There are three clear reasons to hire a Customer Service Rep: If you’re missing calls, if you’re pre-qualifying calls, and if you have a plumbing business. It’s so important that when we’re coaching plumbing business owners, we almost insist that they hire a CSR before they hire another plumber. If you want to grow your plumbing business, you need to hire a CSR.
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3 Golden Nuggets
- Hire a Customer Service Rep if you’re missing calls. To get business and do plumbing work, you have to get calls. The only thing that matters is answering the phone.
- A CSR is one of the first people you need to hire – even before you hire a plumbing tech. We need to get you off the phone.
- The CSR doesn’t need to know anything about plumbing. They just need to pre-qualify customers and book the call.
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Show Notes
Grow Your Plumbing Business with a CSR Role
How many calls do you get in a day? Is your phone ringing, ringing, ringing? Whether or not it’s customers, leads, or spam calls, someone has to answer those calls. It’s a big deal if you’re the guy in the truck or under the sink, and you’re trying to answer the phones.
People come to us because they want to grow their plumbing business. And we have the recipe for success. One key ingredient is to hire a Customer Service Representative (CSR).
3 Reasons Your Plumbing Business Needs a CSR
1) You’re missing calls
(7:05) The right time to hire a CSR is if you’re missing calls. You might be tied up under the sink, or on another call, or it’s after hours. The whole reason for you to be in business is to get calls and go do plumbing work. So to get jobs the only thing that matters is answering that phone. So you need to hire a CSR.
A CSR is one of the first people you need to hire – even before you hire a plumbing tech. We got to get you off the phone.
(You could also convince your wife to come and work with you (not for you but with you). Become a Plumbing Power Couple!)
2) You want the right plumbing customers
(11:37) Do you find that you’re constantly pre-qualifying calls? What do I mean by that? You’re answering the phone and deciding, “I don’t want to do that job.” Or the customer just isn’t serious. You need to hire a CSR and let them do the pre-qualifying for you.
Or it’s a job that one of your plumbing techs should do instead of you. Let the CSR book the call for the tech.
Likely, you’re paying for marketing somehow to get those phone calls, so you want to answer them. Every single call matters.
3) You own a Plumbing Business
(17:38) And this is the main reason: You need to hire a CSR … when you own a plumbing business! Guys, it is that simple.
You may think “I’m just a little company, and I can answer the phones myself. I can answer all the questions; no one can do it better than me.”
But really what you’re doing is holding your business back. You can’t answer the phones and do the plumbing. You just can’t do both well. You cannot.
How to Hire a CSR for my Plumbing Business
You may think you can’t afford it, but you can. One way is to pay a relatively low hourly rate and then bonus for the number of calls booked. Pay 10 or 12 dollars an hour plus 5 or 10 bucks extra for each booked call.
(19:17) A common worry is that you’ll pay someone just to sit around. Listen, you need someone to answer the phone. 3 extra calls in one day more than pays for the cost of the CSR. You’re growing, and that’s how you have to look at it.
Consider hiring someone to work out of their home. It’s so easy today to work out of the home. You don’t care if they’re watching TV or doing their laundry. All you want is that when the phone rings, that they’re in a professional spot and can answer the phone and listen to the customer, empathize with the customer, and get them booked. And then just pay them for that booked call.
And guess what: the CSR doesn’t need to know anything about plumbing. It’s not about plumbing. They just need to know to “book the call today.” So hire a CSR if you’re serious about growing your plumbing business.
Richard’s Call to Action.
If you want to learn more about numbers that matter and how to best run your plumbing business, why not schedule a free 30-min strategy call with us? Let’s talk about your goals and where you want to be this time next year, and we’ll help you create a path to make that happen. Schedule your free strategy call here today!
