being an expert in your field is what boasts, builds, does everything for your credibility.

And and that more than anything else is how you’ll be able to succeed. So so I wanted to spend, you know, uh a couple of minutes here at the beginning of this, and then we’ll share some experiences if you have them, of of your stories of being an expert. And being an expert doesn’t involve a length of time. Being an expert doesn’t involve anything but a mentality more than anything else. So

let let’s let’s deal with let let’s begin with the the donut box paradigm yeah you know uh you know it’s it’s an old it’s it’s a joke right a a a commercial reeler walks into a brokerage office with a box of donuts uh you know now fill in the punchline right yeah the donuts get thrown away the stack of flyers get thrown away and you get zero referrals it’s just that’s the paradigm we all wanna try to do the same thing

Over and over, and what worked in one discipline doesn’t necessarily work in another because the the core truth is commercial brokers don’t care about donuts, they care about two things. They care about preserving their commissions and protecting their rec their reputations. And and we got a shift in our in our mindsets. We have to shift into how we can fit into that.

You know, so so I keep thinking to myself, you know, if I was in the field, what would I do? And I think the first thing I have to do is I gotta stop marketing myself as a commoditized vendor with a flashlight. As as a guy as a guy with a with with a belt and a flashlight, and I’m gonna start thinking of myself as that that indispensable risk consultant. Huh.

That’s an interesting way to say it, right? A risk consultant. It’s it’s it’s it’s moving my mindset from from just being a technician, just being a guy with a checklist, just being, you know, you know, and I hear I’ve heard the term before, chucking a truck, to to I am a deal savior, not a deal killer.

And yeah, this can transfer in other disciplines because the brokers fear when they start thinking about the commercial property inspection, that’s the ComSop inspection, is that is that we’re going to be uh ambling around this building and thinking, oh, how many things can we find? And some of that comes with the lack of skill, right? And a lack of confidence and the lack of discipline.

Into understanding the ComSop. And all of a sudden they’re thinking, okay, here’s this undisciplined inspector gonna run around and panic buyers over minor defects. And this is what we see when we’re out there doing our mock inspections and our field days, uh, or going I and when I when I tour the country and do our intro course cla quote classes that we do, that that

There’s that minus look at from one gaze, you know, with the undisciplined inspector, to the real focus look of the professional inspector. So we have to try to start changing our mindset, changing our narratives. Chant you the idea that we’re going to go do these inspections transferring knowledge. When you you know and and and

This is how you portray yourself, you know, as the expert is start talking about your knowledge. For instance, um, let’s say you did an inspection recently and you found a fifty thousand dollar issue, you know, like a failing RTU or or a compromised roof or anything like that. Don’t just flag it as a scary headline.

on your on your on your report, call attention to it. Offer some consultation of solutions or or something. I know we don’t talk about solutions, but you know, you could do a very broad solution effect to this. So that all of a sudden you’re not just a checkbox dead, old, broken. You’re now offering an opportunity for a teaching moment or offering something

that is a negotiation lever and not uh and not something that you’re just checking the box and and carrying forward. So you know that that got me thinking about how do I start in in this dovetails to those that were on on the on the on the class yesterday, how do I start changing this into an action plan for being an expert uh and and putting new things into my pipeline.

And and so I I wanted I wanted to bring two things to our attention today. Excuse me.

Two different campaigns I’d like you to consider that you could implement moving into the end of this fourth quarter, into the first quarter. One campaign is the walkthrough inspection.

Pitch to brokers when you’re talking to them, especially top brokers. Let me offer you a walkthrough inspection for your clients or walkthrough inspection on one of your pre listings that you’re having. There’s no report, there’s no process to it other than I am going to walk you through and talk about things. Now, if it’s a pre listing, which is fabulous for you imparting knowledge.

You could talk about the big three, the big three capital expense expenditures, the CapEx items, the roof, the HVAC, and the parking area. And just hitting those allows that broker to look at that property differently. And you’re going to impart that knowledge and assess some accuracy for that seller and that listing and protect that bo broker from possibly looking foolish or not knowing. I think of

I think of for instance uh one of the mock inspections we did uh in Colorado for for the pricing and proposals course. And uh there were 28 package units on the roof, and only one of the 28 were working. And I would imagine that broker with that listing doesn’t even know that. I mean, there’s major components that are missing off of those. So the walkthrough.

