If you’re running a field service business whether it’s plumbing, HVAC, electrical, or landscaping you’ve probably thought about the day-to-day challenges of winning jobs, keeping customers happy, and making a decent profit.
But have you thought about the bigger picture? What would it take to build a business that you could sell one day?
The value of your business isn’t just about how much money you’re making today. It’s about how steady, predictable, and long-term that income is. Buyers don’t care as much about your equipment, your trucks, or even your tools they care about your customers. Specifically, they want to know if your customers trust your company enough to stick around for years, providing consistent work and income.
This is where the concept of Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV) comes in. Everything you do to build your business should focus on creating and maximizing CLTV. The longer and more frequently a customer works with you, the more valuable that relationship becomes not just for your current cash flow but for the overall value of your business.
But building a business with strong CLTV doesn’t happen by accident. It takes leadership, strategy, and focus on a few key areas to make it work.
The Foundation of CLTV: Your People
Building a field service business isn’t just about tools, trucks, and marketing, it’s about people. Your team is the foundation of everything you do, and creating strong CLTV(Customer Lifetime Value) starts with how you recruit, train, and retain your employees.
- Recruiting and Hiring with Purpose:
When you’re hiring, it’s not just about filling positions—it’s about finding people who align with your company’s values and commitment to serving customers. The right hires will help you build trust with customers by being reliable, professional, and skilled at their jobs - Training with a Customer Focus:
Every new hire needs to understand that their role is more than just fixing a pipe or installing an HVAC system. It’s about delivering an experience that builds customer confidence. Training isn’t just about technical skills; it’s about teaching your team how to communicate clearly, solve problems proactively, and leave every customer with the feeling that they’re in good hands.
- Retention Through a Positive Culture:
High employee turnover can be devastating to customer relationships. If customers see a revolving door of technicians, it can erode their trust in your business. Creating a culture where employees feel valued and motivated is critical to retaining a team that customers can rely on.
Acquiring Customers with a Defined Sales and Marketing Strategy
Building a business also means growing your customer base and that doesn’t happen without a focused sales and marketing strategy.
Many small business owners rely on word of mouth, and while that’s great for staying small, it’s not enough if you want to grow. Scaling your business requires marketing that’s more deliberate and organized.
- Define Your Target Customer:
Are you focusing on residential customers, commercial accounts, or a mix of both? Your sales and marketing efforts need to be tailored to the customers you want to serve. - Choose the Right Channels:
Whether it’s in-person sales for commercial accounts, social media advertising, or even billboards, your marketing strategy should align with your goals. For instance, property management companies often respond well to direct sales efforts, while homeowners might find you through Facebook ads or Google searches. - Quantify Your Efforts:
Marketing isn’t just about putting your name out there—it’s about measuring what works. Track the results of your campaigns to see which strategies bring in the most customers and adjust as needed.
By focusing on a well-defined sales and marketing strategy, you’re not just acquiring customers you’re acquiring the right customers who will add long-term value to your business.
Smart Operations for Sustainable Growth
Growing a field service business also means operating smarter, not harder. That requires efficient use of capital and sometimes taking calculated risks, like using debt strategically.
When I first started my plumbing company, I used to rent equipment like excavators whenever we needed them. It worked well enough in the beginning, but after a while, I realized we were spending more on monthly rental costs than it would cost to buy the machine outright.
The idea of going $50,000 into debt to buy an excavator frightened me at first. But when we made the leap, it transformed our business. Suddenly, we weren’t just breaking even on those jobs we were much more profitable because we controlled the costs.
This experience taught me that smart use of capital is essential for growth. Sometimes, that means taking on debt to invest in tools, equipment, or even software that will make your business more efficient and profitable in the long run.
Leadership: The Glue That Holds It All Together
Building a business with strong CLTV isn’t just about individual components—it’s about how all the pieces work together. And that requires leadership.
As a business owner, your role is to lead your team to consistently and constantly focus on the components that drive CLTV. That means:
- Teaching your employees to prioritize customer trust and confidence.
- Guiding your sales and marketing efforts to target customers who will stick with you for the long haul.
- Managing operations in a way that balances efficiency with long-term growth.
It’s about keeping the big picture in mind while executing the details every day.
The Bottom Line: Build for Trust, Build for Value
At the end of the day, building a field service business you can sell is about one thing: trust. Every decision you make, every hire you bring on, and every customer interaction should be aimed at building trust and confidence. That’s what keeps customers coming back, and that’s what creates CLTV.
When you focus on the long game—on people, systems, and strategy—you’re not just building a business. You’re building a business that buyers will want to own. And more importantly, you’re building a business you can be proud of.
So start with trust. The rest will follow.
