Marketing isn’t always a priority for drain cleaners who are busy out in the field every day, trying to rack up revenue.

But for Mike Marvon, owner of Smiley Drain in Caldwell, New Jersey, marketing is the straw that stirs the drink. His marketing-centric approach to establishing Smiley Drain is a primary reason why the 3-year-old company’s prospects are as bright and sunny as the smiley-face logo emblazoned on the sides of its service trucks.

“Your phone needs to ring before you can clean a drain,” says Marvon, 43, summing up the importance of a good marketing program. “Branding is critical — your company needs to be memorable.

“It’s important to pretend you’re the customer making a decision about which drain contractor to use, then find ways to appeal to that customer. A lot of guys are so busy cleaning drains that they don’t spend time working on their business. They don’t take time to do things like marketing. They’re sleeping at the helm. A marketing strategy is everything.”

As for Smiley Drain, so far so good. After three years in business, the company’s three locations have already generated nearly $1 million in revenue. And Marvon says he aims to turn the business into a national network of franchise operations.

Not bad for a high school dropout who says he learned everything he knows about business and marketing by reading books and magazines and watching instructional videos on YouTube.

“I’m endlessly curious about things,” Marvon says. “I love to figure out the psychological factors that motivate people to buy things. Cracking the code for success is fun.”

SOLID TRACK RECORD

It’s hard to bet against the entrepreneur’s big ambitions. Marvon became a master plumber at age 22, and at 25, he founded Lesco Plumbing in Caldwell — a company that’s now a multimillion-dollar-a-year business.

Initially, Marvon was interested in becoming a mechanic and attended vocational school to learn how to repair cars. But at 17, he agreed to work for a family friend, Rick Edwards, the owner of R. E. Plumbing in nearby Livingston.

“He was a great mentor and teacher,” Marvon says. “He allowed me to go with him on job estimates, listen to calls with customers and so forth. I saw how he handled everything and he always took time to explain things to me.

“Rick gave me insights into the industry, both the plumbing work and the business side, and I just fell in love with it. I found it fun and interesting and loved the challenges. So I forgot about the automotive industry and stuck with plumbing. It definitely was the right path. It was something that came naturally to me.”

FRANCHISES MAKE SENSE

Marvon says he started Smiley Drain in 2020 for two reasons. For starters, he loves a good challenge.

“I enjoy doing things like this,” he says. “My grandfather, who was from Brazil, used to call me a ‘pulga,’ which is a Portuguese slang term for a flea, because I would never sit still. I’m very goal-oriented and I love a good challenge.”

Furthermore, a franchise drain cleaning business made a lot of sense to Marvon.

“Every house basically has the same type of plumbing,” he says. “And with drain cleaning, there’s always recurring maintenance that’s much easier to replicate than plumbing.

“In addition, it’s easy to scale up business because it’s not very complicated compared to plumbing, heating and cooling. That’s the key thing.”

Furthermore, there aren’t as many licensing requirements for drain cleaning, plus consumers often prefer using contractors that specialize in a certain niche. In addition, franchises are attractive to some contractors, but most of them are already bought up, which leaves the door open for a viable option, Marvon says.

Before he did anything else, Marvon took a look at the lay of the land competition-wise and saw ways he could differentiate his business from competitors. He even talked to former employees of franchise drain cleaning operations, as well as customers, to determine the positive and negative aspects that he could then capitalize on with marketing campaigns and service protocols.

“You have to study your competition and find performance gaps on which you can capitalize,” he says. “You also have to have a theory behind what you’re doing, then test it and be open to change it if necessary.”

BUSINESS BUILDING PLAYBOOK

Just as importantly, Marvon determined the demographics of his primary customer base, then reverse-engineered the business from there. For example, he determined that his main clientele would be stay-at-home women with children, then built his brand around that.

That helped inform the name of the company. Marvon put all the names of all his competitors on a spreadsheet and studied what they made him feel.

“I wanted to create a name that evoked an emotion, but not exactly identify the work we do,” he says. “A smile makes you feel nice, so I figured a smiley face would be good because it also would appeal to the next generation of homebuyers with children.”

