News and information from the franchise frontlines.

[Pages:5]News and information from the franchise frontlines.

January / February 2016

Inside the Insider

1 ............. From the President 2 ............. Marketing Matters 3 ............. NPI News 4 ............. Product Recalls 5 ............. New Marketing Materials

From the President

I hope everyone's New Year is off to a good start. We are very busy here in Omaha. We have a lot going on for 2016, and I'm excited to share some new information with you.

All NPI and GPI franchise owners should have

received an invitation to our regional workshops,

hosted by Kimberly Stevens and Van Deeb. Van was the most well-received speaker we've had at an annual

Roland Bates President

conference. Several franchise owners were planning to

pay to have him to go to their city and work with them locally. As you

can imagine, that would be very expensive for a franchisee. So, in order

to give you access to Van at a more affordable cost, National Property

Inspections, Inc., has organized these regional meetings. We are furnish-

ing the meeting rooms and underwriting a portion of Van's fee. I hope

you will maximize the benefit from these workshops and attend one near

you. If you have questions, please contact Kimberly at

kimberly.stevens@. If you plan to attend one of the meet-

ings, it would be helpful to tell her where you need the most help so she

can discuss them with Van in advance.

On Jan. 16, 2016, we officially launched NPI Hub and GPI Hub, a marketing platform developed for us by Luke Armstrong and his staff at RenMind. It would be difficult for most people to learn and best use this marketing software without watching the tutorials or webinars that we are offering, so please see the "Webinar Recordings Available" section of this newsletter for the links to the webinars Luke has already done for us. We are paying a monthly fee to RenMind to make the Hub solutions available to everyone, so please use it to help grow your business.

Effectively marketing your business requires a combination of meeting and talking to people and constantly analyzing and comparing what's working and what's not. If marketing is not your thing or you are otherwise too busy, then we recommend that you hire someone to market for you. Even though I became a silent investor with RenMind, I do not earn one penny of income from that partnership; I became a partner to lock in discounts for NPI and GPI franchise owners.

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Marketing Matters

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If you do not enjoy doing all of your own marketing, then set a monthly budget and contact the RenMind team at info@ and ask about the services they offer. You will automatically get the NPI/GPI discount. Let's all have a great year, and please stay in touch -- we love hearing from you. Regards,

Roland Bates President

Marketing Matters

Offer Agent Education Classes for a Stronger Business

National Property Inspections and Global Property Inspections franchise owners have the potential to expand their businesses by instructing classes at their local real estate offices. From continuing education classes for credits to non-credit courses and lunch-and-learn sessions, these classes are an opportunity to put you in front of agents and help you connect with them.

The NPI/GPI home office provides PowerPoint presentations for agent training and continuing education credits. The presentations are available in the NPI/GPI online libraries. In order to teach continuing education classes for credits, you must be certified in your state or province. The NPI and GPI Web libraries have information about what states and provinces we are accredited in, so please check the library for information. To become certified and for additional information, contact Bill Erickson at bill.erickson@.

So, what benefits can you experience by offering agent education classes? Here's what three franchise owners had to say.

Wes Grant, NPI Franchise Owner, Indian Trail, North Carolina

Wes Grant Indian Trail, NC

Wes said that in order to set up agent classes, he talks to the broker in charge (BIC) or the office/market center manager and offers free Realtor continuing educa-

tion. "I now have agencies who call and ask us to do the classes for their offices, but we often have to decline because we have so many inspections now. We are trying to find inspectors to join our team so we can do more classes.

"The last one I did, several agents remarked that it was the best class they have ever taken," Wes said, "and I also got two new agents from that office who started using us. Teaching these classes helped me start my business by showcasing my knowledge and personality."

Jon McCreath, NPI Franchise Owner, Emerson, Georgia

Agent classes can really help you break into real estate offices that you've been trying to win. Jon said that for the last agent class he held, he received three referrals within a couple of days, and he's now on the Realtor's approved vendor list.

"I've received very positive feedback,"

Jon said. "One agent said it was the best

continuing education class they had ever taken. I recommend making a flier

Jon McCreath Emerson, GA

for your class and handing it out during Realtor visits or

sending a newsletter out in which you promote it. Real-

tors need these classes, and they are an easy way to get in

front of them."

