Twitter & Plumbers

[maxine]

Thought some people on here would be interested to hear an interview with British Gas MD on his views on using twitter more to respond to customers where they tweet things such as "my boiler is broken" to offer to have an engineer go out. (if you don't want to listen to it all just go to 41:00)

This got me thinking how smaller plumbers are just not keeping up with the times to listen to their local customers and respond to their needs through channels such as twitter.

Recent market research that we did showed that most plumbers were aware of twitter but next to none are actually using it!

So what are your thoughts?

My husbands plumbing and plastering business has been doing very well with Twitter. He found it difficult to get the hang of to start off with but now tweets quite regularly and picks up work

 

[CKG]

I could dress up as a pantomime horse and walk through my town center every Saturday handing out flyers and probably pick up some work too.

If i did it often enough i'd probably become a bit of a local celeb and pick up even more work.

By not doing it does it mean i'm missing out?

 

[Beachcomber]

Bit behind when it comes to twitter - I thought it was all posts about what colour socks someone is wearing, how 'hot' Justin Beaber is or Stephen Fry's latest gushings.

How does one turn a torrent of guff into a marketing tool?

 

[maxine]

How does one turn a torrent of guff into a marketing tool?

Well I posted this post in all seriousness and look at what I get from you lot!!

If someone within a 5 mile radius from you was tweeting "my boilers broken" wouldn't you want to know about it so you could offer your services?

And yes it is all about Stephen Fry, what socks you're wearing and what you have had for dinner too

I'm amazed that as a business forum there isn't an awful lot of discussion here about twitter for business

 

[Beachcomber]

I'm amazed that as a business forum there isn't an awful lot of discussion here about twitter for business

Well, if we all started wasting as much time on twitter as we do here we will all be going bust within a week!

Seriously - how to you narrow the tweets you view to a specific location?

 

[Jezclayton]

As a plumber who has a phobia of all workplace distractions, the mere thought of wasting time twittering makes my wallet weep (it cries as I browse this forum having originally come on with a specific question).

I have never been on Twitter and have only had brief encounters with Friends Reunited & Facebook etc. Right now I don't think I am missing anything?

Enlighten me and in the meantime my wife has a wall I need to knock down (Weekend relaxation for trades).

 

[maxine]

Seriously - how to you narrow the tweets you view to a specific location?

I use various tools but one of them is www.twitterfall.com

But it's not a case of identifying a conversation and just jumping in with promotional messages (well sometimes it is lol) but mostly having conversations with people in local area with shared interests.

I can understand peoples concerns about wasting time as it's very easy to do!

 

[maxine]

As a plumber who has a phobia of all workplace distractions, the mere thought of wasting time twittering makes my wallet weep (it cries as I browse this forum having originally come on with a specific question).

I have never been on Twitter and have only had brief encounters with Friends Reunited & Facebook etc. Right now I don't think I am missing anything?

Enlighten me and in the meantime my wife has a wall I need to knock down (Weekend relaxation for trades).

Well there are some things that can be done outside of work hours but if you have time to send one or two sms text in the daytime then thats pretty similar to twitter.

My husband was adamant that I wasn't going to get him tweeting but he tweets now and finds time no prob

Hope your wall turned out better than ours which is still a work in progress

 

[Beachcomber]

I use various tools but one of them is www.twitterfall.com

Just had that running in the background for an hour while on livechat to 02 (bloody useless phone!!)

Reads like a transcript from the lounge of the local alzheimers ward.

 

[Rookery]

I dont get twitter at all. Please post a relevant link and I'll have a look.

 

[An Oasis]

...I can understand peoples concerns about wasting time as it's very easy to do!

Every time SMN comes up I post the same question RIO by comparison to techniques that are tried (and that you trust) and no one has posted a positive or a negative.

I actually hate what Twitter stands for, how can you post anything meaningful in 147 characters, sure you can post a link to a more well rounded article, argument...but defeats the point and also the flow.

As for knowing what Mr Fry is interested in give me a break, anyone that is that sad needs putting down.