Marvon then hired a marketing firm to develop a smiley-face logo as well as build the brand and “emotional feel” of the company. No detail was too small for Marvon’s consideration, right down to the music that plays while customers are on hold.

“I let about 30 people listen to it and went with the consensus,” he says. “Everything matters, from phone scripts for people that answer the phone to protocols for service technicians.

“I did all of this myself. It’s my responsibility. I need to know how things are going — have my finger on the pulse and make sure all the vital signs are 100%. I even respond to all of our online reviews, including the ones from unhappy customers.”

GUERILLA MARKETING

Along with typical marketing campaigns like a website, trucks that serve as rolling billboards and social media, Marvon also employs guerilla marketing tactics that run counter to what competitors do and “work in a different space.” For instance, he might buy a couple dozen pastries, then go to a local beauty salon to meet the operator and talk briefly. Then he goes on to another business.

“Then you go back a month later,” Marvon explains. “Pretty soon you start to cultivate a fanbase.”

Which businesses does he target?

“All of them,” Marvon says. “You just have to schedule it into your day. I might do it for an hour every day or do it every, say, Thursday.

“This is what’s meant by working on a business, not in it. You don’t let the business run you, you run the business.”

Of course, the corollary to all this is business owners need to hire qualified employees who can then free them up to do things like marketing.

“I have three legacy technicians that cost me a ton of money,” Marvon says. “But they’re worth every penny because they hold down the fort while I go out and do different things. You need to be able to do that. Supervising guys on job sites doesn’t make your phone ring.”

STRICT SERVICE REGIMEN

Marvon says he believes in setting up technicians for success — and for generating revenue. When a technician is on the way to the next service call, the customer receives either a text message or an email that includes a short biography and photo of the technician, as well as a link to a brief YouTube tutorial video about the difference between snaking and jetting a drainline.

“Before the technician even gets there, the customer can start thinking about or even determine what method they want to choose,” Marvon says. “There’s a lot of marketing and upselling incorporated into our processes.”

When technicians arrive, they give the customer a leave-behind brochure that reiterates the benefits of snaking and jetting and spells out the warranties and prices.

“If you educate customers, it’s easier to upsell them,” Marvon says. “Our goal is to upsell the jetting because then we don’t have to come back. You just need to be transparent.”

Marvon concedes that many drain cleaners and plumbers consider “upselling” a dirty word. But he notes that it only technically becomes an upsell when the customer ends up choosing the more expensive option. They aren’t manipulated in any way.

“We always give them the choice,” Marvon says. “And if you offer both, they can never say they didn’t know about all the options.”

To provide great customer service, the company runs three Ford Transit 350 high-top vans. Marvon says he likes them because they serve as big billboards, technicians can stand up in them, and there’s enough room inside to hold plenty of repair parts, machines and other items and materials to avoid frequent trips to supply houses.

“That’s huge for productivity,” he says. “Technicians get frustrated if they don’t have everything they need to solve problems.”

For equipment, technicians rely on RIDGID Mini and microReel pipeline inspection cameras; RIDGID CS6x Versa digital reporting monitors; RIDGID SR-20 SeekTech pipeline locators; Model GO 15 SE cable machines from Gorlitz Sewer & Drain for cleaning sink drains; an Electric Eel Model C sectional drain machine; and Brute 4009 water jetters from Jetters Northwest (4,000 psi at 9 gpm), mounted in trucks.

ANTICIPATING FURTHER GROWTH

Marvon says he is working toward an employee-buyout of his first company, Lesco Plumbing, within a year, at which point he’ll devote all his energy to Smiley Drain and its three locations in New Jersey.

“I’m anxious to roll up my sleeves and get to work,” Marvon says. “I see my role (as a franchiser) as a coach who helps guys knock it out of the park. That brings me happiness.”

Marvon’s strategy is to move south along the New Jersey coast, an area where the company can “get the most eyeballs on our brand and company and that works best with our marketing strategy,” he says.

After establishing full coverage in New Jersey, Marvon envisions entering the Florida market. The end goal? A national franchise operation — with perhaps even Canada thrown into the mix.

“There’s no reason why I can’t do it,” Marvon says. “If others can do it, why can’t I? With the right people and the right mindset, we can get it done.”