Good Business is Good Business - With Randy Lima

Ian R  
Randy Lima, glad to have you back on the show today. How are you?

Randy Lima  
Meaner, older, and uglier than last time, Ian.

Ian R  
Hey, me too! Wow.

Randy Lima  
Thanks for having me.

Ian R  
No, I'm really excited to have you. I don't know if you know this, but your episode that you did with us, and I encourage anybody listening in to go back and look up how to be a successful solo inspector, was actually one of our top three episodes. And we've had, we have four seasons, it's in the top five. Actually, I can't remember where it lands, I thought it was a top three. But it is one of our most popular episodes by far. And I'm excited to have you back on again, I don't know if you knew that, that your episode was so popular.

Randy Lima  
I didn't. But it's pretty exciting. It's interesting, because I got a couple of emails from that episode, made some connections. It's really cool. Mostly newer guys. But that's alright, because we were all new once upon a time. So I appreciate it so much.

Ian R  
Well, you know, what I think draws people to you, is like our conversation today, you're living like us, you know, it's like, we have a lot of episodes on maybe how to grow a big inspection firm. But I don't think a lot of us or all of us rather want to have that. Or how can we expand profit margins and this and that, but you're just like, hey, I'm Randy. And this is what I did to build a good life, work life balance. And you know, I'm, I'm successful. And this is how I measure my success. That's beautiful, relatable stuff, Randy. And today is no different. You're going to talk to us today. And the theme is "good business is good business". And I thought this was great, because you started sending me ideas, I'm like, oh, if we just did more of this, did more XYZ. And I started looking over your information. And I'm like, Randy is setting himself apart by doing the things that all of us say we do. But we obviously don't. Because Randy is setting himself apart by that. And I'm being super cryptic. Does that make sense to you, Randy?

Randy Lima  
We talked a little bit about it. So I have a pretty good idea. 

Ian R  
Yeah.

Randy Lima  
It's easy to get in a rut, you know, book the inspection, move on, you know, and there's more to it.

Ian R  
Yeah, we were talking pre-show here about, I think of what we're getting at really is, I think of it like a restaurant, I go into a restaurant and I have a standard of what I expect. If the restaurant even slightly exceeds that, oh, man, I write them a great review. All the waiter did was show up one more time at the table to check on my drinks. And for some reason, every other restaurant looks like a trash can to me. So just going a little bit above the industry standard makes a deep impression on our on our clients. And unfortunately in the home inspection industry, we tend to have a mentality of, I got that inspection. What that is, is front loading all our effort, all our effort goes on to getting the inspection, and then when we have it, not focusing on, during or after the inspection as much as we should. That's why counting numbers of inspections that we have, instead of on the back end, the results of those, becomes a squirrely way to measure our business and our success. Getting a person to a restaurant is way different than getting them excited and giving them a great experience. And in our industry, it doesn't take a lot to do that. We have Jay Wynn on the show a lot. And me and him were just talking. We were sipping whiskey, not on the show, and just talking about pulling up your pants, an expression they use a lot. I've always told everybody that I've ever worked with if you pull up your pants, you've beaten half your competition. And then Jay jokingly says, tuck in your shirt, and you beat the other half. And I'm not trying to down us as home inspectors, I'm part of this industry, I'm a home inspector. But do you find that maybe there's a bit of truth to that, that maybe going back to basics, and doing a really good job at that is what's going to set us apart?

Randy Lima  
Absolutely and simple things too. It doesn't require, cost any money either a lot, you know, manners is probably the first one, Ian, it really steps out at me. And this is something you talked about the restaurant experience, when I go through a drive thru or something like that, I really notice when the person, and here's a great example, Chick-fil-A. 

Ian R  
Oh yeah. 

