How I'd Automate a Plumbing Company in 15 Steps

Summary

Nick's video offers a comprehensive guide on automating a plumbing business using modern technology. He suggests leveraging project management systems like ClickUp, streamlining appointment scheduling with platforms like Cal.com, and utilizing AI for personalized customer interactions. Nick emphasizes the importance of automating tasks to multiply leverage, from sales processes to billing and invoicing with Stripe, while also highlighting the value of subcontractor management and follow-up systems for increased efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Takeaways

• 📚 Automating a plumbing business involves leveraging technology to streamline operations and improve efficiency.
• 🔧 Implementing a project management system like ClickUp is crucial for organizing tasks, scheduling, and tracking job progress.
• 📅 Streamlining the appointment scheduling process with calendar services can reduce back-and-forth communication and improve booking efficiency.
• 🔔 Utilizing appointment reminders can minimize no-shows and enhance customer experience by confirming service appointments.
• 💰 Focusing on sales through lead generation methods like pay-per-click ads and services like Bark.com can significantly multiply business leverage.
• 📝 Automating the sales process by obtaining all necessary customer information during the call can expedite quote generation and booking.
• 💳 Using a payment platform like Stripe for invoicing and payments can simplify the billing process and improve cash flow management.
• 👷‍♂️ Subcontractor management can be optimized by automating invoicing and payments, reducing the administrative burden on the business.
• 📊 Maintaining a dashboard for internal reporting helps in monitoring key business metrics such as revenue, cash collected, margins, and profits.
• 📝 Collecting customer feedback and managing online reviews through project management integration encourages positive testimonials and reputation management.
• 🔄 Automating follow-ups for completed jobs can lead to repeat business and increased customer loyalty, boosting both revenue and margins.

Q & A

What is the main goal of the video series presented by Nick?

The main goal of the video series is to demonstrate, step by step, how to automate a local service business, such as a plumbing business, using modern technologies like AI automation and chatbots.

What is a 'whimsical' and how is it used in the context of Nick's video?

A 'whimsical' is a mind map, used by Nick as a visual representation of his ideas for automating a business. It helps to organize and present the steps and ideas in a structured way.

Why is project management the first thing Nick suggests automating in a business?

Project management is suggested as the first step because it involves a lot of time and energy that is often wasted on unimportant tasks. Automating it with a system like ClickUp can save time and increase efficiency.

What are the two main levers for streamlining the appointment scheduling process according to Nick?

The two main levers for streamlining the appointment scheduling process are using appointment scheduling platforms and setting up reminders for customers.

How does Nick recommend integrating appointment bookings with project management systems?

Nick recommends using calendar services like Calendly and integrating them with project management systems to automatically create a new record for each booking, including details like start time, end time, address, and person.

What is the importance of leveraging technology in sales for a service business?

Leveraging technology in sales can multiply the business owner's efforts, leading to higher output with less input. It allows for more time to be spent on important tasks while technology handles repetitive or low-ROI tasks.

What are some of the platforms that Nick suggests for automating sales processes in a plumbing business?

Nick suggests using platforms like PandaDoc for proposal automation and Stripe for payment management, which can be integrated with project management systems to automate sales processes.

How does Nick propose to handle customer billing and invoicing in an automated plumbing business?

Nick proposes using Stripe for invoicing, which can automatically generate invoices for customers when a job status changes to 'job done' in the project management system, making the process efficient and transparent.

What role does social media marketing play in a local service business like plumbing?

Social media marketing helps to establish legitimacy and trust with prospective customers, even though it may not directly generate a significant number of clients.

How can a plumbing business benefit from automated follow-ups after a job is completed?

Automated follow-ups can help retain customers by offering discounts on follow-up jobs, checking in on their satisfaction, and potentially securing more business without additional lead acquisition costs.

What is the purpose of using an inventory management system for parts and supplies in a plumbing business?

An inventory management system helps to anticipate demand, reduce lead times for parts, and ensure that there is always stock available for jobs, which can improve turnaround times and customer satisfaction.

How does Nick suggest managing subcontractor relationships in an automated plumbing business?

Nick suggests using the 'assign' field in project management platforms to assign jobs to specific subcontractors, track their performance, and automate invoicing and communication related to their work.

Outlines

00:00

🤖 Automating a Plumbing Business with Technology

Nick introduces his video series focused on automating a plumbing business using technology. He shares his experience working with various local service businesses, including plumbing, and outlines his approach to creating a comprehensive guide. The goal is to provide viewers with a list of steps to automate their businesses, leveraging AI, chatbots, and other technologies. He introduces the concept of a 'whimsical' mind map to visually represent ideas and plans to discuss every step in detail, emphasizing the importance of technology in multiplying leverage and increasing efficiency in business operations.

05:00

🛠️ Streamlining Project Management for Efficiency

The speaker emphasizes the importance of automating project management in a plumbing business to eliminate time wasted on unimportant tasks. He suggests using a project management system like ClickUp, which is customizable and automatable, to serve as a single source of truth for the business. This system would handle scheduling, tracking time, and shift assignments, ultimately reducing the reliance on email and improving organization. The system's automation capabilities can generate assets, proposals, quotes, and invoices, while also integrating email communications into the project threads.

