Be Unique to Grow Your Customer Base - PTL #322

00:05 - This is Potty Talk Live. Recorded live every week.

00:09 - Turn on notifications to never miss an episode.

00:12 - Now your host, Richard Behney, the Million Dollar Plumber.

00:18 - Hey, hey, hey, plumbing pros! Welcome to the 322nd episode of Potty Talk Live.

00:24 - Hey there, I’m your host Richard Behney, the Million Dollar Plumber, along with my co-host, the Lovely Laura, where we’re talking the business of plumbing.

00:32 - We are. How to systemize, stylize, and monetize your plumbing business.

00:37 - Good to have you here! Hey, we got a great episode for you.

00:40 - ‘Course we do! Hey, I’m looking forward to this one.

00:42 - I know. We’re gonna be talking about about how to get more customers! I know. Why wouldn’t we be? Do you want more customers? No. I hope you do.

00:48 - You should. But we’re gonna talk about that tonight.

00:50 - In fact, this is the first part of our three-part series.

00:53 - That’s right. We’re gonna talk about that, but it’s good to have you here.

00:55 - Keep you hanging on. Yeah. Right? Yeah, we keep you hanging on here.

00:59 - Keep you hanging on! Hey, we already see it happening here.

01:01 - Yes! You guys know that part of the live social audience all the time, you know the type “Live” in the comments.

01:05 - Type “Live” if you’re with us here. Let us know you’re watching live.

01:08 - If you’re watching the replay, please type, “Replay. ” Let us know you caught it.

01:11 - And if you listening to the podcast, you know what to do, just keep on listening.

01:17 - All right! Hey, everybody. How’s everybody doing? Everybody checking in? And we just had a little malfunction right before we went live, of course, because Facebook changes everything at the last minute.

01:27 - So, but you’ve got yours up. Hopefully our wonderful, new, show producer, Shelby.

01:33 - Miss Shelby. Miss Shelby. Hey, Bo. Hey, Bo.

01:36 - Is now with us now. And hopefully she’s, everything’s going good on her end, and nothing freaked out on her.

01:43 - So, anyway, yes! Hey. Intentionally live.

01:46 - Awesome. Thanks, Chris Copeland. All right, Chris. Good to see you, brother.

01:48 - All right. I saw JT was on board here.

01:52 - Matt! Hey, Matt Carter. I can see him here.

01:55 - Good to see you here, Matt. Yes. Brother Matt.

01:58 - GB, good to have you here. Everybody checking in.

02:00 - All right. Happy, Matt Delnay. Mr. Delnay.

02:04 - I talked to them earlier. They got some cool stuff going on.

02:06 - Not only is, I know. Mountaineer Plumbing just killing it.

02:11 - The Delnays. Well, they’ve got nothing else better to do with their time. Yeah, right.

02:14 - So there’s that. Hey JT, how you doing? Tawny? Tell Tawny we said, “Hi. ” Thinking about her today too as, I don’t know if most of you know, Danny and Tiese did have their baby, the Penns, owners of New Era Plumbing.

02:27 - New Era Plumping, out of Boston. Boston, Mass. Boston, Mass.

02:31 - Yeah. So they, Baby Noah. Little Noah, yes.

02:34 - Not little. Oh, I know. Not little at all.

02:37 - I wanna hear that story. Yes. Everybody make sure you reach out.

02:41 - Little Tiese. And big, baby Noah. Oh boy. You know? Super cute.

02:47 - Anyway! Hey, Mark. Mark Yarbrough, hopefully I’m saying that right.

02:50 - Hey, welcome brother. Welcome. Mark, or Matt. Sorry.

02:52 - Read this better. All right. Jeff Clinkenbeard.

02:54 - Have some new names here. Guys, let us know where you are tuning in from.

02:59 - Good to have you here. If you’re plumbing business owner.

03:01 - Hey, we got, if you’re looking for more customers, we’ll be talking about that.

03:05 - So, stick around. Okay. I can’t wait to get to it.

03:07 - Hey, Matt Carter. All right. So, we diving right in, or what are you doing? I don’t know. We can talk.

03:12 - Okay. You’re on a roll here. You want to just kind of? I was kinda talking and then you just.

03:16 - I would rather. Chris DeWolfe, live from Wylie, Texas.

03:19 - What a great, Texan name of a town. Wylie. Wylie.

03:24 - Is that where the Wiley Coyote comes from? Wiley Coyote. Yes.

03:26 - I wonder. Carmen. Carmen’s in the house! Carmen LaCassa.

03:29 - All right, it’s good to have you here. One of our old timers.

03:31 - Sorry, Carmen. I know you’re probably not old.

03:32 - Hey, we do have a question for you. We might as well get the question out there.

03:34 - Yes! Okay. Let’s do it. All right? Okay.

03:36 - What do you got? Hey, where do you get most of your customer leads from? Where do you get most of your customer leads from? Yeah, let us know.

03:42 - Referrals. LSAs. GMB. SEO.

03:48 - Yeah. Repeat. Where do you get most of your customer leads from? Love to know.

03:53 - Yeah. Okay. Let us know. So, it’s an important thing here.

03:56 - Yeah! Also, thank you, Shelby. Sign up to get a text message when we go live.

04:02 - I feel like I’m still on vacation. Let me finish please.

