Every plumber worth his salt knows that the busiest repair days out there are the holidays. Thanksgiving Day, Christmas and the 4th of July. Too many people sharing a house and flushing the same toilet over and over again can stress household plumbing systems to the breaking point. But only the savviest plumbers out there understand that this is a chance to increase their business for the rest of the year. Here’s a tip on how to turn these overworked holidays into big bucks for you all year around.
Let’s face it, most homeowners don’t really have a go to plumber until they have a plumbing emergency. Then they call a friend or go looking. If the plumber that they find does a good job for them, well they have your card and your number and they never need to hunt down a plumber again. They have you. But if you miss that opportunity, then you will never get a shot at their business. So how do you use that information and the insider knowledge you have about the busiest plumbing days of the year to your advantage? Here’s how.
First of all, understand that very few people look in the yellow pages any more. They just go to google. Now you can work hard all year around to build up your ranking on google but there are two problems with that approach. First of all, search engine optimization isn’t geographically specific. Second of all, it is hard and takes a long time. But there is a way to get to the top of the search engine world immediately. That is called pay per click advertising. And with your knowledge of just when people will need you, you can bid high on just those days. You can set up your pay per click, called ppc, account so that you bid very high only on the days that people will be looking and desperate. You can also limit who will see your ad to the geographic territory in which you are willing to operate on the holiday. This will put you at the top of the list for the search terms you think are most likely to be used, such as: plumber Raleigh, N.C., or other terms you deem to be most likely to be searched. Also, always put your phone number in the ppc ad. Some people will click through to your site but if you have an ad that tells them you are available on holidays and just call this number, then you can save the click through cost of the ad because some percentage of searchers will just pick up the phone and call you.
Now you are buying the business here just a bit, but you will be able to charge them holiday rates. Let’s face it if you have 25 people in your house and a plumbing leak that is shutting down the party, you don’t care what the plumber charges, you need a solution and fast. Also, if you handle this correctly, you will have made a client for life. And they will have other plumbing repair needs in the future.
Now, last of all, if you have to pay your employees time and a half, or double time to work on holidays, then you need to know one last trick to save you money. Your NC plumbers workers compensation insurance policy does not require you to include the extra holiday pay in the payroll that you declare at audit. So keep good records on your overtime and holiday pay so you don’t pay to much for your workers compensation or your plumbers liability insurance policies, both of which are rated based on payroll.
At Clinard Insurance Group in Winston Salem, NC, we work hard to help all of our clients become informed insurance consumers. We also want all of our commercial insurance clients to be successful businesses. We specialize in the insurance needs of plumbing contractors and work hard to help all of our plumbing company clients become successful. If we can help you with your plumbing insurance needs, please feel free to call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us online at the plumbing insurance headquarters.