Creating a strong online presence is important to distinguish yourself as a local private investigator from the competition and one of the easiest ways to create a strong impact for your brand is with your logo (http://www.netplaces.com/private-investigation/marketing-and-money-matters/marketing-and-promotion.htm). Your logo is the first thing that people see when they reach your corporate web site and it has an instant effect on people, so creating a unique, professional logo that people will remember is crucial.

It’s best to get your web site and logo created by a professional company unless you’re particularly talented in that area. Although you might be able to save some money initially by doing it yourself, the revenue lost by not having a professional web site and logo make it an unattractive trade-off. There are a lot of very well priced companies out there that will be able to create a clean, professional logo and web site that will give you a strong brand presence as a private investigator.

Showing You Are an Authority in Private Investigation

Your web site is the place where you can show your potential clients that you’re an authority in the field of private investigation and not just another company providing a service. The best way to give the impression you’re an authority is by providing a lot of useful tips and advice to your potential clients. You can write about how to best assess a potential private investigator, what to look for when hiring a private investigator and general advice that would be helpful to anyone looking for a local private investigator.

It might seem unusual to do this on your company site, but what you’re actually doing is setting yourself up apart from the other private investigation companies by showing that you know your business and giving the impression that you genuinely care about your clients and want to offer them useful advice, even if they don’t actually use your services.

They, however, are far more likely to use the service of the company that they trust to be giving good advice rather than taking your advice and using someone else. Marketing is all about psychology and people reading advice about how to find a private investigator on your own site will only see your company as an authority in the field and one that actually cares about giving good advice to people.

Creating a blog on your company site where you can regularly write about topics in private investigation will give you the opportunity to set yourself up perfectly as a strong authority and gain a lot of potential clients from people who are searching for advice on how to find the best private investigator, or searching for general information related to private investigation.

Building an Email List

A great way to build and retain a list of potential customers on your web site is to build an email list that you can regularly communicate with. You can put together various guides and tips and offer them to people who subscribe to your email list and then keep your list updated on a regular basis and offer them discounts or special offers when you’re in need of extra business.

Social Media

You can also setup a Facebook page and Twitter feed that you can encourage people to like and join which will enable you to keep in touch with your potential clients and when you create new articles for your blog you can post them to your Twitter feed and Facebook page for people to read.

Social media allows you to create and maintain a strong positive brand image which contributes towards the perception you want to create in your potential clients’ eyes that you’re an authority in the area of local private investigation. Having an active social media profile is one of the key components involved in creating a successful online brand image and it’s where you’re able to separate yourself from your competition by showing what your company is about and what you can offer that’s better than your competitors.

This article is from David Veibl, guest blogger on many different topics ranging from marketing to SEO and more. This time he wrote for Beacon Investigative Solutions, a nationwide Private Investigation company in the USA, specializing in asset search and corporate investigations.

New for 2012, we are beginning the “Pursuit Magazine Professional Spotlight” in which we will feature one (1) of our subscribers on the home page of PursuitMag.com for an entire month in a self-styled promotional article. Think of it as a mini-autobiography of you and your business reaching all of our subscribers (several thousand people and growing every day), social network followers and website visitors in a VERY big way.

This opportunity could be a MASSIVE marketing turbo-boost for you (and it’s FREE)!

Here’s the write up on Brian Taylor, in first Professional Spotlight feature!

But there is a catch… there always is, right???

1. You must be a private investigator, bail agent, process server, forensics guru, collateral repossession professional, security consultant, skip tracer or in a related profession.

2. You’ve got to write a really good article about yourself! Be original, interesting, humorous (if it works for you), but most importantly… be compelling! Make us WANT to put you in the spotlight. You don’t have to be the next Hemingway or even really write that “good” (we’ve got editors for that).

Don’t worry, I’ve got some suggestions (and just a few guidelines) that can be found right here:

http://pursuitmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Professional-Spotlight.pdf

The directions are simple:

1. Check out the resource link above.

2. Write your featured article.

3. Send it to me! (My email address is in the document.)

We’ll review all of your submissions and post the next spotlight the following month. Will you be in the spotlight?

.

