How to Get More Plumbing Leads in 2025
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What Does “How to Get More Plumbing Leads in 2025” Talk About?
This episode of the James Dooley Podcast brings together James Dooley and Kasra Dash to walk plumbing business owners through a comprehensive playbook for generating more high quality and consistent leads in 2025. The conversation opens with foundational local SEO tactics, starting with Google Business Profile optimisation, including gathering five star reviews, uploading photos, building citations, and publishing posts to improve map rankings. From there, the hosts move into creating dedicated service pages on the company website, explaining how SEO optimised pages for individual plumbing services can indirectly boost the Google Business Profile as well as direct organic traffic.
The episode covers a wide range of paid and organic channels, including PPC campaigns targeting bottom of funnel keywords, Meta ads on Facebook and Instagram using both lead forms and conversion campaigns, and consistent organic social media posting across platforms like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Reddit, and Quora. The hosts also address the growing role of AI tools such as N8N for automating social scheduling and content distribution, and they highlight the importance of appearing in AI search engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Grok, where many users are now beginning their searches. The discussion rounds out with an analysis of tradespeople platforms like Checkatrade, Bark, and Rated People, the difference between exclusive and shared leads, and why inbound lead generation converts at dramatically higher rates than outbound methods like cold calling or cold email.
“The last stat I saw was something like 16.1 percent end up converting into a paying customer as opposed to 1.4 percent for outbound.”
— James Dooley
Who Are the Guests on “How to Get More Plumbing Leads in 2025”?
James Dooley is a digital marketing and SEO expert known for his work in lead generation and affiliate marketing. He is the founder of FatRank, a commission based lead generation platform, and has extensive experience building and ranking websites across numerous industries. In this episode he draws on real internal KPI data to explain how response time, lead exclusivity, and inbound strategies directly affect conversion rates for local service businesses.
Kasra Dash is a digital marketing strategist and frequent collaborator with James Dooley on content covering local lead generation topics. He brings practical knowledge of pay per click advertising, organic social media, and tradespeople platforms, and uses his experience working with local service businesses to guide plumbing company owners through actionable steps they can implement immediately. Together the two hosts combine tactical expertise with real world data to make the episode highly practical.
What Are the Key Takeaways From “How to Get More Plumbing Leads in 2025”?
Here are the key points discussed in this episode:
- Optimising your Google Business Profile with consistent reviews, photos, citations, and posts is the foundational first step for generating more local plumbing leads.
- Creating dedicated SEO optimised service pages for each individual plumbing service on your website can boost both organic rankings and Google Business Profile visibility simultaneously.
- PPC campaigns can generate strong bottom of funnel leads but require a skilled agency to manage click fraud and negative keyword lists to avoid wasting budget.
- AI search engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Grok are becoming significant discovery channels and plumbing businesses need their brand to appear in these results.
- Inbound leads convert into paying customers at roughly 16.1 percent compared to just 1.4 percent for outbound, and responding to leads within under one minute can increase conversion by 60 to 63 percent.
“The last stat we saw internally was that if you get a real time lead it converts 60 to 63 percent higher. When we tracked KPIs it was about responding within under a minute. We used to think five minutes was good but under a minute skyrocketed conversion.”
— James Dooley
Is “How to Get More Plumbing Leads in 2025” Worth Listening To?
This episode is worth listening to because it delivers a genuinely structured, step by step lead generation roadmap rather than vague advice. James Dooley and Kasra Dash move methodically through each channel, from Google Business Profile and dedicated service pages all the way through to AI search optimisation and lead generation companies, giving plumbing business owners a clear sequence to follow rather than an overwhelming list of disconnected tactics. The inclusion of actual internal performance statistics, such as the finding that responding to a lead in under one minute skyrockets conversion rates and that inbound leads convert at over ten times the rate of outbound, gives the episode a credibility that sets it apart from generic marketing content.
The discussion around shared versus exclusive leads is particularly valuable for any plumber who has tried platforms like Bark or Checkatrade and felt frustrated by price competition. James Dooley explains precisely why shared leads create a race to the bottom on pricing and what questions to ask any lead generation company before committing a budget. Whether you are a solo plumber trying to fill your calendar or a growing company looking to scale consistently, this episode gives you enough detail on each channel to know where to start and what to watch out for.
Who Should Listen to “How to Get More Plumbing Leads in 2025”?
This episode is ideal for:
- Plumbing business owners who want to reduce their dependence on word of mouth and build a consistent pipeline of inbound leads
- Digital marketers or agencies working with local trade businesses who want a structured overview of the most effective channels for 2025
- Tradespeople on other platforms like Checkatrade or Bark who are frustrated by shared lead competition and want to understand the alternatives
- Small business owners in home services beyond plumbing who can apply the same Google Business Profile, PPC, Meta ads, and AI search strategies to their own niche
Where Can You Listen to James Dooley Podcast?
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What Are Listeners Saying About This Episode?
“The breakdown of shared versus exclusive leads was exactly what I needed to hear. I have been using Bark for two years and always felt like I was bidding against five other plumbers on every job. Now I understand why and what to do instead.”
“Really appreciated the real data in this one. The statistic about responding to leads in under a minute increasing conversions by over 60 percent genuinely changed how I think about our follow up process. Practical and eye opening.”
“I had never thought about showing up in ChatGPT or Gemini as a plumbing business until James mentioned AI search. It is a blind spot I didn't know I had. Good mix of foundational tactics and forward thinking strategy in one episode.”
