How I Made Over £18,000 From A £75 Call Out

Customers used to tell me all the time, that they struggled to get trades, particularly trades such as plumbers, heating engineers and electricians, to even come out to quote for small jobs.

New customers, when enquiring, used to regularly ask us, 'do you do small jobs?', or they'd apologise for it 'only being a small job'.

I could never understand it. No-one seemed to want to do them.

We simply charged a minimum rate, and took on all jobs, large or small. We used to hoover up all the small jobs no one else seemed to want, and regularly added upwards of 20% to our monthly revenue, for what really amounted to minimal extra work.

A extra few hours a week could easily result in hundreds of pounds of extra revenue, which by the end of the month, could amount to thousands of pounds.

However, the real opportunity is what most trades miss;

LTV or LIFE TIME VALUE.

What is that customer worth to you over the course of a lifetime, in repeat work and referrals?

The best example I have of this, was when a customer called us one Friday afternoon in 2016, just as the phones were about to go to voicemail.

The lady had a burnt out double socket and was unable to remove the plug.

She was going on holiday in a few hours, and was concerned about leaving her house empty, with what she considered dodgy electrics.

Now, it was late on a Friday, and I had other plans. There was no-one else available to send, so it would have to be me.

Did I try and excuse myself, or fob the lady off? I won't lie, I felt like doing so, as many of us would. But I didn't.

I went up there and replaced the socket, charging our minimum fee.

I was half an hour later than I would have been in getting to the pub, but she was over the moon.

Now I would be willing to bet that this customer could have gone through 10 other phone numbers before she would have found someone willing to come out, if she had managed to find anyone at all.

She may have had to resort to what many customers do… having to rely on one of the national chains, dealing with a call centre, wondering if anyone's going to show up, and then being sold onto a homecare plan.

As it was, because I took the time and trouble, her problem was solved and we had a happy customer.

A happy customer is one that uses you again, and recommends you to others. The fact that it was a small job didn't matter. The fact that I'd gone above and beyond DID.

The result of this ended up being;

• A very big consumer unit swap, about 40 odd circuits.
• 2 big jobs for her daughter, including a £12,000 bathroom.
• A £400 plumbing job for her Aunt.
• A further £600 of plumbing and electrical small works at her property.
• 6 EICR's and Gas Safety Certificates at properties that her daughter and son in law rent out, plus remedial work.

Over £18,000 of revenue in total, and all resulting from that first £75 job.

There is a broader concept to learn here, that I believe comes down to mindset. You see, at no point during this process did I ever think of this customer as a '£75 job'.

This is because I'd developed the habit of looking at every customer through the lens of wanting to build a long term business, rather than just trying to make up this week's wage. It wasn't the one off £75 that I wanted, it was the happy customer.

Because the happy customer is much more valuable than £75, and the more happy customers you collect, the more profit you'll make.

You don't acquire a customer to make a sale, you make a sale to acquire a customer.

You should make the effort to look after customers from the outset, and then once they are in your 'herd', you look after them even more.

I never just assumed a customer would come back to us just because they'd used us before, no matter how hard we had tried to give them the best service.

We used to actively, and systematically keep in touch via automated email.

We would send cards at Christmas and other occasions, thanking them for their custom.

We would craft special offers at least quarterly and send them out in the post.

We published a monthly newsletter for our top 50 customers, which eventually turned into it's own stand alone business, that not only kept in touch with existing customers, but generated new enquiries and made a profit in it's own right from advertising.

Yes it costs, yes it's work, but it's an INVESTMENT.

And like any good investment it provides returns far in excess of what it costs.

Remember, getting an existing customer to use you again is far easier and cheaper than finding a new one.

You don't have to go as far as launching your own newsletter publication, but at the the very least, you should be keeping a database of customers and thinking what you can offer them that will provide value.

Start looking at your business and your customers through the lens of Lifetime Value and it will make a huge difference to your business and your bottom line.

If you want to grow your business & attract more customers, book a Marketing Strategy Session with me. →

Or get your copy of the Plumber's 'Customers On Tap' Blueprint to discover the local marketing system that grew my local, domestic plumbing & electrical business to 5 figures a month. →

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