04:07 - Are we gonna to communicate at all? Type “Text” in the comments to get a notification when we go live, so you never miss an episode of Potty Talk Live.

04:15 - Do it right now. All right. There you go.

04:17 - I’m just kind of relaxed. I feel chill. I know.

04:19 - We did have a mini staycation this weekend.

04:22 - We decided just to go, oh, what about 15 miles from our house? Right.

04:27 - Into Sarasota. Stayed downtown. Downtown Sarasota.

04:30 - There are a couple things, a couple of reasons why.

04:32 - Yes. I mean, first of all, we’ve been kind of just busy, got a lot of things going on, and we just wanted to get away, and just be no-brainer.

04:37 - You know, just hang out. Hang out somewhere, hotels.

04:40 - Always fun to go to the nice hotel. And eat and, you know.

04:42 - And we did eat. All right? And do that kind of stuff.

04:45 - But we’re also looking, what we tell our clients, you know, whatever, what you’re looking to do, you know, take it for a test drive.

04:51 - Right. You know, spend some time in the area.

04:53 - Walk the area. Right. If there’s a neighborhood that you want to live in, a house that you want to buy eventually, go drive around the neighborhood, spend some time in the neighborhood, walk the neighborhood.

05:01 - If there’s a car, certain kind of car or truck, or something that you want, go do a test drive.

05:07 - Right. Right. So we took our own advice this week.

05:09 - Right, and we want to live in Sarasota in a high rise.

05:14 - Kinda a pent house. Nice high rise, yeah. Condo.

05:17 - Overlooking the water, yes. You know? And so we wanted to walk to see what it’d feel like.

05:21 - We have our eyes on a couple. And so what would it be like? That we could walk to in the mornings.

05:26 - Right. Where we work out. Places to eat. Right.

05:29 - Yeah. Kind of. So it was kind of fun.

05:30 - Just kind of, you know, put it on a little bit. Yes.

05:32 - So a little, mini staycation. And it felt good. Yeah.

05:34 - We liked it. So, yeah! We liked it.

05:36 - So, we highly recommend that, guys. We talk about this all the time, to go and experience some of the things that you’re shooting for.

05:44 - So that it kind of keeps you moving and keeps you moving.

05:47 - Right. There’s just something powerful about that.

05:49 - Your mind finds a way to, you know, work on that.

05:52 - But now we’re back. But we are back.

05:54 - We’re back. Okay? So, we’re not on staycation anymore.

05:56 - And I’m still feeling the groove. We had a good time.

05:58 - We did have a very lovely time. Weather was great.

06:00 - A lovely time. Okay. We had a lovely time.

06:03 - Guess I’m trying to keep you on track, and maybe move on with the show.

06:10 - I do see some things, some answers coming in from our question here.

06:13 - Yes. Okay, what are they? GMB, Matt Carter says, “Yes. ” Yes, we know you do GMB.

06:17 - Very well, right? Yes. And, if everybody doesn’t know, GMB is Google My Business.

06:22 - It’s the maps. Yep. The maps as we have the free listing, referrals, and some Yelp.

06:27 - Yelp, really? See, that just shocks me.

06:29 - Scott, what part of town, or town, duh. Country.

06:32 - Country are you in? Because some areas of the country, Yelp is huge.

06:36 - It’s absolutely huge. Others like, Indiana, where we’re originally from, Yelp’s just like, eh, it’s not even a thing.

06:43 - So, but like, California, pretty big.

06:46 - So, LSAs Bo says, “Yes. ” LSA, Local Service Ads.

06:52 - Google, Local Service Ads. I wish those would have been around when we had our plumbing business.

06:56 - Yeah. Super, inexpensive way to get clients.

06:59 - Yeah, it’s never been easier. I’m gonna sound like the old guy.

07:02 - Talks about back in the day. You are gonna sound like the old guy.

07:04 - We had to walk 10 miles up hill on the snow to go to school.

07:07 - We had to buy Yellow Page ads. Right.

07:10 - Same thing. Today, guys, it’s never been easier, and we’re gonna cover that, how to get more customers.

07:14 - So, let’s get at it. Let’s get at it, shall we? This part, we’re talking about how to get more plumbing customers.

07:17 - Yes. Couple of things we want to keep in mind here.

07:20 - Okay. Okay? First of all, customers buy.

07:23 - There’s a saying that customers buy from those they know, like, and trust.

07:28 - Correct. Okay. Okay? Let me say that again.

07:30 - Customers buy, BUY, from those they know. Spend money with you.

07:35 - Right. Know. Spend money with you. Buy from those they know.

07:39 - We gotta know you. Like you. Like you.

07:42 - And finally, trust you. And then they’ll spend money with you.

07:47 - Correct. So, that’s what we’re gonna be talking about here.

07:50 - Okay. In fact, today’s session, or episode here. Session.

07:53 - Right? We’re talking about how we get customers to buy from you, but we’re gonna talk about how we get them to know you.

07:59 - Yes. Okay. Very, very, very, very, very important.

08:01 - Correct. How do they even know you exist? How do they get to know you.

08:04 - One thing I want to keep in mind here, maybe you’ve heard me say this before, but even in this case, it’s very, very important also to realize it ain’t about plumbing.

