The beautiful thing about the sustainability movement is consumers who buy in will buy. They will buy at a premium. They will buy regardless of the return on investment. Here’s how you can prosper from the water conservation side of sustainability.
Don’t Wink in the Dark
When you wink in the dark, you know what you’re doing but no one else does. This is the approach many plumbing contractors take towards water conservation strategies. Consumers do not know a lot about plumbing. This is fortunate when you consider how many DIY disasters are averted but it places an educational burden on the contractor.
Create a water conservation service and product portfolio. It should be on your website. You should post about individual parts of it on social media every so often. Create flyers to hand out at the start of a service call and/or to leave with your customers. Mail and email consumer information about water conservation and the virtues of sustainability. Prepare short talks and contact the local service clubs, such as Rotary, Lion’s, Optimist, Kiwanis, and Civitan. Remove the darkness with the light of marketing.
Water Conservation Services
The most basic water conservation service is your service agreement. If you are not offering a plumbing service agreement, you are missing a great opportunity to tie customers to you, build loyalty, generate more repeat business, and increase the value of your company. Every service agreement should include water conservation methods.
Water conservation methods are simple. They start with dye testing a toilet to identify a leak. Plumbers already do that but do not dust it with sustainability language. A sustainability test is worth more than a dye test.
Only plumbing companies can install the wireless shut off valves that will stop a flood.
Dye testing a toilet and replacing the flapper or rebuilding the toilet is water conservation in action. Fixing faucet or external drain cock leaks is water conservation. Thus, much of a plumber’s work is water conservation.
Water Conservation Products
Today, plumbing contractors have more sustainable products available than ever before. These should be identified as such and carry the appropriate premium. An electric car is not cheap, yet people buy them in droves. Hybrid vehicles cost thousands more than their non-hybrid counterparts. People will pay a premium to reduce their personal impact on the planet.
When presenting the savings of a water conservation product, do not talk about the return on investment. Often, the financial return is not there. Yet, if a product can save any money at all, market the savings as a standalone. This helps homeowners justify paying a green premium.
Label a high efficiency, dual flush toilet as a water conservation product. Present it as an option on every toilet repair or replacement. It’s no problem if people opt for a lower cost option. However, given an option some will buy.
By now, nearly every shower should be low flow, but there are lots of high water usage faucets in place. When these are encountered, offer consumers EPA WaterSense faucets with aerators that are 1.5 GPM or less.
Plumbing contractors can also engage in the burgeoning connected home market opportunity with flood alarms and shut off valves. The cable and home security companies who currently perform the lion’s share of the connected home installations cannot touch the plumbing. This means they can alert the homeowner that the home is flooding, but can do nothing to stop it. Only plumbing companies can install the wireless shut off valves that will stop a flood.
Some of the anti-flood valves are water heater based and locally connected to the water heater drain pan and line. Others are strategically located or whole house.
Another water conservation opportunity (and business opportunity) is rainwater collection systems. These can range from simple to complex. Most plumbing contractors consider this to be part of the irrigation system. Yet, it is still about water.
Would you like to learn about plumbing’s state-of-the-art business practices? Attend the Service World Expo October 10-12 at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. At Service World, you will learn from and interact with the industry’s best practitioners in the business of contracting. You will also attend the industry’s most innovative and fun trade show. Visit www.ServiceWorldExpo.com or call 844/742-3970 for more information.