Exhibit at a Trade Show

Have you considered advertising your services at a trade show? In addition to local shows, like a "Home & Garden Show", there are specialized trade shows (like the Hurricane Expo) that enable you to reach prospective customers in large numbers.

There are some keys to getting the most out of your involvement, however:

If possible, share the cost. Approach your insurance agent and ask if he or she would be interested in sharing a booth. You might name your booth "Peace of Mind" and then have both of your company logos on a sign below that.

Make your own signage. You don't need a $1,000 booth -- have some professional signs and banners made, and get some disaster photos blown up.

Have a contest. A memory contest would be a good way to reinforce the principle of a home inventory service. Create a contest where you have 3-4 people compete against each other to see how many items they can write down from memory after looking at a photo of a room for 1 minute. Offer the winner a prize -- say, a $50 towards your service.

Conduct a drawing for a Free Express Inventory (up to one hour of service, or [$] towards a full inventory). Use the drawing to collect the name of qualified prospects. But don't just collect names and addresses. Ask for e-mail addresses too, and ask if they are interested in a Free Guide to Conducting a Home Inventory.

Give something away. Imprinted pens or notepads are good, as are refrigerator magnets.

Staffing makes a huge difference. Of course, you'll be working your booth -- but you'll need help. You need at least one other person to help interact with people while you engage with potential clients. Choose someone with an upbeat personality who isn't afraid to help you draw attention. My mom has always been my best trade show worker -- she's non-threatening (think 60-something, short, and silver-haired), and isn't afraid to stop people to ask them to sign up for the drawing.

Don't be afraid to SELL at the show. Make sure to have sample (fictionalized) inventory books available for people to look through. Set appointments at the show -- offer a substantial discount (30-35%) for folks who put down a non-refundable $50 deposit at the show. Ideally, you want to walk out of a show with a half-dozen or dozen appointments.

Follow up...quickly! You might be exhausted when you get home from the trade show ... but now is not the time to rest. Instead, create a mailing list of prospects -- and tag them as A, B, and C. "A" prospects either won a prize or set an appointment. Follow up with them first. (To confirm the appointment and reinforce your interest in working with them to provide peace of mind.)

"B" prospects provided an e-mail address and requested more information (the free guide mentioned above). Send them an e-mail within the next 24 hours with the guide attached, and a link to your website. (Create it -- a simple one-page tip sheet -- BEFORE the trade show so it's ready to go. (Follow up with a phone call to these individuals within a week to make sure they received the guide and "to see if they have any questions about conducting their inventory.")

"C" prospects didn't provide an e-mail address, but they might have provided a home address. Send a postcard to these individuals and direct them to your website for free resources on emergency preparedness and disaster planning. (You do have those resources on your website, right?)

Exhibiting at a trade show is expensive -- so make sure you are prepared to capture sales at the show, and to follow up to make the most of the leads you identify.

Improve Your Client Acquisition Rate

Getting an incoming call from a prospect inquiring about your home inventory service business can be a blessing.

(It can take a while for all of your networking, advertising, and marketing efforts to yield that first call.) So when those calls starting coming in, you'd better be ready to turn those prospects into paying clients.

Develop a script to answer common questions and make your pitch for the sale. You'll feel more relaxed if you can focus on the person you are talking to .... and not wondering what information you need to know from the client.

What information should you collect? For starters:
• How did they hear about you?
• Have they ever had an inventory before (Have they done one themselves?)
• How large is the space to be inventoried? (Is it a home, an apartment, a business, a second home?)
• Have they had a recent loss -- or what is the reason they're interested in an inventory now? (This will help identify an "emotional trigger" you may be able to use to close the sale)
• What is their timeframe for completing the inventory, and what is their availability for an appointment for you to conduct an on-site estimate?)
• Collect their contact information -- including phone number and e-mail address (especially if they are not interested in scheduling a free consultation just yet.)

I recommend developing a "Lead Sheet" to capture information from new callers. This will ensure you gather all the information you need from prospective clients.

THIS Business Action Plan - Part 2

Here's the second installment in our series. (Click here for part 1)

6. Teach a class. An even better way to increase your credibility with prospects is to teach a class sponsored by another group or organization. Contact your local community college, for example. You will have to provide specific, detailed, useful information (you were anyway, right?!?!)... and no hard sell for your services.