10:02

📅 Automating Appointment Scheduling and Reminders

The paragraph discusses the need to streamline the appointment scheduling process for plumbing services to save time and reduce errors. The speaker recommends using calendar services like Calendly for both emergency and regular bookings. These services allow customers to book appointments at their convenience, reducing the back-and-forth communication. Additionally, integrating appointment reminders into the system can prevent no-shows and miscommunications, enhancing the customer experience and ensuring that any issues are addressed before resources are committed.

15:03

📈 Leveraging Sales and Marketing for Business Growth

This section focuses on leveraging sales and marketing strategies to multiply business leverage. The speaker suggests using paid advertising and lead aggregators like Bark.com to generate leads at a sunk cost, which can yield multiple calls or inquiries. The goal is to spend a minimal amount of time setting up these systems, which can then provide ongoing benefits. The speaker also recommends collecting all necessary customer information during the initial call to automate the quote generation and booking process, streamlining the sales workflow.

20:04

💳 Streamlining Billing and Invoicing with Stripe

The speaker recommends using Stripe for payment management due to its simplicity and integration capabilities. By linking Stripe with the project management system, businesses can automatically invoice customers when a job status changes to 'job done'. This automation ensures timely payments and provides a clear overview of outstanding payments. The speaker also suggests automating follow-ups for payment collection, further enhancing the efficiency of the invoicing process.

25:04

🏢 Managing Subcontractors and Payroll Efficiently

The paragraph discusses the importance of efficiently managing subcontractor billing and payroll to reduce the administrative burden. The speaker suggests using payroll platforms for in-house employees and automated invoicing for subcontractors. This approach minimizes the need for a dedicated finance or accounting department, saving on labor costs and ensuring timely payments to workers.

📝 The Importance of Data Entry and Recordkeeping

The speaker highlights the significance of accurate data entry and recordkeeping for a smooth-running business. By using a centralized project management system like ClickUp, businesses can ensure that all information is entered correctly and completely through the use of forms. This method eliminates the need for a separate data entry role and ensures that the system is always up-to-date with accurate information.

🔄 Efficient Inventory Management for Parts and Supplies

Although not applicable to all businesses, the speaker touches on the topic of inventory management for parts and supplies. For businesses that find it necessary, using an inventory management platform can help track stock levels and integrate with project management systems. This allows for better anticipation of demand and faster turnaround times for customer service, potentially giving a competitive edge in the market.

🔄 Automated Follow-ups for Enhanced Customer Relations

The speaker advocates for an automated follow-up system to maintain customer relationships and tap into potential repeat business. By sending customized emails or SMS messages after job completion, businesses can check in with customers and offer follow-up services or discounts. This approach not only fosters goodwill but also increases the likelihood of repeat business and higher margins.

📊 Internal Reporting for Continuous Business Insight

The paragraph stresses the importance of having a dashboard for internal reporting to monitor key business metrics such as revenue, cash collected, margins, and profit. By keeping track of these metrics, businesses can make informed decisions and address issues proactively. The speaker suggests using built-in dashboards from project management systems or other tools like Google Sheets to maintain visibility into the business's financial health.

👀 Reputation Monitoring and Seasonal Promotions

The speaker discusses the importance of monitoring the business's reputation through alerts for brand mentions and reviews. Quick response to negative feedback can mitigate damage to the business's image. Additionally, the speaker suggests using seasonal holidays as opportunities for promotional offers via email or SMS to past customers, which can help maintain customer relationships and generate repeat business.

🤝 Automatically Managing Subcontractor Relationships

The speaker concludes with the recommendation to use project management platforms' 'assign' features to manage subcontractor relationships effectively. This automation can link assignments to payments, performance reviews, and notifications, ensuring that jobs are completed as promised and that the business maintains a reliable workforce.

Keywords

💡Automation

Automation refers to the use of technology to create systems that perform tasks with minimal human intervention. In the context of the video, it is the process of streamlining and optimizing various operations within a plumbing business to increase efficiency and leverage technology, such as AI and project management systems. The script mentions automating project management, appointment scheduling, and invoicing to multiply leverage and reduce manual effort.

💡Project Management System

A project management system is a tool used to plan, organize, and manage tasks associated with a specific project. The video emphasizes the importance of using a project management system like ClickUp for plumbing businesses to track jobs, schedule assignments, and manage time effectively. It serves as a 'single source of truth' for business operations, facilitating automation and organization.

💡Mind Map

A mind map is a visual representation of ideas or information, typically used to organize and structure thinking. In the script, the speaker uses a mind map called Whimsical to outline the steps for automating a plumbing business, providing a comprehensive overview of the process and serving as a visual guide for the audience.

💡AI Automation

AI Automation involves using artificial intelligence to perform tasks that would typically require human intelligence, such as understanding complex patterns or making decisions. The video mentions leveraging AI for automating various aspects of a business, suggesting its potential for enhancing efficiency in areas like customer service and data analysis.

💡Appointment Scheduling

Appointment scheduling is the process of booking and organizing appointments for services. The script discusses automating this process using platforms like Calendly, which allows customers to book appointments directly, reducing the need for back-and-forth communication and administrative time.

💡Lead Generation

Lead generation is the process of identifying and cultivating potential customer interest in a product or service. The video script talks about using platforms like Bark.com for lead generation in a plumbing business, where potential customers can express interest and be contacted, multiplying the leverage of marketing efforts.