And and and we talked about that yesterday in in in our pathways course that we had, that that walkthrough could also be an awesome an awesome product to offer clients, especially c those clients that are that are very price sensitive and and you might lose a job because of your pricing, because you gotta be fair to yourself, but when you can offer this other product, and I’m thinking about houses of worship, nonprofits, these

These these agencies that need your superior expertise, but might not have the the monetary stream to pay for that. Well, if you can eliminate one entire day of the process, let’s say the report writing day, you could do that job at a fraction of the cost. So that’s campaign one. Think about how you could implement, and we have agreements and everything else on our website. Think of how you could implement a walkthrough inspection.

into your i into your arsenal and two.

High stakes micro workshops. We all know them as the lunch and learns. That 15 minute broker pitch. That that that you know, stop referring to it. Stop going in there as yeah, with that what is an what is a commercial inspection or who am I? You know, who am I? You know, I I I you know, it’s go into it with something on the tip of a spear.

How about, you know, and again, I’ll I’ll harp on it like I like I do everything else. The big three red flags that blow up industrial deals. Hit it right, you know, if you’re if you’re if you’re in if you’re in the industrial office, hit the big three that blow up industrial deals. If you’re in a where i if you’re in an office, the three big that blow up office deals, the three things that blow up multifamily deals. Hit those, hit those brokerages like that. Cause remember when when we’ve talked about brokerages.

We talk about how they’re they’re all specialists and and these this one does this subspecialty and you could take a a five-slide deck or three-slide deck, you know, just something simple and build this out. But at the end of it, and this is why I say being an expert, create a physical one-page checklist that they could put on their phone that talks about.

Those critical items that you just talked about. So when they’re walking around their listings, when they’re walking around touring properties, they go, Let me pull this out. Because when was the last you know, and and if you’re if you’re coming from the residential world, maybe you’ve experienced this where you’ve had brokers or agents out with clients and they see something and they go, What’s this? And I’m gonna go, I’m gonna call Brad, or I’m gonna call Travis, or I’m gonna call Rob up, and I’m gonna say, Hey Rob.

Can I take a send you a picture of this? And then you can be their savior on site. You can do the same thing on the commercial. And that’s portraying yourself as that expert. Because, see, and this is how I’ll close this and open it up for any conversations is our commercial brokers that we’re dealing with always want to refer inspectors that.

Make them look like the smartest person in the room. You’re their trusted, most trusted ally. You’re the ones that are are are are charged with making sure that their clients are purchasing their buildings intelligent intelligently. So my recommendation, I know it’s tough to do, stop pitching your quick turnarounds or your flashy.

software or thermal cameras or your tools, weaponize your experience. Weaponize your expertise and educate those gatekeepers, those those people that are coveting their deals, that you’ll never beg for a referral, that you are here to be their support mechanism. And and I I just know it’ll take off. But anyway, uh enough of my yappin.

Uh I I just like to I’d like to s hear from the hear from anybody on the call. You know, have you had experience going into real estate offices and what have you done to to help facilitate your knowledge to them?

Or maybe you’re not hitting realtors.

Fair enough. I mean this is also something that that you could start implementing into your websites. We’ve talked so many times that your website is is a key mechanism for your for your sales tools. I would I would start blogging, vlogging. I’d have a hero page that just talked about my my wins, my findings. Again, shifting that mindset, talking about that.

that not transferring of knowledge of that fifty thousand dollar problem that I found, I’d start talking about it. I’d put it on my website, I’d put it on my Google business page. I’d put it everywhere I could because that’s how not only the the referral sources will find you, but your uh clients will find you as well.

Anybody have anything else or we we we can open up to any comments you have?

Guest (13:20)
Rob, this is Travis.

Rob Claus (13:22)
Yes, sir.

Guest (13:23)
Yeah, I’ve I’ve been trying to uh focus in on hospitality and I’ve sent out quite a few um letters and some emails. Um I find that emails get blocked quite often. Whereas letters you almost have to open up the letter the envelope to to uh to see if you need to throw it away or not. But uh I’ve gotten pretty much zero feedback on that, but

I I keep reflecting back to there’s a month last year in which I received three calls from investors that were from Arkansas. Mm-hmm. Completely separate from each other. And one was wanting a restaurant, another was wanting a a a camping area, the other was um looking at a ho a motel. And that has been a big struggle for me is trying to figure out

How do I get in front of these people that are outside of my area that are investing in my area?

