Whether you’re looking to scale and bring in work so that you can feed jobs to your engineers
Or you’re stacked out and just need ‘better’ or higher paying customers to make more profit.
The question comes up so much.
“What’s the best way to get plumbing leads?”
On our journey to reaching and now surpassing the quarter-of-a-million leads mark, we’ve discovered a few things along the way.
Firstly, I’d like to reveal our insight into each lead source and then share a couple of bedrock principles that will not only transform your ability to grow your business but also the speed at which you can safely and profitably do it.
Let’s look at the lead sources.
We’ve put together this handy guide to help you figure out how to get more plumbing leads.
1) Referrals and Word of Mouth Recommendations
When thinking about how to generate plumbing leads for your business, nothing beats a recommendation from a ‘good’ customer.
Having them refer a friend who is similar in traits to themselves. They might share the same values about quality, and adhere to the same principles about respecting your expertise.
They are usually less price sensitive too, as they have already been ‘pre-sold’ on your ability and service.
The only downside with referrals is that for most businesses, it’s just a case of waiting and hoping they come along.
When it comes to growing at an above ‘natural’ growth rate, then it’s harder to scale this source of leads.
2) Search Engines
So, after referrals, this is the next best thing.
People who are looking for someone to fix a plumbing or heating problem. People who are searching for a plumber on Google.
Someone who’s picked up their mobile and typed “plumber near me”.
These customers are great because of 3 important reasons.
- They require plumbing work at this very moment (great for emergency plumbing leads)
- They don’t already know a plumber (or they’d just contact them directly)
- The one that most people miss, is that they’re looking for a ‘proper’ plumbing company
- This means they’re looking for the best and most reputable in the local area.
They understand the implications of this and they’ll probably be expecting to pay more for the work.
Because the right kind of customer values something more than money…
Their time.
Leads from search engines can be broken down into categories.
i) Google Ads – The ones at the top and bottom of the search results page. They are also know as pay-per-click ads and provide pay-per-call plumbing leads
ii) Organic SEO – The natural 10 positions that a lot of people scroll down to
iii) Map Listings – The local 3 results next to the map image provides domestic or commercial plumbing leads near me
iv) Local Service Ads – Also called Google Guaranteed, which for plumbers, appears at the very top of the page.
v) Other search engines, e.g. Bing. – Admittedly, not many people use Bing, but that also means not many people Advertise there either in comparison, so it can be a small but lucrative opportunity for those that do.
As with all lead sources, as good as the search engines are, this is quite easily one of the toughest ways to get leads.
Getting this working requires genuine expertise and experience.
Mistakes can be brutally expensive, meaning you don’t have long to figure it all out.
If you want exclusive access to my Google Ads success roadmap, claim your FREE 90-minute consultation session today.
3) Online Comparison and Trade Directory Websites. E.g. Checkatrade, Trustatrader, My Builder, etc
These in many ways are similar to search engines, because they act as a ‘middleman’ between the search engines and the customer.
When you see these sites thriving, it only further proves how lucrative the search engine market is.
These are one of the easiest ways to get new customers.
The inevitable downside is that it’s fiercely competitive and somewhat of a leveller.
The way that profiles on these platforms are created means that sometimes the only differentiating factor might be the difference between ratings. For example, the decision to choose a 9.76 rating over a 9.62.
But this creates a BIG problem.
When everything else appears to be equal…
Customers will buy based on price (and we all know how that ends – Hint: race to the bottom)
Nonetheless, if handled correctly, this is a solid source of new customers that you can tap into with relative ease.
4) Social Media
These days it feels like social media is the most ‘exciting’ way to generate leads for your plumbing business. So many people look to this as the new way of marketing.
There are always so many new strategies and tactics.
Whether it’s the latest way to post on Instagram or creating demo videos on TikTok.
It always seems to generate so much interest.
The reality of generating leads from social media is that there are so many different methods, obviously some are good and some aren’t.
Some methods suit some people but don’t suit others.
Breaking it down, you have two general methods with Social Media which apply to most social platforms.
i) Organic Posting
This is where you create content to post on your preferred social platforms. Whether it’s a photo and description of a recent job you’ve completed and posted on Facebook or Instagram, or a quick educational video you’ve uploaded to TikTok.
Whichever way you look at this, it’s time-consuming and requires constant and unrelenting effort.
The moment you make a post, it’s quickly old news and you MUST be working on the next one.
If this is to be a leading driver of new sales leads, then posting will need to be of a high standard and high volume.
If this is your thing, you might be in luck, because so few plumbing businesses have the knack, knowledge, desire or time for doing this properly.
ii) Paid Advertising
The other method when it comes to social media is quite simply to pay for your plumbing leads for plumbers and heating heating engineers. This gives you all the added benefits of reaching your target customers, without the hassle of needing to post new content every day.
Ads need real expertise and often need to capture people’s attention when they would otherwise not be searching for your plumbing services.
Achieving this often revolves around creating a unique offer which will appeal to your target audience.
The downside, with social media advertising, is that they do require regular refreshing as all ads begin to ‘fatigue’ after being seen for longer periods of time.
Whilst the benefit of getting this working can be fantastic, mistakes can be costly and the knowledge level required to pull this off is significant.
5) Traditional Marketing
When looking for new customers and marketing to bring them in, so many of us look only to online methods.