💡Leverage

In a business context, leverage refers to the ability to use a small amount of input to generate a larger amount of output. The video's theme revolves around leveraging technology and systems to multiply the impact of time and effort in a plumbing business, such as using project management systems and AI to handle tasks more efficiently.

💡ROI (Return on Investment)

ROI is a metric used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or to compare the profitability of different investments. The script mentions considering the ROI of different automation and technology investments in a business, emphasizing the importance of choosing solutions that provide a high ROI by saving time and increasing revenue.

💡Inventory Management

Inventory management involves the tracking, organization, and control of goods and materials in a business. While not applicable to all plumbing businesses, the script suggests that larger operations could benefit from using inventory management platforms to keep track of parts and supplies, ensuring timely service delivery and efficient stock control.

💡Dashboard

A dashboard in a business context is a tool that displays key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics in a user-friendly format. The video recommends setting up a dashboard for a plumbing business to monitor revenue, cash collected, margins, and profit, providing real-time insights into business performance and aiding in decision-making.

💡Subcontractor

A subcontractor is an individual or company contracted to perform a specific part of a larger project. The script discusses the importance of managing relationships with subcontractor plumbers effectively, using project management systems to assign tasks, track performance, and automate invoicing, which is crucial for the operational efficiency of a plumbing business.

Highlights

The video aims to provide a comprehensive guide on automating a plumbing business using modern technology and strategies.

The presenter has experience working with various local service businesses, including plumbing, and suggests a top-to-bottom approach for automation.

A mind map called 'whimsical' is introduced as a visual representation of ideas for business automation.

The common thread in automation is leveraging technology to multiply business efficiency and effectiveness.

Project management is identified as the first area to automate, with a system like ClickUp recommended for its automation capabilities.

ClickUp is praised for being highly customizable and suitable for integrating AI for further automation down the line.

Appointment scheduling and reminders are highlighted as key areas to streamline, with services like Cal.com suggested for efficiency.

Customizing service reminders can significantly improve customer experience and reduce no-shows.

Sales can be optimized through leveraging platforms like Bark.com for lead generation and ClickAds for advertising.

Capturing all necessary customer information during the call can streamline the sales process and integrate seamlessly with project management systems.

Stripe is recommended for its ease of integration and automation capabilities for invoicing and payments.

Subcontractor billing can be automated with templated invoices and digital signatures for efficiency.

Social media marketing is discussed as a means to establish legitimacy and trust with potential customers.

The importance of customer feedback and review management is emphasized for business reputation and SEO.

Data entry and recordkeeping are streamlined through centralized project management systems, reducing the need for dedicated staff.

Inventory management for parts and supplies is discussed, with suggestions for platforms like Sortly or Service Titan for larger operations.

Automated follow-ups post job completion can lead to increased customer retention and revenue.

Internal reporting and dashboards are essential for real-time visibility of business performance metrics.

Reputation monitoring through tools like Google Alerts is advised to quickly address any negative feedback.

Seasonal promotional offers via email or SMS can re-engage past customers and generate additional business.

Automating subcontractor relationships and task assignments can improve operational efficiency and job completion rates.

