Answer the Call

Diversifying your services can result in more work and happy customers

With a new year quickly approaching, many of you are probably thinking about ways you want to improve your business in 2021.

When you update your business plan in order to achieve those new goals, does that include adding any services? If you think it’s time to broaden your offerings, this issue may provide you some inspiration.

The December issue of Cleaner is one of my favorites to put together. It’s the Diversification issue, which means we branch out from the typical jobs, equipment and companies you find featured in the other 11 issues each year, and include stories and product features that also serve the plumbing and septic side of the industry.

The two companies featured this month clean drains, of course. But they also do a whole lot more than that. Both companies have branched out and found great benefit in offering a wider variety of services.

Deborah and Brian Poole started Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Virginia Beach, Virginia, out of a desire to offer high-quality plumbing services to the area. After just four years in business, the company offers about two dozen services, including sewer, water and gas line installation and repair, drain cleaning and jetting, pipe descaling, water fixture maintenance, and the signature Mr. Rooter work: emergency plumbing services. The Pooles are also continuing to grow their pipe rehabilitation work, and really enjoy and benefit from offering such diverse services.

“It allows us to support all of our clients’ needs,” Deborah says. “By being able to offer so many services, we can hire apprentices and develop them into experts in different areas.”

Rob Broccolo started offering septic services after routinely discovering septic tank issues while on drain cleaning service calls. He also knew many homeowners call septic companies when they have drain issues, and he didn’t want to lose out on that work. Broccolo added septic pumping, inspection, repairs and installation about a year after starting his company, Professional Drain Services of Southern New England. It required a hefty investment in new equipment, but Broccolo prides himself on having the ability to do whatever a customer needs.

“When we’re on a job, I want to have all the equipment I need to handle any situation. That’s how I built this company,” he says. “Septic work has been a great complementary business. Pumping septic tanks gets us in the door for more service opportunities.”

Diversifying your services isn’t a requirement to succeed in this industry. But it does give you a lot of opportunities to gain customers, and make money. When you can offer drain cleaning and inspection and plumbing services and pipe replacement and pump a customer’s septic tank — and do all those things professionally and skillfully — why would they ever call anyone else?

I hope you enjoy this month’s issue. 



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