NATIONAL PROPERTY INSPECTIONS PRESENTS

P a c e s e t t e r a W a r D

Jim and Susan Giuffre

When Jim and Susan Gi-uffre decided to leave their longtime home and their well-paying careers to buy their NPI franchise in a new state, several friends predicted they’d soon come back.

Susan worked in the appraisal business. Jim was an electrician. Neither had ever run their own business or tried to market them-selves.

“Several of our friends asked us, ‘Are you having marital problems?’ because it was so unlike us,” Susan said. “We usually research things to death. They thought we’d come back soon, but we never did.”

Instead they became an award-winning NPI husband and wife team in Coastal North Carolina, attacking their marketing plan with gusto, joining local orga-nizations and participating in networking events whenever and wherever they could.

“A lot of people don’t believe we have competition because they never see them,” she said. The Gi-uffres continue to be active mem-bers of the local Chamber, BNI groups, visit realtors personally and offer both goodies, including house-shaped chocolates, candy and crumb cake, and coupons. “They call me the baking lady,” Susan said.

Besides good food, the Giuffres focus on some of the basics of business, arriving on time if not early and always looking profes-sional, editing each report before turning it over by midnight the same day, talking to people, be-ing available via phone 24/7 leav-ing behind NPI table tents at each inspection, often receiving a call

from the seller to inspect their next home because of their excel-lent service. Their franchise was voted best property inspection company in Brunswick County, North Carolina from 2008 to 2010. They were also voted small business of the year by the cham-ber of commerce in 2010.

The Giuffres provide residential and commercial inspections. Jim has also been certified to do FHA and 2-10 warranty inspections. Almost two years ago, some fam-ily emergencies and health prob-lems left them wondering how to keep the phones open. Their solu-tion was to add an employee, Bob Chapman, an area general con-tractor, one of the best calls ever.

“Having him in place is just won-derful,” Susan said. “It allowed us to continue to provide agents with excellent service.” In the future, they look forward to adding at least one more inspector and per-haps a full-time office staff mem-ber. Perhaps they might even take a vacation … together, of course.

“ We just want to continue helping the local economy by hiring people and growing into a nice-sized busi-ness.”

- Jim and SuSan Giuffre, Ocean iSle Beach, nc