Marketing Alpha

Growing a Business with Legacy, Leadership, & Strategy with Susan Bentley

• WolfPack Advising • Season 1 • Episode 29

Share episode

Susan Bentley, CEO of Bentley Home Inspection and business coach at InspectionGo, shares how she transformed a family business into a thriving company covering multiple regions in rural East Tennessee and parts of Virginia by blending traditional values with modern growth strategies.

• Creating business growth in rural markets requires relationship-based marketing and community involvement
• Hosting regular events like "Bentley Burgers" cookouts builds connections with hundreds of real estate professionals
• Deep industry involvement, including leadership in realtor associations, provides compelling value to potential referral partners
• Business owners "bring the weather" for their companies—your energy and attitude directly impact your entire team
• Building a generational business creates lasting family wealth and opportunities beyond what a traditional exit strategy provides
• Focus on your natural strengths rather than trying to fix weaknesses—find team members who excel where you struggle
• The Home Inspection Ladies community provides support for women balancing family responsibilities with business growth
• Successful rural marketing requires consistent relationship nurturing even during traditionally slow seasons

Email Susan at Susan@BentleyHomeInspection.com to connect and learn more about her approach to business growth.


Thank you for listening! We hope you’re taking away some valuable insights to help you dominate your market. Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—it really helps us reach more business owners like you.

For more tips, updates, and exclusive content, follow us on social media:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wolfpack_advising/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wolfpackadvising/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVohafEWM8M5JcclbpcGsKw
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wolfpack-advising
- TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@wolfpackadvising
- Threads: https://www.threads.net/@wolfpack_advising

You can also visit our website at https://wolfpackadvising.com for additional resources and to get in touch with us directly.

Stay tuned for our next episode, and keep pushing forward with Alpha Marketing!

WolfPack:

Welcome to Alpha Marketing, your go-to resource for unlocking the full potential of your small to medium-sized business. Hosted by Aaron Shishela, ceo of Wolfpack Advising, this podcast delivers alpha-level marketing insights, expert strategies and real-world success stories designed to help you dominate your local market. Now let's learn how to dominate your market.

Aaron Shishilla:

Hello everyone and welcome back to Marketing Alpha. Today we have a special, special treat. I'm joined by the amazing Susan Bentley, ceo of Bentley Home Inspection in East Tennessee and a respected business coach at InspectionGo. Susan stepped into the family business nearly a decade ago and helped take it from a trusted local brand to now a modern, thriving company that blends these old-school values with some smart growth tools and tactics. She also leads IGO's home inspection ladies community and coaches inspection business owners nationwide. Whether you're in home inspections, pest control or any other home service provider, susan's insights are going to be absolute gold and she's just such a pleasure to talk to. So welcome, susan, to the podcast.

Susan Bentley:

Thank you A decade, oh, my Donnie owes me some gifts, doesn't he?

Aaron Shishilla:

And for the readers listening, who's Donnie?

Susan Bentley:

Donnie would be my amazing husband who started this business. The joke is I'm not the first wife, I am the last, so I did not start the business back in 1997 with Donnie, but he built an amazing business that I came into the vortex, as I call it very lovingly, when we got married right at 10 years ago a decade.

Aaron Shishilla:

Man, that's amazing for you to jump in and to be able to say that too, that's so funny, and to jump into the business. I mean, that's a big undertaking. Now I know, when we were discussing this particular podcast, one of the things that stuck out to the both of us, and specifically where you're located it's very rural, isn't that correct? Not like too rural. You do have Knoxville, that you're surrounded, right, but like even you, like you live out in a cabin, right.

Susan Bentley:

Yeah, we do. We live in a cabin in the woods with some acreage, so I have deer and turkey in the backyard every day. So yeah, we are a little bit on the rural side. The majority of East Tennessee is very, very rural.

