By thinking big, a small Wyoming plumbing company earned the trust and belief of a small town.
Aspen Mountain Plumbing is in Rock Springs, a town of 25,000 nestled in rolling hills and sagebrush some 190 miles east of Salt Lake City and 6,388 feet above sea level – the 1.2-mile-high city.
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Rock Springs was a thruway stopping point for outlaws in the old West, the place where Butch Cassidy earned his nickname when he worked there as a butcher. It grew because of coal mines right outside of town.
In Wyoming, a population of 25,000 with two main roads equals the fourth largest town in the state. Aspen owner Lance Ball never considered his town “small,” and he never considered his business that way either. Operating with the attitude and approach of bigger businesses allowed Ball and Aspen Mountain to grow in numbers and reputation.
“You wouldn’t think five trucks is the big dog in town,” Ball said in a recent interview with ServiceTitan. “But we really are the big dog.”
There is competition, but the other company in Rock Springs performs different trades, so when comparing apples to apples (or plumbing to plumbing), Aspen reaches high – like the tree for which it is named.
Among its initiatives over the last few years:
Building and opening a showroom.
Moving to a new and more accessible facility that has the showroom and a training facility.
Rebranding with a unique look that brought in the colors of the University of Wyoming and the aspen leaf that is so prevalent in Wyoming.
That gold leaf now is ubiquitous with Ball’s company. It’s on trucks, hats, and even on the floor of the showroom.
“Rock Springs is small in population, but we are in the high desert,” Ball said. “Just south of us is a mountain that has aspen trees on it, hence the name we chose. Aspen Mountain was a place that I used to take my family to picnics in the aspen trees.
“It’s a local place and everybody knows it. So that tells people that we're local. But it also had emotion for me. It was a place that I got to go and experience freedom.I got to experience a good quality of life with my family.
“That's kind of what I was trying to build as far as a company was -- a good quality of life for not only myself, but my community and my employees.”
A culture that lasts
Ball’s approach to running a business is a textbook example for building a company culture that employees want to be part of and don’t want to leave. It includes:
A snack room with a stocked refrigerator.
An approach to employee pay that rewards initiative and sales.
Purchasing parts locally. “I could get it cheaper in Salt Lake, but it’s not about getting it cheaper; it’s about bringing up the community we’re in,” he said.
And significant community involvement (Cowboys Against Cancer, supporting local sports, etc.)
“That really creates the feeling that the owner is putting money back into ‘us,’ not just putting it into his pocket,” he said. “The guys have seen the new equipment I bring in, they see the new trucks. They're seeing all this. So they know that the money's going back into their product, the thing they can base their pride on.”
Ball’s approach to pay adds more to the weekly compensation based on the hours sold.
“Let's just take a regular tank water heater,” he said. “It's a 50-gallon, natural gas water heater. I have four hours assigned to that. My tankless water heater has 12 hours assigned to it. So there's a huge difference. That's eight hours more if they sell the larger option, and they get it done in five, six hours, usually.
“By providing that, it gives my customer the best product in the home and it gives us as a business more sales because we're making more money on the product. Then it gives my guys those hours to make their paycheck better. ”
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Undeniable results
That's where ServiceTitan comes in. Aspen onboarded with the cloud-based software for the trades in January of 2021, then saw profit double the first year with ServiceTitan, Ball said. Aspen also has increased its number of trucks from three to five.
Other factors contributed to the growth, like the showroom that Ball said is unusual in his area and a major help in sales. ServiceTitan meshed with Ball’s big-company approaches to engender and extend the big-company brand he sought.
“Being able to have the customer come into the showroom, see the product they're going to get, be able to touch it, us being able to educate them better on it as we're sitting visiting with them,” he said. “And obviously we've got our ServiceTitan iPad right there. We're showing them the options and the different costs.
“We have definitely seen an increase in sales because of it. So yeah, I think there's been a combination between the communication that we have with ServiceTitan and the presentation that it gives and then that showroom and having an actual product where customers can come in and actually look at what they want.”
In homes, ServiceTitan’s display of good-better-best options helps plumbers better show customers what Aspen offers. The capability was a step toward making plumbers into salespeople.
“They’re still plumbers,” Ball said. “The only difference is I’ve given them a tool to make them look like we’re more organized than everybody else in the community. That’s really progressed us.
“That system has really fit into our culture. Our shop, our training, everything’s systematic and ServiceTitan has made everything fluid with that system.”
A new goal for 2022
Ball’s message to anyone considering ServiceTitan? The payoff can be quick.
“Don't worry about the money because the money's going to come,” he said. “My doubling has proven that. Do it because, if nothing else, it keeps you more organized. It keeps your techs more honest. ServiceTitan gives a better customer experience from beginning to end, straight up. From the phone system all the way to the invoicing and the payment. If it's all through ServiceTitan, it's all in one spot, and you can check everything in one spot.
“That is power. Being able to have that kind of system is priceless, straig
ht up priceless. I would pay anything for it because I've seen the benefits of having it.”
Aspen now looks to expand not only into other towns nearby, but to be the first in the area to offer pipe lining. Revenues in 2021 came close to reaching $900,000, which puts Ball on track to hit another goal in 2022: topping $1 million.
“I want to be the biggest and the best for my customer,” he said. “I want to be able to provide the best service. I want to provide the best equipment for my guys. I want to be who everybody looks at as, ‘Hey, I want to be that company. I want to be with that company.’”
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