Beating the Competition
in Morinville

Let's talk about something most plumbers in Morinville won't admit: you're losing jobs to your competitors, and it's probably not because they're cheaper or better than you. You're losing because they're answering their phone and you're not.

In a town of 10,000 people, there aren't enough plumbing emergencies to go around for every plumber to stay busy without fighting for them. When Mrs. Johnson in Heritage Lakes has a burst pipe at 9 PM on a Tuesday, she's not going to wait around for you to call her back tomorrow morning. She's calling every plumber in Morinville until someone picks up.

Here's the math that should keep you up at night: Morinville has roughly 3,500 households spread across Downtown, Heritage Lakes, South Glens, and Notre Dame. On any given day, maybe 10 to 15 of those households need a plumber. That's not a lot of work to split between all the plumbing businesses in the Edmonton Metro area who are willing to drive 20 minutes north for a good job.

You're not just competing with the other Morinville plumbers. You're competing with St. Albert plumbers who see Morinville as easy expansion territory. You're competing with Edmonton plumbers who don't mind the drive for emergency rates. And you're competing with handymen who promise they can handle "simple" plumbing issues.

The pie isn't getting bigger, but the number of people trying to get a slice keeps growing. Every plumber with a truck and a phone number is your competition now.

Did you know?

Morinville plumbers using Buddy capture 40% more leads by answering every call instantly, even at 2 AM.

Forget everything you think you know about customer loyalty and brand recognition. When someone in South Glens has sewage backing up into their basement, they're not carefully researching plumbers and reading reviews. They're in panic mode.

Here's what actually happens: They Google "plumber Morinville" or "emergency plumber near me" and start calling numbers. They might call the plumber who fixed their kitchen sink two years ago, but if you don't answer, they're moving down the list. They're calling their neighbor's recommendation, the guy they saw on Facebook, and that plumber with the truck they noticed parked on Notre Dame Avenue last week.

The average homeowner with a plumbing emergency calls three to five plumbers before they get someone on the phone who can help them today. The first plumber who answers and says "I can be there in an hour" gets the job. It's that simple.

Your website doesn't matter. Your truck wrap doesn't matter. Your years of experience don't matter if you don't answer the phone.

Industry studies consistently show that 80% of service calls go to the first business that answers the phone and can schedule the work quickly. In plumbing, where most calls are urgent, that percentage is even higher.

Think about your own behavior when you need something fixed at your house. If your furnace dies on a Saturday morning in February when it's -40°C outside, are you going to leave voicemails and wait for callbacks? Of course not. You're calling every HVAC company until someone answers.

Your customers are no different. When the toilet won't stop running in the middle of the night, when the hot water tank is flooding the basement, when the pipes freeze and burst during a cold snap, homeowners want immediate response. They want to know someone is coming today, preferably in the next few hours.

While you're finishing up a job in Downtown and thinking you'll return calls when you get back to your truck, your competitor just answered three emergency calls and booked work for the rest of the week.

Maybe you're good about answering during business hours, but what about evenings and weekends? Heritage Lakes is full of commuters who work in Edmonton. They're not calling plumbers at 10 AM on a Wednesday. They're calling at 6 PM when they get home and discover the kitchen faucet has been leaking all day. They're calling Saturday morning when they finally have time to deal with the slow drain that's been bothering them for weeks.

Your competition figured this out. They answer after hours. They answer on weekends. They might not be available to come out immediately, but they're available to book the appointment and reassure the customer that help is coming.

Here's something that might surprise you: price is rarely the deciding factor for emergency plumbing calls. Availability trumps cost almost every time.

A homeowner with no hot water doesn't care if you charge $150 per hour or $200 per hour. They care about whether you can restore their hot water today or if they're going to have to take cold showers until next Tuesday.

This is especially true in Morinville, where many residents commute to Edmonton for work. They have limited time to deal with home repairs. They can't take time off work to wait around for a plumber who might show up sometime this week. They need someone reliable who can work around their schedule.

The customers who shop purely on price usually aren't the customers you want anyway. They're the ones who will complain about every charge, question every recommendation, and leave bad reviews when the cheap fix doesn't hold up.

Every plumber believes they have loyal customers who will always call them first. This is mostly wishful thinking.

Yes, if Mrs. Peterson in Notre Dame was happy with your work last time, she'll probably call you first when she needs a plumber again. But if you don't answer, she's not going to wait. She'll call your competitor, and if they do good work at a fair price, guess who she's calling first next time?

Customer loyalty in the service industry is often just convenience and familiarity. The moment you become inconvenient by not being available, that loyalty evaporates quickly.

Even your best customers will start looking elsewhere if they can't reach you when they need you. They understand you're busy, but they also have problems that need solving.

Every call you miss is revenue walking out the door. Worse, it's revenue walking into your competitor's pocket.

In a small market like Morinville, reputation spreads quickly. When you miss calls and customers have good experiences with your competitors, those competitors don't just get one job. They get referrals. They get repeat business. They get top-of-mind awareness for the next time that customer's friend or neighbor needs a plumber.

Missing calls has a multiplier effect. You don't just lose that one job. You lose the potential future jobs from that customer, the referrals they would have given you, and the positive reviews that would have helped you get more calls.

Your competitors understand this. The plumbers growing their business in Morinville aren't necessarily the most skilled or the cheapest. They're the ones who consistently answer their phones and show up when they say they will.

The solution isn't complicated, but it does require changing how you think about your business. Your phone is your most important tool, more important than any wrench or camera snake in your truck.

First, answer your phone. This sounds obvious, but most small business owners are terrible at it. If you're on another call, let it go to voicemail and call back within 10 minutes, not 10 hours. Better yet, use call forwarding or a virtual assistant to make sure someone always answers.

Second, extend your availability. You don't have to work 24/7, but you should be taking calls outside normal business hours. Even if you can't start the job until tomorrow, answering the call tonight and booking the appointment makes you the winner.

Third, get comfortable quoting over the phone. Obviously, some jobs need to be seen first, but many routine plumbing issues can be quoted accurately over the phone. When someone calls about a running toilet or a clogged drain, give them a realistic price range immediately.

Fourth, offer same-day service whenever possible. Rearrange your schedule. Charge premium rates for emergency calls. Do whatever it takes to solve problems quickly. Your competitors are already doing this.

The plumbers winning in Morinville aren't winning because they're dramatically better than everyone else. They're winning because they're available when customers need them. They answer the phone, they show up when promised, and they solve problems without making customers wait.

In a market this size, you can't afford to miss calls. Every missed call is a lost opportunity that you probably won't get back. Your competition is counting on you to keep missing calls so they can keep growing their business with your potential customers.

The choice is yours: answer the phone and compete, or keep missing calls and watch your competitors take over your market.