1. Plumbing & Business Part 2
Linda Herbison

2. The Plan For Our 5 Evenings
Date Topics Product
Tuesday, 11/6 Legal Forms of Business First section of
Methods of Going Into Business business plan
Wednesday, 11/7 Types of Plumbing Businesses Second section of
Analyzing the Competition business plan
Marketing, Part 1
Tuesday, 11/13 Estimating Income Spreadsheets
Startup & Operating Budgets
Depreciation & Taxes
Wednesday, 11/14 Sources of Funds Spreadsheets, Tax
Loans Form
Cash Budget
Tuesday, 11/20 Marketing, Part 2 Final Business
Accounting Statements Plan

3. Tonight’s Objectives
 Understand the advantages and disadvantages of
types of plumbing businesses:
– Service
– New Construction
– Remodeling
 Understand how to analyze the competition
– Using census data
– Planning a competitive advantage
 Marketing, Part I
– Goals
– Social Media

4. Types of Plumbing Businesses
 Service
 New Construction
 Remodeling

5. Advantages of a Service Business

6. Disadvantages of a Service
Business

7. Advantages of New Construction

8. Disadvantages of New Construction

9. Advantages of Remodeling?

10. Disadvantages of a Remodeling
Business

11. Competition
 the effort of 2
or more
businesses to
win over the
same group of
people as
customers

12. Understanding the Competition
 Who are your competitors?
 How many miles away do you look?
 Are there also indirect competitors?
 Are some locations more in need of a
new plumbing business than others?
 Where do you find information?
– Yellow Pages
– Census.gov

13. Analyzing Competition
 What are the strengths and weaknesses
of each business?
– Price?
– Availability?
– Reputation?
– Location?

14. Study Your Competitors
 Using this data, plan your strategy. Try
to compete against their weaknesses,
not their strengths.
 Competitive Advantage
 What are possible competitive
advantages for a plumbing business?

15. Marketing, Part 1 – Social Media
 LinkedIn
 Facebook
 Web site
 Web presence – What do people see
when they Google you?

16. Why LinkedIn?
 Networking
 Advertising
 Other ideas?
 LinkedIn Example

17. Why Facebook?
 Networking
 Advertising
 Other ideas?
 http://www.facebook.com/young.landscapes
 Be very careful – don’t mix business with
– Politics
– Inappropriate activities
– Anything that might turn off a potential customer

18. Why a Web Page?
 Advertising
 Soliciting feedback, potential customers
 Other ideas?
 http://www.keiththeplumber.com/
 http://www.rabyplumbing.net/
 www.dennismwhiteplumbingandheating.com
 (Tools – Web Developer – Page Source)

19. Creating a web presence:
 Angie's List
 BuildZoom
– Justin
– Jake
– Get some good reviews!!!
 Licensed Plumber List
 Customer's Web Site
 Positive Non-plumbing Sites

20. Google Yourself
 https://www.google.com/

21. Business Plan Assignment
 Would you like to own a service, new construction, or
remodeling business? Why?
 Who is your competition?
– Go to census.gov and find the number and size of similar
businesses in the area you plan to open your business.
– Go to the yellow pages and find similar businesses in your
area
– Describe your competitors’ strengths, and your planned
competitive advantage
 Google yourself. Fix any problems you find.
 Google your competitors. Copy things they did well.
 Consider creating a LinkedIn if you don’t have one.