Aaron Shishilla:

So tell me a little bit about how you've grown such a big company, because obviously the company itself, bentley, is one of the most respected in the nation in terms of home inspection businesses goes. Tell me how you've kind of done that, because most people in your shoes, especially in rural America I've seen it all over the nation Like they're not growing big companies. But you obviously have done a phenomenal job marketing the business and kind of modernizing it a little bit away. So tell me about that and that particular strategy and what you're doing.

Susan Bentley:

So, strategically, donnie had already taken a pretty good section of. We literally go Chattanooga Now we go all the way into Cookville, crossville and we go up into a little bit of Virginia. If you're familiar with Tennessee, we have Bristol and Bristol. It depends on which side of the street if you're in Tennessee or Virginia. So our amazing agent said please get dual license. So we are dual licensed in Virginia just for that little section, I guess per se. So it's coverage.

Susan Bentley:

When you think about Tennessee, we have been one of the states in the last few years that has had the most growth in population and we're at 7.2 million people, which for Tennessee is huge. However, when you think about it, houston has that many people in their metropolitan area. So you know, when you think about you know that that growth and being able to grow a company, you know it's, it's it's really apples and oranges, because I have to go a much broader area to be able to be our size. To be able to be our size but you know, to be a size of like a Greenworks, and I think Harmony and Jessica are just amazing. I would have to have all of the state and do the majority of all the.

Susan Bentley:

You know transactions and you know we do not have those kind of lofty goals. So there's a. You know Tennessee also has two time zones, so that also brings on a challenge. So you have to really think about what. What does your level of growth look like? Because you know there are going to be some barriers that you have to figure out. How are we overcoming that? And you know, is that is that where we want to go and grow? So you know, for us it was, it was covering a pretty good size footprint.

Aaron Shishilla:

Mm, hmm, how do you or like, how do you reach out out, reach out to these people that are, like it's small town vibes, right, I mean like for not not bringing up harmony and jessica again, but like in, as you mentioned, texas, like you got a lot of techie people there. So, like the advertising space is probably really easy not necessarily super easy, but you kind of get my point versus rural america is quite a different customer, so so what do you think is your differentiating factor? Like, what are you doing differently than what you hear from somebody else?

Susan Bentley:

You know, donnie, and I joke, it's like running for political office. We kiss a lot of babies and shake a lot of hands and say hello a lot, because when you're talking about especially the rural areas, it's very relational. It is very, very relational because the depth of the real estate market itself is different. So those agents base themselves on very relationship-oriented transactions. So we meet them in that space and for us that's pretty easy.

Susan Bentley:

For those that don't know Donnie, he looks like Santa Claus. I did not marry a man with a beard but I have one now, and so you know, when you're hanging out with Santa, that's a great marketing, just that alone, and I utilize that well. But you know it's for us. We do a lot of events, like today we are literally grilling hamburgers and we've done that long enough. It's called the Bentley Burger in our area with 200 of our closest friends. So you know it's doing those kind of things that just make a difference, and we bring a lot of our team out and do those kind of things. So it's very. You know we still do a lot of the digital. Wolfpack does a great job for that. With us You're able to manage that, where we can then spend our resources under roof, being able to once again shake hands, be out in the space, be very involved in the community. For a rural area, that's huge. They want to know who's there. And you have to be involved in the real estate industry. That's huge. They want to know who's there. So, and you have to be involved in the real estate industry that's one thing you know we're really big about, is involved in the industry.

Susan Bentley:

Like RPAC, which is the Realtor Political Action Committee, I am the first affiliate that has ever been chair for Knoxville's Association, which is a huge honor and a huge responsibility. But we, we put our, our money and our time truly in the industry. Cause, you know, you think about it, we go to an agent and go, we want to use, you know, use us. We're great. Well, you know there's a pool of great there. I mean there is. You know, I mean I can. I can list off a ton of our peers in our back door that are great. Um, what do I bring to the agent? Well, I bring. I'm involved with Women's Council that support you. I'm involved in the associations that support you. I'm involved in the political action that supports you. I'm involved in all of those things that support you as an agent. That's why you choose me.