Randy Lima  
And then every other fast food place, okay. And they hire from the same applicant pool, they're in the same communities as the other burger joints and everything. But you go through a Chick-fil-A drive thru and then you go through any of the other big ones, I'm not gonna name them all, but it's a different experience at Chick-fil-A, from the flow of the drive thru lane, to the manners, to the "my pleasure" or you know, just the whole helpfulness attitude. And they get, and they get it, they get it, but people.. Oh yeah. As soon as I mentioned Chick-fil-A, okay, they don't pay anymore. But they expect more from their people. And because they expect more, their people give more. And because their people give more, people recognize it. And it's the greatest thing I can think of, a comparison of just taking and doing the same thing as everybody else, but doing it better. And I'm not Chick-fil-A fanboy, it's just simply their operation. They've got it down, from speed and accuracy, the manners, getting you through that lane with a good experience, consistently every time. And so I think it's much the same, we can do the same things. Manners is huge. Please, thank you, I know that doesn't seem revolutionary, I know this. But being exceptionally polite, taking the time, you know, even though that client may be following you and kind of wearing on you a little bit, you know, maybe that's, that's the buyer that's just right up on you. But taking a deep breath and realizing, you know what, this is a big purchase for them. I'm going to step back and smile, I'm going to answer their question and be happy about it. I don't want them to feel like they're bothering me. They're paying me. It's my job to put, you know, to put the facts out there to them. So sometimes we have to suck it up. Put your pants up, if you will, and realize that from the minute we walk in that door, we're being evaluated, till the time we leave.

Ian R  
You know, I couldn't have picked a more glorious analogy for that, Randy. There's a spot not far from me where they put in a Chick-fil-A recently. New York state didn't let a lot of Chick-fil-A's in here, it's a whole weird thing. But they put one in right across the street is a McDonald's and a KFC, both of which have a great chicken sandwich. Down the road is another chicken place like a gourmet chicken sandwich place. I cannot get in the parking lot to that Chick-fil-A though. They're all serving the same thing. And I think of that as four different home inspectors, one doing a fantastic business and three more saying what does he have that I don't? Because we all serve the same chicken sandwich. But we don't all serve the same experience. We as home inspectors, we all offer the same thing, technically a home inspection, but we don't all offer the same experience. We're always looking for USPs, unique selling point. Well I offer infrared. Okay, well, McDonald's has their special sauce. Well, I offer extra crispy home inspection. So does KFC. Man, I'm getting hungry just talking about this. But I'm sitting in the Chick-fil-A line like a crack addict. And I'm like, where's my chicken sandwich? And everybody's making me feel really good about my addiction as I'm driving through that drive thru. So you mentioned manners, and we're gonna go really, really far back to basics here. I mentioned pulling up your pants because you know, I just went to bring my lawnmower to get repaired, and I had a great customer experience. I walked in, clean setup, guy at the counter, "hello", had logo on his shirt, shirt tucked in. I don't know why that matters to me, but it just made me feel like he cared a little bit more, talked to me about the lawn mower, grabbed it, called me when it was done. The whole thing was like driving up in that Chick-fil-A line. So we gotta stop and ask ourselves, if like, are we like Randy? Doing our business like Chick-fil-A or the McDonald's that's half empty across the street? So how else does the basics play back into that, though? Randy what other basics? Because I do see basic lacking some time, focusing on getting the inspection, getting the consumer, but not the experience after we have them. What do you mean by manners? Maybe we could start there. 

Randy Lima  
Yeah, I think it starts, the whole process, the relationship with the client, and it is a relationship, starts the minute you get that call, the minute you get that call. Now, and the same thing with whether it's an agent calling you or whether it's the client, the buyer, it really doesn't matter because we get a good mix of both you know, so when you answer that phone you know thank you for calling Integrity Home Inspections USA, this is Randy, how can I help you? I'm ready to serve. I mean, you know, sounds basic right? All this is basic, but we're talking about Chick-fil-A, where people are just polite, and we're like, wow, that's really good. Shouldn't be that way. I mean really, just being polite shouldn't stand out but it does, being dressed appropriately shouldn't stand out but it does. Having a name badge with your name, maybe your logo or logo shirt shouldn't stand out but it does. Answering your phone. You would not believe how much I here in this area, man, they don't even answer their phone. And so just doing, those are basics right, to me it's 101. If you go into business, you spend all this money buying this equipment. Maybe you have a website, you know, SEO, happy to do mine through you, and it's worth every nickel.

Ian R  
Thank you.

