Providing excellent customer service is one of the best ways to win more customers, build a loyal customer base, and foster word-of-mouth referrals for your plumbing business. If you can offer customers seamless experiences, they’re going to think of you next time they have a plumbing issue.
While most of us are familiar with standard practices like reliably answering the phone, quickly returning missed calls, and training techs on best practices (e.g. ensuring they meticulously clean up after every job), technology has opened up many new opportunities to improve customer experiences. For example, plumbing customer experience software can provide:
Automated SMS notifications to share technician arrival times
GPS tracking that shows where techs are en route to the job
CSR call recordings that can be used for training your team
Convenient financing and payment options
CSR and technician workflows designed with the customer in mind
In this article, we’ll discuss the common customer service challenges for plumbing businesses. Then, we’ll share 10 tips on how to improve your customer service to build customer loyalty and attract new customers, explaining how our plumbing contractor software, ServiceTitan, can boost the process.
10 Tips to Improve Customer Service
Leverage dispatching tools to deliver plumbing services quickly and efficiently
Leverage digital forms to ensure techs follow best practices
4 Common Customer Service Challenges
Customer service challenges in the plumbing industry can range from technical issues to communication problems.
Common challenges include:
Challenge 1: Understanding what customers want. Customer needs and expectations differ. Being able to understand and address those needs and expectations quickly is an essential and often challenging aspect of good customer service.
Challenge 2: Handling real-time requests. Customers expect quick, effective services. Plumbing businesses must ensure they have enough resources to effectively handle real-time requests and swift emergency plumbing services.
Challenge 3: Exceeding customer expectations. Going the extra mile in the plumbing industry can be the difference between a customer choosing your business over other local plumbers. This could mean providing flexible payment services to your customers or extra maintenance tasks. This isn’t easy if you don’t have software to help you.
Challenge 4: Training CSRs well. Training office staff is another challenge faced by plumbing companies more focused on resolving their customers’ plumbing problems. Building a solid customer service department will consume time and resources.
These are the most significant customer service challenges for plumbing businesses.
Next, we share 10 tips for overcoming these challenges and creating outstanding customer service experiences.
Tip #1: Refine Your Call-Taking and Job-Booking Process
It’s an obvious point, but every sale begins with an initial phone call or message sent to your company. Responding quickly and treating each customer personally helps create more powerful relationships.
Your customers want to interact with a human being to discuss their leaking faucets or toilet repairs. Just picking up the phone will improve your call booking rates and level up your customer service.
With ServiceTitan’s Call Booking feature, you can do that and more. Using front- and back-end software to arm your plumbing CSRs with vital information about a customer helps create the perfect experience every time.
Our software provides CSRs with customer details before they even answer the phone. It gives them customer names, call occurrences, service history, and even special notes from techs, managers, or other CSRs.
With this information at their fingertips, your CSRs can immediately make a great first impression by greeting each customer by name and referring to previous work done for them.
New customers are swiftly taken care of, too. Using drop-down menus and custom prompts, CSRs can simply enter the customer information directly into their system, including job type, start date, priority, and more.
ServiceTitan’s easy-to-follow call booking system allows CSRs to focus on their conversation with the customer instead of being distracted trying to type in crucial information. And there’s no need for CSRs to put customers on hold or call them back while they pull paperwork from a filing cabinet.
ServiceTitan personnel Bill Powers (senior industry advisor) Chris Hunter (principal industry advisor) and Angie Snow (principal industry advisor) all feel that a 90% phone call booking rate is attainable.
“The faster a business can get to a dedicated call taker, the faster they will grow,” Powers said. “And sometimes it’s an investment that people have to make and are afraid to make. But if they want to grow, that’s the first step.”
Note: For customers who prefer the convenience of booking online, with ServiceTitan, you can add a Web Scheduler or Chat to Text widget to your website and give customers an easy way to schedule a job or start a text conversation online.
Further reading from our ServiceTitan playbook:
Tip #2: Leverage Dispatching Tools to Deliver Plumbing Services Quickly & Efficiently
Whether it’s a clogged drain or a water heater installation, when a customer calls for a plumbing repair or service, they don’t want to wait days or weeks for their plumbing needs to be resolved.
Dispatch the best available plumber to serve each call, and ensure your technicians are punctual to maintain a positive reputation.
Because ServiceTitan stores each existing customer’s service history, the CSR knows which tech to assign to each plumbing job. And if there’s any confusion, ServiceTitan’s dispatch software offers a suite of features to help them sort things out quickly, including, geographical booking zones, tech availability, skills ratings, and more.
These dispatching features help CSRs send the right tech to the right job while ServiceTitan’s user-friendly mobile app lets techs quickly see the jobs they have scheduled for the day via job cards which display details of each job.
ServiceTitan also offers an add-on product, Dispatch Pro, with more advanced dispatching features. Using machine learning, Dispatch Pro’s algorithm runs thousands of scenarios to find the best technician for every job. This, plus its intuitive dispatch board automations, saves your dispatchers' time, improves customer satisfaction, and maximizes profit.
