When Matt Black took on a DRYmedic Restoration Services franchise, he knew he would have to build up a customer base for it. His other company — a Benjamin Franklin Plumbing franchise — would be somewhat helpful, but it still would be a whole new ballgame.
“Property disasters don’t happen every day, and there is a lot of competition for restoration work,” says Black, who operates out of Port St. Lucie, Florida.
That being the case, the challenge is to get a company name in front of the public so that when a house does suffer smoke damage or a room spawns a mold culture or an undetected leak in a roof produces rot and ruin, the unfortunate property owner will have a business name in mind to call.
“You have to build relationships,” Black says.
That is true for all businesses wanting to attract new clients or to be referred by old ones, of course, but it particularly is a fact of business life for a restoration company. Therefore, Black is constantly networking. His outings into the community include connecting with all chamber of commerce organizations in a territory. Supporting charity events and sponsoring other outreach activities. Knocking on doors of home inspection companies and air conditioning companies (homes in Florida without air conditioning are prone to generate mold) and real estate agents.
“You want them to call you when they discover a need for property restoration,” Black says.
The rest of the story is that a company then must do the kind of work that produces five-star online reviews. Satisfied customers, after all, are the ones who refer a company to potential customers.
“Do the job right and you are going to be referred over and over again,” Black says.
Read more about Benjamin Franklin Plumbing and DRYmedic Restoration Services of Port St. Lucie in the December 2024 issue of Cleaner magazine.
