Plumbing firm sees sales soar with water treatment leaflet

By proactively promoting the benefits of best practice water treatment to potential and existing customers, highly regarded London-based plumbing firm, WPJ Services Ltd, has seen a significant increase in the take-up of water treatment services, boosting turnover and customer satisfaction as a result. The forward-thinking company has been utilising Sentinel’s popular ‘Homeowner’s Guide to Water Treatment’ leaflets to initiate and guide conversations with homeowners about the cost, energy and hassle-saving advantages of water treatment. WPJ Services reports that this approach has helped to convert around 70% of customers to its water treatment services, with more than half going for a powerflush.

WPJ Services Ltd, which boasts a team of 26 plumbing and heating engineers, customer service and office staff, is based in Battersea and provides a full range of heating and plumbing services to hundreds of clients throughout South West London. To increase business, in April 2015 the firm began using Sentinel’s Homeowner Leaflet, which can be ordered for free via the Sentinel Hub on sentinelprotects.com complete with plumbing company branding and contact details. “We immediately saw how the Sentinel Homeowner Leaflet could be applied as an effective sales tool, and requested a batch featuring our logo straight away,” said PJ Luard, Director at WPJ Services.

“The need for proper water treatment is obvious to trained plumbing and heating engineers, but it can be quite difficult for homeowners to understand – after all, corrosion and limescale happens inside untreated systems, so many are sceptical about investing in best practice water treatment processes and products, like powerflushing or cyclone filter fitting. Unfortunately, choosing to skip proper water treatment is not only bad for homeowners, it can affect our business and reputation when those untreated systems experience breakdowns due to corrosion,” he continued.

In an effort to more easily and quickly educate homeowners about the problems associated with untreated water, as well as the advantages of best practice water treatment, WPJ Services’ engineers include Sentinel’s Homeowner Leaflet with every boiler quote and use it as a means to initiate a conversation about the company’s water treatment services.

Sentinel’s Homeowner Leaflet explains, via simple layman’s terms and clever illustrations, the potential problems caused by untreated water, such as cold spots, noise, potential for breakdowns, increased energy bills and loss of boiler warranties. Industry statistics, such as ‘approximately 87% of boiler call outs are to systems without correct water treatment’, are used to highlight the prevalence and costs associated with such problems. It also details the benefits of investing in best practice water treatment, and explains the processes involved.

“Previously, our installers found it more difficult to talk to customers about water treatment – after all, they’re heating engineers not salesmen! However, since we’ve started using Sentinel’s Homeowner Leaflet when meeting customers, discussing our services is easy. The leaflet does most of the job for us, and if we forget any handy facts, like the cost savings associated with cleaning a dirty system, they’re right there in front of us,” said Mr. Luard.

WPJ Services’ proactive approach is resulting in a significant increase in take up of the company’s water treatment services, with more than 50% of customers opting for full system cleaning, for example. This has helped to generate additional revenue, maximising the value of each job.

These successes inspired WPJ Services to use the water treatment leaflet, along with promotional material about the company and services, as mail shots in a bid to increase prospective enquiries. It worked. “We posted Sentinel’s Homeowner Leaflet through the doors of residential homes in the area, along with a covering letter and general information about WPJ Services. We soon saw more enquiries coming in for water treatment services and have experienced good conversion rates,” explained Mr. Luard.

Providing an increased number of best practice water treatment services has also helped to bolster WPJ Services’ already excellent reputation – the company has achieved over 20 industry-leading accreditations. “We’ve always been well known for excellence in customer care and the quality of plumbing and heating services we offer. Now that more customers take up water treatment services, it means that the systems we install run better and more efficiently, and so our customer satisfaction goes up. Plus, we’ve found that customers really appreciate the time we take to talk them through water treatment – it gives them more confidence in our service, which is great for business,” he concluded.