This issue’s theme — green products — is a tough one to tackle. Nearly all the plumbing products on the market these days have some sort of “green” quality to them, whether they reduce water usage or use less electrical power to work.
So, how then do you promote your plumbing business as a green plumbing business when all the other companies out there are using similar products?
Some of the ways you could are changing the type of service vehicles you use, getting involved in community programs and making more of a push to sell or use more leak detectors and other devices to help eliminate water waste.
CHANGING VEHICLES
Probably the most expensive way to appear more “green” to your customers is by changing out your fleet from gasoline and diesel to natural gas or an electric hybrid.
There are more of these types of vehicles coming out every year and we’ve actually profiled some plumbing companies in this magazine that have switched to these vehicles in previous issues.
You might not be able to convert all your work vehicles over at once, but you could start changing over as vehicles need to be replaced. Take one at a time instead of all at once.
Before making the switch, though, it’s important to look at your market and see if they would provide a benefit to you or would be more costly in the long run.
COMMUNITY VOLUNTEERING
One easy — and cheap — way to show that your company is trying to be more eco-friendly is by organizing or taking part in community cleanup days. Maybe there is a park near your shop that could use some cleaning up? Assign a crew to go over there for a few hours and clean up litter that they find on the ground.
If you do this during the day when the public is enjoying the park, just think of how your potential customers would view your company. It could be a big benefit in many ways.
If there isn’t a park that needs cleaning up, how about adopt-a-highway programs in your area? I know in Wisconsin, I see the signs on nearly all of our highways and from time to time I’ll see those groups along the highway picking up trash.
Wear company shirts or company safety vests and help clean up the garbage to make the area look nice, and it’s free advertising for passersby.
DOING THE SIMPLE THINGS
If you want to do more, but don’t have time to change out vehicles or take part in community cleaning up activities, try doing other smaller things like converting your company to paperless invoicing (sending out bills via email) or even just making sure you have recycling bins at your office.
Doing even the little things will make your crews and your customers take notice that you are trying to be more “green” or eco-friendly. It’s a great image to have these days with so many looking for those options.
HEARING FROM YOU
What is your company doing to be more “green?” Are there programs that your staff takes part in? I’d like to hear about some of these. You can email me at editor@plumbermag.com or call 715-350-8436.
Enjoy this issue!
