Small PI Agencies are Going Out of Business, Here's Why...

Hi All,

This will only take 5-10 minutes (max) to read, so please continue. And once you’ve read, please spread the word and remind your fellow PI that he, like you, is worth more than he thinks.

Many of you do not know me, but if you’ll indulge me, I would like to recount a little bit about my background. Before 1980, I helped manage a large multi-purpose agricultural business. Some may call it farming, row cropping, ranching, or refer to those associated with it by such pejorative phrases as "straw chewing hick" or "overall wearing hayseed." I don’t really care what you call it or me, but it was the best business experience I have ever had, bar none! Make no mistake though, “Mother Nature” is a landowner’s boss and don’t let anybody ever tell you differently. No matter what you may think, farming is not for the stereotypical, “backwoods redneck yokel.” Farming takes planning, organization, money, timing, a market, and a whole lot of LUCK! No other vocation falls at the mercy of year- round weather conditions than farming. What does all this have to do with anything? Well, I was hoping you’d ask.

The small farmers of America are a thing of the past. Corporate farming and private land ownership has taken away America’s most precious identity – that of the family farmer. The family farmer has been exploited for years by poorly written laws (and the lawmakers who write them), greedy merchants, and avaricious big businesses – a situation not unlike what the PIs of this nation have been experiencing during the past three decades. Logic and commonsense have given way to political correctness and privacy hysteria. PIs are not completely free from fault. We are just The Last of the Mohicans - small enterprises that are being replaced by “national agencies” in the same way mom and pop farmers were pushed out to pasture.

Have you ever noticed how the ABA and AMA are nationally organized? Although the medical profession is on its ear, all the doctors I know still own nice homes and drive fancy cars. The reason lawyers and doctors are doing well: they recognize the need to form huge coalitions through their national and state run organizations. Farmers tried but, due to fragmentation within their ranks, failed, and look where they are now. Through tremendous solidarity, doctors and lawyers have gained bargaining power, clout, and a war chest to challenge bad legislation. Farmers were too divided, putting self-interest first, and you see what it cost them. Talk about fragmented, divided and emphasis on self-interest -these are all terms that can be applied to today’s licensed PI. It is true what is said about history repeating itself.

The PI vocation is doomed because of apathy, cynicism, and mistrust in our spokespeople, a lack of participation, factions of too many colors, and a serious lack of leadership. There are approximately 60,000 licensees nationally, yet the ranks of most PI organizations cannot even brag about having 30% of the total of each potential state’s licensees. It’s no wonder we have no voice; no unity. Laws are changing more frequently than some of you change your yolk-stained ties, and yet you do nothing or you bitch and moan about the impending doom and gloom. At the rate we are going, we are headed toward extinction. There are no teeth left in the tiger’s mouth to kick out, yet most of you sit on your tired rumps, too lazy to do anything about it. It’s pathetic. Where is your pride, people? Are we all so burned out we do not give a damn anymore?

We do not have enough resources to run a nationwide television ad. That too is deplorable. DO NOT STOP READING… KEEP GOING…I AM ALMOST DONE.

I wish to share an idea I have been mulling over for awhile. Seeing as how a great majority does not want to spend a nickel to support state and/or national organizations, perhaps this revelation will change your thinking:

Lift up your self-worth! I cannot believe what some of you are willing to sell your retail services for! It’s no wonder PIs and small agencies are suffering as they are.

The sole practitioner and the small agencies are being replaced by inexperienced wannabes who are supervised by a bunch of sophisticated business people who saw an opportunity to catch us asleep at the wheel. Try a little surfing on Google or Copernic and you’ll easily discover who the culprit is snatching the food out of your refrigerator. Out-of-state agencies are killing all of us. They are willing to exploit inexperienced (and oft-time bogus) PIs for $10-$15 dollars/hour, all the while misrepresenting themselves to their clients. The supervisors of these “agencies” are getting fat while your cupboard is looking more and more bare. With any luck, something will backfire on these so-called “national PI agencies.” You can only use/exploit “inexperience” for so long.