Randy Lima  
But you spent money to get these clients in. And then we don't greet appropriately. You know, you know, and then it goes even beyond that, you know, after the greeting, you're listening. Right? You're listening, it's basics, they're going to tell you something, they called you for a reason. And then, of course, I'm always gonna ask them, How did you hear about us? And there's a reason for that. It's not just so I can check my box. So I can track where my work's coming from, what you need to be doing, certainly, so you know, advertising dollars are being most useful. But it's also because, oh, well, my cousin, John, or Mary the realtor, down in you know, oh, great. I know, Mary, she's fantastic. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And before you know it, now you've got common ground with them. You share something, just like, Ian, before the show we were talking about the album wall here, particularly that Van Halen album, we're both Van Halen fans, right. But we found common ground immediately, just, that's an example. So when you're ask them, how did you hear of me? And they say Google. And, and that's great. But they also may tell you, well, you did my cousin's home inspection, or Mary referred you with.. you know, whatever agency it was. You know, then of course, you're getting the property info, but you know, oh, I know that neighborhood, that you know, that's correct. I love Collierville, Tennessee, you know, matter of fact, I lived there for a while. All these common things, right? So it's just getting the information on the call. It's also building rapport. So, and I don't know if you knew this, Ian, but I'm a certified forensic interviewer. And when I was a Fraud Examiner for all those years, I interviewed people, and they were interrogations, really, they were the people that had done something wrong. And one of the key things there is building rapport. It's because you're selling yourself, you're selling their, you want them to tell you the truth, right? Well, it's no different when a client calls, you want them to tell you things, they want to gather information, they want to share information, becomes a discussion instead of just me telling them what I do. So I think of those as basic things, finding common ground, asking questions about the house, hey, you know, where are you moving from? You know, you got to sense that out because some people may be in a hurry. So you may give a more abbreviated version, right? You gotta, you got to read the room. But there's some of those clients, man, soaking it up, because they you're building comfort, you're building trust, you're building relationships. So it starts before the inspection. And I'll tell them everything we do, of course, all the ancillary services we offer, and then I'll give them a quote after that. And then I'm gonna ask them, would you like to schedule your inspection? Gotta ask, you got to ask them. So that's great. Now we got the inspection, right? That's the end of it, we don't have to deal with them. I'm kidding, obviously, we got to show up. And that's where your manners come in again, that's where your attire comes in again, that's where the way you greet the realtor. That's the way you treat the homeowners house with respect. Even though the homeowner is not there, maybe, you know, I set a timer when I set it. And I say, I'm gonna set a timer right now, because I'm starting this up, and I want to make sure we don't leave this oven on. Boom. Confidence. Rapport. I wouldn't thought of that. Little things, okay. And so now you're involving them in the process too, I mean, they're not expecting, you didn't get them an electrical tester, you know, you don't have to hand him a thermal camera, and you know, they're not going to check and stuff. But now they're part of the process, I tell them what I'm doing with the thermal camera when I checked the oven to see how hot it got, or when I'm shooting a register, you know, to see the temperature and telling them what I'm doing. So this way, they become part of the inspection. So you talk about that experience at Chick-fil-A, it's no different at the home inspection, you know, and there's little things I do after the inspection, you know, we give veterans discounts, first responder discounts, fire, police, rescue, and so forth. So, you know, after inspections, if I have a veteran, I give him one of these. It's challenge coin, thank you for your service. And then it has picture of all the soldiers on the back, you know, soldiers, Marines, sailors, and so forth. And I have the same thing for fire. I have the same thing for police and EMTs. And you know, I get these coins. And if anybody's interested, they can always reach out to me, I'm happy to share where I get them from. 

Ian R  
That's nice of you.

Randy Lima  
I buy them in bulk, it cost me like $3 a coin. But that $3 is the best $3 you'll ever spend because they remember that challenge coin, especially military, veterans, currently, and that's a big thing in that arena. Police, when many of them collect them, they have collections on their walls and stuff. But it's one thing to say thank you but you're handing them something like that. Now you've personalized it. You hand them that coin, you say thank you for your service. Shake their hand and by the way, I'm from a navy family also, you know, where did you serve? You know, I mean, all those things, right? It's building the relationship. It takes a little time. I could go on and on, I get excited about it. Ian, so I'm sorry. Yeah, sorry for rambling, but..

Ian R  
Don't be sorry. 

Randy Lima  
That it's, that's the experience that we build. Right. And a lot of it is just asking, Groucho Marx once said, best way to tell if a man is telling the truth is to ask him. And as an inspector, it was an old investigator thing, if you want to find out somebody did something wrong, you ask them, it's how you ask them. It's the same way, when you're just asking clients questions, you're really trying to find out about them for, not to convict them or anything, but you're trying to get to know them a little bit. And if you ask, they're gonna tell you, they're gonna tell you, and then when you leave there that day. I mean, I've got clients hugging me. 

Ian R  
Yeah.