08:14 - So getting to know you. You’ve never said that before.

08:16 - Has nothing to do with plumbing. Has nothing to do with plumbing.

08:19 - Okay, if you think it has something to do with plumbing, you’re wrong. You’re wrong.

08:21 - You’re just wrong. Right. Okay. We gotta get out of that state of mind that has to do with the plumbing.

08:27 - Yeah, they need plumbing. Right. But that’s not why they feel like they know you.

08:30 - That’s just something you do. And quite frankly, kind of turned on its ear a little bit, if they see you as a plumber, and just feel like you’re just a plumber, you’re gonna have a hard time being able to really grow a successful plumbing, your job.

08:43 - Right. As far as creating the wealth, you know, whether we talk about, in creating that freedom-lifestyle.

08:49 - Correct. You don’t do that by making it about plumbing.

08:51 - That’s correct. Okay? So, I want to keep that in mind.

08:52 - So I’m coming from that point of view as well.

08:54 - Okay. All right, I’m with ya. Okay. So we’re talking about how we get customers to know you.

08:59 - Okay? Okay. So how do we get to know you so that they, you know, you can get more customers.

09:02 - Okay. What do ya got? number one. Point one. Shelby, hit it! All right. She’s good.

09:09 - There it is. Okay! Stand out from the crowd.

09:11 - I remembered. See, I needed to have it up there.

09:13 - Okay? Whatever. Stand out from the crowd.

09:16 - Okay, you need to stand out from the crowd.

09:18 - Look, there’s so many, what we hear guys talk about this, there’s so much competition.

09:22 - Well, no. Not really. Not really. Look around.

09:26 - Okay? Yeah, look around at the trucks that are out there.

09:28 - Now, if you blend in with the competition, just, you know, I’m Joe Plumber.

09:32 - I’m the plumber and we do all this kind of plumbing, and we do plumbing.

09:34 - Yeah, you have competition now. And it’s also a lot of noise.

09:38 - Right. The consumer does not Does not like noise.

09:42 - Right, they can differentiate. The brain just shuts down.

09:45 - Right. So you gotta stand out from all that noise.

09:48 - Absolutely. So, branding is key. So key.

09:52 - Not blanding. Not blanding, as our friend.

09:56 - As Dan Antonelli likes to say. We gotta brand, not bland.

10:01 - Right. Dan Antonelli of Kick Charge Creative.

10:04 - The best branding company out there. They just are.

10:08 - For trades. They just are. They just got the number.

10:11 - Been around for 20 years. But yeah, the brand is so important.

10:17 - In fact, it is so, you know, it’s one of those things we like to talk about, even right up front in the Academy.

10:22 - But most of the time, we’re not prepared to talk about branding.

10:25 - Right. Because we gotta spend some money to brand.

10:27 - You know, that kind of stuff. But branding is key, key for your customers to be able to even know you exist.

10:35 - Know you exist. Right. ‘Cause what happens is, you know, we say, well, I saw today, going to, you know, as we’re going to work out, saw, you know, I can’t help, but notice the plumbing trucks.

10:45 - I know. We always notice the plumbing trucks.

10:46 - You know, we got, you know, Joe’s Plumbing.

10:49 - Usually some kind of name. Christie’s Plumbing.

10:52 - There was one plumbing company, and the only reason I knew it was a plumbing company, ‘cause I went to go look at the small print, and the license, that kind of stuff, but it was just Something Services.

11:00 - I was like, how? How do even know it’s even plumbing? Right.

11:04 - And so, what happens is, is when our brains look at that, the brain is trying to within a split second now is making a decision whether I’m even gonna remember what that is.

11:15 - Right. Or if the brain says that’s not important, the brain actually shuts it off.

11:19 - So when they see that name again, if the name ever comes up again somewhere else, the brain says that’s not important.

11:25 - Yeah, move on. Even if it does notice it subconsciously.

11:27 - Yes. Kristin, which I actually believe is John really, just John Tallent, if I’m not mistaken.

11:33 - I’m all about the brand. He’s right.

11:35 - And gosh, remind me your plumbing business name.

11:36 - Is it Plumbing Express? I forget. Or is it Tallent? I don’t remember.

11:42 - Anyway. And, on that. So, also the name and everything has to, you know, create emotion. Yes.

11:49 - The brand creates an emotion. Okay? Again, it ain’t about plumbing.

11:52 - It ain’t about plumbing. It’s an emotional experience.

11:55 - Right. Now, we’re talking about, about truly a plumbing company you can make, make money with.

12:01 - start from nothing and you can systemize, and you create the life you truly want, which is residential service.

12:07 - Residential service customers. You’ve heard us say it a billion times.

12:11 - And so, it’s an emotional thing that’s happening.

12:14 - An emotional buying experience. Has nothing to do with plumbing.

12:17 - Yes, the plumbing’s broke, or something is going on but it has nothing to do with plumbing.

12:21 - Right. In fact, even, I’ve seen someone said they get referrals or whatever.

12:25 - Okay. You can’t, first of all, you can’t grow on referrals.

12:27 - You cannot grow on referrals. But even the referral, that referral didn’t come to you because they were great at plumbing.

12:33 - Your customers don’t know what plumbing, if you’re great at it or not.

12:36 - It was the experience. Right. Customers don’t remember what you say.

