John Verhoff was already paying for digital marketing. That was the problem. His provider wasn’t industry-specific, and he was getting what he calls “mediocre results.” Before the switch in 2018, Plumbing Nerds was a $1.9 million company. In a client interview recorded just under two years later, John said they were on pace for roughly $4.3 million.
John Verhoff, owner of Plumbing Nerds, on why he switched providers and what changed.
| Company | Plumbing Nerds |
|---|---|
| Market | Marco Island to North Fort Myers, Florida |
| Owner | John Verhoff |
| Starting point | $1.9M annual revenue, 2018 |
| Reported at interview | On pace for roughly $4.3M, just under two years later |
The problem wasn’t spend. It was fit.
John’s previous agency wasn’t lazy. It was general. It served every kind of business, which meant it didn’t know what a drain call is worth, what a homeowner types at 9pm with water on the floor, or how a plumbing company’s season actually moves. John’s conclusion, in his words: “they didn’t know my industry.”
He also didn’t want to be his own marketing department. Every Google, Bing and PPC alert, every error, every vendor request was landing in his inbox and taking his attention away from running a plumbing company.
What changed
An industry-specific team took ownership of the moving pieces — the website, the search program, the paid campaigns, the errors nobody else wanted — and closed the loop back to him instead of waiting to be chased.
“I have issues, I email it, it's addressed immediately. I get responses immediately, and they let me know following up that the issues have been resolved. And I'm not even talking about specific issues with items that they've personally done — issues that have really nothing to do with them, that are just internet related. They're on it.”
John Verhoff, Plumbing Nerds
What actually happened
John did not credit one keyword, one ad, or one website change — and neither do we. His point was that a team who understood the industry took responsibility for the whole program, improved it, and gave him back the hours he had been spending managing it. Revenue growth was the outcome; reclaimed owner attention was the mechanism.
“Outside of the revenue increase that we've seen, one of the biggest impacts is just the time that's saved from not having to answer all the Bing and Google and PPC campaign requests and errors — all of the stuff that constantly used to hit my inbox.”
John Verhoff, Plumbing Nerds
His advice to owners still deciding
“If I want a great steak, I'm not going to Golden Corral. I'm going somewhere that makes great steaks. So why would you do anything different in your business — that's your livelihood?”
John Verhoff, Plumbing Nerds
If you’re watching your own numbers and something feels off, John’s framing is the right one: it’s usually not that you’re spending too little. It’s that the people spending it don’t know your trade.
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