Transcripts

hey everybody Nick here and in this

video I'm going to show you exactly how

I would automate my Plumbing business if

I ran one I've worked with probably

three dozen local service businesses

over the course of the last couple years

uh Plumbing being uh one of them and

what I've decided to do is to create a

video series where I basically go from

top to bottom and show people exactly

what I would do in their shoes the goal

being at the end of this video you will

get a giant whimsicle with a list of

steps that you could take to start

automating your business and taking

advantage of some of the really cool

technologies that are available to us

like AI automation chat gbt and that

sort of thing so if you've never used

whimsicle before what this is is this is

called a mind map and I use this mind

map just as a visual representation of

my ideas I'm going to make a couple more

edits to this I mean I've already done

most of the heavy lifting here but I'm

going to make a couple more edits to

this and then talk you guys through um

basically every step and at the end of

it you will know what you need to do in

order to make way more money uh by

leveraging your time more effectively

and you'll see that there's a very

common thread between all of these uh

different steps and different things

that you can automate and that's

ultimately just multiplying your

leverage uh technology you know we we

like to talk all day about how technolog

is taking over our lives and stuff like

that and I think to some extent it is

but you can use technology intelligently

to work for you and that's what uh

basically my whole YouTube channel is

about about how to best apply human

leverage to points that technology

cannot currently do for you um while

letting technology take care of all the

rest of the stuff that's like really low

leverage or really low Roi or really

pointless so yeah I don't run a plumbing

business but I've worked with a few and

I've worked with many just like General

local service businesses so um

regardless of of you know whether you're

an HVAC company or whether you're I

don't know even if you're like in a

wedding photography business a lot of

what I want to talk about here applies

to you too okay so the very first thing

that I would to focus on automating is

project management basically so much of

a business um so much of the time and

energy that you spend on a business is

time and energy that you are currently

wasting on silly unimportant project

management tasks that a project

management system if you just set it up

right like literally once um can just do

for you forever and so what I mean by

this is you know you get a new Plumbing

inquiry you usually have to like you

know keep track of the job you got to

know when your employees are taking off

or if you're hiring subcontractors when

you're subcontracted plumbers are going

out there uh you got to be able to

schedule them you got to be able to do

shift assignments you got to be able to

track the time you know there there's a

lot that basically um the average

service business owner especially in

plumbing needs to keep track of at the

back of their head and unfortunately the

vast majority of them just do it all

through email so it's 2024 um let's put

the email away and let's start using

like you know dedicated project managers

to do most of that for us um my

recommendation is that you use a project

management system like clickup clickup

is just one of many there are probably

20 or 30 different ones you could use

some of which are actually dedicated

specifically for plumbing and so out of

the box are sort of put together I

prefer clickup just because it's a lot

more automatable and if you want to get

into using AI for stuff later on down

the line uh clickup is very very

powerful for it but what I'll clickup

really looks like is I'll give you an

example here from my content writing

business it's just like a big pipeline

essentially where are we

here uh it's just a big pipeline

basically where like a new job will come

in and then you will assign the job to a

particular person you will have statuses

that reflect where your job is in your

pipeline you'll have dates and times

that maybe subcontractors are sent out

you have a way to track the time and

that sort of thing and then you get to

customize all the stuff for you so like

you can every single column here you

don't really have to worry too much

about um uh it not being set up right

out of the box for you because you can

just change it however you want the

benefit of this is this ends up being

your single source of Truth in a service

business and the second you have a

single source of Truth you can automate

the hell out of your company you can

generate automatic assets generate

proposals generate quote forms generate

PDFs you could create invoices

automatically uh you can store all of

your communic with a client there using

like email Integrations so that every

time that they send you an email or you

receive an email it's like embedded in

the thread um you can do so much and I I

would recommend you guys if you guys are

always feeling disorganized always

feeling behind that you just get on

project management of some of some kind

because it just eliminates 99% of the

issue anytime you're sharing information

between people um and in a business you

should basically be using a project

manager so once you have a project

management system set up um what I would

then focus on is streamlining the

appointment scheduling or booking

process however much you can and the two

biggest levers that I would say for this

are appointment scheduling and then

reminders and the good news is just like

clickup was sort of a solution to the

previous problem there are a few

platforms here that basically solve

appointment scheduling and appointment

reminders just out of the box you know

as a plumbing business you usually get

two kinds of bookings uh the first are

emergency bookings and the second are uh

sort of like I'm just going to say

regular bookings or maybe you can book

somebody like a week or two out

depending on availability um the main

issue with appointment scheduling

especially for that second Camp is it's

just like really laborious um if you

think about the okay they're two issues

the first is that um sometimes let's say

you have a secretary or somebody in your

in your office that's just like your

office manager that takes these calls or

maybe it's just you uh you know the

conversation usually goes like hey how's

it going um you know I need X Y andz

service done okay great like you know

maybe you're you're quoting process is

already done maybe you do it just over

the phone right then and there how much

this is how much okay great that sounds

good to me um can we book in sometime

next week okay what days you available

next week Monday and Saturday okay well

I have Monday after 1 H I can't do after

1 I can do before 12:30

this is just complete unnecessary

basically and it's a a total

and utter waste of time we've already

solved the appointment scheduling

process like 10 times over and you just

use a calendar service instead so what I

would do is I would sign up to either

cenly cal.com or an alternative maybe

something specific to H um Plumbing or

HVAC or local service businesses that do

these sorts of things um and then I

would uh just send out the link probably

through SMS um unless you're

communicating with them over email and I

do it just while I was right there on

the call with them so i' have have like

a clipboard on my phone or my office

manager would anyway and then anytime

somebody is calling and it's like hey

this sounds great uh what I would do is