 

[maxine]

Just had that running in the background for an hour while on livechat to 02 (bloody useless phone!!)

Reads like a transcript from the lounge of the local alzheimers ward.

No it doesn't! It's real time conversation (you can use the filters on there ie; exclude retweets)

Anyway, main point, is that twitter is a place where conversations are going on in your local area with things that you probably would be interested in either as a person or as a business.

Yes it can be time consuming but there are other tools and resources around to help save a little bit of time.

There are some good tutorials on youtube for twitter or resources at twitter.com

 

[crossdaz]

I use various tools but one of them is www.twitterfall.com

But it's not a case of identifying a conversation and just jumping in with promotional messages (well sometimes it is lol) but mostly having conversations with people in local area with shared interests.

I can understand peoples concerns about wasting time as it's very easy to do!

I think the social media thing has some merit in regards to promoting trades and local services because it's just the digital equivalent of knowing a bloke in the pub or having a piano teacher who knows all the 'right people' (for want of a better example?).

But a lot of people are looking for quick wins and if they aren't already on twitter then it will be too much effort.

The other problem with social recommendation is that you do have to actually live up to it and most people who fall into that category haven't gotten around to having a website yet - never mind all this twitter stuff?

 

[maxine]

Every time SMN comes up I post the same question RIO by comparison to techniques that are tried (and that you trust) and no one has posted a positive or a negative.

I actually hate what Twitter stands for, how can you post anything meaningful in 147 characters, sure you can post a link to a more well rounded article, argument...but defeats the point and also the flow.

As for knowing what Mr Fry is interested in give me a break, anyone that is that sad needs putting down.

RIO is that Return On Investment? If so then compared with other tried and tested methods and specifically for trades = excellent!

It takes a bit of time to get into the swing of it with time and effort used efficiently

It's not about posting anything meaningful. Here's a story (mock me if you will )

Local bloke to us tweets about bringing in a pot noodle to work and forgetting his fork. We tweet to offer to bring him a fork for his pot noodle! Obviously it's all a bit of fun... Just social chit chat

But he remembers us and we remember him.

Some time later someone he knows is looking for a plumber.

He tweets on our behalf to get in touch with us.

This was also over at the 4n forum too.

So lots of people get to hear about us from other people not just from ourselves telling everyone, and that we are nice people etc too

This social chit chat is not meant to be all serious. It's just trusting that people will click on your profile out of curiosity if they want to know what you do.

Underlying all that are the social media monitoring tools that will help you to identify conversations on a more specific basis if that's what you want.

It's good to see what others are doing, get inspiration for blogs, talk/tweet with people of shared interests.

Ultimately it brings in work. At the moment second only to our web hits and performs better than leaflet drops and ads.

Crossdaz has it spot on I reckon with a modern enhancement to word of mouth referral which has always been popular with trades.

I think the really important bit about what Crossdaz says is having to live up to that reputation.

Just think if all that was to happen then there would be no need for trade directories (woohoo!)

 

[Beachcomber]

There are some good tutorials on youtube for twitter or resources at twitter.com

Ah, but you forget - I'm a lazy sod with a very short attention span.

(seriously - will give it a go, thanks!)

 

[andygambles]

You can also use Twitter Advanced search to narrow by a radius to your location. http://search.twitter.com

 

[Jezclayton]

Surely the whole point of twittering is to say what's on your mind? I'm really not sure I would want customers, be they existing or prospective to know.

 

[maxine]

Fair point

Thing is people may be talking/tweeting about you already... look at this tweet that moans about Homeserve

http://twitter.com/MrNeilB

 

[Jezclayton]

Maxine your a bad influence! I now need to add twitter to those sites of which I have had a brief encounter,

I can see the entertainment value that can be had, but there are other, surely more productive ways, of passing time. Sooner go to the pub myself. Besides I can twitter all I want on ukbusinessforums.