Rob Claus (14:28)
And where are you at again, Travis? I forget.

Guest (14:30)
Utah, middle of middle.

Rob Claus (14:32)
Yep. Um, so there’s certain places, and and and I experienced this um in Chicago because our multifamily had a very good uh uh capex return. You know, so so somebody in Seattle could get three or four X their money in Chicago.

buying a slum in Chicago than they could buying a slum in in in let’s say Seattle. And they found me more than anything else because of the internet listing. And so let’s let’s take let’s take Travis your your um

your efforts on hospitality. And and you know, uh do you mind sh sharing your website with me, Travis?

Guest (15:27)
Um middle Utah property inspection.

Rob Claus (15:35)
Middle Utah properties, look at that right there. Howdy duty. Commercial real estate inspector in Annabella, Utah. Good job on that one. Properly, yeah, properly po positioned. Nice looking website, what we inspect. And so to me, when when when I have this website that’s uh you know this is for anybody that when I look across you you’ve got a nice

five page website. Which okay, that’s you know, listening to experts like we’ve had on our on our round tables like like Paige from um tree ring digital uh and some of the other people that we’ve had on here. You know, we’ve got a home, we’ve got an about, we’ve got certifications, services, and FAQ. Love it. So to me, when I when I have services, I might blow up.

the services section and hit hospitality. You know, and talk about those those special nuances that hospitality has and start point you know, start creating a poignant effort that that I’m gonna start throwing in. Cause I mean you have what we inspect with multi-family and multi-use and hotels and motels and all those.

I’d start blowing those up. Or if you go to your homepage where you have the what we inspect, and and you made each of those buttons, uh you know, and this goes for everybody, each of those buttons, office, retail, warehouse, all the way down the list, and and and start expanding those. If you’re sitting there like Brad in his office at uh at the coffee shop.

And if you’re if you’ve got 20 minutes that you can write, go in go in yeah, I see it. Go into WordPress or whatever your website is and and and take each of those and do three paragraphs. And then a few months from now, expand those to eight and nine and ten so that when you and this goes into what we we what I began this conversation with.

When somebody is doing a search and and it’ll start with geographics, so it’ll start in in your area of Utah and go hospitality, you know, start looking for hospitality. That keyword, because you in your writing, you keyword it hospitality, you might keyword inspection, you might keyword some of the other nuances, and that doesn’t cost anything. That’s just letting the world know you’ve tagged those words.

that you now become the expert in Wayne, Garfield, San Pete, Grand Counties, and beyond in hospitality. And and you would and then you would cross-link in that hospitality with Fire Door. And and next thing you know, you you you’ve got every bed and breakfast hotel motel and and ski lodge going

Holy crap, I need some Travis in my life. And that’s and that’s free, other than if you gotta pay for more pages or pay for more bandwidth on your website, because you’re making that change if you have the capacity. Otherwise, you grab a grab a 12-year-old to help you with your website and and they can help you with that. You give you give them the words. But but that kind of that kind of just

spins off of what I was talking about about being the expert because people want that. But but then going into and I’ll go back to your your your your your Utah business listing when when I look at your when I look at at your Google business listing it doesn’t look like you’ve activated the button or have any buttons on there for photos. You just have oh oh there it is see photos.

Ellen, you got quite a few, which is great. Keep adding photos, Travis, in there, but tag them. You know, tag that photo, which you have you have some with some with some tags, but usually they just say Middle Utah property inspections a year ago. Add a f add a caption to it or tag that photo, especially if you’re looking for hospitality. Because then now when somebody starts talking about

hotels, motels, ski lodges, and and you know, their your image will start showing up in the search engine for images. And now Google’s gonna say, well, you know, this guy must be an expert. Look at look at all the credits he’s got. Uh you know, you know, you could be the worst actor in the world, but if your IMDB has got five thousand credits, apparently you’re important in the world.

But you know, the but five thousand credits mean you know, it could you know could mean you were in five thousand things for a half a second. So that’s that’s what I would look at, Travis, because I think what you’re doing on your webpage and and your Google listing is is spot on. At least in my opinion. I I just you know, but but you know, we going back to your question of of letters, yeah, they’re gonna get thrown away. Um stopping in offices, you know, but but

Creating something of use and maybe, you know, maybe you create using using AI and all the other mediums a a quick fact check of what to look for. Uh you know, when you know, of of what you’re look you know, when you put that on your website, what to look for when walking through a hospitality that you can brand real quick. Um, and maybe it’s uh five things, fire extinguishers, exit lights, you know, hit hit some safety items real quick.