Randy Lima  
You know. And, you know, the other thing too is, as I say, hey, look, it's a small business, you're going to get a request to give us some feedback on Google. You know, if you're happy with your experience today, if you wouldn't mind take a little time, it means the world to a small businessman. Again, that personal connection. Now, oh, man, I do, I want to help him, he helped me, you know, because you invested in them, you spent some time with them, instead of just going through answering the reports at the end, you know, answering the questions they might have on the report at the end, if they attended, if they didn't attend, you have even less chance to make a first impression. So you'd have to do it on the phone and post report. You know, but uh, it's really it's not, I don't have this magic formula. I'm not wise or anything like that, Ian, it's just taking the time to do those things. 

Ian R  
You know, there's a lot to unpack in what you said there. Because, I mean, it's getting right to me that that's the kind of stuff that I talk about a lot. Just a couple of things. If I were to have the one sound bite to sum up this whole podcast, it would be, in a world of McDonald's be Chick-fil-A. That's, that's what we're telling you all, our opinion on the home inspection industry. And you did it in twofold, on a twofold way so far that you've told us, building comfort and trust through relationship building, we actually had a podcast not long ago on how to build relationships, a little technical, but in reality, it's just being a good person, asking, and then actually caring because we can't fake it. But I want to go back to that manners thing, because there's something that matters to me a lot in there. There's a home inspector, I don't know, I want to say three weeks ago now, as of the recording of this. I called him, he answers his phone, hello. I go hello. Is this, he didn't know who I was. I go, is this so and so? Yeah. Do you need an inspection? I'm like, okay, and then, you know, I was working with him. I'm like, hey, and then I called and then voicemail was full. And he goes, and I'm like, hey, your voicemail is full. If somebody called me and said your voicemail is full, I like, I like drop everything. Be like, no, do you know how many times I've called an inspector, and their voicemail was full. And then weeks later, it'll still be full. I'm like, first of all, just get more space if you're going to do that. Second of all, this just doesn't make sense. But one of the things that he kind of insinuated was, these weren't his exact words was, people don't expect that level of politeness anymore. They basically just need an inspection. And I've gotten that same basic comment and feel from other inspectors. They just want a price and they want to move on. I was on an inspection. And this guy, I can't remember if he is a septic guy or a heating guy or something he came in, and he did something very unique. He said hello to everybody. And then he saw an older woman who was like my client's mother or something in the room. He takes off his hat, puts it under his arm, looks at her straight in the eye and goes hello, ma'am. Very nice to meet you and shakes her hand, very gently. I went up to him and I told him, I'm like, that was perfect. He adjusted his level, level of politeness to the highest level possible. An older generation is going to expect more politeness than the younger generation even though the younger generation still appreciates it. Calling people sir, a woman ma'am. Opening the door for your clients. If we have, there's a lot of Asian people in my area, and they don't like shoes in their home. I would always go up to them every inspection, and I give them a little bow, and I because I had done this before and asked one of my clients, I'm like, what's the politest way to do this? And I'd say listen, I know that you want us to take our shoes off but I can't do that in homes on a regular basis. And I said these are my inside shoes, and I would literally clean them off after each inspection and I'd show them the underside. May I please wear these in your home? They never told me no, not once. They wouldn't ever tell me no. But there was no problems with those sellers. And there was no problem with those buyers after that. You know..

Randy Lima  
You respected them, you respected their property.

Ian R  
Yeah. So we need to, we need to fault ourselves to the highest level of, of manners, instead of the lowest level. And that's what we tend to do. This is what most people expect. Don't do what most people expect. We want to do what, what, what only a few people expect. So those few people are happy, and everybody else is thrilled. So I really love your points there. Building comfort and trust through a relationship. But the manners, that makes a world of difference. We all think we're polite, until we compare ourselves to somebody. When that guy took his hat off. I'm like, no, I don't think I've ever taken my hat off for a woman here. And I'm like, maybe I should do that. And I would try to, I would forget sometimes. But when I did it, and it was an older lady, she'd be like, look at this nice young man, because I look like I'm 12. You know. Is your dad gonna be here? Yeah.


Ian, you said that the guy said, the inspector said, people don't expect that. 

Ian R  
Yeah.

Randy Lima  
It's perfect. 

Ian R  
Exactly. 

Randy Lima  
That's great. That's great news, because that now gives me a chance to exceed their expectations. Exactly. That to me, yeah, like that. There's not a more perfect scenario. As soon as he said that, instead of so, I'm not going to, people don't expect it, so I'm not going to do it. No, people don't expect it. Now's the perfect time to do it.