7. Write a great ad for the phone book. Focus on the specific benefits you have to offer. Comprehensive services? Evening/weekend hours? Convenient payment options (Mastercard/Visa)?

8. Contact local property management firms. They may be interested in hiring you to conduct inventories of their properties as a service to their clients.

9. Offer free information. Educate prospects about specific aspects of the home inventory process. (For example: inventorying collectibles, or inventorying garages or off-site storage sites

10. Solicit referrals from happy, satisfied customers. Ask for referrals. Give out business cards stamped on the back with a special offer ($25 off complete inventory). Offer a bonus for the referring person ($25 off an annual update).

THIS Business Action Plan - Part I

Attracting clients to your home inventory service business requires action on your part. This series of blog posts will provide a mixture of tips -- some that are meant to be implemented in the short-term and some that can be developed over time. A few are designed to produce a one-time boost, while others are geared towards multiple exposures to targeted audiences.

1. Write a news release for your local newspaper. Anyone can submit a news release. News releases don't have to be long or flashy to be effective. But they do have to be newsworthy. There's lot of newsworthy items about your HIS business -- the fact that you started one (they're still pretty rare, which makes it newsworthy), educating the public about the need for an inventory, and what it entails, and announcements of new services, or community outreach you're conducting (workshops, seminars).

2. Send thank you notes after your client receives their final inventory report. You can use generic thank you notes or create customized thank you cards featuring your business logo. Tuck two or three business cards into the notecard and write a short, personal message.

3. Produce a client newsletter. Write your own articles or purchase pre-written stories. Send it out quarterly (at a minimum) to clients, friends, family, referral sources, the media, estate attorneys, and real estate agents.

4. Call companies that provide business inventories. Most of these companies only document physical inventories ("widgets"). Explore the opportunity to partner with them to provide full documentation services to their clients (including equipment and supplies). Offer to pay them 15-20% of the total fees for the referral.

5. Host a workshop. Develop and promote a one- or two-hour workshop. Possible topics are disaster planning and emergency preparedness or even "Conducting a home inventory." You will be targeting qualified prospects. Charge $10-$50, depending on the value of the information you present. (If you offer the workshop on "Conducting a home inventory," charge $25 for a 45-minute workshop, and offer to apply that fee to your service fee if they decide to engage your services.)

Guest Article: From Prospect to Client in 30 Seconds

Editor's Note: When you're selling a $200-$400 service over the phone, you can't expect people to make a decision right away (at least not always!) Be sure to collect contact information from prospects and develop a follow-up strategy to convert some of these prospects into clients in the longer term.


By C.J. Hayden, MCC
Author, Get Clients Now

The process of converting a prospect to a client can seem like it takes forever. You meet or get a phone call from a prospective client, follow up with him or her over time, and hopefully have a chance to make a sales presentation or schedule an initial consultation (on-site estimate) at no charge. Then you follow up some more, trying to close the sale. Months can pass between your first encounter and getting the prospect to sign on the bottom line.

How do you keep following up for all that time without being a pest? Is asking prospects over and over, "Are you ready to buy yet?" the best way to go about it? How can you build the trust of your prospects enough that they become willing to take the risk of hiring you?

The answer to these bothersome questions just might be found in this simple idea. Treat those prospects as if they were already your clients -- they just haven't paid you yet.

Imagine what it would be like to treat every prospective client you encounter as if you were already working together. Every time you contact your prospects, you offer an article they might be interested in, an introduction to someone who might help them with a goal, or an invitation to an upcoming event.

The impact of this kind of generosity on your prospective clients can be dramatic. Instead of considering your calls or e-mails an interruption, they will welcome hearing from you. They will no longer count you as a salesperson or vendor, but rather as a valuable resource and important person to know.

I'm not talking about giving away the store. I don't recommend providing the client with free inventory services, spending hours addressing their questions at no charge, or otherwise practicing your profession without pay. It is completely appropriate to ask for and expect payment for doing your professional work.