Kasra Dash: Today we're going to be talking about how to generate more high quality and consistent leads for your plumbing business. I am joined with James Dooley and we're going to be breaking down different strategies that you could be using to generate more high quality and consistent leads for your plumbing company. So step number one, what I'd be looking to do to grow is a Google Business Profile. If you already have one, I'd be making certain that I would be reaching out to all my existing clients to try to get me as many five star reviews as possible. It's a great way for Google Business Profile to generate more leads. There's obviously getting citations and doing Google Business Profile posts and uploading photos on there. So that's definitely step one that I would be doing to try to generate more local leads.
James Dooley: So step number two, this is to bolster your actual Google Business Profile is I would be creating dedicated service pages for each of your individual services as SEO optimised pages on your website. When you start doing that it's going to help rank your actual SEO optimised page, but there's also more likelihood of your Google Business Profile ranking and showing up for those keywords as well. So you're indirectly going to get more phone calls as well.
Kasra Dash: Yeah, for sure. And if you are looking for more local leads, another option that you could be doing is PPC lead generation. That's pay per click within Google or within Bing where you're trying to target the bottom of the funnel keywords that can try to generate you more inquiries. The difficult part to this is you need to make certain you team up with a good pay per click agency because there is click fraud and there's also needing to build up a negative keyword list. PPC can work well but in the wrong hands you can waste a lot of money, but it is another way of generating local leads.
James Dooley: Yeah. And then after that you've also got Meta ads as well. Facebook, Instagram, where the next time when somebody goes on Facebook, they might be scrolling, they might see your ad. There are a few different ways you can set up Facebook ads. You've got option A which is lead forms which is really easy to do and keeps them on Facebook. The issue with lead forms is the quality might not be great, but you can add more questions to improve the quality. Then you've also got conversion ads where they get sent through to your website and fill out the form on your website. So you've got different options there.
Kasra Dash: Yeah, for sure. And then another way to grow more local leads could be organic social media. Posting regularly on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram. Reddit and Quora are also big if people have questions and you can answer them. Organic social media is another great way to generate more local leads for your business.
James Dooley: With organic social media, I would say it’s a volume game. You want to make certain you're constantly uploading whether it's daily or weekly. You might say, "Okay, I want to upload five videos a week." And you stick to that, especially with algorithms like YouTube and Twitter.
Kasra Dash: Yeah, for sure. What’s your thoughts on using AI agents if they team up with someone to use something like N8N to automate and schedule social posts? Would you leverage artificial intelligence for lead generation? Would you team up with an AI consultant?
James Dooley: Yeah. You can definitely go down that route where you're setting up AI agents to crop videos and autopublish to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and so on. But another thing I would focus on is AI search. A lot of people have started moving away from Google. Not everyone, because billions still use it, but people are now searching on engines such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Grok. If your brand isn’t showing up in those, you will have an issue generating leads there as well. So that’s another thing I would focus on.
Kasra Dash: Yeah. And if you're looking for more business leads in the local area, something else I’d look to do is team up with trades people websites. Checkatrade, Bark, Builder Builder, TrustATrader, Rated People. All these platforms can generate you more local leads. Track your KPIs to see what return on investment you’re getting. Track cost per lead, cost per acquisition and return on investment. These sites can work very well. And we do different videos comparing Checkatrade with FatRank, Bark with FatRank, Rated People with FatRank, Builder Builder with FatRank. Now that I’ve mentioned FatRank, what's your thoughts on lead generation companies as opposed to trades people companies?
James Dooley: Yeah. With lead generation companies you want to do your due diligence. Make certain that if you are in a specific niche that the lead generation company has generated leads in that industry before. Have a strategy call with them and say, "This is my budget, this is how many leads I want." Make certain your KPIs align. You also want to know what type of leads they supply. Are they exclusive or shared? Shared leads are what companies like Bark and Checkatrade do and one of the biggest complaints is that it's a race to the bottom on price. So those are things I’d ask before partnering with them.
Kasra Dash: Yeah, for sure. If anyone is interested in generating more local leads, head over to FatRank.com where we have a commission based lead generation service. You only pay a finder’s fee on converted jobs. You pay nothing until you get paid. Nothing until the job converts and you’ve been paid. That’s when you pay FatRank. Head over to FatRank.com to see whether you qualify. But I want to expand further. What is your thoughts on inbound lead generation versus outbound lead generation?
James Dooley: I always prefer inbound. The conversion rate of not just getting the lead but getting it to convert into a paying customer is much higher. The last stat I saw was something like 16.1 percent end up converting into a paying customer as opposed to 1.4 percent for outbound.
Kasra Dash: Yeah, that's crazy. Ten to twelve times more conversion. You need huge volume for outbound whether it's cold calling, cold email or LinkedIn Sales Navigator. And sometimes you need a lot more staff to do it. People underestimate the cost. They think they're generating free leads but there’s still cost of sending emails, cost of sales teams converting. So I completely agree that inbound is so much better. What’s your thoughts when people ask about real time leads? Is real time important?
James Dooley: Yeah, it's very important. The last stat we saw internally was that if you get a real time lead it converts 60 to 63 percent higher. When we tracked KPIs it was about responding within under a minute. We used to think five minutes was good but under a minute skyrocketed conversion. I’m not saying every company needs to respond in under a minute, but when we partner with companies it's a weakness we see. They might be away for five days and no one picks up the leads and we’re still sending them. There are lots of nuances we look at when partnering. The best advice for anyone looking to scale and get consistent high quality leads is to fill out the form at FatRank. The team will tell you if you're the right fit and why if you're not. We hope you liked the strategies we've covered for plumbing companies. The amount of people searching for plumbers near me is crazy. Search volume is huge. There are lots of strategies to generate more plumbing leads. Head over to FatRank.com, fill in the form and hopefully the team will allow you to qualify and generate more leads through the FatRank platform.
Creators & Guests
Host
James Dooley is a UK entrepreneur.