And and you can send that out as a QR code linked or something that they could put on their phone would would go probably a long way ’cause uh people people will see that.

That help?

Guest (22:10)
Yes. And

Apparently I need to uh start pulling up my own uh uh search results. ‘Cause I used to have a heck of a lot more photos in here than were popping up right now.

Rob Claus (22:27)
Well, there’s quite a few. I mean when I see C photos, I mean I see lots of pages. I mean there’s there’s probably sixty photos there.

Guest (22:38)
Okay. Just however I’m pulling this up. Okay.

Rob Claus (22:41)
There’s probably 60 photos when I hit the all on there. But you know, you certainly cause the more photos this goes for everybody looking at their websites, photos are free to put up there. And and if you tag ’em, Google uses them for everything else. You know, so so so if you if you did like if I wanted to do a search on something, you know, uh in

And Brad had a photo up there of something, or Devin had a photo of s up there of something, and he tagged it as what I was looking for, his photo might show up. That’s what we do here at the C C PIA for all of our images, everything we do, we we painstakingly curate every photo, every graphical image so that so that it’s found.

When the random person anywhere in the world is looking for something, because when that random person is looking for something, that helps put Providence to our website. And when that happens, then the person looking for an inspection goes to our website, finds the find an inspector near you, and pop, Bob’s your uncle. Here comes why you get the phone calls from your certifications.

Guest (24:04)
Hey Rob, good stuff. oh For my two cents for whatever it’s worth. I love the introduction and uh some real gems in there. A few of the the thoughts that I have is as far as becoming the authority in our local marketplace, I think that really hits at the top of my personal mission statement. And that’s to be one of the most knowledgeable, best

commercial property inspectors in my market space for commercial buildings under a hundred thousand square feet. So to do that, that involves them walking the talk and a constant effort of learning, researching. Uh I love the courses on C C PIA. I’ll be first to say that I’m not as through as many of those as as I want to be, but that’s where I gravitate to if I have any spare time. They’re

lot of other sources in the in the industry. But just being the really honestly putting in the time, the curiosity to be the best inspector what I can be, I think is probably the number one thing that I can do for a business. The other thing is is and this kind of comes from some of what I’ve heard you say does really help me. And that’s constantly improving not only my inspection process, but the inspection report. And I’ll give you just a

recent example, I include opinions of cost in all of my reports and with chat GPT now it really doesn’t um entail what it it used to entail. And I know a lot of people don’t do that and and that’s fine. I’ve had pretty good success and my basis for including it in there is it gives the readers or clients an idea of the scope of the repair. Mm-hmm. Uh rather it be

fifteen hundred dollar repair which is my minimum uh threshold for costs.

Rob Claus (26:05)
Yeah,

let me ask you I don’t want to interrupt Brad, but I’m going to. Um, are you aggregating your costs or are you just putting them in the line item?

Guest (26:15)
Both. Oh interesting. Yeah, and I yeah, so I I’d go through I have three types of comments repair, replace. Those would be kind of what you might consider to be the restore to the original condition or your I hate to say immediate, but things that aren’t functioning as originally intended, damaged, destroyed or or missing. And uh so that’d be one category and uh asphalt is deteriorated, hasn’t been silcoated or striped.

recently. That’s all I put in there. And then uh cost range from three thirty five hundred to fifty five hundred depending on the square footage. Uh and a cost per square foot range depending on how it’s deteriorated and if there are low spots that need to be cut out. Everything is estimated. And then second category would be

budget for replacement, those things would be coming up for replacement within the next five years. And in the third category, it would just be for if people’s information or um abandoned equipment on the roof or asbestos tile and storage, things such as that. But um I put that then in the sentence and then I put it in the summary. Aggregate it. And I actually even implemented one of your

uh bots I used to have kind of a a real prominent immediate cost budget replacement and now with chat GPT and the templates in the software I just put it in as a line item in my executive summary and so it doesn’t kinda stand out there as much as a hundred and fifty thousand dollars in immediate repair. It’s kind of more of of the context and and not right out front there and and I like the way that that’s presenting things but to give an