I would go to that contact and then I

would just send them the calendar

booking link and I'd say okay great just

sent you over a calendar booking link do

you mind booking right now and this just

has all of our availability for the next

month and then voila you know you turned

in this laborious process where there's

a lot of opportunity and room for error

into one where just both parties know

that they're available at such and such

time and it's basically like perfect

every time which is great so this is

basically a solved problem

um and the cool part is every time you

get a booking you can then integrate it

with your project management system and

you can create you know a new record in

your project manager basically that

represents the booking that has the

start time end time the address the

person all that stuff okay reminders for

customers this is in the same vein U but

essentially most calendar Services

nowadays have reminders built in um and

what a reminder is is like let's say you

book a 100 appointments or 100 calls um

like 100 service calls like maybe 10% of

them are just not going to be there or

there'll just be some miscommunication

and you know the customer won't be home

when they say they would what reminders

allow you to do is basically avoid this

from ever happening again so you don't

have to pay your subcontract

subcontractor costs you don't have to

pay hourly plumber costs you don't have

to do any of that stuff uh if the person

isn't there they're going to let you

know ahead of time and so the way this

works usually is they just have these

really shitty templated messages that

are like service reminder for X date um

and then the customer sees it and it's

like all right yeah yeah and then that's

how they're reminded but what I would

actually do is I'd go one step further

instead of like using the default

service reminders for Kenley or cal.com

or whatever I'd make my my own and the

way that I do it is I would try and

customize it and make it seem like I

just wrote this for them just to double

check that you know I'm everything is

good with the appointment and a very

simple language shift is just pretend

that you're talking to the dude next to

you with the bar as opposed to like you

know having a formal business

communicate um you could very quickly

set up an Automation and a lot of this

is built in as I mentioned where you

just say hey first name just letting you

know that we'll be there tomorrow at

blank time as discussed thanks and then

whatever your name is um this usually

leads to just much better reviews much

better client experience uh you know

from like a reputation POV is just way

better so I would do that wherever

possible but at the least you need to

have some type of service reminder and

you can do the service reminder however

you want um I I would just make sure to

like have at least one but if I were

like to do this like perfectly optimally

I'd probably have a service reminder for

a week out if you booked it over a week

out um a day before and then I'd have it

like a couple of hours before before

your plumber or whatever actually takes

off and this way if they have any issues

you'll know ahead of time before you

actually spend that sunk time energy and

cost uh you'll get to save time energy

and money and then your your mer will go

up a little bit also your customers will

just like it they appreciate it no more

misunderstandings about dates or

whatever okay so sales this is probably

one of the big ones um but in order for

that to go well you need these which is

why I put this

forth basically um the name of the game

that a lot of service providers I think

don't fully understand is um the the

idea of like Leverage multiplication and

so what multiplication of your leverages

is it's just like hey like if I spend

five minutes doing something and then I

get one unit of output um you know if I

have like a 3X multiplier on that then

if I spend 5 minutes I get three units

of output if I have a 50 times

multiplier it's 5 minutes and 50 units

of output and basically your goal is to

multiply your leverage however possible

and whenever possible and in sales there

are a couple really easy ways to do this

the first is um focusing on acquisition

methods that by default multiply your

leverage what I mean by this I mean

paperclick um ads uh bark.com is a

really big one I'll run you through that

right now umal these are all services

that you basically have a sunk cost

usually like once or maybe like once a

month or something and then you get to

benefit from that cost every single time

that somebody calls you it realistically

might take you or somebody in your

company like an hour to make an ad but

then that ad might get you 15 calls or

something like that um if you think

about like the the other ways that you

could acquire those calls I mean like

back in the day back when I was working

B2B which doesn't really super apply

here but I had to go cold calling I had

to go door knocking right and I'd knock

on God 80 doors a day in order to get a

few appointments it was brutal that that

took me all 8 to 9 hours of my day to to

to get the appointment right these

systems basically just advertise for you

to people that are already looking for

services and thus you could spend one

hour one day setting it up and then

benefit from it for the next six months

that's hyper leverage and it allows you

to use your time on things that are more

important anyway bark.com is basically

um paperclick ads but it's one that a

lot of people don't know about I I use

this when I ran my own videography

company and basically anytime somebody

was interested in videography within my

region which at the time was Vancouver I

could buy that lead for I think like 20

or 30 bucks so services like bark.com

and they're a bunch they're basically

lead aggregators um I would try using

these I'd try using paperclick ads I

tried using SEO um you know and I just

focus on these as my lead generation

methods because uh again they they

multiply your time now in terms of what

to do when somebody's actually generated

when a new lead calls you know if I were

setting up my own plumbing company I

would ask them for all of the specific

info that I need before the end of the

call and I'd like go like ahead of time

I'd make a list of all the that I

need from them so realistically you're

going to need their address if it's a

house call you're going to need their

first name their last name you're going

to need their phone number you should

also have their email to send them

receipts invoices communicate that way

and then maybe you'll need some more

information about the specifics of their

problem like a on line description or

whatever um the reason why I'd make this

list ahead of time is so that I could

then create a form and then while I'm on

the call with the customer what I would

do is I would say hey okay great let me

just get your info into the system here

what was your first name what was your

last name what was all this stuff

because then now you can add them into

your project management system and as I

mentioned earlier the second that

they're in your project management

system you can automate the hell out of

it what I would do is I would use all of

this information to template out a quote

and I would send it to them immediately

over SMS so that they could see it while

they're on the call with me um you can

do this using a variety of platforms you

do this using pandadoc if you wanted to

you could do this using another five

million like proposal automation

platforms but just type in pandadoc or

pandadoc alternative and you'll find a

bunch um you could also look up like

plumber proposal system or something and