12:39 - They remember how you make them feel. Yes. Very good.

12:44 - So, what was the experience like? Were they, were you friendly? Was it, were you kind of in and out? Did you spend time listening to my problem? Did you, I don’t know, take care of my home? All those things.

12:57 - How do you make them feel? That’s what it’s about.

12:59 - They’ll never remember what you say. They remember how you made ‘em feel.

13:02 - Right. And that brand transitions all the way through.

13:04 - That’s right! From Tallent Plumbing to Right Choice Plumbing & Rooter.

13:06 - Right Choice! That’s good! All right, John. Way to go.

13:10 - Okay, and I did remember that he, they were Tallent, so, you know what? Tallent’s a great name.

13:14 - ‘Cause you could play that, and it has a good connotation, right? ‘Cause of talent.

13:20 - Right. You know, they’re talented, that kind of thing.

13:23 - Talented plumbers. So the brain can kind of, and it’s a positive connotation, but you were smart to change it to something.

13:28 - Yeah, Right Choice is good. Right. That’s good.

13:30 - I’d love to see your… did you get new trucks done too? I’m gonna assume, but I’d to see what those look like.

13:33 - Hopefully used Kick Charge. And it can be a tough thing.

13:36 - Branding, such as a vibrant truck, is important.

13:39 - As truck stock, you’re right! Taylor! Taylor Watson.

13:42 - Taylor. New folks. Taylor, where you? Well said, brother.

13:44 - Well said. Where are you out of? In fact, in the business game side of things, it’s just more important.

13:49 - You know, the brand, even if you had nothing in the truck, and the guys had to go to the supply house and everything.

13:56 - Which you don’t wanna have happen. Right.

13:58 - However. Right, we’re talking about efficiencies and all that, right? But, it is.

14:02 - The truck must stand out. Yes. No whites.

14:05 - Red, white, and blues and all that kind of stuff.

14:06 - Yeah, try not to be red, white, and blue. So again, Taylor, where are you located? What city? And what’s the name of your plumbing business? Make sure we give you a shout out.

14:14 - Anybody new, as well, new to the show, let us know where you’re.

14:17 - Yeah, welcome. You’re tuning in and in the name of your plumbing business.

14:20 - Glad you’re here, sharing your wisdom as well.

14:21 - Absolutely. That’s how we make all of us better.

14:24 - Lift the trade up. Hey, Preston! You guys are, oh, thank you to Preston.

14:30 - Thank you, man. Love Preston. Appreciate that, Preston.

14:32 - All right, brother. What did I just say? I said, I was gonna say something genius.

14:37 - Every word out of your mouth is genius, baby.

14:40 - Whatever, it’s gone. I just like watching you talk.

14:42 - Shut up. Oh, Lordy. I did me a lot of lovely Laura watching this past weekend.

14:48 - You did. It was just fun. It was just fun, us hanging out.

14:50 - You were getting a PhD in me. I was. You did a very good job.

14:53 - I always am. Good luck. But I got a lot of studying.

14:57 - You do have a lot of studying to do. Okay. Anyhoo! Okay. So, there was point one.

15:01 - Stand out! Stand out from the crowd. All right? Extremely important.

15:04 - Yes. Stand out from the crowd. Next, meet them where they’re at.

15:09 - You gotta be where they’re at. Yeah, I was thinking about this, and I do have a point, I’ll draw it in. Oh, we have a point.

15:15 - I’m just kidding. But you remember, you know, like, when we used to travel? You know, before the zombie apocalypse? Right. You know? And, you know, we were in Spain.

15:23 - You remember we loved going out to eat. Well, we loved the experience.

15:26 - Correct. We’re foodies. We like going out, you know? But even the fine, even from the little shops, to the fine restaurants, the managers and owners would be out in front of the street, where, if we’re walking, with people walking by saying, “Hey, how you doing?” You know, “You look good tonight. ” He’ll find something, you know? “Hey, I like your watch!” Or, whatever.

15:45 - Whatever that kind of. “Hey, we have great! We have great! Come on in. Come on in. ” Right, ravioli! We’ve got the great, or whatever.

15:49 - Right. I don’t remember what we ate in Spain.

15:51 - But they would, right. Most everywhere we didn’t understand.

15:53 - Right. They were awfully nice. I guess it wouldn’t be ravioli, ‘cause that’s Italy.

15:58 - I don’t remember what we ate. A lot of tapas.

15:59 - A lot of tapas. I do remember that. Yes. Anyway.

16:01 - But yes, they come out to where. I think some horse.

16:05 - I could swear. But it was good. It was. Who cares? After the wine.

16:08 - After the wine, right. Right. But, they come out to the street, where the customers were. After the wine everything tastes good, right? They would come out to the street where the customers were.

16:15 - Right. And pull you in. So, meet ‘em where they’re at.

16:18 - You gotta be, you just can’t wait for people to decide that that’s where, you know, that they’re just gonna kind of know about you.

16:24 - Right. That kind of a thing. So, where are the customers? It relates to our business.

16:27 - You gotta go where the customers are. Which is? Which is, Google.

16:31 - Right on here. Okay? You gotta be on this thing right here, and on Google.

16:37 - Googling. Google is the game. So, we like to say, Google is, you can fight it all you want.