Example of constantly improving the report is I had somebody one time ask why don’t I put in a cost range instead of just an absolute cost. And I thought, you know, that’s a great idea. So I started putting in the cost ranges. I put in minimum for costs that are less than fifteen hundred. The idea in my inspections is I’m really kind of looking for the material defaults. I think like most of us uh are trying anyway.

but there are some things that were put in there that we know that are gonna come up and we want them to know about it. So I put it in the report. It’s less than fifteen hundred. I used to put minimum. I had uh uh they’d ask me in the report once what that means. So now I put less than fifteen hundred in my report, and it’s more intuitively so that constant effort to improve the report as being really part of the word of mouth and my um final product. And then the other thing is I kind of

bring it to an end and be the proposal, constantly improving my proposal and my messaging. I I did uh I think Rob probably knows reach out to Tree Ring and and engage them for three, four hundred dollars to create a professional proposal that matches my website. I have the same branding colors, font and messages on my brand website as I do in my proposal.

And any of the marketing that I would send out. You know, like I think of Travis and I I look at his website and think of the letters, and I think, you know, what an opportunity to have um some continuity between branding, you know, maybe you’re already doing this, but having similar branding, marketing message on the letters that are going out or emails as what’s on the website and what’s in the proposal. And and I can tell you from experience that that’s a lot of work and it’s not something you do all at once, it’s a constant.

thing I’m I’m going through some revisions right now, trying to have that message the same from the beginning on the website, the my talk track when I talk with the prospect to the memorialization, as Rob would say, with the proposal to the inspection agreement to the report. And so there aren’t any surprises. And that’s kind of a constant thing. And then lastly we

The website, I’m finding that a lot of my business is coming right from the the web. Somebody puts in commercial property inspection just about anywhere in in Utah. I just got a call the other day from somebody down in Nephi. Well, I don’t really go down to Nephi, but it just happened to be that I come up with the search engines. They’re more than likely gonna come on my page. However, the caveat to that is they may not be using commercial operating spection, they may be using office.

building inspection or commercial building inspection. And and so I I I’m not so naive to say that I I’ve got it all figured out, but I’ve kind of chosen to stick with those words and now branching out the website through blog articles and things to include some of these other keywords. So that’s really important. Not only do I get investors uh private equity firms that call that are buying a property

their agent didn’t know or they were out of state. They don’t have a buyer’s agent. If they’re wanting someone, they look me up. But I also then have commercial agents that will call. They don’t have anyone and they found me online, which brings me to my last point is is is then I do also still get a fair amount of business referrals from commercial agents that I’ve worked with over the years. And I think the last point is I I could do a better job in all these areas that Rob’s talking about.

including keeping in touch with commercial agents. I recently went to a C C I M Utah chapter training event. It was for agents. They’re continuing education. I paid fifty dollars and as Rob jokes about in in his videos, I was the only one there that did commercial inspections. And I ran into half a dozen people that I haven’t done inspections for for over the years or lost contacts with and some of ’em, you know, had no idea that I’m

doing commercial now instead of home sections from years back. And and it was an opportunity to reconnect with them. And so I I think there’s um probably some words of wisdom in all of your your thoughts there, Rob. I appreciate it. That’s kind of my two cents.

Rob Claus (32:43)
Yeah, it’s one of my biggest disappo thank you, Brad. One of my biggest disappointments is my uh throughout thirty plus years is my lack of CRM maintenance of of I’ve met a lot of people. In s seventeen thousand inspections, I’ve met a lot of people. Buyers, sellers, brokers, agents, you name it.

And just not keeping that list and curating and and knowing that you know and paying attention that to your point, Brad, that that there was somebody I knew five years ago that I lost touch with because you’re running fast. We’re constantly looking at the tree in front of us so we can bob going down the ski hills and not hit it versus

you know, what was behind us that we can refer back to. And and you know, if that’s a good analogy, that there’s probably a lot of referrals that I abandoned or they abandoned me either way, that I wish I had rekindled and wondering what that have done to my bottom line by just going, you know what? I gotta announce this. And that’s you know, if you recall

The one of the last sentences that I do in the business class, uh you know, is is everybody has a client that knows somebody. And if you don’t let them know that this is what you’re doing, you’ve lost out an opportunity to make a new friend or a new referral. So yeah, I get it, Brad. Um, but and I’m glad you’re hitting those things, B because uh we’re so emerging in our marketplace that

being on the front line is the expert and being that person that’s that’s there for these all these referral sources or all these opportunities is is is a good thing and you and you and you can’t be afraid to to drive somewhere to get the work, especially when the work is um is lucrative. Anybody else?