there'll probably be a few and then

basically what what they do is they just

look at it while they're on the call

with you and if they agree to it they

click a button they maybe do some

signature analog with their thumb um and

then you can tie that into them having a

calendar booking and just dealing with

all that immediately ahead of time

and not having to worry about the back

and forth and not having to worry about

the follow-up not having to worry about

like 99% of the issues that usually

plague the sales process in your average

plumbing company uh so you you can do

this very easily you don't need to be a

no code or automation Pro in order to do

so um but you know this ties in with the

calendar system that I mentioned earlier

and then the calendar system um feeds

into the project management system I

mentioned earlier as well and this is

just the way that like a modern plumbing

company would do it okay then we go to

customer billing and invoicing uh what I

would do is I would like stop using

payment processors that like uh a lot of

the time local service businesses have

specific payment processors that they

use because it saves them a tiny bit of

money like uh I don't know it charges

them 2% instead of 3% or something I

would I would just use stripe stripe is

just the simplest and easiest to

integrate um payment management platform

out there it's usually for internet

businesses but but um stripe for for

in-person businesses makes perfect sense

as well and uh the reason why I would

use it is so that I can automatically

invoice people so when my project

management system has statuses and one

of those statuses changes to job done I

would then automatically use the

customer information that I have on that

person's file to send them um a stripe

invoice to their address that would then

be due today the next day or whatever

your payment terms are and then when

somebody pays then I would change the

status of the record to like you know a

payment received or payment completed

that way at a glance anybody in your

company would be able to see in seconds

what payments are still outstanding and

then if you have like a salesperson or

if you're I don't know sufficiently

motivated to do it yourself you now know

who to follow up with so you can get

your money you can obviously do those

follow-ups automatically by the way and

you probably should be striped as that

by itself um but yeah you know very

simple and transparent way to do things

and the cool benefit there uh as well is

then you can start tracking this data

adding it to dashboards and visualizing

your Revenue cash collected your margins

that sort of

stuff okay subcontractor billing an

invoice this is pretty similar um I mean

I said subcontractor here but really I

should have said like staff or payroll

or whatever um you know for in-house

employees you're going to want to use a

payroll platform that's already

developed for you so I don't know

payroll platform here there's like 20

probably uh you could use QuickBooks if

you want a deal is very popular ripling

is reasonably popular Gusto I didn't

know they had a payment platform

associated with them but they probably

do uh if you're in Canada you know use

wage Point that's probably the most

popular one if you're doing

subcontractors basically every time they

finish a job uh you can automatically

send them a templated invoice um that

they can then sign off on and then when

they sign off on it you could send them

money uh there are a variety of ways

that you could do this but basically I'm

just trying to approach this from like a

highest Ry perspective working my way

down um staff billing and stuff is such

a pain in the ass most plumbing

companies and local services companies

that I know of actually have full

departments that they call their Finance

or accounting department that deal with

this how cool would it be if you could

just do it all automatically and

eliminate your department entirely or at

least instead of having three people uh

have like one person that's at least

$100,000 a year in your pocket and in

addition to that you're probably going

to get paid more often and more on time

because you're now sending and receiving

funds immediately as opposed to Super

delayed so yeah I do that um social

media marketing and stuff like that I

don't really care too much about social

media marketing with them honest I think

social media marketing is kind of

uh for most businesses but what

what it does do is it it shows

prospective customers that you are a

real company and a lot of the time

people just need that in order to feel

safe and secure and actually want to

work with you so it's not like going to

change a game you're probably not going

to get too many Plumbing customers that

are like hm that plumbing company has

great design on their canva thumbnails

or something but uh you will get a

little bit of perceived legitimacy and

that's what matters so what I would do

is I would just have somebody on my team

like an office admin create 30 posts a

month using Ai and then I'd cycle them

using a tool like buffer which just

allows you to schedule your posts a

buffer is pretty cool because it um

allows you to go I think like a year out

or something but basically it's a way

that you just you know add your images

and design and the the text and whatnot

and then you can just schedule it for

next week let's say which is pretty

cool

okay um customer feedback collection

review management um on the same vein as

social media one of the number one

places people will go uh before they

they decide to work with you especially

if you're like a physical business where

people will like see the service

provider face to face shake their hands

and walk them through a job is uh is

your reviews Google my business reviews

your Yelp reviews your Facebook reviews

your um you know trust pilot reviews

that sort of thing and so a very simp

simple and easy way to solve this not

completely obviously like to solve it

you would just want to do an amazing job

every time which you're unable to always

do but a great way to like mostly take

care of this is use your project

management system and whenever a project

is marked as completed um send the

person a request through SMS or email

and basically just ask them for an

honest review on one of your social

media platforms and then imply or you

could just say directly although I think

that's against the terms of service for

a few of these platforms that they get a

discount if they um if they fill out

like an honest review uh if they want

the discount then they're going to want

to automatically work with you anyway so

if they want to work with you anyway

odds are they're happy with the

job um and then you know the review

you're going to get it's going to be

amazing um and then you could also gate

this based off how the subcontractor

felt about the job or your um your your

plumber felt about the job you could ask

your plumber or something and say like

hey like did that person like the work

that they got where they angry at you if

their answer is no you could like have

them fill out some other column in your

project manager and then trigger this

whole flow uh but yeah this basically

just ensures that you're always going to

have like roster of constantly cycling

reviews you could feed this into like

some SMS sequence something like active

campaign to like make sure that they

leave a review but it's not super

important just make sure that like you

know 20% of the people that you work

with leave a review and you'll probably

be fine okay data entry and

recordkeeping this is again another one

of those really big annoying things and