Half the battle is answering the phone. We derive a lot of business from online advertising and one great feature of online advertising is you can turn it off and on. We make sure to turn it off when we are unable to answer the phone.  It is just a waste of advertising dollars if the potential client cannot get a hold of someone when they are looking at your ad or website.  Once we answer the phone we let the caller tell us what their situation is and let them finish talking before we offer any response. If you have a private client who is nervous and may want something like infidelity surveillance you may have to nudge the caller a little bit to get them to open up.  We will say something like “tell me about what is going on?” That usually does the trick, and they will often give us more information than we need, but that is ok. When we let a person talk it out they become comfortable with us.  Then if they are a qualified client, meaning they have the money to pay they will most likely select the Private Investigator they feel most comfortable with regardless of the price.

Another sales technique that I was aware of but did not always practice was something I was reminded by when reading Dave Ramsey’s new book “Entreleader”.  He called it the “assumed sale”.  This is after the caller tells you their situation, you respond with “yes we can help” and our rates are…, and you then start to take the callers information and the details of the subject or case. Just go straight into filling out your case intake form, assume they are ready to assign you the case.  Don’t make them say “ok how do we get started”.

Start with the caller’s first name if you don’t have it already, then their email address. Then ask about the subject of the investigation in detail like name, age, location etc… If the caller is not ready to commit to the Investigation they will let you know.  Hopefully you have at least their first name and email address; that way if they say they would like to call you back you can tell them “no problem, and if you like I can send you some more details, my contact information, and the paperwork (contract) needed to get started” when they are ready.  This is a non-pushy approach and you now have permission to email them.  If you don’t hear back from them in a few days you can follow up by email.  I would not follow up by phone for an Infidelity situation or Attorney client.  They don’t like to receive calls; if they need you they will call you.  Just make sure they remember your name and number and periodic emails and newsletters will take care of that.

For more details and techniques including email newsletters and other marketing tips visit http://paperlesspi.com

Chris Woodson, CPI
Director of Investigations | Newport P.I.
Vice President of Investigative Services at the
California Association of Licensed Investigators
CA PI LIC # 24455 | Direct Line (949) 735-3071

You do have an agency Facebook fan page don’t you?

Why exactly should you have one?

The reasons are many why you should have an agency Facebook page working for you even if you do not have a Facebook account, so many in fact that the question probably deserves its very own article. Briefly, however, I’ll give you 750 million reasons plus 5 more just to start this conversation off:

#1 through #750,000,000 – Facebook topped 750 million users last month; if Facebook was a country it would be the third most populous, below China and India and above the United States.

#750,000,001 – A visitor does not have to have a Facebook account to visit and view your company page.

#750,000,002 – A Facebook page has GREAT search engine optimization benefits and rank highly if handled correctly.

#750,000,003 – Consumer interaction. Engage potential customers in 2-way communication without the psychological sales barriers people put up when shopping for a service provider.

#750,000,004 – Brand identity and name recognition. iModerate Research Technologies’ research indicates that 60% of Facebook Page fans “are more likely to recommend those brands since becoming a member. And an impressive 51% of Facebook members are more likely to buy the brands who’s Facebook Page they are a member of.”

#750,000,005 – It’s completely FREE to host a Facebook page. Many companies are actually foregoing a company website in favor of a very well constructed Facebook. You are getting all of the above named benefits for free if you build and manage the page on your own.

And there’s the rub… doing it yourself takes time and expertise to develop that page into an effective marketing tool and online presence, but as I said before, there are many other obvious, and not so obvious, reasons to set up a Facebook page for your private investigation agency!

Let’s say you’re ready to make a go if it though and you get the page looking great and it clearly conveys the message that will convert fans into evangelists and prospects into clients. The first question is “How do I get people to ‘like’ my Facebook page now?”

First, watch this video (hopefully you learn something), then we’ll get into the REAL methods used to attract and engage your page visitors in a way almost guaranteeing that they will “like” your page and come back time and again.