Ps - Do you leave your towel on the landing

 

[maxine]

Yes I am a bad influence and Yes I leave my towel on the landing

You can tweet while you are at the pub... and impress your friends! haha

Forums totally different from twitter... how many people on here are saying their boiler is broke? or they want a new bathroom?

But I can see I am flogging a dead horse with you lot. I shall go and take my competitive advantage somewhere else lol

 

[andygambles]

It can take some time but it can work very well for B2C based businesses. B2B can be a lot harder.

I'm with you Maxine. One of my twitter accounts generates around an extra £1k a month sales for not much effort.

 

[iboxsecurity]

TWitter and facebook can be great tools for bringing in business, infact i have done a few seminars talking about just that and have taught many people about it. Funny enough plumber is usually the example i give in my talks.

Just remember its not a channel to blast ads all day long as many people do!

 

[popunder]

But I can see I am flogging a dead horse with you lot. I shall go and take my competitive advantage somewhere else lol

You are definitely flogging a dead horse Maxine, there are other recent threads on here where some people say they've got business from Twitter, and then a dozen others (who haven't) immediately say what a waste of time it is.

Good to hear that it's working for you, it works for a number of my local small business clients too. Let's leave the nay-sayers to bumble around with their leaflets and Thomson Local ads!

 

[An Oasis]

It can take some time but it can work very well for B2C based businesses. B2B can be a lot harder.

Well put Andy I've been stumbling around with a way to differentiate but I think you post summarises matters very well.

Most of our clients are large corporates who might understand what Twitter is but the people booking us would not dream of even think about touching it. And then on the B2C side we would need to increase sales by about 20-30?% to make it worthwhile employing someone to do the Tweeting - I can see it but I've no control over it and that worries me.

 

[maxine]

It can take some time but it can work very well for B2C based businesses. B2B can be a lot harder.
.

That's weird because I find the complete opposite!

For B2B it's much easier:-

* More businesses on twitter than consumers (they are consumers usually behind their business twitter accounts)

* There are search tools / social media monitoring tools that you can use to say go and find me all twitter profiles within a 100 mile radius where it says facilities, operations, director, business owner, procurement, etc in their twitter profile

* SM monitoring tools that then identify all conversations within geographical radius using words and phrases

= These identify target audiences, and quite probably decision makers or key influencers to have conversations with. People get to know you, like you, trust you, or ignore you. But at least you have built up brand awareness and some form of reputation for others to know about and refer.

Apart from twitter there are SM monitoring tools that identify conversations on the web too (like on here!) so that people can home in on the places to have conversations.

Anyway dead horse probably now flogged to death... I'll come back in a years time and revive this thread and say "eh what? we are all on twitter now are we?" hehe

By the way I did pass on a lead from twitter today to a plumber in another county completely for free, simply because I could and it only took me 30 seconds, and it's another lead that didn't get as far as a trade directory

 

[BPM-UK]

Excellent topic Maxine

I am a firm believer in Social Media Marketing

So much so I set up another part of my business dedicated to just that and its doing very well and results are amazing.

People who have pre-conceptions of Twitter, are those who dont understand it. Yes there are loads of random tweets, but part of being 'social' is to talk random as well as business. Believe me you will get far more response than if you just talked shop all the time. Twitter is far more effective business tool than you can imagine and done right, you will see why.

Time is a major factor in Social Media Marketing but it pays its rewards!

Cheers James

bpm-uk and Manage My Social Media

 

[Jose Jimenez]

Interesting thread.

At the end of the day they are free leads. As suggested its about creating a relationship. You are there to promote your business but its also about being yourself and making acquaintances. Friends/acquaintances are more likely to recommend you maybe not today but tomorrow... whenever that may be! The likes of Yell and Thomson are there for a reason so why not take advantage of something else which can do the same thing and sometimes much more effectively.

I was going to post a link to a small business case study but I cant until I have 15 posts. It will have to wait I guess.

 

[maxine]

Thanks James

I was thinking of offering out a really cheap-as-chips service to Plumbers for Twitter partly because I have the resources and systems in place to do this, I know the industry, and I have strong personal motivations for seeing trades being able to shine for themselves without the industry being taken over by all the rogue trade directories out there.