16:42 - Think they’re big brother. Love ‘em. Hate ‘em. Whatever.

16:44 - I don’t understand it. I don’t want to. What’s the latest, the latest stats show, and talking with home and local services, what did they say, the latest stats percentage wise, was it 83? 83.

16:54 - 83. 83. 80-something percent of all searches, all searches. All searches.

16:59 - Are Google. Are Google. So the whole Bing, and you know, the few others that are still hanging on.

17:03 - It’s not, right. It’s not, I mean, you can be there.

17:06 - You can move over, you know, but first you gotta be here.

17:09 - I mean, you gotta be, you gotta be, you gotta be here.

17:12 - Okay? Yes. So when they search, “plumbers near me,” because that’s what happens.

17:15 - The stats show that’s what people search for.

17:17 - Right. Or, you know, or they may do something specific, you know? Right.

17:21 - “Kitchen faucet leaking repair,” or whatever.

17:23 - You gotta. That’s where you gotta show up. And the beautiful thing about this is, guys, is that it’s never been easier.

17:29 - It’s so easy! This is the phone book.

17:32 - I don’t know if you guys, you know, how old or young everybody is.

17:34 - There used to be this thing called the Phone Book.

17:36 - They don’t remember that, baby. You know? Like, you used to have, you know, we used to have phones with cords, you know? You couldn’t, remember? It was big deal.

17:42 - Remember when you had a cord? You know, you had the one phone in the house, and you wanted to get the long, phone cord so you can take it to your room.

17:48 - Are we really talking about this? But yes, I do remember.

17:50 - Right? And it’d stretch all the way. And then my sisters would be pulling on the cord because they wanted to use the phone.

17:54 - Right. Well, you know. You know, that kind of a thing? Well, there used to be phone books, okay? So imagine, you know, and to be found, just like on this, you need to be in the front part of it.

18:04 - We’ll talk about that in a moment here, right? The customers don’t scroll through.

18:08 - You go, oh. They don’t do that. They look at the what’s right here and they pick it.

18:13 - No one wakes up in the morning, wants to call a plumber.

18:15 - So if it looks good, like, oh, I know them because I’ve seen their truck.

18:20 - I know them. They’re not judging you on plumbing.

18:22 - No. So get out of your head with the plumbing.

18:24 - We’re the best plumber, no. Yeah, okay. Good. Cool.

18:26 - Right. All right? Ain’t about plumbing.

18:29 - But like, “Oh, I know them!” And so you want to pop up right here.

18:32 - Right. You know? Good connotation. Right.

18:35 - So, it’s so much easier to be here and less expensive.

18:40 - Yes. So much less expensive! I mean, in the phone books, imagine the little guy, we couldn’t do it with one truck.

18:45 - I mean, it was $15,000 a month to be in the Indianapolis phone book, to be in the front part. Yes.

18:51 - Yes. $15,000 a month. And that’s a little market.

18:55 - Right. You know, kind of medium-sized market.

18:57 - Imagine the guys in the Chicagos. Yeah, and the LAs.

19:00 - You know, Philadelphias and all that. GB remembers party lines.

19:03 - I know! All right, brother. Yes, GB. We had one as well.

19:05 - Pick up. So, I’ve had a lot of people don’t know what a party line is.

19:08 - Where you shared the same. It was the original Facebook, social.

19:12 - Well. A social line. No, I don’t know about that.

19:14 - ‘Cause you’d be on there listening. Well, yes, true.

19:16 - But it’d be like, people in your area. Yeah.

19:21 - That would all share the same phone number, and same phone line. Right.

19:24 - So if you went to pick up the phone to make a phone call, your neighbor might be on the phone talking to someone else, and you couldn’t make a phone call because they’re using the phone line.

19:33 - So you’d have to hang up and then wait for a little bit, and come back, and then you finally have to say, “I need to make a phone call. Can you please hang up?” Right. Yeah.

19:41 - That was a party line, seriously. Right.

19:43 - Oh my goodness. That brings back some. But that was back with phone books too.

19:47 - So give me the phone books. That’s just the one phone book.

19:49 - I want to hit that. Okay. So, I mean, just the one main phone book.

19:54 - Okay? It was $15,000 just to be up top. ‘Cause no one was, remember when we got our first, when we moved up to a, like a business card size? Well, we started business card, and then we went to a quarter page.

20:06 - A quarter page, and we thought, now we, the phone’s gonna just ring off.

20:10 - ‘Cause we still didn’t have these kinds of, I mean, the phone’s just gonna ring off the hook.

20:13 - Yeah, yeah. Or the wall Yeah, no.

20:16 - It did not. No. Because no one looks past the phone, they just don’t go back.

20:20 - No one, yeah, everybody stays in the very front.

20:22 - Right. Right. ‘Cause that’s what, Of the phone book.

20:24 - Because that’s where the good companies are.

20:26 - ‘Cause again, your customer is looking for security.

20:30 - Okay? So it aint about pride. They’re not looking at thinking, “Well, these guys are gonna be so expensive. ” They’re not thinking that.

20:36 - They’re thinking, will they get out there? You know? Will someone be available today? Right.

20:41 - And will they show up today? And they must be good.

20:44 - ‘Cause I want my day back. Because, right.

20:45 - ‘Cause they want their day back. I want my day back. And they must be good because they look like this.