Ian R  
Yup, it's the whole, one of our previous guests, trying to think who at the moment, but they said, we all want a push button business, we do the inspection, we push, send, and then we're done. But then when we have those push button businesses, we wonder what the, what does Chick-fil-A have that we don't? Chick-fil-A doesn't just hand you a chicken sandwich, they give you the experience, whether we realize it or not. And that's why the line's out the door. So what you just said right there, do find out what people expect, and then go three times that, over the top. Do they, do they expect you to turn off the lights after you leave? Perfect. Do they expect you to go back in after you've done your driveway speech and say let me please just check every light in the stove real quick. Took an extra three minutes, agent's thrilled, everybody's happy. And you're like, oh, I'm glad I went down, the basement late was still on. And I left a little thank you note for the seller for letting us be here. But I'm sure they're gonna get mad at me later, when they find out I failed the roof because it's leaking, you know. But at the same time, when you get a referral from a seller, when a seller hires you, that's when you know you're doing something right. Would you agree with that?

Randy Lima  
Agree. It's interesting, because I just picked up a radon machine right before our discussion today that I've left at a house, you know, I did because it's got to stay there 48 hours, and they're selling, you know, and they said, well, we're gonna be reaching out to you. And they've already got the bad news on the roof, significantly granulation. Okay, they've gotten the bad news on it. And they said, we're going to be reaching out to you, because they're going to temporarily move to an apartment. But because they're getting out of their house, and they want to buy, but they're not ready to buy yet. That's a great example. I gave them bad news. But when I was at that house that day, like we talked about, so I have a checklist, Ian, you mentioned it, turning off the lights, making sure the doors are secured, making sure the ovens off, all these different things, right. But me having that checklist is great. But I want my clients to know. And I want the agents to know that I have this checklist because it goes back to that competence thing. So that oh, that's a good idea. I've never thought that, boom, it's another chance to exceed their, and it's so basic, there's probably hundreds and hundreds of inspectors, 1000s of inspectors that do that. I'm not unique. But I just take the time to tell them and let them know that so they're part of the process.

Ian R  
That's a beautiful, actionable point you said there. Have a checklist. I usually keep it on my phone because I'm on my phone anyways. And then I would, I probably didn't, don't do it as well as you do. But I'm like, let me let me go and just run through this list of items. But I could probably do a better, I could probably work a little bit more being like you on and just saying listen everybody, I have my checklist. I'm just going to run through this just to make sure that I don't forget anything for you.

Randy Lima  
That's actually in the inspection template. Yeah.

Ian R  
That's a beautiful point. So yeah, thank you for that. So I always find that when you're talking about relationships, there's always a fine line between prying, and you have to read the room as you said, and asking good questions, and I always found that keeping the conversation light is always good. You've know you've crossed the bounds when, when these things start getting weird, like they're like, you know, what's your social security number? Or what's when's your birthday, you know, like one of those Facebook quizzes. But um, you know, where I always find that people appreciate it. And I don't know about you is with kids, is, I always used to bring coloring books for them. But then I, and those coloring books are great for the young kid, but the child was a little bit older, or the or the dad even, this is, I'll apply it to both because the kid wants to be kept busy, and they think it's really cool. I'd have them go flick switches for me, can you go turn that switch on for me, I'd give them my, my, my little electrical tester that does touchless. And I'd be like, hold this up against, hold this up against this light switch plate, and let me know if it goes off. They're not doing anything, but they feel part of it. But more for like the dad. If you're a husband, and you're buying a house, we have to have empathy. If I'm standing there, as the male of my home, and some other dude is pointing out stuff that I didn't see, there's gonna be sometimes some feelings. Most guys are pretty cool or like, okay, that's not what I do, but some, some guys get really sensitive. If I even get a note that maybe they're like, feeling bad, like, I'll hear them saying the back. I'm sorry, honey, I didn't notice that. Boom, I turn, I turn on I'm a husband too mode. And I'm like, hey, can you help me? And then I'll be like, hey, I'm gonna go on the second floor and check the radiator Can you just turn the heating unit on for me? And I'd give them simple, safe jobs. Like, my ladder has a stabilizer, stabilizer on it. And I always set it up so that I don't need it held. But I always want him holding the ladder. You know, it's like, here, just hold my ladder, if he's not a weird dude or going to hurt me. And I say, hey, just don't climb up if you could. And I have a little sign and all this stuff and have a disclaimer in my reports. So all I'm saying is being safe, safe with my all my disclaimers, but I tried to make them part of it, read the situation, read the person. That's just something that I like to do, especially with the kids and the dads. Having empathy is about really being a real person. What else helps when it comes to our theme of good business is good business, what are some business basics that you see lacking that we could stand out for it with?

