Automated Customer Retention System Grew Recurring Revenue by 55% for a Family-Owned Plumbing Company

A family-owned residential plumbing company had been serving its community for over 20 years, built entirely on reputation and word-of-mouth referrals. The quality of their work was never in question — but the business had plateaued. Revenue was flat, and the owners realized they were spending more on acquiring new customers than it would cost to simply retain the ones they already had.

The problem wasn't service quality. It was that the company had no system to stay in touch with customers after a job was done. Once a repair was complete, the relationship went silent until the next emergency — if the customer remembered to call them at all.

JSG partnered with the company to design and implement an automated customer retention and follow-up system that turned 20 years of completed jobs into a recurring revenue engine.

Client: A family-owned residential plumbing company

Employee Size: 5–8 employees

Industry: HVAC, Electrical & Plumbing

Services: - CRM Enhancement & Customer Retention Systems - AI Automation & Workflow Design - Custom Software Development - Cloud Infrastructure

The company had completed thousands of jobs over two decades but had never built a system to maintain relationships with those customers after service.

Their customer records existed in a mix of handwritten invoices, an outdated QuickBooks file, and the owner's memory. There was no CRM, no email list, and no structured way to reach out to past customers.

This created a set of problems that had compounded over years.

First, the company was invisible between emergencies. Customers who had a great experience with a repair three years ago had no reason to think of the company again until their next pipe burst — and by then, they often Googled "plumber near me" and called whoever showed up first.

Second, recurring revenue opportunities were being ignored entirely. The company offered drain cleaning, water heater flushes, and winterization services, but never proactively marketed them to existing customers. These high-margin, low-effort jobs were going to competitors who sent seasonal reminders.

Third, customer acquisition costs were climbing. Without repeat business, the company depended on paid advertising, lead services, and referrals for every new job. The cost to acquire a new customer was 5–7x higher than the cost to re-engage an existing one.

Fourth, the owners were approaching succession planning. They wanted to build a business with predictable, recurring revenue that could sustain itself — not one that reset to zero every month.

The company needed a system that would: - Digitize and centralize 20 years of customer records - Automatically follow up with customers after service completion - Market seasonal and maintenance services to the existing base - Generate recurring revenue from repeat bookings - Reduce dependency on new customer acquisition

JSG implemented a CRM-based customer retention system built on the TMX platform, designed to activate 20 years of dormant customer relationships.

Key Components

Customer Database Migration & Cleanup All historical customer records — from paper invoices, QuickBooks exports, and call logs — were consolidated into a centralized CRM. Duplicates were merged, addresses were verified, and service history was reconstructed.

Automated Post-Service Follow-Ups Every completed job now triggered an automatic follow-up sequence: a thank-you message within 24 hours, a satisfaction check at 7 days, and a review request at 14 days.

Seasonal & Maintenance Campaign Engine Automated campaigns were built for recurring services: spring drain cleaning, fall winterization, annual water heater flushes, and sump pump inspections. Campaigns were triggered based on customer location, service history, and time since last visit.

Customer Segmentation Customers were segmented by service type, recency, lifetime value, and property type (single-family, multi-unit, commercial). This allowed targeted messaging instead of generic blasts.

Multi-Channel Communication Follow-ups and campaigns were delivered via SMS and email, with open rates and engagement tracked per customer. The system automatically escalated to phone follow-up for high-value customers who didn't engage digitally.

TMX Platform Foundation The CRM, automation engine, and customer portal were built on JSG's TMX platform, providing the authentication, data management, and workflow infrastructure — allowing the team to focus on retention-specific features.

## Quantifiable Impact

• 55% increase in recurring revenue from maintenance and seasonal services within 8 months
• 1,200+ dormant customer records reactivated from 20 years of historical data
• 38% of reactivated customers booked a service within the first campaign cycle
• Customer retention rate improved from 18% to 52% (year-over-year repeat booking rate)
• Customer acquisition cost reduced by 35% as repeat business offset the need for paid advertising

• Frontend: Next.js
• Backend: .NET API
• Platform: TMX (CRM, automation engine, customer portal)
• Cloud: Microsoft Azure
• Database: Azure SQL
• AI & Automation: Azure OpenAI (customer churn prediction, personalized message generation, seasonal campaign optimization)
• Workflow Orchestration: Zapier (review platform sync, QuickBooks billing triggers), N8N (lifecycle campaign engine, customer segmentation workflows, re-engagement escalation)
• Communication: Twilio (SMS), SendGrid (email)
• Integrations: Google Business Profile (review requests), QuickBooks (billing sync)