Speaking on The Heating & Plumbing Show, hosted by Andy Cam, Tommy Lee-Zmuda, installer and founder of the Boiler Business, said as cost of boilers was increasing every two-to-three months and inflation rampant, “we need to put our prices up”.

Hiking prices may result in losing work, however, tradespeople need to find a balance between winning business at low yields and regular customers willing to pay a decent market rate.

“A lot of business owners are frightened that if they increase prices, they are going to lose customers. But losing customers could be a good thing,” said Lee-Zmuda.

“Losing that customers are holding your business back by arguing every time you put something up £5 or £10… You have to ask yourself ‘are these the types of customers that you want to be serving?’,” he added.

The fear of losing clients typically stems from a lack of marketing. Research by Electrical Direct found that nearly 60% of plumbers are happy to rely on ‘word of mouth’ marketing to promote their business. 

A further 63% of plumbers admitted to not having a website, three quarters didn’t have a social media presence, and 79% said they didn’t know how to market their business.

Lee-Zmuda would agree with the figures.

“The biggest problem with most trades and particularly the plumbing and heating industry, is we have no marketing in place,” he said.

But firms that don’t market their services “don’t have a regular stream of new customers,” he warned.

A common mistake tradespeople make is to outsource marketing to a third party. But tradespeople need to take responsibility for what is a crucial area of their business.

“Taking control of your marketing starts with knowledge [about] what is going to make your phone ring,” said Lee-Zmuda.

Lee-Zmuda joins other business consultants Craig Wilkinson and Jon Mears in appearing on Fix Radio in recent weeks to urge tradespeople to invest time and energy in their marketing strategies ahead of a possible recession.

To listen to the full show, click below.