Bored Clients & Realtors

[Kevin M. Kenny]

Does anyone feel that their clients and Realtors got bored during the inspection? Most times the husband will follow me around and the wife and Realtor look really bored. I am thinking of creating crossword puzzles pertaining to homes in general and maintenance and/or sudoko puzzles to hand out to the people that show up that don't follow along on the inspection. Does anyone have any other suggestions in how to handle bored clients?

[John McKenna]

Tell them this:

"I think I just felt the house shift"...

That should get their attention.

[Richard W. Washington]

Bring a TV and let em watch "House Detective". That should make em more at ease with their purchase.

[tneumann]

LOL John...

I should have done something like that yesterday...

Father in law...mother in law....client..know it all wife....4 year old cutie....2 year old cutie....

Sigh 5 hours....

I need a new routine.....mostly my fault because I feel like it gets too quiet and I start conversations and then you know what happens...talkie talkie talkie.....

[Robert Francis]

Originally Posted by jmckenna1

Tell them this:

"I think I just felt the house shift"...

That should get their attention.

Just start singing the song "I feel the earth move under my feet......" Goes over real well when you do it with an Irish jig......

[rcooke]

Originally Posted by kkenny

Does anyone feel that their clients and Realtors got bored during the inspection? Most times the husband will follow me around and the wife and Realtor look really bored. I am thinking of creating crossword puzzles pertaining to homes in general and maintenance and/or sudoko puzzles to hand out to the people that show up that don't follow along on the inspection. Does anyone have any other suggestions in how to handle bored clients?

I try to get there one hour early and when they come take them around and show them what I know .
I then carry on usually they stick to me like glue .
I am done in about 2.20 minutes .
I then give then one of the NACHI books and my Client questionnaire .
While I finish the report . I them take another 20 minutes and go over the report show them things they do not understand and on my way .
Usually about 3 hours + or -.
I have lots of info and talk almost non stop .
Works good for us .

Roy Cooke

[Robert Francis]

Kevin

On a more serious note have you thought about this http://www.nachi.org/binder.htm ?

[Joseph Kormos]

This only happened once, the sellers were not home, and the purchaser ordered a pizza, grabed some napkins from the sellers kitchen and watched a movie on the sellers TV. They invited me to join them, but I declined I told them I had a few things to take care of

[Dale Duffy]

Originally Posted by kkenny

Does anyone have any other suggestions in how to handle bored clients?

Hand them a laptop, and tune them into the message board here.........

Maybe that would be a bad idea...........

[wforsyth]

Originally Posted by kkenny

Does anyone feel that their clients and Realtors got bored during the inspection? Most times the husband will follow me around and the wife and Realtor look really bored. I am thinking of creating crossword puzzles pertaining to homes in general and maintenance and/or sudoko puzzles to hand out to the people that show up that don't follow along on the inspection. Does anyone have any other suggestions in how to handle bored clients?

Ask them to go check to make sure there aren't any spiders and rats in the crawl while they're waiting for you.

[wforsyth]

Originally Posted by dduffy

Hand them a laptop, and tune them into the message board here.........

Maybe that would be a bad idea...........

What are you thinking?!!!

[David E. Helm]

I generally don't worry about them getting bored. When they arrive, often at the beginning of the inspection, I just tell them that I need to go about my business and to make themselves at home (or whatever). If they have any questions I will be happy to answer them. I ask them if they would like to accompany me into the crawl space. Essentially, this seems to be a non problem.

[William J. Decker]

I ask their little kids to help me check the garage door auto-reverse.

"Do you want to help ol' Uncle Willy test the garage door? Just lay down here for a moment, Johnny".

[ROBERT W. NEWLAND, JR.]

Originally Posted by wdecker

I ask their little kids to help me check the garage door auto-reverse.

Just lay down here for a moment, Johny.

You're killing me Will

Why is always poor little Johnny

[William J. Decker]

I once had a very inquisitive kid, about 5 years old and smart as a whip, named Jason. He had a little sister (still in diapers) who dropped one (Know what I mean ) and the mother took her to the kitchen to change her diaper on the new granite countertop (much to the shagrin of the Realtor). I took this opportunity to explain the need to regularly disinfect and seal natural stone counter tops (always look for an 'education moment', huh?).

Well, little Jason had gone over to my tool bag and grabbed my (combustable) gas meter (he was facinated with it earlier, when I checked the stove connection). He proceeded to turn it on and point the wand at his little sister's butt. At that point, she (how should I put this?) "cut one".

The meter went off like a freight train!

What then insued was all the adults in the room (Mother, Father, both Realtors, one Grandmother and yours truely) laying on the floor, laughing without mercy, with little Jason standing there dumbfounded and my gas meter just clicking away merrily.

We stayed down for a good 3 minutes.

As if that wasn't enough, the little B*STURD got (human excrement) all over the end. I had to replace the sensor.

Now that was one great inspection!


Do I know how to impress clients with my professionalism or what?