Aaron Shishilla:

That seems for me somebody that's not that social. I guess I am in some existence. That sounds exhausting. Are you ever exhausted? Like burgers sounds fun. I'd love to go for thanks for the invite, by the way, where's my invite for burgers? But to just be like constantly, like it sounds like you're just constantly in the community and like everybody in the community loves you, like you're an amazing person and so you just have this natural magnet to you. Do you think this is like a special skill for you? And like yourself, I feel like it is.

Susan Bentley:

You have to like people. So the joke, you know, donnie and I tease is he needed a great marketing person. Saw my resume. It was quite impressive. Thought it would be cheaper to marry me than hire me. He would have been so much better off just to hire me. So I'm a little bit pricey for a wife but I'm very well worth it.

Susan Bentley:

But yeah, I think it's not everybody that's suited for that, you know. And if as the owner, you're not suited for that, then you find your person because there's a ton of me's out in the world I mean, there really are and then there's a ton of people that go. I don't want to be that at all. So you know, our children are rolling into the company. We're going to be a generational company. So I love mergers, acquisitions, all of that. There's a place for all of that in our industry. For us it was a generational blessing.

Susan Bentley:

And so the youngest daughter, shannon, she was like when they talked about it she was like oh my God, I don't have to be a you right, because that's not who she is. She loves spreadsheets and finances and data and that exhausts me. So you know you can find all the right people. And so she knows, as I grow out of the business, you know that she just needs to find that person that fits kind of my personality to do all of that, and you know it just works. I never want a business owner to meet a me and think, oh, I can't succeed if I'm not that. No, you can. You just have to find that person that fits those niches.

Susan Bentley:

No-transcript, we're exhausted. We will do an immense amount of events during Christmas because that's when most company goes oh, it's kind of slow, I'm going to step back. This is when I rest. Nope, if you're going to grow and you're going to feed a team, there's leaders eat last and that is true and you better step it up then. So that's where we excel. You know, donnie and I, we both do that really well, but we'll do three and four events during Christmas a day.

Aaron Shishilla:

There's two things that come to mind there with some of the things you said. The first one is building a company that is generational. I feel like that is one of the hardest things to do, but also one and it's really hard to have the tough conversations in the office and then figure out how, how is it all good?

Susan Bentley:

So we, we are, we have worked through that. It's not, you know, like I say, it's not easy. And then you also have to think. You know, my visions for the company were a little different than Donnie's, but we aligned really well, um, and Shannon and Zach's visions align really, really well, but they're very different, and so it's like, how do you make those transitions? And the growth they're going to be able to do is amazing and it's, you know, it's really cool watching that. You know, it's very rewarding to watch that.

Susan Bentley:

No-transcript, it's the don't put all your eggs in one basket. You know I have, we have a full team that relies on us. I have, you know, you know, 30 plus families that rely on us to be successful, and so I would do them a disservice if I just said one thing, however, the generational blessing is just amazing and it really is cool, because they give kudos to Donnie what he built, and yet they're taking that different spin. And then, you know, for Donnie and I, you think about it. If you sell, you know, yay, you get that bulk and then you can invest it or do whatever, but for us. You know, as long as we're hanging out and they're doing well, there's an income that will come with that, you know so.

Aaron Shishilla:

Yeah.

Susan Bentley:

Yeah. So you know that's a really cool thing when you think about that just in itself. But then you know you're building generational blessings that you know my grandchildren will get to see. They get to do things as a very young family. They have four small children that typically you may not be able to do if he was in an eight to five job slot, and so that's been really, really neat to do. It is definitely worth the pain points that you go through. Don't let anybody tell you generational is the easy path. It is not.