20:48 - Right. I’ve seen their trucks looked nice.

20:50 - You can have one truck. Now, today, that’s what’s so cool.

20:53 - You have one truck. I see your trucks everywhere! And, you can be at the top of Google.

20:56 - Right. Okay? So there’s no excuse, guys.

20:59 - Yeah. There’s no excuse. No excuse.

21:01 - It is simple to become a million dollar plumbing business today.

21:04 - That’s correct. Not easy. Right.

21:07 - But it is simple. Yes. Okay? A lot, lot simpler.

21:09 - All right? So you gotta be where they’re at.

21:12 - Where the customers are. So, customers are right at the top here.

21:15 - which is the Google Guaranteed. Which is Google saying, if you’re not Google Guaranteed.

21:20 - Guys, you gotta get Google Guaranteed. Okay. Yeah.

21:23 - If you don’t know what that is, you need to do some research and find Google Guaranteed.

21:26 - Right. And get Google Guaranteed. ‘Cause it is a, it’s a bit of a process, but once you’re there, you get the little check mark.

21:32 - Craig Smith, I remember the newspaper classifieds. I know.

21:36 - I remember putting a newspaper ad out. It’s like, oh, here we go! Classifieds. Right.

21:40 - That’s like the Craigslist now. Right. Craig.

21:42 - Oh, funny. But, yes. This is the game.

21:46 - LSAs, I think Matt Carter was on here, mentioned that he gets a GMB, which is Google My Business.

21:51 - That’s the maps. Right. Okay? This is a free listing.

21:54 - Okay, that’s like being, having all the other phone books around the different neighbors.

22:00 - Yes. You know, the different cities around where you live.

22:03 - So, we had a $15,000 a month book. Then you had the four or five, $6,000 a month book.

22:10 - Right. You know how many toilet repairs you gotta sell to pay for that? Well, kind of a lot.

22:14 - Right. It’s a lot. But, anymore. We have this now.

22:17 - This is so simple, okay? And inexpensive.

22:24 - That’s exactly right. You can be one truck and move above the big company.

22:27 - Aaron’s right. Right. Yeah. It levels the playing field.

22:30 - Totally levels of playing field. Totally! Okay, but it’s level for those that, guys that you decide appear that I’m no longer a plumber.

22:38 - Okay? That I want to learn to play this game.

22:41 - Hey, Tanners. Okay? In fact, I have something to help you start.

22:44 - Okay? You do? I do have something free for you, okay? It’s my Million Dollar Plumber blueprint.

22:48 - Okay? So, I laid out all the specs that you need to know.

22:52 - Okay? Just like, you know, like you’re plumbing a house, but here we’re gonna plumb your business, okay? All the specs you need to know to have a successful, self-sustaining, and profitable plumbing business.

23:01 - Okay? Part of it is like what we’re talking about right here.

23:03 - Okay? And it’s free to you. Okay? Simply type “free” in the comments or go to themilliondollarplumber. com/free.

23:10 - All right? And grab your free copy. I’m trying to pull this show back up here.

23:13 - Okay. So I can watch it. So, I’m trying to watch the show.

23:16 - There we go. There we go so far! Okay? We have.

23:18 - It’s all still working! I love seeing that.

23:21 - Sorry. Mine wasn’t up and I wasn’t sure if, if the show was working.

23:26 - Was still going? But, yeah! It’s going great. All right! Anyway, yes.

23:29 - Free in the comments. Google Guarantee. Google Guarantee is a must, Delnays.

23:32 - Speaking from experience. There’s a guy, I think just about a year ago, really started on his plumbing business.

23:39 - He and his better other. Sarah. Sarah.

23:42 - Owners of Mountaineer Plumbing, near Grand Rapids. Grand Rapids.

23:45 - In Michigan. Okay, and a year later, they’re are a million-dollar plumbing business.

23:48 - They are. And they are doing some great things.

23:50 - Because, doing things like, being Google Guaranteed, branding. Yes.

23:54 - Okay? You know, they’re being, you gotta be, you got to cut through the clutter, okay? Yes.

23:59 - You gotta stand out from the crowd. Yeah, they did take charge.

24:01 - You know, a lot of the fear is, I hear guys say, “Well, this company has been around forever. ” They’ve been around forever.

24:06 - No, customers don’t care. Customers don’t care.

24:09 - They don’t care. They just don’t care. They don’t care.

24:11 - Or, they hold on to their name. Well, my name has been, you know, we’ve been around for 30 years.

24:17 - You know, mine has made a name for 30 years.

24:19 - Whoop-dee-do! But you’re still a guy in a truck.

24:21 - Right. So, how’s that working out for ya? You know, the customer, they don’t know.

24:26 - They don’t care. Okay? Because you’re not cutting through the clutter.

24:30 - So you got to stand out from the crowd, and then you got to meet them where they’re at.

24:34 - You can’t rely on just the referrals. No, you cannot.

24:38 - And you know, the good graces, and you know, your church, you know, and all that kind of stuff.

24:43 - Right? Yeah, definitely not. So, moving you on.

24:49 - Do you have a point three? I do have a point three! Okay! Awesome.

24:52 - And number three, okay, all right, be their neighbor.