Here are 15 ways you can begin to add “likes” (and visitors, i.e. prospective customers) to your page right now:

1. If you have a Facebook account, start with inviting your friends and family members to like the page.
2. Post status updates, links to interesting articles, photos, videos and poll questions two (2) times daily. Ask your fans to share your posts with their networks of friends and family.
3. When you get 25 “likes” you will have the opportunity to get a shortened URL for your page. Choose this URL wisely! Once it is set, you cannot change it and the difference between a good choice and a bad choice can hurt your search engine ranking, which is one way of attracting more visitors to your site.
4. Include your new custom URL in your email signature and on your business cards.
5. Include a Facebook icon, hyper-linked to your Facebook page, on your website (if you have a website).
6. Include a “Facebook Like Box” on your website (if you have one).
7. Try Facebook advertising. It can be ridiculously inexpensive and have laser-like targeting capabilities ensuring that you are paying for ads that are meant for your ideal client. Target by location, interests, groups, company, employer, occupation, age, gender, etc., or any combination thereof!
8. “Use Facebook as your page” to visit, like and comment on other, appropriate, Facebook pages. DO NOT SPAM PAGES or risk being banned by the page’s administrator and eventually by Facebook.
9. Link your Facebook page to a Twitter account. Facebook pages can upload posts automatically to Twitter, which is great for viral traffic.
10. Use the “Featured Pages” display on your page to gain mutual partnerships with other page owners that target your same ideal customer demographics.
11. Use “Facebook Events” to host virtual gatherings, meet-ups, product and service launches, or as a viral press release.
12. Upload and post agency commercials… use video to engage your fans!
13. Give genuine and meaningful discounts on your services or product offerings. Take a cue from Groupon: 10% is not a discount… 50% is a discount worth getting excited over.
14. Use the “Insights” feature, an easy to understand analytics function, of your investigation agency’s page to see what’s working and what’s not. “Learn from history or be doomed to repeat it!”
15. MOST IMPORTANTLY- Post original KILLER content that you have either developed or have found from the Internet on your own. If a fan is also a member of several other pages where you are finding content, why does that fan have to “like” your page when they are just going to see the same stories and information from someone else?

BONUS TIP: If your content is more about you than your fans, they will FLEE your page because no one wants to be blasted by sales messages. Think 90% fan interest content and 10% well-crafted marketing message and you should be safe.

There is a really great new agency page for a Private Investigator in Costa Rica who I think is doing about 95% of all the right things and his number of likes is rising steadily as a result. The only thing I might suggest right now is to add a “Welcome” tab (a “Fan Gate”) with the promise of a free giveaway in return for the visitor to “like” his page. It’s a great looking site, well optimized and filled out completely. Check it out at http://www.facebook.com/PrivateInvestigatorInCostaRica

There really is so much more to discuss if you want to turn your Facebook page into the marketing weapon it has the potential to become… “don’t worry about the number of fans but the quality,” gamification, EdgeRank and newsfeed optimization, Fan-gating and reveal tabs, add-on apps, etc.

Suffice it to say, if you simply follow the rule of building a good looking, functional basic page, keep the content fresh and original and you will definitely see the major benefits behind a solid social media marketing campaign. Social Media, Facebook in particular, is really pulling well for my own agency as well as the others I am currently mentoring.

Want to learn A LOT MORE about Marketing your agency on the web and via social media? Check out http://www.facebook.com/PIMarketing

What are some of the things cold-callers should know that would prevent them from interrupting her time but that would allow for the possibility of a productive and successful working relationship?

Without an appointment, an investigator not only risks having his head bitten off, it’s possible that to a potential client, due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control, you are yet another interruption in her already harried day and are, therefore, unwelcome.  Your potential client has closed the door on you without even getting to know you or of your stellar reputation as an investigator who is qualified, experienced and available to take on the stresses associated with coordinating surveillance work, serving documents and locating individuals.

You are the answer to her needs!  If only you could break through that time-crunch barrier and engage her in conversation long enough to convince her of such.

What are some of the things you could do to get that face-to-face time needed in order to present yourself and your company?