Aaron Shishilla:

Oh, I know that all too well. I wanted to go back to one of the other things you mentioned, which is like how you spoke about rule and networking and your like niche, what you're good at, and because you coach so many business owners, like, is that what you find that a lot of people that are successful is like, do you think they double down more into what they're really good at? Or what do you? What do you see within that? Because there's there's guys in the inspection go community that I've seen all the time that they they grew so quickly because they did one thing that was completely new and different than everybody else. And then everybody kind of like learns and says, oh, I need to do that, like I want to do that. What's your take on? Like how these other businesses have grown and how you've grown?

Susan Bentley:

So it's definitely figure out. You know there was a business mindset for a while that says find your weakness and really concentrate and make that better. Why I mean it's your weakness. Let's figure out what you are absolutely phenomenal at. If you were still trying to teach me spreadsheets and finances, I would not be near as happy as I am and the successes wouldn't have been rolling like they do so. But you know what I'm great at people, and so let me go do that and I'll find that person, that that I'm, you know. Once again, find your who, and so I think that really is it. Figure out where it is that you just you love to do.

Susan Bentley:

Plus, you know, being an entrepreneur is not easy. I mean, it is such a tough path. You know it's the be an entrepreneur they don't tell you. You know, eat glass and enjoy it, it's the whole. You know, let's, let's figure out what that looks like. So if you're doing things that feed your soul, the tired comes much further down the road. It still comes, but it comes much further down the road because you're doing things you enjoy. If you're doing things that you just aren't good at, you're going to be drained very, very quickly and you know, you are the person, as the owner in particular, that sets I call it the weather for your business. As the owner in particular that sets I call it the weather for your business. You know, if I come in with that cloud of gloom and doom over my head, I will leave it in my team. If I come in with you know what, no matter what comes today, it is a great day. Let's rock it. We're going to have a great day and we will rock it. And whatever comes, we'll overcome. And you have to have that mentality, knowing you set the temperature. You set the temperature and that's really, really important for your team. You know, figure out what your sphere of influence is within your team.

Susan Bentley:

When I decided to do that, we chose a word. I wanted to see how long before that word went through my company. Now, when I coach, I tell people be very careful about your word. I chose wonky. I should have chosen a different word. Let's talk about very unprofessional, Because wonky is something you hear a lot in our office.

Susan Bentley:

That's supposed to know it. There were so many things that were wonky and I was like, oh, but it took about six weeks and wonky was very much the vernacular in our office. So I, as the owner, now know about six weeks if I want a shift or a change. It's going to take me about that long, and so you know knowing what that looks like. But that's very powerful when you think about that as an owner. I mean you know you are building an amazing team and you think about it. When you and Jenna bring that energy and Austin brings that energy, it goes throughout the team. And you think about it when you and Jenna bring that energy and Austin brings that energy, it goes throughout the team. And so you know there are certain things you just kind of keep behind the doors If you're having a bad day. You know you're allowed to do that, but you know you don't want the whole world to know that it's a bad day.

Aaron Shishilla:

I love that metaphor that you said and that these Southern like lingos, man, I love that. That. You bring the weather. That is such an amazing like I don't know, it's just a different way to think about it that I think clicked with me that I was like man, that's so freaking true. You bring the weather, you want to say it's sunny or whatever, and you can change the weather as well you can. I don't know that connected with me. I hope it connected with anybody else that's listening. You got to tell me more of that particular stuff because I like hearing it and listen to it. Even though Florida is like in the South, I'm not really Southern. I feel like I'm definitely like a New Yorker where I'm a little grumpy.

Susan Bentley:

Well, you know, tennessee is in the buckle of the Bible Belt. So you know we're the bless your hearts. You know sweet tea, that kind of you know, you just what is it? I've been told I drip sugar no matter what, so it just is what it is.

Aaron Shishilla:

But you know you need more of that.

Susan Bentley:

You do, I think the world does, I really really do so. But then the same thing, like you know, anita that runs our office, she's amazing, but you know, I also know my energy level will overwhelm her, so I have to be cautious of that, you know. You just kind of have to know that because she is not at me and that's okay, we yin and yang exceptionally well, but I have to remember she is not my person to walk in and go hey, guess, what are we doing today? Because she would go, she would go.