David Riley, NPI Franchise Owner, Savannah, Georgia

David does some agent classes at real estate offices but most are held at the Board of Realtors office. In Georgia, classes

must be three hours long, so he said he doesn't really enjoy them, but the classes are effective for his business. "We have had agents begin to use us because of the CE classes," David said.

David Riley

"The best approach to lessen your stress

Savannah, GA level is to get buy-in from the local board,"

David said. "The first few we did were for

individual offices, and I had to compile agent information

and get it to Bill [Erickson]. The board wanted to be in

charge of everything, including making paper copies of the

PowerPoint presentation, and that was a tremendous help."

Wes, Jon and David said they typically have between 12 and 40 agents attend their classes, so holding agent classes is certainly a beneficial way to encourage agents to give you a try. These classes are opportunities for you to show your knowledge and expertise, as well as let agents see your personality.

If you would like to provide agent or continuing education classes, please visit the NPI or GPI Web library and click on Agent Continuing Education in the Directory.

NPI News / Anniversaries

NEWS, ETC.

Updated Insurance Provider List for NPI Franchise Owners

Some NPI franchise owners have received notices from their E&O carriers that they "might not renew coverage." Other franchise owners may receive a notice that their policies will not be renewed. We have updated the list of insurance providers in the NPI library, so if your policy isn't renewed, be sure to check this document. It has companies and contacts that NPI has vetted and talked to about policies. To download the list, go the NPI Web library and click on Insurance in the Directory.

If you have questions about E&O or general liability insurance, please contact Bill Erickson at bill.erickson@ or 800.333.9807, Ext. 19.

GPI Franchise Owner Authors Radon Articles for Local Newspaper

One of the ideas that NPI/GPI has always suggested to franchise owners is that they contact their local newspapers to see if they could write a monthly home inspection/home maintenance column. This is a point that Van Deeb also discussed during his keynote speech at the 2015 NPI/GPI Annual Conference. Deeb advised the audience to approach newspapers, radio stations and television news stations to become their go-to expert for any stories involving home inspection.

For several years, Lawrence Englehart, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, has frequently contributed to his local newspaper, The Chronicle Herald. Recently, Lawrence wrote two articles about radon in his area, and both were featured in the paper's "Homes" section. These articles are terrific examples of how every NPI and GPI franchise owner can volunteer a bit of their time to get free publicity/advertising for their businesses. Writing columns or articles like these demonstrate your experience and expertise in home inspection, improve your branding, and increase your referrals. Great job, Lawrence!

To read Lawrence's radon articles, click the links below: "Understanding Radon" "Lower Your Radon Level"

A `Neat' Way to Track Business Expenses

A few months ago, GPI franchise owner Brian Kuch, Burlington, Ontario, recommended Neat, a software solution that tracks business expenses and integrates with popular accounting and business software.

"It is a great tool for organizing you receipts and invoices," Brian said. "You can set it up for different accounts for expenses, taxes and other types of reports. I find it is great asset to my office for helping me organize my bills. You can also run monthly, quarterly or yearly reports from it."

According to the company's website, Neat allows you to scan or import your receipts through the mobile app or other means. Then the solution extracts

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Welcome To The Family

?? The NPI/GPI family is expanding, and we

would like to welcome our newest owners and employees.

Randy Renfro Newark, CA

Mark Naquin Houma, LA

David Roush Pooler, GA

Brian Shabino Sioux Falls, SD

Danny Thomas Gadsden, AL

Phillip Perry Barnhart, MO

Damon Terrell Lindale, TX

Jared Terrell Lindale, TX

Matt Burley (employee of Bob McDonough) Oxford, GA

Woodie Bates (employee of Joe Marsh) Tonganoxie, KS

Aaron Bailey (employee of Doug Miller) Ashland, VA

Ryan Renfro (employee of Randy Renfro)

Newark, CA

Please Keep Us Informed!

If you have some exciting news, please take a minute to let us know. We'd love to hear about it, and when possible include you in the newsletter. Email your news to amy.goldyn@.

NPI News / Product Recalls

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the key information from each receipt and imports it into Excel, TurboTax, QuickBooks and other applications. Because it's a cloud-based solution, Neat is available anytime, anywhere -- from your mobile device, your computer or the Web.

