How to Use "Priming" to Get More Plumbing Leads
If you’re a plumbing company owner, I’m willing to bet my favorite pipe wrench that you’ve spent a lot of sleepless nights worrying about lead generation. You’re likely stuck in the "need-it-now" trap—spending a fortune on lead aggregators or Google LSA to fight over a customer the second their basement floods.
I’m Tyler Williams, owner of Mammoth Marketing for Plumbers. I talk to guys like you every day, and the story is always the same: "Tyler, these leads are too expensive, and the customers have zero loyalty!"
Well, if you’re only trying to get customers at the exact moment they have a crisis, you’re missing out on a massive psychological advantage called priming.
Imagine you’re at a party. Someone hands you a heavy clipboard and then asks if you’d be willing to donate to a charity. You might not think the weight of that clipboard matters, but psychological research proves it does! That "heaviness" primes your brain to think the request is "weighty" and important, making you more likely to say yes.
In the plumbing world, priming is the art of arranging people’s perception of you before they need you. It’s about planting a garden today so you can harvest customers naturally tomorrow. Let’s dive into how you can stop reacting and start proactively owning your zone.
What Exactly is "Priming" in Plumbing?
Think of priming as the "herald" that announces your arrival before you ever step through a customer’s front door. It isn’t about manipulation—despite what some grumpy skeptics might say—it’s about positioning.
Most plumbers are purely reactive. They wait for the "drip, drip, drip" to turn into a "gush, gush, gush" before they even try to reach a homeowner. By then, the homeowner is panicked, looking at whoever shows up first on Google, and shopping purely on price.
When you use priming, you are setting the stage. You are influencing their perception so that when the transaction time comes, they are already agreeable to you. You aren’t just "some plumber"; you’re the plumber. You want to be the "Dentist of the Home." People don’t go on Google to find a new dentist every time they have a toothache; they go to the person they already know and trust. Priming builds that same "default" status for your plumbing business.
The Typical Buying Journey vs. The Primed Journey
Usually, the plumbing buying journey looks like this:
The Crisis: The toilet makes a noise like a dying walrus.
Information Gathering: They ask friends or look at reviews.
Decision: They call the person with the best-looking stars on Google.
But when you prime your audience, you short-circuit that entire process. Humans are naturally lazy (don't worry, I am too). We want the easiest, most relevant solution in front of us. If you’ve primed them correctly, you are already top-of-mind. They don’t go to Google; they go to their phone and call you.
Step 1: Using Social Media as Your Educational Tool
The easiest way to start the priming process is through social media. Your entire target demographic is scrolling through Facebook or Instagram right now.
I do this myself—I’m doing it right now! I share this knowledge with you so that you feel empowered, but also so that when you need a pro to handle your marketing, I’m the guy you think of. You can do the exact same thing for your plumbing shop.
Try these content ideas:
The "Symptoms" Video: "Three signs your water heater is about to give up the ghost."
The Quick Tip: "How to find your main water shut-off before your living room becomes a swimming pool."
The Actionable Insight: "The first thing to do when you find a leak."
By helping them with the small stuff they could probably do themselves (and let's be honest, you don't want to drive across town for a 5-minute fix anyway), you position yourself as the authority. When they have a real problem, they’ll think, "That guy helped me once, I trust him with the big stuff."
Step 2: Show Up Where the People Are
I’ve said it a thousand times, and I’ll beat this drum until my arms fall off: Get your wrapped vans out into the community.
Sponsoring a little league team is great, but showing up at the park with your van and actually engaging with people is better. This is called "transference." When people see you cleaning up a local park or sponsoring a booth at a fair, they associate your brand with goodwill and helpfulness.
Pro Tip: If you partner with a local hardware store for a "Winterize Your Pipes" seminar, record it! Even if only five people show up, the video of you being an expert is pure gold for your digital priming efforts. It’s "social media fodder" that keeps on giving.
Step 3: The Old-School Physical Prime
Yard signs and door knocking are forms of priming that many of you already do, but you don't realize how powerful they are when combined.
Every time you finish a job, plant a yard sign. Then, hit five houses up, five houses down, and five houses across the street. When those neighbors see your van, see your sign, and then see a door hanger on their knob, you’ve created a "triple-threat" of awareness. You aren't a stranger anymore; you're the neighborhood plumber.
Step 4: Digital Priming with Google "Demand Gen"
If you want to take things to the next level, you need to look at Google Demand Gen campaigns. Unlike traditional search ads that wait for someone to type "clogged drain," Demand Gen pushes your brand out in front of people before they need you.
It’s all about brand awareness. You can take those educational videos I mentioned earlier, put a small budget behind them, and ensure thousands of local homeowners see your face. When the "stacking" effect happens—where they see you on Facebook, see your van in the neighborhood, and see your helpful video on YouTube—you become an immovable force in their psyche.
Stop Chasing, Start Owning
The days of relying solely on lead gen are long gone. Competition is too stiff, and the costs are too high. To grow a truly healthy plumbing business, you have to be a well-rounded marketer who understands the power of persuasion. (And if you want to read the "bible" on this, check out Pre-suasion or Influence by Robert Cialdini—it’ll change the way you look at every interaction).
If all of this sounds like a lot of work (I get it, you’ve got pipes to fix), my crew and I are here to help. At Mammoth Marketing, we live and breathe this stuff so you don’t have to.
If you’d like the Tyler Williams crew to take a look at what you need to focus on to grow your business, I’d love to chat. We give everyone an hour of our time for free to help you map out your next steps, whether you hire us or not.
Schedule your free consultation at TylerWilliams.net today! Let’s get your plumbing business primed for massive growth.