Guest (35:02)
Like to refer back to Brad. I I I do go to Nephi, by the way.

Rob Claus (35:08)
huh.

Guest (35:09)
And so that that’s kind of my niche is I’m out here in rural Utah, like like middle of nowhere basically. So uh I got no problem traveling two or three hours to do an inspection. And some of those areas are some of these tourist areas, in which again I I go back to the investor probably isn’t in Utah.

Rob Claus (35:31)
No.

Guest (35:32)
And so I I uh it just I and when they do find me, they find me off of it.

Google search basically. So I’m just trying to maneuver more into that area. I did go into CoStar, gotta um I’m using them. Um not having the best success with them, but uh some go uh

work more with the the people finding me through searches.

Rob Claus (36:02)
Yeah. If remember, I we just I just had a conversation with uh with Bethany Meisner from CoStar last month. And uh if you’re having struggles and you’re not getting if you’re doing CoStar and you’re not getting what you want out of it, make sure you reach out to your rep. Reach out to your reach out to your team there uh and

and and have them help you with your playbook. You know, say, hey, I’m looking for and and you know, and it might be XYZ. I want to do hospitality maintenance or I want to do this. And have them help you deep dive and see if you can get uh a different success ratio. So don’t be afraid, Travis, to reach out.

Guest (36:50)
Yeah, and I will give them thumbs up for that. not only have I reached out to them, but they reach out to me as well to

Rob Claus (36:56)
Fabulous. Fabulous.

Guest (36:57)
Bessel with their with their uh service.

Rob Claus (37:01)
Yep. Max, you had something you wanted to share.

Guest (37:05)
Um no, I just I have to do a better job of uh CRM, sending newsletters out, uh following up. That’s uh I have to do a much better job of that.

Rob Claus (37:16)
Yeah. W when you think of the commercial transaction or the commercial even broker, where rent on the residential side, you know, a broker is not unusual to sell five, seven, eight, twelve properties a year. There’s some that the high producers that’ll five sell sell five, seven, eight, twelve a month. And so your batting average, you know, if you got i if you’re in with that broker, could be quite high. And and you could have quite a quite a lot of at bats on the commercial side.

They might only broker five, seven deals an entire year. And and so if you’re not creating this mindset in their minds that you’re there for them and you can help them, they forget about you. And I know I know for me, I every business card I gathered in a month, or my team gathered in a month, all came back to my desk. They all got put into my queue.

And I wrote a newsletter every month. And I you know, and back in those days I’d grab a C C PIA article and use that as a cornerstone of my newsletter. I’d I’d I’d I’d credit it, I’d use it, and I’d send that out to that list and I did it through

Uh I think it was MailChimp. I’m not sure who I I know one of them. Oh no, Constant Contact. I sent it out through Constant Contact. And the key was is I wanted to use a a a product like that because I could curate the opt-out list and didn’t get whacked on my hand for spamming. And and it w it were no n nobody could report me. Everything was great.

you know, but that that was probably my biggest line item budget for the year in our marketing was and I and I was sending out thirty five hundred thirty five hundred uh newsletters a month to to constantly drip and drip and drip and drip in into these into these brokers because going back to my my original comment, you know

In sp commercial inspector walks into a real estate office with a box of donuts and a handful of flyers and both of them end up in the garbage can and you never get a job. But in the email, like me, I open up very few emails. Most of my emails are always read through the through the I don’t know with the preview mode. You know, and and and I never click on them. And so all I want to do on my preview mode on those on those on those CRM drips is see my logo.

see a headline. If it grabs, they read it. If they don’t grab it, well they saw my logo, they saw my headline, and I must be I must be somebody important in their lives. So I try I I try on that.

Guest (40:14)
Yeah, I gotta start like every time I meet someone, I just have to drop in in the CRM and send out a particular template for that.

Rob Claus (40:23)
I would and you know and I’m not gonna I’m not gonna max I’m not gonna get in your pocket because uh that’s just rude. Yeah, I’m not gonna walk into a walk into a bar and say, Max is buying, you know, go over there, you know, but um I will say for me, I had a lot of coffee shop gift cards in my in my armrest. You know, to the point my wife never bought a cup of coffee. Uh you know, she’d she’d fill up her app.