Neat's key benefit is its ability to securely manage and organize your business expenses, which saves you time and storage space. Neat plans range from $5.99 per month (one user) to $24.99 per month (five users), and the company offers a discount if you pay for your plan annually. Be sure to compare the plans and purchase the one that offers the features you need.

Upcoming Webinars

If you currently use Inspection Support Network (ISN), you'll want to attend our webinar on Feb. 2 about ISN's Real Estate Dashboard. This personal app allows your real estate agents to schedule an inspection with one touch on their mobile phones. With the Real Estate Dashboard, agents can quickly see your availability and book an inspection. They can also view their past inspections performed by you, as well as update their personal information, biography and photo for the report delivery page. ISN's Real Estate Dashboard will help you grow your business and make it easy for your agents to do business with you! Click here to register.

Webinar Recordings Available

If you have missed any of our recent webinars, we have provided the links are below. Also, if you would like any of the presentation slide decks from our webinars, please contact Amy Goldyn. Make sure to watch your email for upcoming webinars!

Introduction to Inspection Support Network (ISN) (Hosted by Michelle Shishilla, Platform Specialist at ISN)

RenMind Email Solution Demo No. 1 (Hosted by Luke Armstrong of RenMind)

RenMind Email Solution Demo No. 2 (Hosted by Luke Armstrong of RenMind)

Five Trends of Top-producing Inspectors (Hosted by Van Deeb)

Did You Know?

Join Real Estate Directories, Increase Exposure

Did you know you can join real estate directories like Zillow for no cost? You'll get a page for your business, and you'll be able to include a link to your website. You probably shouldn't expect a ton of business from listings on these sites, but they are good for increasing your exposure and getting a link back to your NPI website.

Blogging Position Available for NPI or GPI Franchisee

We have a space available for an NPI/GPI franchisee blogger for our blog at . The NPI/ GPI blog is focused on topics related to home inspections, home maintenance and home improvement. Blogging for us offers promotion for you and your business, as we give each blog author a byline, and we link your name to your business website. Furthermore, you can (and should!) post the links to your blog posts on your social media pages to promote yourself as an expert in the home inspection field.

The commitment is to write one 300- to 500-word blog post once a month. If you'd like to try your hand at blogging, contact Amy at amy.goldyn@. She'll get you started and help you with ideas for what to blog about.

We Want Your Photos From the Field!

We know you see some crazy things out in the field -- doors cut out to fit around toilets, light fixtures inside showers, trees growing through roofs, "creative" home repairs. OK, maybe you don't always find such dramatic defects, but we know you have photos of defects you've found on inspections that readers of The Inspector newsletter would love to see. If you'd like to share your photo follies in The Inspector, please send your photos with a few sentences describing the photo and defect to Amy Goldyn at amy.goldyn@.

Happy Anniversary

?? Congratulations on your anniversary with

National Property Inspections, Inc.

5 YEARS

10 YEARS

10 YEARS

Steve Mowvley Bragg Creek, AB

Neil Anderson Lawton, OK

Joe Nanni Raleigh, NC

15 YEARS

15 YEARS

15 YEARS

NPI/GPI Annual Conference

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Questions From LinkedIn

Inform 2015 and Windows 10

Q. Happy New Year to all! Still have been holding back from updating Microsoft Windows 8.1 to Windows 10. Anyone running Windows 10 with the new Inform 2015? Any problems?

-- Mike Oberacker, Palm Harbor, FL

A. So far, the inspectors who have updated to Windows 10 are not experiencing problems with running Inform 2015, which is great news.

"I have Windows 10 on four systems running Inform 2015 and have had zero compatibility issues," said Doug Versaw, Golden, Colorado. "I think Microsoft hit a home run with Windows 10."

John Braddock George Kasimirsky

Castle Rock, CO

Hickory, PA

Lee Shaw DeBary, FL

Give Us a Review

Franchise owners, we're looking for your reviews of NPI and GPI. Just click the appropriate link below to let others know how you like owning your own NPI/GPI franchise and how you like working with the home office team.

Google Reviews Yelp Reviews

TM

A production of National Property Inspections, Inc

9375 Burt Street, Suite 201 Omaha, NE 68114

Phone (800) 333-9807

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