What Prepared Plumbers Can Teach You About Winning Business

Originally published

Recently, my wife and I noticed our faucet was leaking. Now, I’m not a DIY guy. I’m thankful that computers exist because I can’t do anything with my hands. But I decided to try to fix it myself. Long story short…it didn’t work. I brought the faucet neck to Home Depot and they were less than helpful. So we called two plumbers. One was the clear winner, and here’s why (and what you can learn from them).

Plumber 1: In a Rush and Unprepared

We called the first plumber and told him the story about how I tried and failed, so he knew we felt the pain of the problem. Then I had to go back to work.

This was a free consult. This plumber gets under our sink, looks briefly, and tells my wife the faucet and knobs need to be replaced.

Now, our faucet has been leaking for like a month. We noticed, I tried to fix it 3 times over 3 weekends, and got nowhere. On the fourth week, we finally called the plumber.

And he says to my wife, around dinner time1, with 2 kids, that he could:

  1. Go to Home Depot, pick out a faucet for us, and install it. And that would cost $1,000. It would also probably take a few hours.
  2. She could take the kids to Home Depot while he waited in our house for her to return and install the faucet she picked out. That would cost $500 and probably take longer.

He did not read the room. We decided to get a second opinion.

Plumber 2: Skin in the Game and Better Prepared.

So we called a second plumber. It cost us $50 to have him assess the situation, meaning we had skin in the game. We’ve already paid him a little.

He looked at our faucet and told us the same thing – it had to be replaced2. BUT instead of telling us to go to Home Depot, he told he had 3 options for faucets on the truck, with him, and ready to install.

JACKPOT

We picked out one we liked3, and he installed it for us. Problem solved with no effort on our part.

Be Prepared to Solve Your Customers’ Problems

As you define your products or send proposals, you should be able to clearly state the problem. This will show potential customers that you understand their pain, and want to alleviate it.

Then you should be able to offer them at least one solution on the spot.

Plumber 1 told my wife, “Here’s what you need to do.” But we couldn’t do it. It was dinner time, I was in meetings, and the kids were both experiencing end of the day exhaustion.

But Plumber 2 said, “Here’s what I can do for you right now.” We could have held off, gone to Home Depot and picked the best faucet we could afford. But honestly, we just wanted to faucet fixed. Plus Plumber 2 also offers a warranty on the faucets they sell and install.

How Can You Solve Your Customers’ Problems Right Now?

If you offer website packages, offer an audit, a discovery phase, or even a short video course on how they can update their own website. Don’t tell them, “Well in order for my to start, you need to move hosting companies.”

If you offer Social Media Management, Created a $9 PDF that’s a series of check lists for everything they can to do to effectively run their own social media. Your solution here is the framework, which they don’t have…they just have things they want to tweet. Then also mention you can do it for them.

Don’t tell potential customers you’re going to make more work for them. Tell them you’re going to make less work for them, streamline their processes, and solve their problem.

  1. I should also note that it was 4:30pm and he was late, and probably just wanted to go home ?
  2. He actually wanted to know what the first guy said. I reminded him that we wanted his opinion, not a restating of someone else’s opinion. ?
  3. Similar to this one. I’ve loved it. ?