Whoever Has the Plumbers Owns the Market

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Everyone blames the plumber shortage for why they can't grow. That's not the real problem. The real shortage is plumbing companies that great plumbers actually want to work for, and once you see the difference, it changes how you look at your entire business.

This kicks off the Trade Traction Belief Series with Belief #1: your primary customer isn't the homeowner, it's your plumber. You'll hear why marketing dollars mean nothing if you don't have anyone to run the calls, why most companies are recruiting just to replace the people they keep losing instead of actually growing, and the harder question every owner needs to ask if they want to keep their best people for the next ten years.

Topics discussed:

(00:00) - Why the plumber shortage isn't the real problem

(02:29) - Why your plumber is actually your primary customer

(03:00) - The question most owners never think to ask

(04:02) - Why more marketing means nothing without more plumbers

(05:20) - Recruiting for replacement vs. recruiting for growth

(06:27) - The compounding effect of keeping your best people

(10:56) - The harder question: why would he stay another ten years

(11:53) - What gets easier once your best plumbers stick around

This is part of the Trade Traction Belief Series.

These are the core beliefs Dennis looks for in the people he hires. A new one drops every week. Subscribe so you don't miss the rest.

This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique

The Podcast that helps plumbing and heating service contractors stop working for free and actually turn a profit. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Everybody keeps talking about the plumber shortage, and I don't buy it. At least I don't think that's the real problem. I think there's a shortage of plumbing companies that great plumbers actually want to work for. I'll buy that. And that's a completely different problem. Think about this. If your best plumber got an offer from another plumbing company today, would he stay with you or would he go? Because here's one of the biggest lessons I learned over 25 years of building a plumbing company. Whoever has the plumbers owns the market. Not whoever has the fanciest trucks, not whoever spends the most money on Google, not whoever has the biggest billboard, whoever has the plumbers owns the market. And once I finally understood that, it changed the way I looked at my entire business. Welcome to the Trade Traction Podcast. I'm Dennis, Dennis the Apprentice on most socials. This is the podcast for plumbing contractors who are tired of spinning their wheels, treading water, and working way too hard without getting where they really want to go. I spent 25 years building a big, beautiful residential plumbing and heating service company. We grew to more than 60 employees, over 12 million in annual revenue, double digit profits, and eventually we sold the company for eight figures. I did it. I learned a lot of it the hard way. But now it's your turn. My goal is to help you shorten that learning curve, finally get some trade traction, and build the profitable plumbing company you once dreamed of. Remember those dreams? Today we're starting something new. I'm gonna walk you through a series of beliefs that I think plumbing contractors have to change if they want to get their company moving in the right direction. Because sometimes your biggest problem isn't your marketing. It's not even your price book, it isn't your dispatcher, it isn't even your employees. Sometimes it's what you believe about how this business is supposed to work. Change your beliefs, and you can change your business. So let's start with belief number one. Whoever has the plumber owns the market. Everybody says we have a plumbing shortage. We've talked about that before, right? I don't buy it. I think we have a shortage of plumbing companies that great plumbers actually want to work for. And once you understand the difference, it changes everything. Everything. So let's get into it. Let me ask you a question. Who is your customer? Most plumbing contractors would say the homeowner. And obviously the homeowner is a customer. But after 25 years of running a plumbing company, I came to believe something different. I believe your primary customer is actually your plumber. Now that sounds strange, I know. The plumber works for me. I pay him. How can he be my customer? Because think about what happens when you take great care of your plumbers. They take great care of your customers. And when your plumbers take great care of your customers, your customers take great care of your business. That's the order. Take care of the plumber. The plumber takes care of the customer. The customer takes care of the company. But too many owners try to skip the first step. We spend all of our time worrying about the homeowner and almost none of the time asking, why would a great plumber want to work here? That's the question. I hear contractors say this all the time. Dennis, there aren't any plumbers. Really? There aren't any plumbers? Or aren't there any plumbers who want to come work for you? Those are two very different problems. Because somewhere in your market right now is a really good plumber who is frustrated. He's tired of the company he works for. Maybe he's tired of being rushed from call to call. Maybe he's tired of working every weekend. Maybe nobody trains him. Maybe the owner changes the rules every week. Maybe there's no opportunity to move up. Maybe the trucks are junk. Maybe the culture sucks. Or maybe he's the best plumber in the company. And his reward for being the best is that everybody just dumps more work on him. And that plumber is driving around your town right now thinking there's gotta be something better than this. That's your opportunity. But only if you've actually built something better. Here's where this gets really interesting. Plumbing companies spend a fortune trying to get more calls. Google, LSA, SEO, direct mail, go boards, radio, cable, Facebook, Yelp, Thumbtack. What's next? Everybody wants the phone to ring. Of course. Okay. Let's say it works. Your marketing company knocks it out of the park. The phone starts ringing off the hook. Great. Right? Who's going to run the calls? That's why I say whoever has the plumbers owns the market. You can buy leads. You can hire another marketing company. You can wrap another truck. But you can't instantly manufacture a great service plumber. And if your competitor has 10 great plumbers and you've got three, who's going to take more market share? Who's going to run more calls? Who's going to be available when the great calls come in? Who's going to generate more five-star reviews? Who's going to create more repeat business? Who's going to have the capacity to grow the company with the plumbers? Eventually, the number of great plumbers you have becomes a ceiling on how big your company can become. And there's another piece of this that I think gets overlooked. What are most plumbing companies recruiting for? Replacement. Jimmy quit. We need another Jimmy quick. Mike left. We need another Mike. Someone moved. Oh no, someone got burned out. Someone started his own company. Someone went to work for the competitor. And now we're scrambling. That's not growth. That's running on a treadmill. You're recruiting just to replace the people you keep losing. So stop it. And that's another version of spinning your wheels. The breakthrough happens when your people stay. Because now the next plumber you hire