Plumbers certainly don’t have a glamor job. They get called in on the worst days and for the worst jobs. Yet often, homeowners just don’t appreciate their efforts. They don’t often think about having a regular plumber. When an emergency comes up, people as often as not just thumb through the phone book.
If, however, homeowners had a way to sort through the choices, they would be more likely to call an expert plumber whose business they knew about beforehand. In fact, if they had such a plumber, she or he would get the call instead of some handyman plucked at random from the phone book.
Branding your company
If wanting to get your business noticed—and get the lion’s share of those emergency calls, take advantage of some easy tips to get their name out in front of renters and homeowners alike.
Creating repeat customers
First of all, creating grateful customers cultivates repeat business and word-of-mouth advertising. It goes without saying that plumbers who make emergency calls should do the job right—and offer to return for free if the problem is not fixed properly. They should, of course, clean up after themselves. Before they leave, though, they need to leave something for the customer to remember them by…
Low-cost marketing ideas
If a plumbing company were to create labels with the brand, logo, phone number, and the website URL, before leaving every service call, you can make sure that the stickers are attached to the water tank, sink, or whatever device is being serviced to create repeat business whenever those customers need service again.
After completing that grateful customer’s emergency repair job, why not give them a sticker that they can attach to their phone book? Include a detachable coupon for a discount on their next service call, and earn their loyalty. People love discounts, after all.
Include a short checklist for customers that helps them keep track of routine maintenance appointments. On the checklist should be a suggested date for each repair checkup. By providing this checklist, you will educate the customers on proper plumbing maintenance, as well as to ensure their continued business.
Another low cost marketing idea which is high on service, to jog repeat customers’ memories is to give every customer a bottle or box of drain cleaner. People with clogged drains usually try a D.I.Y. solution first. If the plumbing service creates a custom label for the cleaner, a label that displays the company telephone number in a prominent place, the customer will probably call you first if the drain cleaner enough is not enough to dislodge the gunk stopping up their drain. From a few dollars invested in bulk household chemicals and a few labels, the company will probably get that customer’s business every time they have an issue with their plumbing.
Household drain cleaners, of course, can be dangerous, particularly around children. The giveaway bottle, of course, should be childproof. But use that dangerous aspect of those chemicals as an inroad to yet another way to promote the business, yet do service for the community at the same time…
We’ll get into that in the second part of this article.
