SOFI Blog

Your Efficiency Increases As Your Customer Base Grows!

Growing your business is very important. You will make more money as your business grows to optimum levels. You are much more efficient when you have a dozen customers as compared to when you first started your business and only had one customer.

The key to making more money to to serve an optimum number of high quality firms that pay great fees. Commercial inspections is the home of the higher quality firms that pay the higher fees. Most successful full-time inspectors usually work for about 10-15 field service firms in the commercial segment and earn about $25 - $75 per inspection.

When you first get started in the field services industry your efficiency is very low. But, as you grow your business, your efficiency and income increases as you add more customers to your baseline. This principle works in every business ... nothing new here.

Let SOFI help you grow your business. Call Richard Law at 352-449-1041 (east coast) to chat.

Five Hundred To ZERO Overnight ... No Job Security!

Know this ... FIVE HUNDRED -----> ZERO  happens every day in the field services industry within the MORTGAGE SEGMENT of the industry. I talk to the mortgage inspectors who tell me their horror stories.

Every week I hear multiple stories about inspectors losing ALL of their mortgage inspections overnight. They go from five hundred, or more, mortgage inspections to ZERO inspections overnight. Some of the national mortgage field service firms terminate the mortgage field inspector and then wait 90 days before they pay for the already completed inspections.

The mortgage segment is all about money ... it's all about GREED. The large national mortgage field service firms start looking for your replacement on the same day you are hired. When another inspector comes along who will accept a 50-cent lower inspection fee, YOU ARE GONE ... TERMINATED ... FIRED ... and this happens overnight with NO WARNING.

The mortgage segment of the field services industry is the home of the low-fee $2 ... $3 ... $4 ... $5 mortgage inspections and about 99% of all of the problems in the field services industry.

The sweet spot is the commercial segment of the field services industry. Here you will find higher quality firms that pay much higher fees. Here you will find much better job security. Don't become a field inspector who goes from five hundred to ZERO inspections overnight ... avoid the mortgage segment of the industry and you will enjoy life more. Most of the part-time inspectors are finding that the best money is made by performing the higher fee commercial inspections and staying very close to home.

 

Please Excuse The Errors ... I Am Just Too Lazy

I saw an email posted at a Yahoo Group which was posted by a field inspector. It was full of typos and spelling errors. The last sentence in the email said "Please excuse the errors".

Think about this! The inspector knew that there were typos and misspellings in the email. The inspector said that there were errors .. the errors were very well recognized.

So why would any field services firm want to hire a field inspector that made errors in communications, recognized the errors and was just too lazy to fix the errors? Your emails say a lot about you ... smart or stupid ... dynamic or lazy.

Hiring firms need to pay more attention to the content of emails and learn how to analyze the email to determine the professional profile of the sender. Even the email address says a lot about the sender. Some email addresses disclose some very unprofessional field service representatives.

Don't excuse the errors. Understand the real meaning of a lot of errors ... smart or stupid ... dynamic or lazy. Learn how to read an email. Learn how to send an email. Be professional. When you send an email that may be read by a thousand, or more, recipients, you want to look sharp and not ask the readers to excuse the errors.

Toll Free Telephone Numbers Are So Old School

In my opinion, toll free numbers are old school ... not a big attraction. It was different many years ago for the average person when a long distance call cost 10-cents a minute. Those days are long gone.

Almost everyone in the US has a telephone or a cell phone with long distance service, and in many cases with unlimited long distance. My office telephone is with Vonage and I have unlimited minutes. My cell phone is with AT&T and I have unlimited minutes. I save no money by calling a toll free number. Even some six year old kids have computers and cell phones with unlimited long distance minutes on a family plan. It's a new world in communications and long distance service is cheap ... even calling overseas.

I get a lot of calls to our office telephone, which is not toll free number. I make a lot of calls. Callers to SOFI don't seem to be anxious to get off of the telephone so I suspect that they are not concerned that the telephone call was long distance to a number that was not toll free.

I see some small field services firms sign up on day one and get a toll free telephone number. In my opinion, they are spending money and achieving no great advantage. Everyone has cheap long distance and dialing an 800 number offers no significant savings to the caller. It's old school.

 

Is Your Field Services Business Invisible?

Yes ... many field service inspection businesses are NOT VISIBLE. Hiring firms cannot see them ... they are invisible to them.