But let’s not forget the more traditional methods of marketing like:
- Flyers
- Postcards
- Magazine adverts
With the migration to digital, generally, there are fewer people doing traditional marketing. So you may have the opportunity to add traditional methods into the mix.
The secret as with any form of advertising is not the fact that it’s a flyer or an advert, it’s all in the message you are sending.
The best way to get traditional marketing working is to ensure that you are using a message which you know works.
The copy must capture the attention of the reader and the ‘offer’ of what you are asking them to do must be appealing enough to make them want to take action immediately, not store it away in a cupboard for another day.
6) Business Networking For Plumbing Leads
Whilst this is probably a little left field, I’ve included it because I’ve often seen this work pretty well.
Business networking events come in all shapes and sizes, and all can provide varying levels of success.
They range from individual or one-off events which simply aim to bring people together for a show or exhibition, right through to groups like BNI which meet weekly and follow a very structured meeting format.
I’m more focused on BNI. It’s a networking group that focuses on the passing of referrals between its members.
Having previously been a member of BNI for several years, I’ve seen first-hand the number of referrals a plumber can get.
In some ways, it’s seen as an easy referral. Everyone needs a boiler service and everyone will experience plumbing issues.
If you’re a ‘people person’ and deliver excellent service, the opportunity can be great.
Obviously, all groups are different and many may already contain a plumber, which can make finding a group challenging.
The other downside of this is that it’s very time intensive and hard to scale as each person can only be a member of one group.
7) Partnership & Joint Ventures
This is probably one of the most underused strategies for bringing in new plumbing and heating leads.
When it comes to leverage in business, most people think about trying to get their hands on other people’s money.
This could be in the form of a bank loan, grant or an investment in the business.
Other people’s money is hard to come by. They are fiercely protective of it, and rightly so.
A much easier approach can be to use other people’s customers.
Think of a business that already serves your market. Maybe a local electrical company that covers the same areas that you do.
If they have a list of customers, you could market to them with your services via their business.
You will be leveraging the trust the host business has with its customers to effectively recommend your business to their customers.
You will need a strong offer to provide to the customer and most likely an incentive per result to the host business too.
If your marketing campaign is tested and you know how to get plumbing leads, it can create a very lucrative opportunity. And if executed effectively, could be worth equally as much if not more to you than other people’s money.
8) Pay For Plumbing Leads
Nothing fancy about this. Plain and simple. If you need plumbing or heating sales leads, then why not pay for plumbing leads on a ‘per lead’ basis?
There are many national companies that have mastered the methods of having heating and plumbing leads for sale.
These companies then recruit engineers on a job-per-job basis to complete the work for them.
Leads can be purchased in pre-agreed volumes or just passed through as and when.
Keep an eye out to see if you are getting exclusive plumbing leads or whether they are being sold to multiple companies to compete for.
Even if the leads appear to be ‘free’ you’re still effectively being ‘charged’ because the price they pay you for the work, will be lower than you would have got for the same job which you sourced via your own marketing.
If you can make the economics of these relationships work, then it can be a great way to bring in leads.
9) House List
The final item is one of my personal favourites because it’s almost like getting plumbing leads free.
One of the most underused resources across the plumbing and heating industry.
Your own list of customers and prospects.
If you’ve been running the business for any period of time, you’ll no doubt have accrued a healthy list of customers you’ve served or who have enquired about your services.
Whether this information is stored in an easy-to-access spreadsheet or software system, or even if you have to dig through phone or email records.
Being able to market to these people can be one of the most lucrative things you can do AND at the lowest cost.
Regularly sending updates, sharing useful information and creating offers can be an excellent way to drum up small surges of plumbing job leads whenever you need them most.
Important: The Golden Rule With Generating Plumbing Leads
With so many different ways to generate leads, life should be pretty easy.
Oh if only things were that simple.
The process of systematically bringing in sales leads at an affordable cost requires your constant attention and monitoring.
Not only will you (or somebody you hire) have to keep an eye on the statistics to see how each method is working, but they’ll also have to invest significant time in optimising the campaigns to continually improve the performance.
Remember, It’s Less About Plumbing Leads and More About Getting Customers
So here’s the most important factor when it comes to marketing.
I see so many people who have an expectation of what marketing should look like.
When they run a Google Ads campaign, they might expect to receive hundreds of leads in the first week.
The reality is often far from that when you are getting started.
The only way to know if your marketing is working is to closely monitor the results.
Focus less closely on the number of leads, but more on the number of customers.
And if you look really closely, then you’ll want to track the lifetime value (LTV) and possibly include the referral rate of each customer too.
This gives you an idea of what each customer is ‘worth’.
Once you have an idea of this, you’ll then be able to know what you can afford to spend to acquire a customer.
If you can acquire a customer profitably and predictably, then you’re off to the races.
Whenever you are ready…
Here are two ways we can help you to learn how to get more leads for my plumbing business and start bringing in more customers with ease.
1) Get Your FREE Copy of 22 Ways To Get More Customers For Your Plumbing Business
This free book reveals 22 proven plumbing and heating business strategies that you can slot into your marketing to start bringing in new customers and activating repeat buyers.
2) Claim Your FREE 90 Minute ‘Grow Your Plumbing Business’ Consultation Session
If you’re short on time, or would just like some help from people who have already walked the path you are walking now, claim your free consultation session today. Discover the 3 secrets of why traditional plumbing websites don’t generate enough leads and get your step-by-step bespoke plan for helping you to achieve your business growth goals.