An interesting and familiar scenario from both professionals’ point of view.  With years of experience myself and from the benefit of other investigators’ years of experience, I have put some thoughts together that might resolve a client’s time constraints with an investigator’s need for a little of that time.  Collectively, here’s what some of us have learned:

With companies downsizing in today’s business climate, the burden is on fewer staff to handle an increased workload.  Being conscious of this, it might be wise to avoid contact on Mondays altogether and perhaps even avoid the early morning hours of the office day, giving the already rushed employee a chance to organize her time for the all-important tasks that lie ahead.  I’ve found that a simple phone call in the mid to late morning hours or early afternoon, just to briefly introduce myself, makes my name and purpose known so that when I do appear in person I am already a somewhat familiar name and personality.

Because I’ve already done my preliminary research into the company’s possible needs, I can more efficiently explain the nature of my call and advise of my intent to drop off some promotional materials for her review that will be of interest as they show the many resolutions I can offer to the challenges her busy desk faces.  I ask if there is a day or time convenient for such a quick meeting and mention that I am sensitive to the already burdened schedule she has.  I keep it friendly, professional and to the point.

On the day of my meeting with the prospective client, I am organized and properly dressed in casual business attire.  I am not chewing gum and I do not smell like the fast food meal I just downed.  I do not act like I’m from the “hood,” and I’m not overly casual.  As a professional, you already know these things and I am only bringing them up here in order to reinforce that as much as the business world has changed, these are some of the things that have not!

A friendly and courteous manner is appreciated by your subject.  There is no need to act stiff or self-conscious.  Act with confidence, after all you have a valuable service that will benefit her and her company.  Stressing that you are capable of producing the desired results to any given project quickly and efficiently will catch her ear and will more likely produce a positive outcome for you than if you left it unsaid and up to her to wonder or guess at.  I always have a couple of brief, well-rehearsed stories to tell a client about challenging assignments I previously handled and how I was able to achieve success for clients with similar business needs.

Some other points to consider are:

• Having good eye-to-eye contact;
• Being sincere, genuine and likeable;
• Speaking of your reliability and availability;
• Being confident you can get the job done – for her!  You are her (business) friend;
• Mentioning that while your services are excellent, your pricing structure is competitive;
• Keeping it professional, keeping it brief and keeping it friendly;
• Leaving with a sincere handshake and an honest smile.

Call again in a week or so to ensure she’s reviewed your materials and ask if there are any questions or concerns.  Take this opportunity to respond accordingly, and ask outright if there is a project you can get started on for her.  If the answer is yes, no matter how small or uninteresting that first job may be, put forth the effort as if your reputation and all future paychecks depend on it.  Who knows, but that might be true!  If the answer is no, call again in another week or so.  Persistence pays off.

Successfully obtaining new business is dependent on breaking through the time-crunch barrier and getting in to meet and win over today’s busy professional.  Be prepared, be professional and put forethought into it.  First impressions count.  Cross-referrals and word-of-mouth advertising counts.  Each account, no matter how large or small the office, counts.

Diane Goodrich is the Investigations Division Administrator of CompassPoint Investigations. Prior to joining our agency, she had over 20 years of Legal Assistant experience with notable law firms in Southern California; in that capacity she also selected and evaluated the independent private investigation agencies who provided services to the firms where she worked.

You have to get found; it’s as simple as that.

The problem comes when all of your competitors are vying for the top web spots (Google, Bing, Yahoo, Bing Page 1) too. Many statistics show that if you’re not on Page One of Google, for instance, you do not exist in Google’s eyes because rarely do people go beyond page 1 in their searches. You may have the best PI business in your area, but if you don’t show up on Page 1 close to the top, many will never know how good you really are.

However, I’m here to tell you that you can change that. It will take some effort on your part, but below are three practical things you can do to help change that. But before that, let me define some basic terminology.

Backlinking 101. First you should realize that the web is all about relationships, i.e., how one site is related to another. If a webmaster wants to tell you about a great new site that it discovered, she will link to it somewhere on her site. The site being linked to gets a backlink from the webmaster and its status in the search engine’s eyes goes up. As more and more sites link to a site, the site will raise is stature. It’s more complicated than that, but that’s the essence of it.