Many field service representatives do NOTHING to advertise. They somehow expect that hiring firms will use some magic and find them. That usually does not happen. As an inspector, if you do nothing, you usually get nothing. You have to be proactive ... you need to execute a marketing plan ... a great marketing plan.

Any successful business person will tell you that marketing/advertising is a very important part of any business. Even very well established businesses like VISA, MasterCard, Coke, Pepsi, & McDonald's advertise their services and products. They want to increase their visibility. These firms remind you that they are there to provide service and products to support your needs. The brand new field inspector often does nothing and then expects their business to grow.

SOFI is the largest field services networking organization in the world. No organization compares to SOFI. Your competition wins when they are visible and you are not so visible. So, save a few bucks on advertising while your competition spends a few bucks advertising and earns a lot more money than you. Your choices determine your success in business. You can advertise with SOFI for 7-10 cents a day.

Check out all of the great SOFI products at www.sofistore.com. Give yourself some visibility ... get some work ... make some money ... enjoy life more.

What's On Your Desk, Computer Or i-Pad?

Success in life is all about growing every day. In business, you always want to be improving your capabilities and skills. You cannot be static.

Field inspectors flock to the $3 mortgage field inspections. Many work for other inspectors who are disorganized ... and many are not even paid for the mortgage inspections they perform. They work for no pay.

Mortgage inspection fees were  more than TWICE AS HIGH 20 years ago than they are today ... and required a lot less work. Mortgage inspection fees will continue to pay $3 for many years to come. Will you be performing these $3 mortgage inspections in 2017?

Aim higher ... aim for the higher quality firms in the commercial segment that offer higher inspection fees.

Get some training and qualify for the better stuff in life. Check out this great training on Commercial Insurance Loss Control Inspections. Maybe it's time to move to a higher level. What's on your desk, computer or i-Pad?

E-book (Download ... PDF Format)

Printed Book (Mailed Priority Mail)

Classroom Video on 3-DVD Set
(Mailed Priority Mail)

GDP Down To 1.5% ... The Economy Is SLOWING

Today, July 27, 2012, the Government reported GDP annualized growth for the economy at 1.5%.

Some economists are saying the economy may tip back into recession.

Now is the time to strengthen your business. Get more diversified ... add more customers to your portfolio. Check out all of the great products that will help you grow your business at www.sofistore.com. Your satisfaction is guaranteed.

Act today ... start preparing for a slowing US economy as indicated by today's 1.5% GDP growth number.

About Wells Fargo Refinances

I have a home mortgage with Wells Fargo which I refinanced three years ago at 4.75%. I refinanced it again this week at 3.75% on a 30-year note. I paid NO REFINANCE FEES with Well Fargo ... no origination fees, credit check fees, appraisal fees, title insurance, recording stamps ... NOTHING ... NO FEES ... ZERO FEES ... nothing added to the loan balance.

Mortgage fees are at historic lows. Think about refinancing and look at no closing cost refinances. It's a great way to put some extra money in your pocket every month.

This Is A True Story Told By A Mortgage Field Inspector.

A mortgage field inspector talking on the telephone to her mortgage regional manager says (gist) : I was out performing your mortgage inspections and I am now in an ambulance on the way to the emergence room ... a car ran a red light and crashed into the side of my car. Thank God for the air bags. My car was totaled. I may need a few days to recover and get a rental car to finish the last few mortgage inspections that are due today.

The field inspector was checked out at the ER and released from the hospital later that day with a lot of bruises and scratches. She was given a pain Rx and told to get some rest. The regional manager of the national mortgage field services firm had earlier reassigned her work and also charged the injured inspector a hefty change back because the work was late (this is a very common practice in the mortgage segment).

Some Mortgage Regional Managers Are The Devil

Ah ... the mortgage segment of the industry is the home of low-fee inspections and the home of 99% of all of the problems in the field services industry. The keyword is mortgage segment.

Some of the largest national mortgage field service firms are the worst in the industry ... from the top to the bottom. They are BIG and BAD. CEO, managers and regional managers treat field service representatives like dirt. They just don't know how to treat field service representatives. It breaks my heart when I hear stories every day about how some of the large national mortgage field service firms treat their field service representatives. There are some really ugly regional managers in some of these large national mortgage field service firms. In many cases the requirements are just too much and the pay is just too little. Some of the largest national mortgage field service firms are partners with the devil. With them it is all about money ... all about greed.