Regrettably, our potential clients think all private investigators are the same so they call around until they find a cheep one and that means unless you can explain why you’re the detective that’s best for their case, they may try to save a few bucks by choosing the wrong P.I.!

This means you need to find your Unique Selling Proposition (USP). Your USP answers the question,

“Why should I hire you as opposed to all of my other options?”

And they have a ton of other options including…

1. Do it themselves with social media searches.

2. They can run some paid database searches.

3. They can hire an “info broker”.

4. They can hire another private detective!

However, once you fugue out your USP, you’ve got an almost unfair advantage over the competition!

Warning: Some people try to make “I cost less” their USP. Two problems there…

1) It’s an easy USP for your competition to copy!

2) it’s hard to turn a profit!

There is no need to compete based on price…

If you’ve gotten my paid training (like The Investigator’s Ultimate Guide to Process Serving), you’ll note that many attorneys would like a better, more responsive P.I. or process server who simply is more professional. So being the “low cost” solution means you get the cheapest clients who are the most likely to leave you for next detective agency that comes along with a lower price. It’s a race to the bottom.

Your “reasons” don’t have to be the greatest in the world. I mean, look at the lame “Almond Milk” example I give in the video. But you need something tho help you explain to clients why you are the best P.I. for the case they have. (If that’s true, of course!)

Your offer…

Your offer is kind of like a “headline”. What are you promising your potential clients? Maybe it’s, “I serve him or it’s free” or maybe it’s, “Return of Service filed on time, every time!”

Maybe it’s simple things like making sure the law firm gets a copy of the certified copy of the Return of Service after you file it. (This is all on the DVD.)

Really here’s the thing… they simply want a reliable, professional, responsive server. They want to call “their guy” and know that’s it taken care of with no problems.

You are providing a solution. Doing something they can’t do or don’t want to mess with and doing it as professionally as they would do it if they did it themselves! THAT’S why they hire you.

Your Guarantee…

Finally, if you offer a GUARANTEE you will be unique! Guarantee something. Anything! Guarantee Return of service will be filed on time. Guarantee you’ll serve every pack within 10 days or less. Guarantee that surveillance will start on time, every time! Guarantee a free written report with each case.

The guarantee (ANY guarantee) will make you different from all the rest of the detective agencies out there.

If you like these helpful tips, then don’t miss out on my free special report If You Want To Be a Private Investigator Give Up… Unless You Do These Three Things. If not, you can get it right here…

Committed to your success,
Larry Kaye, P.I.

The closest I ever came to dieing as a private investigator wasn’t a shoot-out with gang members in the hood or saving orphans from a burning building, but was from simply being stupid and getting severe heat exhaustion in a surveillance van.

So let my (horrible!) mistake be a teachable moment for you…

Here are 5 tips for hot weather surveillance.

1. Use “rain guards” on your surveillance vehicle.

Rain guards are plastic pieces that attach to your doors and flair out a bit allowing you to have the window rolled down about an inch with out rain coming into the vehicle, but they also allow you to have the windows open a bit when doing stationary surveillance.

This allow some of the oven-hot air to escape the vehicle.

I Like tinted rain guards so no one can even see that the windows are cracked open.

2. Wear your swim suite.

Wearing your swim suite under your street clothes allows you to get into position for your surveillance and, in the back of your van, strip down to your swim suite and a tee shirt helping you to stay cool.

This is especially helpful if you’re using a towel like I explain in a moment.

3. Use a small (quite!) battery powered fan.

The trick here is to get a really quit fan because if it’s even a little noisy you will be reluctant to use it and that’s the same as not having one at all.

Use the fan to blow air onto your face, neck and wrist to help cool you.

4. Have an ice chest.

Keep it full of ice and bottled water. I like to have icy watter in it as well so I can… well, follow tip 5!

5. Use a wet towel.

I like to keep a towel soaking in the cold water of the ice chest then to wrap it around my back and neck to cool off. I’ll also drape it over my head to keep cool. It makes all the difference in the world!

If you like these helpful tips, then don’t miss out on my free special report If You Want To be a Private Investigator Give Up… Unless You Do These Three Things. If not, you can get it right here…

Committed to your success,
Larry Kaye, P.I.