But what I am suggesting is a shift in your attitude, to being of service instead of selling a service. Give your prospects a taste of just how valuable you could be to them if they were to hire you. Be generous with the information and contacts you already have at your disposal. It only takes a few minutes to pass along a phone number, clipping, or helpful web site, but the impact can be unforgettable. Send them a free guide to conducting their home inventory. (I guarantee 95% of them won't finish it, and we all know there are plenty of *free* resources for how to conduct an inventory available online.)

The fastest way to turn a prospect into a client may be simply to change how you think about them.

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Copyright C.J. Hayden.
To subscribe to the "Get Clients Now!" e-newsletter
visit http://www.getclientsnow.com

Create a Niche Cataloguing DVDs

Everyone knows one of them (my husband is one) -- a movie fanatic.

They've invested thousands -- sometimes even tens of thousands of dollars in their home theater setup. In the event of a disaster, they'd not only want to replace their collection (and equipment), they'd want to duplicate it, right down to the type of DVD format (widescreen, not full screen).

Add a DVD cataloguing service and add a couple hundred dollars to your profits -- or target this service as an entry-level service to a full home inventory service.

Using DVD Profiler Unlimited (basic version is free, but you'll need the Unlimited version -- $29.95 -- to create custom reports and track more than 50 DVDs) and a CueCat reader (about $10 on eBay). You can scan the bar codes for easy entry into the database.

(System requirements for DVD Profiler: Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Vista, and the minimum supported screen resolution is 1024x768; not currently supported for Mac OS except when running in "Virtual PC" mode)

Now's a Great Time to Get Publicity

As this news release from the Insurance Information Institute shows, now is a great time to get free publicity for your home inventory service business!

Here's their release:

NEW YORK, December 27, 2007 — One of the best ways to make the most of your homeowners insurance is to have an up-to-date home inventory of your personal possessions. With so many people receiving expensive holiday gifts or taking advantage of the end-of-season sales on everything from home electronics to linens, dishes and other household items, there has never been a better time to create or update your home inventory, according to the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.)

“Having an up-to-date home inventory is one of the best ways to make the most of your insurance dollars,” said Jeanne M. Salvatore, senior vice president and consumer spokesperson for the I.I.I. “A home inventory lists all your personal possessions and their estimated value. This helps you to purchase the right amount of insurance and will make the claims process faster and easier if there is a fire, hurricane or other type of disaster. And, remember, there is virtually no part of the country that is immune from some sort of catastrophe.”

To encourage consumers to create a home inventory, the I.I.I. has developed the popular software program, Know Your Stuff. The software has been updated and version 3 is now available, making it easier than ever to enter, edit, print and store a home inventory. The new version can store multiple photographs of rooms and objects, and makes handling large inventory files fast, stable and secure.

The I.I.I.’s Know Your Stuff - Home Inventory Software makes the task of creating an inventory simple. It allows you to organize your possessions room by room and provides lists of possessions that are typically found in certain rooms as a prompt. It also has the capacity to store digital photographs so that you can document your possessions visually.

It is easy to update and store a digital home inventory—it takes no more effort than the click of a mouse to add a new possession. And when it comes to storing your digital home inventory, there are many options: saving it on an internal or external hard drive or; using an online storage solution; burning it onto a CD; or printing out a room-by-room document. Try to make multiple copies, and be sure to keep at least one copy of your inventory outside of your home, in a safety deposit box or other secure location.

Both Windows and Mac OS versions of Know Your Stuff, version 3 are available as a free download at: http://www.knowyourstuff.org . The software and your personal home inventory files are all stored on your computer to safeguard your privacy; the I.I.I. does not have access to any of the information about your home or possessions that you input.

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To view a video about taking a home inventory, go to: http://www.iii.org/static/video/mediaplayer/hinventory.wmv .

To download a related audio file, go to:
http://www.iii.org/media/radio/prkys3/

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Don't forget: My 16-page special report on "Getting Publicity for Your Home Inventory Service Business" includes several sample news releases. You can purchase for $10 using the link below and the report will be delivered to you immediately. The special report also has information about how to build your media list, what to put in your media kit, ideas for what to write about in your news releases, sections you can target in your local newspaper, 12 timely news release topics, and 20 reasons to send a news release.
http://payloadz.com/go/sip?id=357385