Aaron Shishilla:

So, yeah, yeah, Well, let's, let's shift, shift, shift, let's shift gears here a little bit, and I want to. I want to jump into something that's actually, I think, really, really important, and I know it's really important to you, which is your home inspection ladies community. Tell me a little bit about how that started, what we're doing with that, and obviously I know the importance of it and I think a lot of people can think about it. But tell me the importance about it and what you guys are doing with that.

Susan Bentley:

So when I came into the industry, my resume was very impressive. I did a lot of national level training and coaching in fire and law enforcement, and so I had a great background. So I was used to being in what is traditionally a man's world and I had always been very, very respected in those rounds and so I was like okay, so I show up to. My first conference was not an InterNACHI conference and I'll leave it at that. But it was a conference and I show up, I'm dressed, you know, appropriately, I've got my little notebook. It's a marketing class.

Susan Bentley:

You know I wasn't sitting in trying to you know how, to how to inspect, you know HVAC systems. I was. It's a marketing class and I got tapped on the shoulder and told I was in the wrong room and I said no, no, no, no, no, that's how it worked and I went okay. So we were in California and I text my husband and said, oh, because he said I had a redhead moment, I lost my mind and so he came out of his class, got me calmed down and I said I never want a female to feel that way. I said, because I'm sitting in a room, that I know my knowledge for the most part, and I don't mean it be boastful but exceeds those here and you've just told me I need to go get my nails done.

Susan Bentley:

I'll get my nails done on my own time. You know. Whatever their trip was, I don't know, but you know I can do that, but I know how to manage my time. I'm here to learn to build this business with my husband, and so I thought okay, and so I started carrying this flag. Now here's my disclaimer it is not the burn the bra. We're going to take over the home inspection as women. That is not it. It is a we can bring great things.

Susan Bentley:

Because, when you think about it, it's very unusual for um, a, especially a male, which is primarily who starts the company. The first person they typically bring in is the wife. I mean, look at, look at your parents. I mean you know what I'm saying. So they brought it. They bring in the me's, and I wanted the me's in the industry to feel like we had value. And so when, when we got involved with Inspection, go they, they loved that. And so they said, let's, let's, let's go. And so, um, and when you think about you know there's so many coaching groups out there that are amazing. But Celeste, who is with I go she, if you ever look at her, her background. She is an amazing, well-accomplished female and and I tease her I have, you know, I've got a girl crush there, but I just she's just awesome. The same with Michelle Shashilla I have a girl crush there. She was a powerhouse in the industry and I thought I want women to feel that way. So we've started getting that together and it's great. It's a safe space because women, we make decisions with emotion.

Susan Bentley:

We are typically the caregivers, we are typically you know that we're typically the ones balancing the family and the business and other things, and that is totally fine. Now, there are exceptions to that rule, but for the most part, that's what our roles are, and so it looks a little bit different. You know, for Donnie it's black and white, this is what it is and this is. For me, it's like, well, how will that make them feel and how does that? You know, it looks different, and so it's a great safe place for us to talk about that and to talk about how do we, as females, excel in an industry that's primarily dominated by males, and then it's also a great place for those females that said, no, I'm going to be an inspector or, even more so, I'm going to be an inspection company and grow it. Well, what does that look like? Because you're still doing a very unique set of balances.

Susan Bentley:

You know of what does that look like, and it's just a great place for us to do that without the men in the room having to feel like we're all going to, you know, make a circle and sing Kumbaya together. Like we're all going to, you know, make a circle and sing Kumbaya together, cause that's typically not, you know, your vibe, and so it's just been great. And then InterNACHI also has done that and taken that, and so has IEB and others. I mean it's great to see you know that vision has just circulated now in the industry that there are those spaces. And then think about it when we do, when you do a conference, you know most is males.