isn't replacing somebody. He's growth. That's a completely different company. Think about the compounding effect. Your plumbers stay, your culture gets stronger, your training gets better, your customers start to see familiar faces. Your reviews improve, your revenue improves, your profitability improves, and your recruiting gets easier because your own employees start telling other plumbers, you should come work over here. Now you're not hiring for replacement, you're hiring for growth. That's traction. And by the way, who's your best recruiter? Probably not you. It's your plumbers. If I'm a plumber thinking about changing companies, I expect the owner to tell me how wonderful his company is, right? Of course he does. But if one of his plumbers tells me, man, you should come over here, they actually train us. I'm making more money. I know what's expected of me. I've got a good truck. They actually listen to us. I can see a future here. Now I'm listening. That means your employees are either quietly recruiting people into your company or quietly warning them to stay away. And sometimes you don't even know which one they're doing. Here's another crazy thing we do in this industry. A lot of great plumbers don't leave because of money. Money matters, of course. Absolutely. But great people want more than a paycheck. They want to be treated like professionals. They want opportunity. They want training. They want good tools. They want a good truck. They want to know what's expected of them. They want to know whether they're winning or not and by how much. And they want some control over their lives. But think about the irony. The guy who is your best plumber often gets treated the worst. Why? Because you can count on him. Someone calls in sick. Give it to Mike. Big complicated job, give it to Mike. Emergency at 4 30, give it to Mike. He'll do it. Saturday, hey Mike, will you do it? Yes, he will. The dispatcher gets in trouble. Mike will save us. And what does Mike get for being the best employee? More work. Too much work. Eventually, Mike says, screw this, I'm starting my own company. And then the owner says, see, you can't keep good plumbers. Maybe. Or maybe we drove him out. And now we just created another competitor. So what's the answer? You have to become what I call the shop of choice. Not just another place where somebody can get a plumbing job. I want you to build the place where a great plumber looks around and says, Why would I leave? That's different. Give them training. Give them a career path. Give them a scoreboard so they know whether they're winning or not. And by how much. Give them clear expectations. Give them the ability to make great money when they perform. Give them good calls. Give them the time to take care of customers properly. Give them some autonomy. Celebrate the wins. Help them become better plumbers. Help them become better professionals. And here's the big one. Help them build a better life because they work for you. If somebody spends 10 years working for your company, they ought to be better off because of it. Not just you, them. That's the company people don't want to leave. And there's another mistake I think your industry makes. Everybody wants a journalman. Dennis, I need a plumber with 10 years of experience. I hear that all the time. Of course you do. Everybody does. So does everybody else. What if instead of constantly hunting for somebody else's finished product, you started building plumbers? Bring young people into this incredible trade. Give them a real apprenticeship. Teach them the technical side. Teach them professionalism, teach them how to communicate, teach them how to take care of a customer, put them alongside somebody worth learning from, give them a path, give them something to become. That's how we stop complaining about the labor shortage and actually start doing something about it. Imagine being known as the plumbing company in your market that produces the best plumbers in town. Think about what that would do for your recruiting. Think about what that would do for your reputation. Think about what that would do for your company five years from now. Now you've got something. People in business like to talk about having a competitive moat. Something that separates your business from the competition and is difficult for somebody else to copy. That's what a moat is. While your competitor can copy your pricing, they can copy your website. They can buy the same trucks, they can use the same software, they can hire the same marketing company. Hell, they can probably copy your truck rap. But you know what's really hard to copy? Ten great plumbers who love working for you. That's a competitive advantage. Because those 10 plumbers have relationships. They have skills, they have experience, they know your systems, they know your customers, they understand your culture, they helped create it. And if you've built this thing correctly, they're helping develop the next generation behind them. And now you've created something that isn't easy for the guy down the street to copy. That's why I believe whoever has the plumber, the market. So here's what I want you to take back to your shop. Stop asking where can I find more plumbers? Stop it. Start asking, why would a great plumber want to work here? And then ask the harder question, why would my best plumber want to stay here for the next 10 years? Look around your company through their eyes. Would you want to work there? Is there opportunity? Is there training? Can he win? Can he make great money? Can he have a life? Does he know what's expected of him? Does he know where the company is going? And maybe most importantly, is somebody helping him get where he wants to go? Because when the answer to those questions is yes, recruiting gets much easier. Retention gets easier, marketing gets easier, growth gets easier, and eventually you're not desperately trying to replace the plumbers who've left. You're adding plumbers because you're growing. That's the company we want to build. So that's belief number one. Whoever has the plumbers owns the market. Your plumbers aren't simple labor. They're not trucks on your dispatch board. They're not just people you send calls to. They are your competitive advantage. So take care of them, train them, challenge them, hold them accountable, give them opportunity, help them win, and build the kind of plumbing company that the best people in your market actually want to be a part of. And remember, this is only belief number one. Over the next several episodes, I'm gonna walk you through the beliefs that changed the way I ran my company around profit, pricing, sales, customers, marketing, culture, and growth. Because if your plumbing company is stuck, maybe you don't need another tactic. Maybe you need to change what you believe. Change your beliefs, change your business. I spent 25 years building the plumbing company I once dreamed of. It actually came true. I did it. And now it's your turn. I believe the trades are the place to be. But if you're not feeling it yet, if you're working too hard, struggling to make a profit, struggling to find great people, or your company just isn't becoming what you thought it would, I'd love to support you. That's what trade traction is all about. And if this episode helped you, do me a favor, like this video, subscribe to the channel, and share it with another plumbing contractor who needs to hear it. And make sure you subscribe because belief number two is coming next. Stop spinning your wheels, stop trading water. It's time to get some trade traction.