You know, ’cause she knew she’d go to my R but but every time I met somebody in an inspection, there was a handwritten note that I stick on the on the on the weather strip of their vehicle that that said, Have a cup of coffee on me. I look forward to seeing you on your next deal as a thank you. And, you know, Tim Hortons I’m sure will private will will private label a gift card for you just like just like any place else in in in

any other coffee shop where if there’s a local coffee shop that’s that’s i intrinsic to your market. Everybody likes either coffee or their their their bottled self syrup or whatever it is. I I just think that’s a a very cheap, easy um ploy to get work coming to you. Ploy’s probably not a good word. Tactic. I mean that the chorus

Well try to be your expert. Try to do those things. Now I I’m really um as we’re closing up as you know if we’re not having anything else, I got a couple of really you know, big things to share. Um that we’ve been working hard on. Um

We’ve completely rewritten and redone. Redid? Redone. What is it, Holly?

Redone. We’d we redone the three-day introduction to commercial property inspections class. The class as you know it has been blown up. So now we’ve completely eliminated the business section from those three days. And we’ve created an entirely separate class called the two-day business boot camp.

And the three days now is entirely technical. So that whole half a day or two-thirds of a day that we were spending strictly on business is now being absorbed by all the new technical content that we’ve been creating. Because our our our class hasn’t changed since 2019. Uh subs you know, substantially. It’s had little changes and little tweaks.

So now this is affording you as the business entrepreneur or maybe business owner or division manager. If you want to send somebody to our three-day introduction to commercial property inspections class, know that we’re not going to be teaching the secret sauces of business, of proposal writing, of pricing. And you can feel confident that we’re not training somebody to leave you. We’re helping you.

elevate a new inspector in into into your operation. So we’re really excited to roll that out. That’ll be rolled out in March at our first uh class this year, as well as the business boot camp that’ll that’ll be a a two day deeper dive into the business aspects of of running a commercial property inspection business. And so that’s coming that’s coming up this spring. So when you see that as as a member you can go, what’s this? Uh

Now you know the genesis of it. Now you know the the history of it. We’re excited on on November twenty-third, which is two weeks from now, we will be um we will be offering our second annual inspector’s giving. It’s uh a lot of fun. We’re we’re gonna we’re we’re we’re gonna do like like they do everywhere else. We’re gonna have bar trivia. We’re gonna have we got a nice drink menu curated, we’ll we’ll have we’ll share a few things, we’ll laugh a few things.

maybe there’s a couple of dad jokes you want to share. Um that that’s coming up on November twenty third. That’s free for everybody. And yes, Max, um we don’t have the technology to to bund you know, the way we have our registration to to bundle them, but know that if you bundle them, um we will we will offer we will offer a special pricing, I believe is what we said, Holly, correct?

Yeah, there’s a link on the event page and if you w send an email if you’re if you’re wanting to attend both, we could make that happen. Yep. Yeah. That’s it’s just it we have a very complex uh and it’s it it’s beyond me, Max, because I’m just I’m just the the you know, to to to to quote Han Solo, I’m just another nerf herder here. Uh so um would I do my best

but round table reg are the uh inspectors giving register for it. Um and then we’ve got uh the to finish out the year, we’ve got another cost to remedy online course that we’re gonna offer in December. And then we loop back around. We’ve got a very exciting year next year. I think we’re going to go to a bunch of new places, a couple of old places, but a bunch of new places next year uh for for our for our classes, but in

in beautiful March it will be in Florida where the weather’s warm and the there’s palm trees and not uh spruce trees covered in snow. Um any b anything else anybody wants to share?

Any foo that needs to be fought. Check out our website. Um, as often as you can. Watch our watch our announcements, watch our watch our social medias. Uh I we do round I I do uh coaching calls twice a week with members from all over the world. And it’s amazing to me how many resources get escaped from not paying attention to the or not.

not just watching the announcements or not not watching some of the stuff. Uh, because there is some wonderful resources that have dropped in the last uh last year or two that uh really can help you run your businesses and these are all part of your membership and know that the entire team at the CCPIA is here to support you and and make sure that you’re getting as much as you can out of your membership.

And growing the commercial inspection business best we can.

Guys go be safe. Follow the com sup. It’s there to protect you. And I look forward to helping, talking and seeing you next time.

Guest (47:50)
Thanks everybody. Bye bye. Thanks. Have a good day.

Rob Claus (47:53)
Thanks, Rob.