24:55 - Today, and it’s so easy. Mr. Rogers. So easier now for a little guy to become a big guy.

25:02 - Okay, what do you mean by that? But be their neighbor.

25:04 - Meaning? Well, Facebook. Facebook is a great place to be.

25:08 - Now we’re talking about, you’ve got to realize the environment you’re in.

25:13 - So you don’t want to be on Facebook, and where you’re selling plumbing.

25:17 - Yeah, dinging ‘em. In fact, if you’re a plumbing business and you’re posting pictures on Facebook, what you’re saying is don’t call me.

25:24 - Okay? So, in fact, I want you to hear that now.

25:26 - But what do you mean by pictures? Pictures of what? Of plumbing. Oh.

25:29 - You know, here’s the new sewer job we did. Look it, we have all the yard all tore up.

25:33 - Right. Or, here’s a big ball. Or look at this big, yeah, ball of gunk that we pulled out.

25:37 - Right. Or showing your guys all dirty in their house, and, you know, or, you know, you can do the nice things.

25:44 - Well, here’s a big, nice tank-less water heater we installed.

25:47 - The customer has no idea what that is. Nope.

25:51 - And what you’re saying is, “Don’t call me. ” You know, I’m a plumber.

25:53 - Don’t call me. Okay. But, if you’d be their neighbor, and social, you have a huge opportunity.

26:00 - Now here’s where you got to get out of your comfort zone.

26:02 - Okay? You have a huge opportunity to be, what we call like, the mayor, or the big cheerleader of your community.

26:13 - For your community. Okay. We say, “Well, I just don’t do. ” “I don’t talk on, I don’t do video. ” Or I don’t speak.

26:19 - I don’t do something. Okay? Then be, you know? So wait, what are you saying? Doing video on what? Well, I mean, so, like, when you go out to eat, and you go to eat at the, you know? The local diner. The local diner, right.

26:31 - Local coffee shop. Right. Okay, and so you have an opportunity.

26:35 - You don’t have to, and sometimes it doesn’t have to be all produced and all that, but hey, they have the best.

26:39 - So you’re making a video. Right. And they got the best, hey, they got the best prime rib sandwich here.

26:44 - Now you want, you can be in your plumbing garb.

26:46 - Like a nice, for your guys. Don’t be in a wore-out looking.

26:50 - Right, with junk all over it. Gunk all over it. Right.

26:52 - But, you know, if you had a polo shirt with your company name on it, the hats or whatever.

26:57 - So, and it’s from, you know, it’s from Mountaineer Plumbing.

27:00 - They do, you know, that kind of, you know, whatever, whoever.

27:04 - And so they can see that this is from plumbing.

27:06 - Correct. But hey, this is, hey, over here at, you know? Joe’s Diner? Joe’s Crab Shack.

27:12 - Joe’s Crab Shack. That’s an actual name of a place.

27:15 - All right, Joe’s Diner. Okay. And they got the best, you know, prime rib sandwich.

27:20 - You know? Yes. And that’s what, I love having prime rib sandwiches here.

27:24 - In fact, here’s Joe. And then you can interview Joe, and be prepared with just, you know, three basic questions, you know? How’d you get started? Yeah. You know? What’s your favorite? Right.

27:36 - What do you love about serving our community? Right.

27:38 - Simple as that. And so, when are you open? “What about they have the best margaritas?” Aaron Silva, I can’t wait to meet you.

27:47 - You always crack me up. No, you can not do they have the best.

27:50 - Hey, they have the best margaritas. No.

27:55 - Right. You gotta be a little, yeah, ‘cause you, we talking about this brand capital too.

28:01 - Yeah, don’t ruin your brand capital. Brand capital.

28:04 - So, you noticed this weekend, while we were relaxing, we didn’t do any videos because we have a brand capital of respect.

28:11 - Okay? So see me, you know, partying at Gators. Cutting a rug.

28:18 - Not that, well, just wouldn’t do anything for my brand capital.

28:21 - Okay? Would not. I can attest. So, you gotta keep that in mind, okay? So, there is a game that’s being played here.

28:32 - But it’s a huge opportunity, because the big companies aren’t doing this.

28:36 - Correct. And we are, our society, there’s more and more.

28:40 - All about community. Right, we like to buy from those that we know.

28:44 - I know them. Not just know of them.

28:46 - Right. I know them. Hey, that’s that plumbing guy.

28:49 - Right. I mean, he told me about the cleaners, that local, and they did.

28:53 - They did do a good job. One company that does this really well is Plumps Up, in Orangeville, Ontario, Canada.

29:00 - Keith and Lindsey Hunt. They do a great job.

29:02 - Keith has become, literally, the cheerleader for Orangeville.

29:04 - So, if you ever want to check out some of the stuff that they do, check out their Facebook page.

29:09 - And you find your voice, guys. Okay? Hey, we’re all weird.

29:12 - Okay? Just hold onto your weirdness.

29:19 - Embrace it. Embrace your weirdness. That’s a better way, to embrace your weirdness.

29:21 - Hey, we’re all a little weird, so don’t be worried about, you will have your voice. You know? Your way of speaking.

29:26 - You’ll find that voice, and be who you are.

29:29 - And if you’re not comfortable doing video, then just do a picture.

29:33 - You know, do a picture of you out front, and, you know, pointing to the sign of Joe’s Diner, or whatever.