Randy Lima  
I think I'll go back to the beginning when when somebody first calls up. So first of all, I'm not a home inspector. I'm a professionally trained home inspector. Okay. And there's a difference, right? You know, you could learn it just on your own, you know, don't get me wrong once you're paid. Yeah, sure. You're professional technically, but, but little things, how you represent yourself. But, Ian, you asked the question of tell them what you do. We assume all the time, you know that well, inspector, we're gonna read all this and they all, you know, they know what it is. No, they don't. Some of them don't. Even if they've had a previous home inspection, maybe that home inspector the first time didn't tell them what we do. And when they're calling I'm running through starting at the outside, you know, we're gonna start outside, we're gonna look at driveways, walkways, porches, patios, decks, stairs, scoops, we're gonna look at the grading and draining around the structure. I mean, I'd go on and on all the way through the siding, materials, roof, you know all the windows, and do the same thing indoors, all the way through electrical, plumbing, tell them all the things we do, and not assume that they know that because just because they've had an inspection, you don't know the quality of the inspection you received the first time. You don't know if they've even arranged it. It might have been the realtor, the real estate professional called and set it all up. And they really didn't hear anything. All he heard was a bunch of defects at the end. And so I tell them, I'll tell them that I'm a member of InterNACHI, and I'm a certified professional inspector, and I tell them I was professionally trained. Those are basics, but what you're doing there's you're talking about your qualifications, right? Which instills confidence. And then the listening part, I think is really important. And we talked earlier, you know, we're talking, I mentioned I asked him hey, you know where you moving from? Because you'd be surprised. Oh, you know, I'm moving from, I'm coming in from Pennsylvania. Oh, really? What's bringing you to Memphis, Tennessee? Blah, blah, blah. Well my work. And I do this. Great. That's so interesting. Yeah. You might have done the same thing once upon a time. Or you might have a family member that does very similar work. Again, it's that common ground but you're, it's more than just a professional relationship now, you've actually bridged a gap. And you've, you know, you've brought them into the fold. They brought you into the fold. I will tell you too, I like self-deprecating humor if I you know, I say something silly. I'll never say something about jokes editor. I'm not going to say something. Yeah, I'm the easiest person I know to make fun of, Ian.

Ian R  
I don't think so, Randy.

Randy Lima  
I really am. I'm a little goofy, and I'm okay with that. In fact, I can poke a little fun at myself and you know, sometimes they're tense too, they're nervous, because they're worried that you're gonna find something big and it's gonna blow, you know, it's gonna blow the whole thing up. And the truth is, we're still going to do that if we find something major, we're going to tell them. But if you can just bring them down a little bit, and relax them a little bit, it becomes a better experience, same result at the end, but the experience to get there is more pleasant. And I think too, they'll let their guard down. You mentioned the husband, I think it's really important to leave people with their dignity. Yes. And I'll go back to my previous thing, Ian, I'd be sending people to jail, I would be, this person admitted stealing $10,000 worth of cash over two months. And I'm sending him to jail. But you know, what, John, John Doe, look, good people make bad decisions, doesn't mean you're a bad person. Okay? And those are the same people by the way, when I was sending them to jail, they were shaking my hand and hugging me. Okay, so leaving people with their dignity is critically important. And that husband's a great example, maybe he missed a couple things. And he's kind of really just embarrassed, deflect immediately away from that, and say, you know, what, this is an easy thing to miss, and here's why, you know, allow him to save face, or your agent, if your agent, maybe kind of, you know, didn't catch something, maybe you think they should probably call the initial walkthrough or what have you. You know, certainly don't take the opportunity to point that out. That would be, you know, that's catastrophic thing to do. But help them save face, you know, is it your job to do that? You could say, well, no, my job is just to inspect homes, if you want to be average, okay, if you want to be exceptional, do the different things.