Susan Bentley:

Well, typically a female is not going to. You know, walk up to some guy and go, I need to go, I need to go to the restroom. You know guys will just go. Hey, I got to go take a piss, let's go. Conversation like that even so, um, so we wanted to make sure even those that were not in inspection companies but our amazing vendors, had that space to join us as well, and it has just been one of the coolest things, I think, that I've been able to put my name beside.

Aaron Shishilla:

Yeah, I'll have to say for myself specifically because obviously my wife, jenna, runs the operations of Wolfpack and I've seen it time and time again too, and almost every single case that I look at it's like no offense to the men in the room and I feel like I can kind of say this is like sometimes we say some stupid stuff and we just do stupid actions and we kind of not. We kind of we need the women in our lives to kind of slap us across the face and say what do you think and don't do that. Yeah, you know, jenna sits back all the time in the room. She's so quiet and then when she has something to say, it's she has something to say and everybody needs to listen and I definitely see that in the women of the inspection world is they sit back, they listen and because they do that so well, they're a lot smarter than the men in the room. When it comes down to it, I really really believe like without a lot of the women in the industry, the men wouldn't be where they're at.

Susan Bentley:

Yeah, I mean, you think about it, it's the yin and yang. I mean it really is, it's the yin and yang. And you know, men are for famous, women are for bars. I mean there's a whole. You know, when you think about that, we're wired differently, we look at things differently. If you can put the two together at a table even if it's not a married couple, the two at the table together on any company, it's going to excel.

Susan Bentley:

And so it's just great us having a safe place to be able to say oh my God, everybody thinks he's amazing, but he turns his socks inside out and leaves them right beside the hamper. It drives me, you know, crazy. So it's those kind of things that be able to see. Or, you know, I'm trying to figure out sitter right now. It's really really hard. Or I'm carrying bomb guilt. You know I'm working all the time and now I'm not able to do this. How do you handle that? So having that safe space is really powerful, especially when it's in a room full of very powerful. I feel like women in an amazing industry.

Aaron Shishilla:

All right, so we've been talking for about 25 minutes. Now I want to segue into one of the last couple of things, which is for those people that want to hear from you those women in the inspection industry, that last couple of things, which is for those people that want to hear from you those women in the inspection industry that are listening to this which I hope that they are and to those people that want to learn from you what's the best way that they can get in touch with you how, how can do you, do you encourage them to go to Inspection? Go, what's that look like for you?

Susan Bentley:

Anytime you would do coaching of any kind. I encourage it. We love Inspection Go. There's a ton of things there for coaching, like Leaders Edge. They have a Leaders Edge which you could put your leaders in, so my office person is in their own call, my marketing person is in their own call, my inspector manager is in his own call, so they're pouring into your leadership as well, and it's very uniform type of messaging, so that makes it phenomenal. So email is easy for me. You know all of that's great so, and my email is super easy. It's just Susan, I'm the plain spelling, nothing fancy at all, and then at BentleyHomeInspectioncom and just shoot me an email and we'll circle around and I'll help any way I can. Like I say, I'm always happy to chat and always happy to help somebody.

Aaron Shishilla:

Yeah, thank you, susan, so much for being here and taking the time to speak to everybody on the Marketing Alpha podcast. You're an absolute gold to talk to. I mean, you're a gem. You're such a pleasure. You always put a smile on my face every time I talk with you, every time you even think about like hey, susan's going to be at this conference. I'm so excited to just say hi, even though sometimes I just get a hug in the hallway, you know, and then it's like you got so many things going on so you got to head out. That's cool to me too. Yeah, thank you for being here.

Susan Bentley:

I so appreciate it, thank you.

Aaron Shishilla:

All right, everybody. See you till next time, bye.

WolfPack:

Bye. Thank you for listening to Alpha Marketing. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to subscribe, leave a review and share it with other business owners and marketers. Your support enables us to continue bringing you actionable advice and the tools you need to thrive. Join us next time for more insights with Aaron Shishilla and keep striving to be the alpha in your market.