Learn more dispatching tips in this post.
Tip #3: Communicate Clearly with Your Customers
There's nothing worse than working from home in your pajamas and, suddenly, the plumber is at the door, one hour earlier than expected.
Superior customer service in home service businesses requires transparent, proactive communication. Whether you’re a residential plumbing company or a commercial plumbing business, your service professionals need to make your clients comfortable and aware of what they should expect upfront.
ServiceTitan’s Customer Experience software does this by providing:
Full service history for clients' addresses, so CSRs are informed about the customer, the property, previous repairs, and more, from the first time they click the green call button.
Technician bios delivered via text (including a photo and fun facts about them) to make homeowners more comfortable with people coming into their homes.
Automated job confirmations via SMS to ensure customers will be available when your plumbing techs show up. This reduces no-shows without your customer service team spending hours on confirmation calls.
GPS tracking tool so customers can track their technician’s location in real-time to check that they are on schedule for the appointment.
Read more tips on how to improve the customer experience.
Transforming the way you relate and interact with your customers is a huge step toward more complete customer service.
Tip #4: Provide Estimates and On-the-Spot Financing
It can be difficult to create quality plumbing estimates when you're using manual processes. So when a technician visits a homeowner to address a plumbing issue, the customer might become frustrated if they have to wait hours or days to receive a cost estimate.
Provide your field staff with mobile technology to give customers on-site estimates and job quotes, explain warranty information, and allow them to sign off on the work on the spot.
Mobile Estimates
With ServiceTitan Mobile (available for Android and IOS), your techs can quickly build accurate estimates without worrying that prices might be out of date. You can manage your plumbing pricebook using our cloud-based system, which is easily accessed in the office and in the field. Techs can create multiple estimates (with pictures and descriptions) at different price points to let clients choose what fits best for them.
Customers can browse the presentations on the tech’s tablet and make a choice at their leisure, just as if they were shopping online.
Flexible Financing
If customers need financing to cover the cost of the service they choose, ServiceTitan can give them a range of on-the-spot options through our partnerships with leading financing providers. Techs can show customers monthly payment plans and terms, and give them instant access to the funds they need.
This gives techs the chance to close bigger sales faster than the typical process of waiting a day (or more) for financing approval, and it’s more convenient for customers, too.
Darius Lyvers, chief operating officer at F.H. Furr Plumbing, Heating, Air Conditioning and Electrical, talks about the importance of providing financing support for customers:
“When you talk about integrated financing, it’s not just whether they finance or not,” Lyvers says. “It opens the door for the customer to afford all your products, and they may buy something they otherwise wouldn’t have if you hadn’t presented financing options.”
Tip #5: Offer Convenient Payment Options
Customers are now used to paying for services in a variety of ways. Taking payment while your tech is with the customer and offering different payment options is convenient for the customer and for your business.
ServiceTitan simplifies payment processing from both the office and the field.
Plumbing techs can create invoices and take payments from their mobile devices on the spot. Customers can enter credit card information directly into their tech’s tablet, or follow a link via text to submit payment online.
Being able to create invoices and take payments in this way is convenient for customers and means revenue hits your bank account sooner, too.
For commercial accounts, the ServiceTitan Customer Portal allows your customers to take self-service actions based on the data you already have in ServiceTitan. This includes paying invoices, accepting estimates, self-scheduling, and getting information on upcoming appointments, work history, and service agreements or memberships.
Tip #6: Leverage Digital Forms to Ensure Techs Follow Best Practices
Give your plumbing techs digital checklists to help ensure that no steps are missed when they are working through jobs. Digital forms can be used for particular tasks to foster accountability and make sure your techs consistently follow best practices.
For example, you can ask your service technicians to complete a checklist at the end of each job to ensure they always leave the property clean and tidy.
With ServiceTitan, you can easily create and assign digital forms and checklists to specific jobs, customers, locations, or equipment — including checklists with cleanliness reminders or a cleanup checklist for the technician.
This best practice is part of exceeding customer expectations. You'll gain valuable customer- service points and differentiate your plumbing business from competitors.
It’s important that your technicians look professional and promote a safe working environment, too. They represent your brand, and as such, they should show up clean and in full uniform. Provide booties they can slip over their work boots before stepping foot in a property, and train techs to be respectful of a customer’s personal belongings.
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Tip #7: Follow Up on Every Service Call
Plumbing jobs aren't done when technicians leave the customer's premises. It's critical to follow up to check if everything is working properly and whether the customer is satisfied with the result. Plumbers can even leave their phone numbers so customers can call them in case they need advice.
Adopting a customer-centric approach will help you retain more clients and learn from their feedback.
Customer Reviews
Ask customers for their feedback when a job is complete. A good online review helps foster trust in your business. A less favorable review allows you to improve.
ServiceTitan’s customer experience software automatically sends survey requests to customers after a job has been completed. This makes it easy for customers to share their experience on an online review site (Google, Yelp, etc) while it’s still fresh in their mind.