It is in all of our respective interests to recapture our instate work for our instate licensees. The longer we allow this downhill trend to manifest itself, the sooner we will arrive at the collective loss of our livelihoods before this decade ends. The national companies’ poor work product may be our saving grace. You cannot teach 27 years of on-the-job experience to a person in one year. It is impossible. Yet, companies are shunning experience in favor of cheap labor.

So, you may be asking yourself, how can we charge more if national agencies are charging less? Well, the objective is to come together and form an American PI Association, “APIA,” so we can build the resources to reclaim all that we have lost. No voice, no vote. No money, no change. We need both money and a voice. And, if any of you think a dollar amount that exceeds $99 a year is too much, please don’t bother to apply. We don’t want or need your apathetic attitude and/or shortsightedness. Save those qualities for your analysis of a witness’ statement under oath. I am not giving up. It is not in my nature, but you can rest assured I am not dragging the sorry lot of cynics and naysayers along for the ride. I just as soon start fresh and bring a new breed of educated, optimistic, and motivated people whose goals are to succeed in life and business. Work smart, not hard.

Although the Sherman Anti-Trust Act prohibits collusion in the free-market bidding process, it does not prohibit the offer of sage advice. I am not the only answer, but I’ll stand by my successes and failures over the many years I have been practicing as a PI entrepreneur. When a newbie asks me for advice or ideas about how to start a PI business, the very first thing I tell them is “Don’t sell your self short.” So many of you know what I am talking about, however, you are constantly discounting yourselves, ergo, the malaise we find ourselves in as our businesses dry up. Granted there are several factors that are squeezing the life out of some our markets, and, those for certain are the “national agencies” that are springing up like bad mold all over the U.S. There is no way a home office in Timbuktu will have the same experience and knowledge of the laws in another state than a home state PI will have in his/her own territory. Nevertheless, more and more “national agencies” are taking the food right out of our mouths. The primary reason this is happening is that this profession is so factious that we are biting off our own noses because of our own shortsightedness and cynical disinterest.

After years of bidding on RFPs, I have noticed a consistent trend by a majority of the bidders to come in at such ridiculously low hourly bids, its no wonder PIs and small agencies are dropping like flies into cow pies. The rule of thumb for calculating a proper profit margin for a business is to charge three times per hour [or what ever unit of measure] you would pay an employee to do the job. The math is so easy that I will not bore you with the minutiae, but it is patently apparent that many of you people are selling yourselves too cheaply. If you hold a license to practice Private Investigations, then take pride in the fact that you have something special to offer. When you price your wares ad hoc, you are not only doing a disservice to yourself, but you are royally screwing the rest of us. If you do not feel like you know what or how to operate a PI business so that you are maintaining a fair and reasonable standard, then I suggest you join a professional PI organization. Ask folk that have been in the business 20 plus years, go to the professional seminars, and/or take a few night classes at a reputable business school so you will know what you need to run a real business. I could go on for hours on this topic, but it is not necessary. The bottom-line: We as PIs are entitled to make a decent living for our efforts, thus we all need to take pride in our retail services so we actually can make a living. I have done well for a small agency, but given the current trend of low-ball tactics, unlicensed activity, fraudulent misrepresentation, out-of-state monster “agencies” coming into our various markets, and BAD LEGISLATION, something is going to have to give. I talk to many PIs during the course of a week and it never ceases to amaze me how many share the same sad tales of woe.

Thanks for reading, and like I said, spread the word. Hopefully, we can rally to make pride and integrity the standard for our industry - and not suffer the fate of the family farmer.

Bernard Cane
President & Director of Operations
Bernard George Investigations, Inc.
Santa Monica, CA 90401-1700
Bernard@BernardGeorge.com
BernardGeorge.com