I'm not saying they are all rogue but there are a lot unfortunately.

Twitter is a great way to engage with professionals directly, get word of mouth recommendations flowing independently, and all that jazz.

Problem that I have though is even though I could offer this on a pay-per-lead basis or from £30 per month (told you cheap as chips) I can't seem to be able to get this off the starting blocks as so many plumbers are completely off the radar as far as twitter is concerned.

I may as well have a conversation in swahili for all the sense it makes to them!

Any suggestions? Do you have any plumbing clients at the moment?

Regards
Max

 

[crossdaz]

Problem that I have though is even though I could offer this on a pay-per-lead basis or from £30 per month (told you cheap as chips) I can't seem to be able to get this off the starting blocks as so many plumbers are completely off the radar as far as twitter is concerned.

You could just offer leads at £10 a time - no need to mention twitter.

 

[Mike W]

Surely the whole point of twittering is to say what's on your mind? I'm really not sure I would want customers, be they existing or prospective to know.

So run a private Twitter account as well as a business one.

But just so you know, your customers are people just the same as you, all with opinions, thoughts, views etc. Let them see a human side to you and you may be surprised as to how it can work in your favour.


Just avoid any sexual orientations and politics

 

[Mike W]

And then on the B2C side we would need to increase sales by about 20-30?% to make it worthwhile employing someone to do the Tweeting - I can see it but I've no control over it and that worries me.

Why employ someone? Use a company like us and we can manage it all for you for considerably less cost ....and you'd have complete control over it.

 

[BPM-UK]

I like Mike, would like to put my business forward if you need any Social Media Management.

Got great offers on the go at the moment.

Manage My Social Media

 

[Jezclayton]

So run a private Twitter account as well as a business one.

But just so you know, your customers are people just the same as you, all with opinions, thoughts, views etc. Let them see a human side to you and you may be surprised as to how it can work in your favour.


Just avoid any sexual orientations and politics

No No No No No No......

The thoiught of having one Twitter account makes me shudder. Two would send me over the edge.

 

[maxine]

No No No No No No......

The thoiught of having one Twitter account makes me shudder. Two would send me over the edge.

Ah Ha! So you ARE coming around to having a twitter account then

 

[maxine]

I don't know as I agree with the whole two accounts thing for twitter.

I see people start off like this and the pattern goes

Company account = blog link, promotional messages all the time, very few followers and interaction

Personal account = talk about football, shouting at the telly type of tweets, being human,

The personal account ends up with the followers not the company one and since people don't like to follow broadcasts the corporate one tends to perform poorly. End result the person using twitter spends too much time for very little reward.

I'd recommend just having one account and being a human being and tweeting whatever you feel like tweeting (with common sense being not to be offensive as you would in real life). Lots of social talk (there's a clue there) and just trust that when people want to know more about you they will click on profile and links... then the leads come through.

This is why I am loathe to do pay-per-lead via twitter for people as it needs some personality and human behaviour in there not just an agency tweeting out blog links or promotional stuff.

I can do the vast majority of stuff on twitter for people but they still ultimately need to dip in and out themselves and I won't take people on as clients unless they commit to doing a bit themselves.

 

[Jezclayton]

Ah Ha! So you ARE coming around to having a twitter account then

Don't hold your breath.

 

[Katy Radcliffe]

I like twitter. I have an account for my cleaning business. What I do is try to provide something of value to people. I tweet cleaning tips. I re-tweet interesting things. I make a point of interacting with people as people. Like, I follow a local organic sheep farm and I was chatting with them about when the baby lambs are due.

They know that I clean houses, but I'm also a real person and plenty of them seem to think that I'm worth following.

I've only done it a short while, but I've had one inquiry about my services (didn't turn into a sale, but I still tweet/chat with the lady.)

I have another, personal twitter account that is me talking about knitting and joking with my friends. It's not hard to go back and forth between them.