a lot of the time like plumbers or local

service businesses will literally hire

somebody to do this for them like

your whole job for I don't know usually

like two or three k a month like $36,000

a year is just to like make sure your

data is good uh if you just use clickup

or some centralized project manager for

everything out of the gate um you're

you're fine and most of this is going to

be taken care of for you um you just add

all of the info using a form just make

sure that you know if you want to add

info to your system use a form what do I

mean by this let's say you got a new

employee or a new staff member um the

staff member has to fill out a form and

that form will ask them all the

information that you need in order to

make sure that they're paid on time and

that they're now added to your system

stuff like um you know their their home

address their bank account information

their first name last name the social

insurance number employee identification

number whatever it's called wherever you

live um maybe every time you get a sales

call as I mentioned you'd have a form

that allows you to input their

information in um basically just make

sure the way that you communicate with

your system is through forms the reason

why is because forms um you can make

fields are required in forms um and then

using the required form data um you then

have all the information that you need

there's no like missing data in your

system so uh whoever fills out the form

it's their job to get the data right

then and there you don't need like a

separate high or a separate role for

that which is sort of a pain in the ass

all right so Inventory management for

parts and supplies this honestly doesn't

apply to most Plumbing businesses

probably the vast majority of businesses

that are watching this to be honest it's

not going to apply for you but I thought

I'd throw it in anyway the vast majority

of like local service businesses will do

just in time order management or when um

an order comes in and the order involves

like a specific part or something like

that they will then go ahead and buy it

right then and there and then there's

usually some lead time on the order

coming from the manufacturer maybe like

a week or something like that uh and the

the downside there is obviously the

customers to wait more but the upside on

your end is like you don't spend money

that you don't necessarily have yet

which is like a win um but if you scale

up or if you find that the vast majority

of your jobs are coming from a very

particular service like I don't know

what any Plumbing tool is but let's say

it's like a pipe fitting it's like a

very specific pipe fitting and you work

in an area where like most of the homes

had these pipe fittings installed like

40 years ago and this is like the end of

their lifespan so a lot of them are

screwing up and breaking um you know you

could buy a bunch of these ahead of time

um so that when you get a call you can

one of your value propositions can now

be um hey I can go do that call in the

next three days instead of like two

weeks right which will then obviously

make you seem better and uh will

increase demand for you it'll help you

stand out the market essentially because

turnaround time for local service

businesses is one of the main value

props it's like hey I can do this for

you today right that's pretty big a lot

of the time people are calling a plumber

it's because they need a plumber not

just because they think a plumber is

nice to have

this also allows you to anticipate

demand like if it's a seasonal thing

every season X problem happens in your

area so you just know okay well why

don't I have a few of these things on

hand um basically how most plumbing

companies do inventory management is

they just like I don't know they have

like some office with like a bunch of

tiny little bims bins with fittings and

parts and like that and uh they

don't really keep track of like how much

they have they just sort of like eye it

and when it gets to like zero left over

they'll um like when they no parts in

the box or bin or whatever they'll like

go buy a bunch more um but you can use

an inventory management platform

assuming you're at that size like sortly

or like service Titan or like one of the

other ones um that are pretty big uh and

these will basically make it so that

whatever the number in the computer is

is the piece of inventory that's that's

in your back end and you can integrate

it with the project management system

that I talked about earlier or you know

if you wanted to really nerd out you

could just build your own inventory

management system but I I wouldn't

really recommend it so most of you will

not um have to deal with that most of

that probably won't apply but I just

wanted to put that in there for

companies that may be a little bit

bigger or might have specific use cases

that I hadn't considered okay so

automated follow-ups and service

requests and completed jobs um one of

the number one issues with local service

businesses especially plumbers is uh

they leave so much money on the table by

not like following up or checking in on

the client X weeks or X months after um

you know when I purchased my apartment

uh my real estate agent um sorry not

when I purchased my apartment when I

helped my parents sell their apartment

um my real estate I had a couple real

estate agents my the real estate agent

that I recommended to them so I referred

one of my friends he um is is very

famous in the town that my parents sold

their apartment for like once a year um

baking a bunch of pies and then handing

them out and I think it's him and his

wife that bake the pies and they hand

them out like to people there in person

uh and you would not believe the amount

of business that this guy gets from just

like handing out hand-baked pies to his

old clients it's stupid um he spends

probably like a, $1,500 on the pie and

like a day of his time time driving out

uh but he probably gets at least like 20

or $30,000 a work every time he does

that so local Services business can

really benefit from some type of

automated follow-up system because most

of them don't do like that right

what I would recommend is X days after a

project is completed you send an email

or SMS that seems very customized asking

how things are going and offering a

follow-up job um I would offer some

discount on the follow-up job I would uh

have some specific information about

that job that I would have my

subcontractor plumber have filled out

you know X days before when they did the

job like oh you know there uh I don't

know these fittings seem a little bit

old and then I'd actually like reference

that in the automated email that I would

send out so the person thinks that it's

like some dude that's there texting on

the phone being like hey how's how's

everything going with that J fitting

yours whatever the heck they're called

forgive me plumbers um but but basically

I would just make sure this is automated

because if you don't automate this

you're not going to do it because you're

uh you're going to be focused on the

work that's in front of you not the

potential could be Dream Work that uh

isn't and by doing this you basically

like instantly double your margins maybe

not double maybe like time and a half

your margins because most of your uh

money in a in a local Services business

is going to be spent on the lead

acquisition using ads honestly it's

going to probably be like 15ish to 20%

of of all of your money is going to go

in there so if you can make money from

somebody that you didn't have to pay for

that time AK like a repeat retained

customer uh you are you are golden

baby internal reporting I would ensure

