AURORA, N.Y., July 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Private investigation firms struggling to maintain profitability should circle August 7 on their calendars. Paul Beauchemin, founder of niche marketing agency PI Profits (http://piprofitsagency.com/), will be hosting a free webinar to discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with running a PI firm. Among the topics covered will be the 5 hidden growth traps that plague all PI firms, as described below.
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Government Regulations
Laws designed to protect privacy often leave no wiggle room for private investigators. Fraudsters can seek shelter under such laws, confident that their DMV and phone records are secure.
From a human resources perspective, the Affordable Care Act is an enormous burden on medium-sized PI firms. Although implementation of certain aspects of the law has been put off another year, it's unlikely to be struck down entirely.
Low Profitability
Growth is a reasonable expectation of any small business, but a myriad of economic factors are conspiring to limit growth for PI firms. In 2012, net profits in this sector averaged from 1.8 to 7%; at the lower end of that range, a company is barely treading water. For that same year, the median income of a PI employee was only $28,000, making recruitment and retention a significant challenge.
Cash Flow Problems
The perennial problem of even highly successful private investigation firms is the slow or non-paying client. Some firm owners go many weeks between paychecks as they struggle just to pay bills. The total dollar value of uncollected or "goodwill" payments filling the books of PI firms is likely astronomical.
Meanwhile, because entering the PI market requires relatively little upfront investment, it's easy for competitors to wade in and crowd the pool. A firm teetering on the brink of failure need only lose one or two clients to fall off entirely.
Client Acquisition and Retention
Research shows that it costs seven times more to acquire a new client than it does to retain an existing one, yet PI firms habitually dedicate more energy and capital to prospective new clients. On the other hand, the average firm only spends about 2.5% of its revenue on marketing, well below the Small Business Administration's recommended 7 to 8%.
Business Challenges
All PI firms face a set of business challenges that can be debilitating if not kept in check. These include:
- Dependence on key employees, who can jump ship at any time and take clients along with them
- Uneven work flow limits expansion
- Maintaining attorney-client privilege
- Ever-changing landscape of state, federal regulations pertaining to investigation methods
- Narrow specializations and small client rosters leave firms vulnerable to change
- Traditional marketing (yellow pages) no longer effective
During the webinar, Beauchemin will detail actionable methods for recognizing and overcoming all of these growth traps. In the meantime, visitors to the PI Profits website are encouraged to sign up for a free 30-minute marketing investigation briefing: http://piprofitsagency.com/marketing-briefing/.
About PI Profits
PI Profits is a results-oriented marketing, sales and customer service agency dedicated exclusively to the private investigation niche. PI Profits has proven online and offline marketing strategies that are focused on increasing net, bottom line profits.
Paul Beauchemin has over 30 years' experience as a Principal Investigator for a Fortune 100 company, during which he has patented numerous technologies. He also has 20 years' experience as an entrepreneur, working directly with hundreds of millionaire business creators.
Contact:
Paul Beauchemin
Phone: 888-344-0434
Email