We also offer a reputation management tool that automates sending review requests to customers, lets you reply to reviews, and gain insights into which techs they relate to.
Follow up on Unsold Estimates
If you’ve provided a customer with an estimate, make sure you follow up. Following up on unsold estimates is a good customer service strategy that can help you reconnect with potential customers and close more deals.
ServiceTitan users can efficiently follow up on unsold estimates in a regular, methodical fashion. This ensures that your customers are receiving the services they need and that your business is leaving as little money on the table as possible.
Chris Hunter, ServiceTitan’s principal industry advisor, reveals: “We spend so much money and time and effort to get leads. Leads are hard to get. Be very committed to following up, so you get the job.”
Tip #8: Provide Value to Customers
Your expert plumbers know how to solve your customers' plumbing issues, from water heater repairs to drain cleaning.
But what if customers need regular plumbing checks to make sure small issues don't turn into serious, expensive problems?
Service and membership agreements are a great way to offer extra value to your customers while ensuring a steady stream of revenue for your business.
To help manage new and existing contracts with customers, ServiceTitan’s Service Agreement Software provides key features that simplify contract management and add value to your customers.
Regular maintenance becomes clear, trackable, and efficient with features such as:
Recurring services: Manage prepaid maintenance services, add them to your existing schedule, and provide outstanding customer service for all customers.
Renewable contracts: Renew contracts wherever it’s most convenient for you and your customers: out in the field, in the office, or via membership renewal estimates generated in ServiceTitan.
Discount management: With ServiceTitan, creating and managing membership discounts becomes easier. Techs don’t need to calculate anything on the spot, and customers gain visibility over their invoice savings.
By providing the option to pay for memberships, you give your customers peace of mind that their plumbing systems are regularly inspected and maintained.
Tip #9: Train Your CSRs to Provide Awesome Customer Service
What makes customers stay loyal to a brand? According to a study, 94% of customers reveal they would continue to buy from the same brand if they provided positive customer service.
Are your CSRs comfortable to talk to? How do they deal with customer complaints? And what can you do to prepare them to handle such situations?
According to Angie Snow, ServiceTitan’s principal industry advisor, it all comes down to "maintaining control of the call."
“My CSRs are consistently seeing over a 90% booking rate throughout the year because of some of the things we're doing in our company to maintain control of the call,” Snow says. “If you can maintain control of the call, you can get them to book the call.”
Investing your resources into training your CSRs can help retain more customers and improve your customer service.
ServiceTitan’s call recording feature can help. With ServiceTitan, every call is recorded and logged into the relevant customer’s account. Plumbing business owners love this feature for the accountability it provides. It allows contractors to better coach new customer service representatives on how to handle customer interactions, as well as how to negotiate with customers when disagreement or nonpayment occurs, with background intelligence that is as accurate and well-documented as possible.
Tip #10: Track KPIs to Measure and Improve Staff Performance
Drill down into your CSRs’ and technicians’ KPIs to improve customer service. Tracking and monitoring metrics, such as the number of jobs booked or the time taken to perform a service, and then working on improving those numbers not only makes your business operate more efficiently but improves customer satisfaction, too.
Being able to monitor individual phone calls (tip #9) with customers is great for training and accountability. But ServiceTitan also gives business owners a more comprehensive, instantaneous view of their CSRs’ and technicians’ performance, in the form of a scorecard.
Contractors can see how many calls their employees are booking, what percentage of potential business they’re booking, how long they’re taking to do it, and more. They can also zoom in on individual calls to see what might have gone right or wrong, and where improvements can be made.
In addition, ServiceTitan offers customizable dashboards and reports to track company metrics like total revenue, total sales, total average sales, total job average, call booking rate, and total conversion rate. You can even look at this over an 18-month trend (or weekly trend) to keep an eye on how your business is running.
See These Features in Action: Schedule a Free Demo
As the plumbing industry continues to embrace tech-forward solutions, it’s becoming harder for contractors to deliver excellent customer service without the right tools. An integrated software solution that helps you manage customer relationships, optimize operations, and grow revenue, has become essential.
With ServiceTitan’s all-in-one plumbing software, you get a software solution that seamlessly integrates customer management with everything else that keeps your business running smoothly:
Scheduling & dispatching
Job management & invoicing
Inventory tracking
Marketing & sales tools
Customer communications
By consolidating these workflows into one powerful platform, ServiceTitan helps plumbing contractors (as well as HVAC, electricians, and more) work smarter, grow faster, and deliver excellent customer service.
Want to see how ServiceTitan’s plumbing software can help you improve customer service and grow your business? Schedule a call for a free product tour.
ServiceTitan Plumbing Software
ServiceTitan is a comprehensive plumbing business software solution built specifically to help service companies streamline their operations, boost revenue, and achieve growth. Our award-winning, cloud-based platform is trusted by more than 100,000+ contractors across the country.
