Getting Ready for the First Freeze: A Plumber's Marketing Checklist

The first hard freeze of the year goes the same way every time. It's 6am, it's 24 degrees, and your phone has nine missed calls before you've found your boots.

You can't fix any of that from under a house with a torch in your hand. The marketing for freeze night gets done two weeks earlier, on a quiet afternoon.

The short answer: get ready two weeks before the cold

Before the first cold snap, do six things: check your hours, list your freeze services, post a reminder, text past customers, set up your phone, and decide your rules for the night.

When the first freeze actually comes

In North Texas it's later than most people think, and it moves around.

The National Weather Service says the average first freeze at Dallas-Fort Worth is November 22. The earliest on record was October 22, and one winter the first freeze held off until January 4.¹

So mid-November is your deadline. Somewhere colder? Your local weather service office publishes the same date. Back up two weeks from it.

Homeowners get caught because they don't think about pipes until a faucet stops running. The American Red Cross says the pipes that freeze most often are outdoor hose bibs, sprinkler lines, and supply pipes in unheated spots like garages, attics, crawl spaces and kitchen cabinets.²

1. Check your hours on Google

Start here, because wrong hours cost you calls without you ever knowing.

Pull up your profile on your phone like a customer would. Does it show the hours you really answer?

Google lets you set special hours for days when your schedule changes, without touching your regular hours.³ It also says it's a good idea to confirm your hours for holidays even when they're the same as usual, so customers know they're accurate.³

That matters because the average first freeze lands right around Thanksgiving. If you're working that Friday, say so. And only list hours you'll actually pick up.

2. Put your freeze work where people can see it

A homeowner with water coming through the ceiling doesn't search "plumber." They search "burst pipe repair" or "frozen pipes no water."

Google says local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and popularity, and that complete, detailed business info helps it match you to the right searches.⁴ Nothing guarantees you a spot. But if your profile and website never mention the work, you've made the match harder.

Check two places:

• Your profile's services list. Add frozen pipe thawing, burst pipe repair, outdoor faucet repair, pipe insulation and water heater repair, if you do them.
• Your website. One short section or page for freeze work: what you fix, which towns, and how to reach you after hours.

If the rest of your profile is thin, work through our Google Business Profile setup checklist first.

3. Post a freeze reminder

Google lets you post updates and offers that show on your profile in Search and Maps.⁵ A freeze reminder is about the most useful one a plumber can write.

Don't sell. Help. Borrow from the Red Cross list of what a homeowner can do:²

• Cover or drain outdoor spigots and sprinkler lines.
• Open the cabinet doors under kitchen and bathroom sinks.
• Keep the garage door closed if water lines run through it.
• Let cold water drip from faucets on exposed pipes.
• Going out of town? Leave the heat on, set no lower than 55 degrees.

Then one line: "If something freezes anyway, call us." Add a photo and the call button. For more ideas, see what to post on your Google Business Profile.

4. Text the customers you already have

Go through last year's jobs. Anyone with a repaired pipe, an outdoor faucet, a pier-and-beam house or a water heater in the garage gets a short, personal note.

Send it by hand, a few at a time. A one-off note about their own house is a conversation. A promotion to your whole list is different: CTIA, the wireless industry's trade group, says businesses should get a customer's written consent before sending marketing texts.⁶ We're not lawyers, so check with your phone provider or an attorney before sending in bulk.

There's more on this in turning one-time customers into repeat work.

5. Get your phone ready for the rush

On freeze night you'll miss most of your calls, because you can't answer with both hands on a pipe. Set up two things now.

A missed-call text written for that night. It should sort the flood from the drip:

A voicemail greeting that matches. Ten seconds: "We're on freeze calls. Text this number with your address and what's happening, and we'll get back to you in order."

Then be honest about timing. "We can be there at 7am" keeps a customer. Silence sends them down the list. More scripts are in 10 missed-call texts you can copy.

6. Decide your freeze-night rules now

At 2am you'll say yes to everything, or no to everything. Neither is a plan.

Write down, today:

• Who comes first. Active leaks before no-water calls. Past customers before strangers, if that's how you want to run it.
• Your after-hours price. Know the number and say it before you roll, so nobody is surprised at the door.
• How far you'll drive. Icy roads change the math on a 40-minute trip.

The bottom line

The first freeze is the busiest night of a plumber's year, and the homeowners who find you fastest are the ones you got ready for.

Pick a quiet evening this week. Fix your hours, list your freeze work, post the reminder, text your past customers and write your missed-call text. Then when the phone lights up at 6am, the only thing left to do is the plumbing.

And the week after, text each customer to check the repair is holding, then ask the happy ones for a review.