Ian R  
Yeah, exactly. Our job is to serve the chicken sandwich, how many people show up is up to us with the experience. You know, there's something that I do have to say, that I'd like to touch on. You are not just a good listener, you're a skilled listener. And I want to, I want to talk about that for just a moment. You do some things, and maybe it's by nature, training, or a combination of both, you will refer back to what people say, dignify the expression and expand on it. And if you're listening to this, you can see Randy actually pays attention. And he'll and he'll refer back to what people say. So just things like that make people make people comfortable. They make people feel heard. And that's really what all of us want on on some level or another, if anybody watches The Office. You know, it was James Spader's character. He goes, we all want to be heard. We all want to be valued. We all want to be young, there is no, there is no product that we're selling. We're, we're selling humanity, summing up basically what he said, But let me ask you, Randy, because you are a skilled listener, I'm gonna use that word skilled, what helps you to do that, because that's very important for relationship building.

Randy Lima  
And I'd like to give you the magic formula here. But a lot of it was my training as an investigator, honestly, because you got to listen to what people say. And likewise, it's not nearly as important as what I say is what they hear. Right. And in likewise, it works the other way around. What I hear sometimes is maybe they didn't quite say what I think they were trying to say, but I got the gist of it, you know. And so if you can expound upon that, if you can say, okay, you know, and you do this, Ian, you're great at it. So let me make sure I understand this, right, what you're saying is this, right? And it goes back to, they know you listen, because you just repeated it to them, but you want to make sure you understand it. They know you care, because you're asking for confirmation that you understand correctly, right. I think a lot of it was corporate, my corporate experience has helped me with that. I think a lot of it too, is intuitive. And the more you engage people, and the more you ask questions, the better listener you will become. I'm chatty, but I also, it's amazing how I'll sometimes have a claim at the beginning of the inspection, who's, kind of get the idea they rather than not engage in the process. And by the end, they're laughing, they're having a good time. They're joking around, they're, they're like, oh, I didn't know this, I didn't know that, you've learned, so they learn something, you know. And it's because I listened to what, their little cues, they'll tell you, they will tell you, you just have to listen. You'll find out what's important to them. Yeah. So I think you know, we talked about this previously, and the thing too is I think, going back to easing people's mind because buying a house is stressful. First of all, they've got 100 different forms they're ever signing. They're having to send earnest money, they're having to kind of pay that termite inspector, I got to pay the septic inspector, I got to pay the home inspector, I got to, you know, they got all these things being thrown at them. Our job is to answer all their questions, even if they forget to ask him. And we talked about this before. Remember, that was actually my, a slogan we used when I was in the DJ business when I was a young pup is, we'll answer all your questions even if you forget to ask them. And I think that's part of it too. If you answer, if you anticipate what questions what I want to know, if I was getting a home inspector, it's simply anticipating what you think they're going to want to know. My air conditioner, are you gonna test the air conditioner, are you gonna test electrical, don't just say all, tell them. We're going to test every receptacle in your house, we're gonna open up the electrical panel, I'm gonna go right down to the bare wire, I'm gonna look for this, I'm gonna look for that. And now they're like, he knows what he's doing there. And I put more confidence in him, okay, he gets it, he's going to be fine. I don't have to follow him everywhere. So they may not have told you, hey, I'm worried about the quality of the inspection. But their actions kind of said that. And so by doing all that, you answered their question. So it's not always verbalizing. Sometimes it's things they say or don't say. And you read the room, like you said, and answer their questions.

Ian R  
I love listening to you, Randy, I'm gonna unpack a couple of things in my mind, what you just said. So I don't want to be reductive of being a good listener, because being a good listener is being a good human being, but we could be a good human being and terrible listener. For me, I find that my ADD gets control of me. So I actually do exactly what you just said, repeat, confirm, build. In other words, you said this, is this what you meant? And then we build off of it and to whatever we're going into. So if we're talking about the heating unit, you ask this, is this what you meant by that question? Because here's what I think it will answer your question. And then we're building a rapport. We're building the conversation, and we're going forward. So repeat, confirm, build is what I always try to do. As a side, side note, if you are like me, and your wife starts talking, and then sometimes you're like, you know, where do squirrels go in the wintertime, like, how many nuts do they need to save up? And do they know the exact number, and all sudden, she's done. I find if I repeat the last two words of her last sentence in the form of a question, it'll get me out of it about half the time. So they're you go, marriage tips from Inspector Toolbelt Talk.

Randy Lima  
And that's valid, too. 