29:38 - Yeah. And then, you know, posting a comment, and then obviously post it onto your business page, and then share it on your personal page as well.

29:47 - Right. Because anything you post on your plumbing business page, Facebook offers those up, a business page to even the people that follow you, like one to 3% of the time, ‘cause they want you to advertise, obviously.

30:00 - So, go and post it on your business page, but then share it.

30:03 - If your husband and wife both have a Facebook page, share it that way.

30:06 - That’s the way it’s going to get out a lot more than on the business page. Right.

30:09 - Hey, but it’s a huge opportunity to get customers to know you.

30:13 - Not just know of you. Yes. Okay? But know you. Get to know you.

30:16 - So you throw something in, like they know of you because they recognize your brand of your truck and that, you know, that kind of a thing.

30:24 - To they know you from seeing you doing these kinds of social things.

30:29 - Right. Even I love the idea of, you know, we do the Toys For Tots and all that kind of stuff.

30:35 - The firemen are out doing something, or the Girl Scouts.

30:37 - You know, interview the Girl Scouts. Sure! It’s the local troop.

30:41 - You know, hey, we got. Boy Scouts selling the popcorn.

30:44 - Right. Selling the cookies. So, what are you selling this for? What you doing? Right. All right, hey, come on down here to the Walmart and, you know, support our local troop here.

30:51 - Right. You know? That kind of a thing.

30:53 - Yes. Love it. I mean. You just gotta get creative with it.

30:55 - And the community loves that. Yes. Right.

30:57 - You gotta get creative. Get out of your comfort zone, again, so that you can be found.

30:59 - And then, when they was spur of the moment go here, “plumber near me,” Oh, yeah. That’s the one.

31:09 - That’s the one company that did the interview at Joe’s Diner, or whatever.

31:13 - So, that’s how it’s done. It’s a simple thing to do.

31:16 - It’s a very affordable thing to do. You just gotta do it.

31:21 - And, you do that, you can really stand out.

31:24 - Yes. You stand out against even the big, you know, the big franchises.

31:28 - Okay, so do it! That was fun! Okay. So, that was part one.

31:31 - Good stuff. Part one. Yes. Or, how to get more plumbing customers.

31:34 - Yes. All right? Get them to know you.

31:36 - Joe says, “Our Google presence make us seem larger than we are. ” Absolutely.

31:40 - Right. That’s how easy it is. Right.

31:43 - Good for you, Joe. Right kind of branding and the presence like that, you can be one truck, and they just feel like you’re everywhere.

31:48 - Correct. Okay? And by the way, when you do, are asked if it’s “we,” okay? You’re not the plumbing, you know, even if you’re the guy in a truck, it’s not the time to come out and be the plumbing owner, and talk about.

32:02 - Matt Delay says, “There are 109 other plumbing companies in our area. ” “Nobody cares. ” Nobody cares.

32:06 - Right. You know, and you gotta stop caring.

32:09 - The guy’s gotta. When I hear guys talking about there’s competition, stop looking at the.

32:13 - Right. There’s not. Every time, you know, I ran, the sports kind of a thing, but, you know, I ran track.

32:19 - Every time you look at the other guy and you stand at the line, and you start looking, you know, you’re getting ready to get into blocks, and ran the 400, you know? And so, you know, you start looking about, okay, that guy who went to state, that guy didn’t.

32:31 - The race was already lost. Yeah. Soon as I start looking at the competition.

32:34 - The times that I didn’t look at the competition, you know, I competed very, very well.

32:38 - You know? So don’t look at it. Right.

32:40 - So it’s the same thing with your plumbing business.

32:41 - There is no competition, guys. There is no competition.

32:44 - You’re competing with yourself. So there you go.

32:49 - Good job! All right. Hey, if you want to learn how to really compete with yourself, okay, you need to check out my Million Dollar Plumber Success Academy.

32:58 - Hey, basically what we do here, the lovely Laura and I, we teach plumbing entrepreneurs how to grow a million-dollar plumbing business, while having a life too.

33:07 - That’s key. Have a successful, self-sustaining, and very profitable plumbing business, and a life.

33:14 - Hey, if that sounds like something you are interested in, you need to be a member of the Success Academy.

33:19 - You can check it out. There’s a 14 day free trial right now.

33:24 - Simply type “free” in the comments, or go to themilliondollarplumber. com/free, to learn more.

33:31 - So, there we go. Do it. All right. Good stuff here! And important stuff here.

33:37 - Nuggets of gold here for you, if I say so myself.

33:39 - You can say so yourself. If you’re looking to get more customers.

33:41 - If you don’t want any customers then just nevermind.

33:44 - Ignore everything we said. Yeah, just turn us off right now.

33:47 - Hey, but I don’t want you to ignore this. As always, I want you to know that you were purposely and wonderfully created, and you were created to do great things.

33:56 - So get out there, and plumb like a champion.

33:58 - Bye! [Female Announcer] Thank you for tuning in to Potty Talk Live, with Richard Behney, The Million Dollar Plumber.

34:04 - If you enjoyed the show, share it now! Just do it! To catch past episodes and get alerts for new episodes, turn notifications on now and join us again for more tips, techniques, and strategies to help you grow your plumbing business. .