I agree with the usefulness of the magnetic signs. Just this afternoon, I stopped at the local UAW Legal Office and as I crossed the street a professional business woman asked me what were my signs about? As we were rode the elevator, we exchanged business cards, and she said that she would pass it along to other interested possIble clients. I also agree that your new sign should not be cluttered, because most people in traffic, only have a brief time to catch the name and number. I have also moved my signs from my front doors, which might be intimidating, do they want to look at me, the driver or at our unusual signs? Also I had mine printed with "Vistaprint." But I say carefully look your signs over, after you receive them, there may have been errors of omissions. In my case, my first signs left off the last digit of my business phone number. Which made them useless unless corrected.
But, actually I ended up with four signs, as they replaced the first signs with two new corrected ones. Now all I have to is pencil or ink-in my last digit phone number and I've now got four ways to reach the elusive customer. We do have to educate the customer to our new way of doing business. Please help them from getting ripped off with two little insurance protection and too many premiums trying to track down complete and adequate coverage. And cheapness should not be the homeowner's prime or primary reasons for adding hazard's insurance. The question is can they replace all that they lost due to a peril. If it only be cash value and the deductible which all policies have has to be paid, and deduction for depreciation on top of that, usually leave many without the ability to replace or repair their things adequately.
I placed my magnetic signs on the sliding door, that way if they want to take a peek, without my looking at them, then that's okay with me. So long as they look and later call for service.
Darin, I agree with you regarding the professional standards that we should set. I also agree with Fred regarding the car magnets.
I recently purchased two magnetic signs for my vehicle. A good thing about them is that they do draw attention. Also, when I am at a customer's home with my vehicle parked out front, the neighbors see the signs on the truck. I have a white Ford pickup that I use for business.
I have the Logo and the name of the business on the sign plus the web site address and the two statements "Professional & Confidential Home Inventory Services" and "Complete Documentation of Personal Property."
It is not cluttered. It does not appear too busy. So it can be read while I am stopped at a traffic light or from a reasonable distance anywhere.
The car magnets open the door for potential referrals. When the neighbors see the truck in the yard, they ask questions of my customer about "What was he doing here?"
I have considered also having the logo and name embroidered on a few shirts in the future. Right not, the cost is a little steep for a starting business. But within a short time I will get them.
In the mean time, I am using a name tag that I can print at home and pin on my shirts.
__________________
George A. Childs Owner
Quality Home Inventory Service, Inc. 24 Stockton Dr. New Castle, De. 19702
Excellent feedback Darin. I totally agree and especially since this is a profession in the beginning stages of development it is especially important that all business owners are very professional.
I think looking professional is very important and feel that every business owner should ensure they don't cut any corners here. Shirts with your logo embroidered is a great idea, possibly with Khaki pants.
I also think that car magnets are also a nice touch so that you'll be easily identified.
Printed materials are also another key point.... I strongly suggest that we don't cut any corners here as first impressions are very important.
I also think that everyone should have a clean professional logo that they consistently use on all their materials.
Darin thank you for your comments, indeed part of the reason I invested into multiple shirts made is that, I do feel more professional when speaking to potential clients and I sound AND look ready!
Since professional home inventory services are relatively new most people don't even realize that we exist. I believe that one of the keys to our success is to convey a sense of professionalism in all of our interactions with clients, networking partners, and anybody we talk to about our business. If people get the first hint that we don't know what we are doing, we are sunk.
Since the main objection to our business is "Can't I just do this myself?" we must prove that while people can do their own inventory, they probably cannot do as good a job as we can. We know what we are doing (we sure better anyway), we know how the system works, and we have a systematic approach that works. We have the equipment, the software, the knowledge of insurance & security, and we will get it done quickly and efficiently.
To further strengthen our case we are a non-biased third party. That means that we have nothing to gain by falsifying information in the inventory report, which means that insurance companies and/or law enforcement will have much less incentive to question claims. Having a professional service complete the inventory is always a better bet to keep things legit.
So looking at this information we had better be doing our homework. We need to be on the top of our game when conducting business. If we act like professionals people we see us as professionals. I truly believe in this business and I am passionate about it. I am trying to marry that passion to professionalism for my success. It doesn't matter if you are a one-man-show working out of the corner of your basement with a barebones PC, winging it every step of the way; you just can't give that image to your clients. Some might say "Fake it until you make it!", and that's OK as long as you don't use that as an excuse for laziness in research & hard work to better yourself. Everything from the clothes we wear to how we handle unhappy customers will filter down into how people perceive us as professionals.
(And that is why networking with fellow professionals, such as we are doing in this forum, is so crucial to our success!)