Unfortunately, not all sites have the same “authority,” so the key is to get a link from a site that has a higher authority. This authority is called PageRank or PR. All pages within a website have PageRank. The higher the number, the better and easier it will be for your site to rank. Whew! The illustration should help to explain it. So, the question remains, how to get backlinks to your site?

1. Write articles and publish them on one of the top article directories: thefreelibrary.com (PR7), selfgrowth.com (PR6), ezinearticles.com (PR6), netymon.com (PR6), articlecity.com (PR6), articlesbase.com (PR6). Writing and submitting articles serves two purposes. First, you get a backlink from a high PR site, and secondly it sets you up as an authority in the industry if the article is informative and interesting. The articles do not need to be long (400-600 words) but they should capture the interest of the reader.

2. Create videos of you talking about your industry. Since Google bought YouTube, it is highly favored by Google and helps you increase your ranking because you can include a backlink to your website in the description area. Check out the Private Investigator Magazine Youtube Channel to get a feel what Pursuit Magazine is doing (and subscribe while you’re there).  Plus there are dozens of video directories you can submit your video to and create a lot of “buzz” about your business. The more people are talking about your business, the more the phone will ring. The videos do not need to be an elaborate production, just you talking for 1-5 minutes for each video.  Believe it or not, people are fascinated about the life of a private investigator. They want to know what you do and how you do it. Of course, you don’t need to reveal trade secrets, but it doesn’t hurt to tease every now and again.

3.  Create a Squidoo lens. The search engines like Squidoo.com because they provide fresh content for the web. Having one or two links back to your site from Squidoo is huge. After you create the lens, you can continue to add articles, videos, photos, and a whole host of other content to each Squidoo lens you make, thus strengthening each lens, which in turn strengthens the backlink to your site.

So, as you can see these are three drop dead easy ways to get backlinks to your site. There are dozens of other ways such as linkwheels, link pyramids, blog posts, forum posts, forum profiles, Web 2.0 properties, link blasts, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Google Places, business directories, and many many more. Each has their strengths and weaknesses. You will also need to consider competition strengths and weaknesses, on-page optimization of your site, and other outside factors. Some cost a lot of money to implement; others are merely time consuming. The business owner who has a solid methodical strategy to rank his website in the search engines will probably get his phone ringing more often than one who has only a hit or miss strategy.

David Miller is an expert in the Search Engine Optimization (a.k.a. getting-the-phone-to-ring) field for private investigators and detectives. He can be reached at oceanbreezeseo@gmail.com

Whether you realize it or not, your email address says a lot about who you are as a professional and the quality of the business you run.  Back in the days of yore, initial meetings provided first impressions.  However, these days with nearly all things being handled electronically, a customer’s first impression of you is the email address you have selected and provided on your website, your business cards and on all your literature, promotional materials and even your private investigator videos.

If you’re wondering whether this is true or not, consider for a moment opening an online banking account:  Would you put your trust in a financial institution that has chosen for itself an email address of lone_ranger_rides_again@hotdiggitydog.com?”  An extreme example, of course, but it makes my point.  Presenting yourself and your company in a professional manner attracts the attention of an ideal client base, i.e., law firms, insurance companies, banks and various other types of financial institutions, governmental entities and individuals as well, who seek out only the best of companies to work with and give their cash to.  You want to be included in that workforce; therefore, the first impression potential clients should have of you is that, clearly, you are up for the job!

Recently, a study was conducted by the folks at hunch.com as to what the most common type of person was who used the most common type of email address.  You might be surprised to learn, in a nutshell, the following generalizations:

• AOL users were the oldest users, optimistic, family oriented, resided in suburbs, read magazines and have not traveled abroad.
• Yahoo users were mostly overweight female high school graduates with children and a sweet tooth who have not traveled outside their home country.
• Hotmail users were usually females, in better physical condition than Yahoo users, normally childless, living in the suburbs probably still with the parents and regarded themselves as pessimistic.
• Gmail users tended to be focused males with higher levels of education, city dwellers, well-traveled, career minded, tech-savvy who preferred to dress in T-shirts and jeans while at home and snack on salty foods.

You get the idea.  If you were in search of a serious minded, go-to private investigator to get the job done, would you feel more comfortable with an individual who gravitated toward Yahoo/Hotmail or toward Gmail?  Presentation is everything in our competitive business world so give yourself the benefit of having a positive image right from the start.

