Dependability matters. You’ve probably heard that a time or two. It is especially important in the plumbing industry where your customers depend on you and you depend on your crew and your supply houses to be there when you need them.
I learned a lot about dependability this past fall. I had a string of bad luck starting with two car accidents on the same day at almost the same time with different members of my family. It continued onto a wash machine that finally died on me and then a combi-boiler that failed.
Things that were supposed to be dependable were suddenly not dependable. It’s frustrating to say the least. We no longer had a dependable vehicle to get us around, we had to deal with undependable wash machines at a laundromat for a little bit, and we didn’t have dependable heating in our house for a little while.
FINDING DEPENDABILITY
Throughout all of this, there is one thing that I could count on. When that boiler went down and when the pipe broke to connect the new washer to our plumbing system, I knew I had someone I could reach out to.
Our go-to plumber is one of the most dependable contractors in our area. I sent him a text and he responded almost immediately saying he would be over shortly. This was on a weekend, mind you.
Sure enough he was there within an hour diagnosing the problem. It wasn’t going to be a fast fix as he had to wait for a supply shop to open the next day. Thankfully when that shop did open, the supply house proved to be dependable for him as they had the part in stock and our plumber could pick up the part.
The little inconvenience of not having hot water or heat for a day or two didn’t matter as much knowing that we reached our plumber, he was responsive and was quick at finding what was wrong and getting it fixed.
BEING A GOOD EXAMPLE
I’ve heard friends and acquaintances talk about how they don’t have a contractor they can depend on regularly. If something breaks they’re looking online for someone to even answer a phone.
Being dependable to your customers is one of the most important parts of your job. That doesn’t mean being there at your phone 24/7 to help a customer. If you have a longtime customer, make sure that they know what your hours are and even if you aren’t able to help them, return a phone call and guide them in the right direction. That alone could help you secure them for other work that they might need because they’ll remember you being helpful.
YOUR COMPANY
What are ways you and your team try to be dependable to customers? Let me know by emailing me at editor@plumbermag.com. I love to hear your ideas!
