Make Money While You Sleep

My recent post on New Year’s Resolutions that home inspectors should seriously consider adopting included a suggestion that inspectors investigate Affiliate Programs. Many businesses pay commissions for referrals. In the post, I recommended the ADT Program because it a. requires no selling – you simply put a banner on your website or give your clients a circular that offers them a free installation – b. it is tailor-made for the home inspection industry – put the circular in your inspection report and c. the payout is pretty decent. And it’s a genuine benefit to your client. Go here to learn more.

That post prompted a New York home inspector to ask whether such programs might run afoul of anti-kickback real estate laws.

I am not aware of any laws proscribing home inspector participation in such programs. Nor can I think of any reason why there would be.

Another great Affiliate Program is Amazon’s. I am hard pressed to recall the last time that I was in a retail establishment – where I actually bought something – that did not sell food. I make almost all of my non-food purchases on line. And I make almost all of my online purchases at amazon.com.

Recently, I became an amazon affiliate. If I buy something from amazon that I like, I’ll recommend it to my followers on twitter, facebook, and LinkedIn with my affiliate link to the product. If any of them purchase it via that link, I’ll receive a commission. So far, it’s been nothing to write home about but then my peeps aren’t buying houses and needing or, at least, having a use for, nearly everything that amazon sells.

One of the marketing techniques that Ken Compton, the world’s foremost home inspector marketing coach, preaches is staying in touch with your prior clients for both future engagements and, more importantly, referrals. But why wouldn’t you also notify the hundreds or thousands of your prior clients who know you, like you and trust you about a great home safety device, or barbecue grill, or shower head, or first-aid kit, or whatever that you have used and can highly recommend – along with your amazon affiliate link, of course?

That’s a win-win situation for a home inspector. On the one hand, you’re staying in touch and giving good advice, thus keeping your name in front of the very people most likely to refer you. On the other, if any of them buy the product from amazon, you get a commission at no cost to them.

What am I missing here? One-hundred-and-fourteen years ago, yesterday, a great man was born.