How to Get More Plumbing Leads For Your Business

Plumbing entrepreneurs jump into the business because they have probably heard stories about how plumbers get an automatic and growing stream of customers calling them day in and day out. They also might have come across success stories on the Internet about hand-to-mouth plumbers striking it rich. These factors entice entrepreneurs to enter the plumbing business, but after opening their shop, they realize the hard truth – they do not have any plumbing leads, and therefore, no customers.

Lack of customers is very frustrating for any business, whether start-up or established. There are loans to be squared, salaries to be paid, and a family to look after. Plumbing businesses often throw in the towel because of lack of quality plumbing leads. In their frustration, they either close shop or buy lists of customers from Internet list brokers and then resort to telemarketing or email marketing. This marketing, if not done right or done in a hurry, can quickly add up the costs. So, what should be done? Here is a step-by-step guide on how a plumbing business, established or start-up can get qualified plumbing leads.

Guide to Generating and Exposing Your Business to Quality Plumbing Leads

Before you read the guide, please know that the majority of customers browse the Internet to locate professional plumbing services that charge reasonably. Very few customers consult the Yellow Pages.

1. Get a Better Business Bureau (BBB) accreditation. It implies that the plumbing business is honest, transparent and trustworthy. Contact them and a BBB representative will contact you with more information on how to get accredited. Once you are listed with the BBB, your business name and contact numbers are published. Any search for BBB accredited vendors shows up on the first page of search engines, exposing a plumbing business to local residents and national construction contractors.

2. Create a professional website. It should be simple, easily navigable and informative. Moreover, a website is like an advertisement that’s published 24/7. If the website can be easily discovered on major search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN, then customers will automatically start making enquiries. The website must carry a feedback/enquiry form and must prominently display the contact numbers. It is not expensive to create and publish a website – all that has to be done is to locate a professional service that has some track record of creating interactive websites for plumbing businesses.

3. Get a professional to perform SEO on your website. Onsite SEO includes strategically placing relevant keywords into content and into the HTML programming (title, meta and other tags). Keywords are mined by using the Google Keyword Tool and by visiting competitors’ websites, right-clicking on their web pages, choosing “View Source,” and then extracting keywords from the chosen file. Stay away from unethical SEO practices – these practices may bring in traffic over a short period of time, but end up blacking out a website for a really long time if caught by the search engine.

4. Register the website on directories, search engines and Google Maps. There are many directories, including niche Internet directories for plumbing businesses (for example: plumbingweb.com/, Emergency-Plumbing.com, APlumbers.com, and more). DMOZ and Yahoo are important web directories. The business must be listed on prominent search engines as well (Google, Yahoo, and MSN). Millions of users browse Google Maps to locate local businesses. The plumbing business must register with Google Maps to get direct and qualified plumbing leads.

Here is an important FYI: People will not just search for “plumber.” They will add in a locality or a zip code as well. So, the keywords used must be long and determined after careful research.

5. The next step is to create interactivity and provide helpful information. Plumbing businesses must open a YouTube channel (remember, YouTube is a Google company and results show up on Google’s search result page # 1) and post helpful how-to videos. For example: How to fix a leaky tap; Plumbing precautions to take while going on a vacation, etc. Helpful videos will automatically draw customers to the plumbing business. Plumbing questions on forums should be answered and the website link must be included in the signature. Helpful how-to articles should be written and distributed to article directories like Ezine Articles.

6. After setting up an interactive, professional and helpful website and starting Internet marketing, it makes sense to buy plumbing leads from a trusted company. Email marketing is cheap and Plumbing businesses can send personal, non-salesy letters to customers in their area informing about their existence and services. Emails must not be sent more than once in a month. Plumbing businesses can also distribute fliers in the localities they can cover.

7. Construction contractors regularly outsource work to plumbers. Though private sector construction is hurting because of the recession, government contracts are unaffected. Plumbing businesses must search for association of construction companies, become members, get the members’ list and send direct mail to every construction contractor. They should follow up their direct mail with an email. Construction Contractors make for solid plumbing leads because they outsource work in bulk.

8. Plumbing businesses can telemarket their services to Construction Contractors as well. It won’t cost much because one telemarketer can make about 5-7 calls in an hour, and the cost of a work-at-home mom who works for 4 hours in a day is not much. There are many Internet telecalling services available as well. Remember, that the service must not be outsourced to a developing country because the cultural and accent differences can actually lose business.

These were some of the practical, deep down-in-the-trenches methods of getting qualified plumbing leads. Though the economy is in a recession, the demand for plumbing services is steady. Foreclosed homes too will gradually get taken and their old plumbing fixtures will need replacement. Garbage disposals, gas pipes, bathroom equipment, fixtures, and water pipes are not dependent on the economy. They need regular plumbing care. So, a plumbing business must get its act together, set up a website, market it well (as above), and watch plumbing leads and business grow.