I got a question the other day from a Christian private investigator explaining that he was having trouble turning a profit because he has kind of a soft touch for people in trouble and especially his fellow Christians.

Full Disclosure: If you’ve followed me for any length of time or seen my “About Larry” page, you know I’m a Christian myself and consider myself a Child of God before all else.

So here’s the problem…

Getting clients is the single hardest part of this or any business. It takes time and a plan. (IE. effective and affordable lead generation). Then you have to charge enough to turn a profit! So what does this mean for a Christian business owner? Simply this…

You are obligated to server your clients well.

You can charge what your service is worth. It’s not “cheating” someone to charge them a fair day’s wages for a fair day’s work!

Should you offer discounts to a fellow Christian?

A fellow Christian doesn’t necessarily get a discount. What they get is the confidence that you will not cheat them, you will do the job well and that they can trust you.

Real Word Example:

I buy my cheap, used cars from a genuinely Christian dealership. I don’t get a discount, but I know I can trust that he’s not hiding defects or problems from me. No one can ask for more than that and I’m actually grateful to him every time I buy a car (even at full price)!

Your (reasonable) clients will feel the same toward you even when you charge them full price.

Committed to your success,
Larry Kaye, P.I.

P.S. – Don’t miss my special report titled… If You Want To Be a Private Investigator Give Up… Unless You Do These Three Things. You can get it right here…

As a private investigator you may sometimes be charged a “No-Hit Fee” when you do a database search or you may charge a client a no-hit fee, but what exactly is a no hit fee?

A “no-hit fee” is is a charge that is paid when a database is searched and no “match” (no “hit”) is found for the information entered.

For example, you may have a cell phone number you want to trace to find out the name or address of the cell phone owner. So you bring up one of the database services you use (you’ll have a few and some are better than others for turning around a cell phone number), then you’ll type the phone number into the search box and press enter.

You know this database charges (let’s just say) $7.95 if they have that cell phone number in their database and they are able to give you a name or address. However…

If they don’t have that number in their database, your user agreement with them may still stipulate that you pay a (let’s say) $1.25 “no-hit fee” meaning they did the “work” and expense of maintaining the database, but still had no match for the number you searched so they still want some (smaller) compensation.

WARNING: Some database services (especially those on the Internet and open to the general public) will return ANY info (no matter how old!) and charge you the full prices (like the $7.95) because, although the information is not “current”, their user agreement states any “hit” cost you full price!

So… you need to really understand your user agreement and be very picky about the databases you use! Beware of the rip off, scam websites out there.

How much is a no-hit fee?

No-Hit Fees vary in price. They are usually much, much less than the cost of a successful search.

Can a private investigator or process server charge a no-hit fee to his or her clients?

Yup.

It’s VERY common for a process server to charge (let’s say) $50 to serve a packet, but to charge (let say) $35 after three failed attempts at the address at three different times of day. (The conditions of a “no-hit fee” are spelled out in the contract or client agreement you have with your client.)

When I was skip tracing regularly, I would commonly charge $350 with a no-hit fee of $125 even if I didn’t find the skip.

Is a “no-hit fee” fair?

Depends…

For a rip-off website that KNOWS their information is out of date and useless, they may brag of NOT charging a no-hit fee! Heck, they know they’re going to give you some kind of result, so they don’t need a no hit fee.

Note Well: Just because an investigator or database doesn’t charge a no-hit fee does NOT mean they are a scam! They may just be really good! I use to brag in my sales material that I didn’t charge a no-hit fee on ordinary service of process!

Here’s why…

I knew I would serve plenty of packets successfully (and profitably) so the occasional miss was just the cost of doing business and I didn’t need to make it up by charging my clients for a “fail”. This was a promise I could make to my clients that no other process server was willing to make!

Could you do the same to get new clients to choose your service above the “competition”? I suspect you can!

If you like this helpful information, then don’t miss out on my free special report If You Want To Be a Private Investigator Give Up… Unless You Do These Three Things. If not, you can get it right here…

Committed to your success,
Larry Kaye, Private Investigator