My personal recommendation, and what has worked successfully for my own business as well as many others in our profession, is to link my email address to my website and domain name, e.g., yournamehere@CompassPointPI.com.  I cannot emphasize this highly enough. Personally, I believe that having a domain and website is the cornerstone of a solid business and I always start my research of a company or individual by visiting their website first.  Not only does this add to your credibility, it is also your best form of advertising.  You can obtain websites relatively inexpensively through a hosting company, although you can certainly obtain a domain name and email address separately if you aren’t interested in creating a website at this time.  Many hosting companies, for example Gmail, will provide without charge any number of email addresses in the event you have employees or possibly a few versions of your name and company.  Most website hosting companies also provide URL-specific email address with their hosting plans now as well.

If you do decide to fore-go a domain name in your email address, after reviewing the study by hunch.com you may want to consider not using an AOL or Yahoo address, at least for business purposes, as your professional image is of first and foremost importance.  Since you want to be careful how you are identified, by the selection of a proper email address you are not only telling the world who you are and what the nature of your business is, you are also putting out there the degree of professionalism with which you conduct your business.

And with so much riding on this form of “free advertising,” wouldn’t it be wise, then, to carefully select how you will present yourself to the business world?

Do you want extraordinary marketing and advertising advice from leading business experts? Check out our Private Investigator Marketing page on Facebook for our “almost daily” updates with the very best marketing information the Internet has to offer!

You don’t even have to be a Facebook user to check it out.

If you are anything like me, you probably use Google many times throughout the day and can hardly imagine a world without it. Outside of its core search engine function, Google offers a wealth of tools for investigators to use to monitor clients and keep up with industry trends. In addition, it is one of the most feature-filled email hosts available. Google has so many features and products; many people don’t even know how to use them — or that they even exist.

Below are six helpful ways to use Google to boost your investigative business, attract new clients and keep up with industry trends.

1. Google Apps
In 2007, Google introduced Google Apps for Business for businesses of all sizes. It features word processor and spreadsheet capabilities and serves as an email host, among numerous other functions. One of its distinct advantages is that it puts all your information in the cloud, so you can make that information accessible to anyone with an Internet connection. Google Apps allows users to share website links, details about ongoing cases, and important contact information, but its best feature is email.

For $50 annually per user, you can create your own professionally branded email address (yourname@yourinvestigativefirm.com) complete with lots of storage space and powerful features. Because everything is in the cloud, you can access your account from any computer or mobile phone.

2. Blog
The term “blog” has become ubiquitous with Web 2.0. Google loves blogs because search engines (not just Google) love new content. Static websites that update once a year don’t carry as much weight as do websites that constantly produce new and interesting content.

Why should you be blogging? Blog content has a greater chance of showing up in natural search results (i.e., Google’s top 10 results) than does non-blogged content. Studies have shown that Internet searchers click on and “trust” natural search results much more than they do paid ads. By publishing content on your blog that is specific to your investigative specialty, readers — and potential clients — will see you as a thought leader, thereby helping you earn their trust up front.

3. Google AdWords
You’ve probably seen the sponsored results at the top of every Google search. If you want your investigative business to appear in those results, all you need to do is sign up for Google AdWords and bid on the specific term(s) you want to associate with your blog or site. Certain terms may cost you an arm and a leg, but the more specific the term is, the more hits you may get from qualified and focused potential clients.

4. Google Alerts
Google Alerts is an indispensable feature for every investigator. It automatically searches the Internet for any term you want to track and automatically and instantly alerts you via email or your RSS Reader (see below) to a newly published result with that term. Investigators can use Google Alerts in many ways, including tracking clients and competitors, gaining immediate access to new information on a case that you worked on or are working on, and locating that person you have been looking for.

5. Google Reader
Google Reader is an RSS reader, an online feed that collects information on topics you are interested in from news sites and blogs that you choose. An RSS reader compiles information while you are going about your business, so it becomes your own customized news feed for ongoing trends, legislative developments and anything else you are interested in following. Among RSS readers out there, Google Reader is one of the best because of its advanced features and ease of use.

