Are you easy to do business with? You probably think that. Everyone thinks that. Chances are you can become easier to do business with. Everyone can. Here part one of 24 ways you can be easy to do business with. How many do you do?

1. Display Your Website Everywhere

People use the Internet to find companies, or at least, to look them up. Your website URL should be boldly displayed on your trucks, your literature, your invoices, your business cards, and your company shirts.

2. Use a Chatbot on Your Website

We live in a strange world where many people are hesitant to talk on the phone. Give them a chatbot to interact with on your website. There are excellent, AI powered, plumbing specific bots available. Use one.

3. Allow Text Communication

Some people would rather communicate by text than voice. Let them. Provide a monitored text number that can be used. Positively, this allows you to communicate back to them by text as long as you give them an opportunity to opt out.

4. Let People Schedule Service Online

Some of today’s field service management (FSM) software packages provide a way for customers to schedule service online. If yours does, use it. If not, find a third party package or simply, allow them to request a time.

5. Allow Appointments

Most plumbers shriek in terror at the notion of set appointments. Yet, they are possible if you really want them. Simply create a different, more expensive level of service (e.g., concierge service) and charge enough for it to make it worth your while to juggle calls for set appointments.

6. Prominently Display Hours and Contact Information

Your website should list your standard hours of service and contact information boldly. No one should have to have to search to find either. Contact information includes phone numbers, email, and text. If you’re worried about spammers crawling your website for email addresses and text numbers, use a web form for email and text through your site.

7. Be Mobile Friendly

Everyone should have mobile friendly websites by now. Yet, some plumbers still lack them. For that matter, some plumbers lack websites. Make sure your website displays well on a mobile phone as well as a computer.

8. Complete All Online Listings

Everywhere there is an online listing for your company, make sure the contact and other information is complete, up-to-date, and links back to your website. This includes Google, Apple, the chamber of commerce, the local trade association, and any other listing. Keep a list of the listings and periodically check them for accuracy.

9. Be Present on Social Media

If a consumer lacks a business relationship with a plumber, she is likely to turn to social media to find a referral. Make sure you have a presence on Facebook, X, Linked In, NextDoor, YouTube, and TicTok.

10. Help Consumers Solve Simple Problems

It may seem like heresy, but be willing to offer tips over the phone or on your website for consumers to solve simple problems. Rolling a truck for a tripped breaker on a water heater, for example, is not going to yield much revenue and likely to irritate the customer. Offering helpful advice, saves everyone hassle, generates goodwill, and ensures you get the calls for future work, not to mention the referrals.

11. Give Fixed Prices Up Front

Everyone should be using flat rate pricing now. Sadly, too many are not. Give fixed prices before the work is done to ease homeowner anxiety and reduce price complaints.

12. Take Pictures

It’s said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Pictures of problems help consumers understand what’s wrong and what needs to be fixed. They are especially useful when a plumber is having a hard time communicating the issue with the consumer. Before and after pictures will help an absent spouse understand what was done, after the fact.

Part II will be continued next month.

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Buy Matt Michel’s inspirational book for the service trade, “Contractor Stories” on Amazon. Check out ServiceRoundtable.com for downloadable business tools to help like guarantees, service agreements, pricing calculators and more.