Ian R  
Yeah, but it shouldn't be a, it shouldn't be a trick. It's just being a, it's a skill. But we also have to actually care about what they're saying. But you also said, answering questions before people ask them. We get asked the same questions a lot. And I find that I will actually continually expand what I call my driveway speech. And then I have little speeches that I give when I get to the basement, then when I come out of the attic, and then when I'm looking at the heating unit. And then every time somebody asks a question, I'm like, oh, that's a really good question. I'll add that to my speech next time. So you know, a lot of people ask about this time, what does this do? What does this do? And what does that do? So here's those three things. I'd like to hear some questions that you might have. Now, we just look amazing, because like you, like you just said, we're answering questions that they had, maybe afraid to ask. And they're just like, you're reading my mind. It's like, no, the last 400 people asked the same three questions. So it's listening. We have to listen to our clients individually and as a whole. So man, you got some good stuff for us today, Randy. That's awesome.

Randy Lima  
Appreciate it. It's exciting too. And I like people too, Ian. That doesn't hurt. But it is amazing how many times I've heard, I learned a lot too, when they leave a home inspection, and they tell you, I've learned a lot today that to me is one of the best feelings because you didn't just give them a report, and walked them to the main water shutoff valve by the street, and you explained, you know, do you have a water key, because as a homeowner that might be a good thing for you to own and right on my phone, Lowe's sells those for $12.99. You know, 12.99 blah blah blah. And here's why you want to have it. Like, the wheels are turning, some people know that, and I tell them, I tell the guys, you know, to women both, look, I'm not mansplaining I don't know what you know and don't know, and I tell the guys the same thing. Look, I'm not trying to insult your intelligence. I don't know how familiar you are. So I'm gonna assume you don't know, if you do, I apologize for telling you but and then again, that's back to respect right? They realize okay, he's not trying to treat me like an idiot, he just wants to make sure I understand. Same thing if I'm checking a furnace, you know, I'm looking for solid blue burners on this gas, on this gas furnace, and why? Why is that important? Well, because orange means you got a combustion issue or ventilation issue, maybe if you know, yadda yadda yadda. And, and making the way I believe is better prepared homeowners. And I thought that's important. So that relationship, they may not see you for six months, but something happens. And maybe they've got to shut the water main off. And they know how to do it. And they know because Ian told them, Randy told them that. And there's a picture in my report that shows you know, where the service disconnect is from the electrical panel. And I told them all that too, this book is not just the home inspection, part of it's a reference guide for you with all the model numbers and serial numbers and age of your equipment. And so they're nowr comfortable. And so they're pulling that out months later, maybe when they have a problem, and they're on the phone with air conditioning person, oh here's my model number on my air conditioner and serial number. You know, you continue to provide value well beyond the day of use.

Ian R  
That's a beautiful point, and you keep bringing up the word respect. And that's respect and dignity. That's what all of us want. And the more we do that on an inspection, the more people are gonna like us, and that builds longevity in our business. Randy, we're running low on time, because I could talk to you for hours on this, because these are basics that aren't basics. They're basics that we don't do enough of, you know what I mean? And if we did more of this, that's why the Chick-fil-A franchise owner is sitting there fat and happy with a bunch of happy clients and happy workers. And everybody else is wondering, I have the same chicken sandwich, why's his business different? It's the basics. And it really does work. And the point I was trying to make too is this builds longevity in our business. So the fastest way to get a bunch of work, get a bunch of agents to refer us. Okay, cool. Now I have all this work. But in five years, those agents are gone, retired, now you have to get new agents. It doesn't build longevity. But now, the average homeowner is, well, now it's changed. But it used to be every seven years would need a new home. Seven years later, you're turning out old clients, their family members, their friends, their cousins, their neighbors, pre listing inspections before they sell. I love seeing people over a 15, 20 year span, having them on my schedule three times for three different homes, at different intervals in their life, and then their cousins and their uncles. And that's what we want. That's good business. Randy, is there any words of wisdom you'd like to leave us with?

Randy Lima  
No, no, no. Just tell them what you do. And tell them why you're doing it. And I mean, and just ask questions, engage them, and you're gonna get, they're gonna reciprocate. They really are. It's not magic. It's not magic. I don't have magic words. 

Ian R  
Yeah. Well, great advice as always, Randy, thank you so much. And we will talk soon, and hopefully we'll talk a little bit more about Van Halen.

Randy Lima  
Indeed, and Ian, thank you so much. I appreciate you having me on.

Ian R  
You too, talk soon. Bye.