6. Google Places
More and more people are using the Internet to find products and services, specifically when they are looking for local service providers. When you search “private investigator in Pensacola” in Google, the top search results include contact information from Google Places for private investigators in the Pensacola area. But your name won’t simply appear in those results; you have to claim your listing through Google Places. It’s free and simple, and it just may get you that phone call you’ve been waiting for.

Brian Willingham, CFE is a New York Private Investigator and President of Diligentia Group.

Editor’s Note: I’d also add Google’s YouTube service to the list! It is a Google product and video marketing is one of the most effective ways to both attract and engage your clients by offering them a memorable marketing message but private investigator websites integrating video into find a huge increase in exposure in the search engines as well. Here is one example of a video for a Pensacola Private Investigation Agency.

]]> http://pursuitmag.com/six-ways-to-use-google-to-boost-your-investigative-business/feed/ 0 http://pursuitmag.com/what-private-investigators-can-learn-from-savile-row/ http://pursuitmag.com/what-private-investigators-can-learn-from-savile-row/#comments Mon, 20 Jun 2011 17:52:15 +0000 SiteOwner http://pursuitmag.com/?p=13984 “‘Bespoke’ is actually a term from the 17th Century, when tailors held the full lengths of cloth on the premises. When a customer chose a length of material, it was said to have “been spoken for.” … More than 20 measurements and figuration details are taken from the customer. Then a personal pattern will be hand-drafted and cut from scratch—not the basic, adjusted template pattern, as used by so many other tailors these days. Using your pattern, the cloth is then cut and trimmed, along with the finest linings and silks available. A single tailor is then given the parts of the garment to sew together, from the earliest fitting stages, to the final, complete suit. Each suit is completely hand-made, even down to the button holes.” – Thomas Mahon, Savile Row Tailor

Off-The-Rack and Made-To-Measure Investigations

There are several companies that provide off-the-shelf options for investigations. These larger “investigative agencies” offer pre-selected criteria, a pre-existing template, on which to base their investigations. These are usually database searches and they are usually based on outdated public records. A few of the larger agencies offer similar made-to-measure options where they offer a pre-priced set of services including limited surveillance, background checks, and minimal actual investigative work.

The problem is, these larger firms offer simple variations on the theme of off-the-shelf and made-to-measure services. These firms have size and resources, but they lack fundamental skills. Engaging these firms for investigations is like buying a suit from Men’s Warehouse. They may look impressive. But will their work hold up? These “investigations” are inexpensive and, like a cheap suit, they fall apart under stress and scrutiny.

Bespoke Investigations

The true professional investigative firm operates more along the lines of a bespoke tailor, a boutique style business that demands hard work and long hours. The cost is typically much higher, but the quality is assuredly superior.

It’s fairly clear to me what we, as investigators, can learn from Savile Row. The process of crafting a bespoke suit is not at all different from fashioning a scope of work for an investigation. Each situation, like each person, is different.

A bespoke tailor will visit with his client, get a sense of the person’s style and attitude. They will measure and craft. They will select tools and cloth specifically for the client. They will, in a sense, create a scope of work.

A professional investigator will do much the same. They will meet with the client, interview him and make notes, get to know the situation as much as possible. They will measure the options to craft a complete scope of work. They will select tools and methods specifically for the client. They will, in a sense, hand-craft a pattern for the investigation.

[FIND] Investigations’ Approach

We are a boutique agency. We spend time with our clients, hand craft a strategy, and assign one professional investigator to oversee each case. We pool our resources, our contacts, our combined expertise to create a scope of work that applies specifically to each client’s case. Each case is hand made, right down to the button holes.

Editor’s Note: The above piece was provided courtesy of Thomas H. Humphrey via his [FIND] Investigations blog at http://findinvestigations.blogspot.com This is a GREAT blog and certainly worthy of adding it to your RSS feeds or favorites list.  I never fail to find fascinating and fun nuggets of information posted there. Check it out!

