Anyone who is relatively new to real estate appraisal probably could not imagine running an appraisal office without a fax machine.  It was a little over a decade ago more or less that appraisals orders were received one of two ways.  You  got a phone call and you took down the order by phone onto an "appraisal order form" that was designed to get the pertinent information you required for an assignment.  Or you got an order via the mail from your client with the information usually filled out on one of their "appraisal order form".  Most times, with the phone order, you also got this follow up order in the mail.

Then came the fax machine and it's ability to spit out appraisal orders unattended by you or anyone else. The client could order whenever they wanted and even if your fax line was busy the machine would keep trying until the order came in.  When you got back from doing your field work you could look at your basket from your fax machine and see what new business may have come in.  You didn't have to make numerous return phone calls left on your answering machine for appraisal orders.  Or you didn't have to have your office help spend time on the phone taking appraisal orders, the fax machine had freed them to handle other tasks. If there is an appraisal office that operates without a fax machine today I am not aware of it.

So why not take this concept to the next level? Get your regular clients to order their appraisals from your web site.  Setup a custom order form designed for your major clients and a general order form for clients that only order every once in a while.  Let them know about this service and spend some time with them showing them how to use it.  Get some feedback from your client on what THEY would like to have on the order form.  Co-ordinate their input with the necessary information that you need for an appraisal order.  With the custom order forms for your major clients you will have already the information such as the your clients name, address, phone number, etc. filled in so that they won't have to spend time filling out this each time they order.  Use one form for multiple branches and have a check box for them to check which branch it is coming from.  The uses for this are endless and the benefits are apparent.  Both the appraiser and the client will save time and money, and your appraisal firm's professional image will be greatly enhanced.

Conclusion. Make it EASY and CONVENIENT for your clients to do business with you.  If you don't, someone else will. 

Wayne McKerley, RWM.NET

This article is copyrighted 1998 by Wayne McKerley and may be reprinted in other electronic or print media as long as the following information is included in its entirety and unchanged at the bottom of the article.

"Wayne McKerley is the webmaster of RWM.NET a web site with the goal of helping real estate appraisers market their services over the Internet. Wayne offers FREE  information and services such as FREE web site design for appraisers as well as a other services related to Internet marketing of appraisal services. Visit Wayne's site at http://rwm.net and get your appraisal site off to a good start.  Wayne may be contacted via ."

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