that you have like either a built-in

dashboard using click UPS built-in

dashboards or uh whatever your project

management system is you can also

integrate it with looker studio um most

most usually or you can just use a

Google sheet or something like that and

the benefit there is you're going to

want to be able to see your Revenue

you're going to want to be able to see

your cash collected you're going to want

to be able to see your margins both

gross and then um net and then you're

going to want to see your profit and if

you just know this at all times it'll

eliminate like so many issues that you

otherwise would have had come up uh

companies that like see this on a

day-to-day basis typically perform way

better because they know how much money

that they're making and uh there's

nothing that drives you to make more

money than seeing how little money you

are making uh cash collected is an

important determinant of obviously your

cash reserves revenue is like a bigger

determinant of you know how healthy or

successful your businesses margins are

obviously how much um is left over at

the end of the month some percentage

wise figure of that then profit is like

your your actual um but I would I would

have at least these and then I would

customize them specifically uh for a

plumbing business I probably do

turnaround time and I'd also do

conversion rate on on the calls that

come in for sure find a few additional

metrics that you think are high Roi um

but th those are definitely the ones

that I'd recommend so make sure you have

a dashboard some sometimes you have to

pay for this if you want like a

dedicated dashboard that uses your

particular Plumbing Service that you're

using for project management other times

you can just whip it up yourself using

clickup or something but yeah consider

yourself a business architect more so

than like a plumber at this point

because what you're doing is you're

setting up architecture that any

business can run and not necessarily

just a plumbing company I do some

reputation monitoring for sure I would

just set up some Google Alerts at the

beginning of my business um for my brand

um for my name for maybe some of my

plers names whoever's like big in your

company your partners that sort of thing

uh that way if somebody posts like a

shitty review for you or a shitty Reddit

post or something about oh I hate XYZ

Plumbing they screwed up my whole house

you'll know instantly and uh the sooner

that you know the quicker you'll be able

to take it down and take some type of

action to solve it this is one of those

higher Roi things that like it literally

take you three minutes to do right now

uh and then who knows it might save you

$50,000 over the next year because

you'll spot a really nasty review on a

platform that you didn't really

realize seasonal promotional offer of

email or SMS um this is basically like

every time there's

some SE like you know seasonal holiday

or something um which you know I think

there's about like four to six a year or

something I would just use that to send

everybody on who has worked with you in

the past some type of email just

checking in and offering some discount

or offering some service or or whatever

um you know if your business is

particularly seasonal if you're not

plumber but you're like gutter cleaning

or whatever you know this this is this

makes a lot more sense if you're like

snow plowing or something um but I just

make sure that like you're keeping in

contact with your customers cuz uh the

the downside of this is basically zero

there's no downside at all it's only

potential upside even if less than 1% of

your customer base takes you on this if

over five years you work with a thousand

customers let's say that's still 10

additional jobs done and if I don't know

your average job size is 500 bucks you

basically just made five grand

realistically your numbers are going to

be way better than that um so it's like

five grand at the minimum but it's

probably going to be closer to like 10

20 30 40 50 that sort of thing and it'll

only take you a few hours to set up

and then the last thing I'll say is

automatically managing subcontractor

plumber relationships um most of these

jobs um like most of these uh uh project

management platforms are going to have

an assign

field the benefit to having an assign

field is um you basically just get to

like if I go here you see how in the

assign field here for my own company my

my content writing company which is not

a local Services businesses at all but

you can you know apply similar

principles this assign field allows you

to see who is responsible for doing that

job what you can do in your plumbing

company is you know um you can have that

be related to uh tons of things you

could have that be related to their pay

you know you could use that to trigger

the automatic invoicing that I was

talking about earlier you could have

that be linked to

their um their score so maybe you send

everybody a review or something

afterwards you know as I mentioned a

week afterwards and then you could see H

you know Samantha usually gets a three

out of five but Peter gets a four out of

five and that might be able to inform

you as to like how good they are on the

job or how much people like them uh

basically you're just going to want to

make use of like the assign or the

people column as it's sometimes referred

to uh because that has a ton of built-in

Integrations and then that usually

allows um automatic notifications to

that ensure the person that's assigned

to the job actually does the job when

they said that they were going to do it

so yeah that is my bird's eye view of

how I'd automate a plumbing business

obviously there are multiple different

ways that you can automate a plumbing

business this is just my preferred

approach uh but what I'm going to do is

I'm going to take all of the info that

I've just provided and then I'm going to

um share the whimsical with you just

underneath in the uh in the description

here and then you or anybody else that

runs a plumbing business an HVAC

business just one business in the

similar local Services Niche I can use

this as just like a checklist of things

to go through and if you have any

questions about particular steps in this

process just leave a comment down below

and I'll get to it when I have time um

but yeah this is this is basically

everything that I would do keep in mind

there are a few specific things here

that I did not include because I don't

think that they're worth it for your

type of business I did not include AI

voice agents I did not include um AI

callers or anything like that uh this

stuff just does not make sense for most

businesses yet it might in like a year

or two but it definitely does right not

right now and I also didn't include too

much on like AI personalization um

although you can certainly AI

personalize all of this you could once

you have a project management system

just feed all of their information into

the AI every single time that an event

occurs like a new booking or whatever

and have that generate you a oneline

Icebreaker to then insert into your SMS

text email or or whatever um the thing

is most plumbers you know you don't

really necessarily need to be super

crazy customized any can usually just

get away with some simple quote

templates and whatnot um so just depends

on how far you want to take it any who

really appreciate you guys watching this

video I'm looking forward to reproducing

the same sort of video for all of the

different niches in the world if you

guys have a specific Niche you want me

to do leave a comment down below

otherwise like subscribe do all that fun

YouTube stuff and I'll catch you on the

next one bye-bye