Thomas H. Humphreys lives in Nashville, TN where he shares a house, an office, and a life with his wife and partner Kim Green. Mr. Humphreys is an award winning journalist and has contributed to international travel publications, regional magazines and news papers, as well as various public radio outlets. Mr. Humphreys owns [FIND] Investigations, a full service private investigations company.

[FIND] Investigations Website
[FIND] Investigations Blog
Email Thomas

As with most businesses, we unfortunately do not always have the luxury of hand-picking our clients.  In some instances we are faced with certain clients who can be more of a burden than a blessing.  Nothing is more frustrating to an investigator than a client who potentially intrudes, withholds, or prohibits an investigator from accomplishing their objectives.

As with any relationship however, there are two sides to every situation.  What an investigator may consider as outlandish demand by a client, can in fact stem from simple lack of communication throughout the process.

So what does a professional investigator do to prepare and manage these situations?

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
Upon accepting any assignment, it is critical to communicate to the client the importance of sharing as much information as possible from the onset (no matter how minute the details may be) in order to further assist you with performing the task at hand.  It is equally as important to “tone-down” any preconceived notions of what they may expect you to deliver.  Like any relationship, the most effective way is to communicate to your client not only what information is potentially attainable, but more importantly, what may not be within the confines of the law.  During the course of your investigation, keep the client apprised with a brief email or phone call so that they know you are on top of their situation.

Keep Your Promises to Yourself
You may find yourself, at times, caught-up in the trap of providing overly aggressive “promises” to clients or potential clients.  The difference between having a one-time engagement or a long-standing relationship with a client can be as simple as avoiding (empty) promises.   Keep in mind that nothing makes a person happier than getting more than they anticipated (under-promise, over-deliver).

There are No Guarantees!
As much as you may have the confidence that you ultimately will be able to attain the desired result for your client, nothing is guaranteed (except death and taxes, of course).  There is nothing more disappointing than setting the level of expectations so high that they are not attainable, leading to broken guarantees, an unhappy client, or worse.  The answer?  Include a disclosure on your investigative proposals informing the client that results are never guaranteed (your insurance liability carriers may even thank you)!

Put it in Writing
As with any business proposal, it is critical to always draft an investigative course of action.  Prepare a descriptive agenda of your client’s objectives and what efforts you will make to accomplish those goals.  Be sure to also include your anticipated turnaround timeframe and most importantly, the agreed-upon fees associated with any engagement.  Documenting your parameters into a contract or service agreement alleviates any future potential disputes over objectives, timing, and fees.

Conduct Investigation in Stages
By segmenting an investigation into focused stages, you provide the client with a measuring stick to gauge the progress of the assignment.  Upon completion of each stage, you should prepare a continued action plan highlighting the immediate findings as well as additional avenues to now further investigate.

Budget Accordingly
Another constant dilemma we as investigators always seem to face is how to budget accordingly.  It is often difficult to predict if it will take 15 minutes or 15 months to locate that key witness.  Nothing is more frustrating for us or our client than under-budgeting an investigation and having to request additional funds before providing results.  This is another prime example of why conducting an investigation in focused stages is critical, since it allows the client to see your plan of action executed and alleviates the embarrassment of under-budgeting.  When outlining fees, be realistic about how much time the objective “should” take and always communicate the worse case scenarios.

Focus Your Investigation
Oftentimes, it is the clients themselves who lose focus of the case objective and what you have been hired to do (Ex. getting a 3:00am call from a client after they just watched a detective drama on television).  The key is to always maintain focus on critical areas which are pertinent to the ultimate objective.  Shifting gears before a specific task is completed, leaves the investigator chasing down rabbit holes instead of maintaining focus and expectations.

Give an “Honest” Assessment
It is both our right and responsibility as professionals to inform a client when something cannot be accomplished, so long as you have communicated accordingly.  Ultimately, the clients worth keeping will appreciate your honesty and will be sure to use you again.

Following these guidelines should assist with taming overzealous clients and better facilitate your future engagements.

What do you think?  How do you manage client expectations?  Please leave us a comment below and let us know!

About the Authors

Brian Willingham, CFE is a New York Private Investigator and President of Diligentia Group.

Kevin M. Cosgrove, CFE is a New York Private Investigator and Certified Fraud Examiner.