When Jeffrey DiTota quit his job as a meat cutter to become a septic tank pumper 12 years ago, he didn’t know a tank riser from an effluent filter. But in his gut, he knew that one thing would give him a competitive edge over the long haul: great service.
As it turns out, DiTota’s instincts were as sharp as a boning knife. By combining customer care and education with resourceful networking, diversified services, a no-nonsense stand on pricing and an emphasis on well-maintained equipment, his business, Superior Sanitation Services in Wolcott, Conn., has succeeded beyond his expectations. It all started with the simple premise of putting the customer first.
“If the customer wants you to stand on your head, you stand on your head — and say thank you when you’re done,” DiTota says. “No matter how you slice the pie, it’s all about customer service.”
DiTota says his father, Don, who owned a wholesale meat operation, instilled in him a customer-is-always-right mentality. DiTota intended to follow his father’s career path, and for years, that plan worked out well. But he slowly grew weary of working weekends, and when a broken leg sidelined him for three or four months, the layoff gave him plenty of time to contemplate his future.
“I did some research on the industry … and thought about how I could do a better job as a newbie than my competitors,” says DiTota, who was 35 at the time. “I felt it was a good business to get into. There’s always a need for it — it never goes out of style. And no one is ever going to downsize you.”
What DiTota lacked in knowledge, he made up for in confidence. “I had no idea how vast this industry was,” he admits. “But whenever I’ve tried something, I’ve succeeded. Failure wasn’t an option. I had a lot of naysayers. Even my mom told me I couldn’t do it, because I’d never done it before. But I’m not a dumb-dumb who just cuts pork chops. I figured I could learn this business.
“I’m very good with people and I’m good at selling myself,” he adds. “And I’m not afraid of hard work. Those are the three most important ingredients as far as I’m concerned.”
So DiTota bought a used 1989 Ford LN 8000 with a 2,500-gallon tank and set about getting educated.
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
DiTota literally learned on the job. Along the way, he quickly realized he needed to forge alliances with installers and real estate inspectors to generate more business. He also began the process of obtaining an installer’s license so he could install and repair septic systems.
Hitching his wagon to quality real estate inspectors was the most important part of DiTota’s business plan. He says he quickly learned which inspectors are good and which ones aren’t. To build rapport, he discounts his normal rate for his best home inspectors. The bottom line: His networking is so successful that he no longer spends one dime on advertising.
“The inspectors get me into all the other avenues of business, like installations, testing and repairs,” he says. “It’s a full-circle kind of thing. Even if we find there’s nothing wrong with a system, you know that if you treat people right, they’re going to call you for pumping and other business two or three years down the road. It helps build the service side of the business.”
He also builds relationships with well inspectors. Why? When a potential homebuyer calls to get a well inspected, the inspector will ask if they also need a septic system evaluation. If they do, the inspector recommends DiTota, who reciprocates when people call him to book a septic system inspection.
“It’s a good synergy … a good inspector might get 15 to 20 calls a month,” DiTota says.
When he’s too busy to take on more work, DiTota refers jobs to other pumpers whom he knows provide good service. They, in turn, do the same.
“I don’t bang heads with them,” he says. “Am I afraid of losing customers to them? No. I know I provide good service. And because they’re quality guys, they have more business than they know what to do with, just like I do.”
TIME WELL SPENT
DiTota emphasizes that he spends a lot of time with potential homebuyers during inspections. He generally blocks out a full two hours for the first meeting.
“You’ve got to be professional and talk to customers intelligently,” he explains. “I’m also there to educate them. I show them the dos and don’ts and leave behind a brochure. I’m not looking to rush people. I’m looking to build relationships.”
Many times, the home seller and one or two real estate agents are present, too, and leaving them with a good impression increases the odds of getting even more referrals down the road, he says.
“In the event that there’s a major meltdown — say, the septic system is no good — and the deal falls through, who are they going to call when they find another house? You’re not going to hit a home run every time, but you’re going to get a lot of RBIs,’’ DiTota says, using a popular baseball analogy. “Money is made over the long term, not the short term.”
Developing good rapport with customers makes it easier to upsell other products, such as riser installations. And after a customer has risers installed, it allows DiTota to build trust in another way: allowing the customer to save money by self-diagnosing a problem.
“If something is wrong with a system and it has risers, I can ask the customer over the phone to go out, take off the cap and see how much air is in the tank,” he says. “If there’s 8 or 10 inches of air, then I know the line is clogged, and I can call a guy with a snake (for drain cleaning). The customer doesn’t need me double-dipping on it.”
Whenever possible, DiTota persuades customers to install risers, which makes pumping faster and allows him to pump more tanks per week. He typically installs a riser 4 inches below grade, then marks it with a paving brick that’s flush with the grade. That makes it easy to locate the riser, and allows customers to mow their lawns without any problem.
“Pumping goes so much faster with risers. You can bang out stops so quickly … some people don’t believe it when we’re already done with a job,’’ he says. “I even had one customer call who had a security camera. He saw how fast we were in and out, and called to ask if I really pumped the tank.”
CUSTOMER PERKS
To increase customer retention, DiTota always leaves a new homeowner with a free one-year supply of septic tank bacteria additive made by Chempace Corporation. He orders bacteria in bulk for about $7 a box, and the supplier puts DiTota’s name, company name and phone number on the boxes of packets for marketing purposes. He charges customers $36 plus $6 for shipping for additional annual orders.
“The (free supply of) bacteria costs me about $3,000 a year, but over the years … it has helped generate a lot of riser installations and repairs,” DiTota says. “They also serve as a scheduling reminder for the customer. When they use that last packet, they know it’s time to call for pumping or for another year’s supply of bacteria — and my name and number are right on the box.”
DiTota also does his customers a service by remembering to change his answering machine message if he’s closed, so people know he’s not available for emergency calls. It’s a small thing, but an important one that many contractors overlook, he says.
Providing great customer service also minimizes any backlash when DiTota raises prices. And he has one word for potential customers who try to lowball him on price: Goodbye.
“You need to charge enough for your services,” he says. “Profit is not a dirty word, and people don’t begrudge you for making a living. If people are shopping for the cheapest service, they’re not the kind of customer I’m looking for.
“Those kind of customers aren’t going to have you pump regularly, they’re going to have backups at the worst possible time — like during a snowstorm — and they don’t pay on time,” he continues. “Every time they call, it’s an emergency.”
PAMPERING EQUIPMENT
DiTota is a firm believer in taking care of equipment. He washes trucks once or twice a week, parks them in a heated garage and keeps up with preventive maintenance. “It doesn’t make sense to run equipment into the ground,” he explains. “My truck is my cash register.”
DiTota also is shrewd about timing the sale of existing trucks and the purchase of new ones. For example, he recently downsized by selling two trucks — one with a 2,500-gallon tank and other with a 3,500 gallon tank — and purchasing a 2010 Peterbilt 340 with a 4,000-gallon tank, built by Transway Systems Inc.
In some ways, it was a difficult decision. DiTota prefers to have two trucks, so he can keep pumping if one is down for repairs or maintenance. He also used the larger truck as a temporary holding tank to minimize trips to a treatment facility about 15 miles away. He’d dump a full load from the smaller truck into the larger one, make a couple more stops with the small truck, then empty it again into the larger truck before heading for the treatment plant.
But in the end, it made more financial sense to sell both vehicles, especially since their depreciation cycle was about complete. Because he took good care of the vehicles, he was able to sell them for a total of $120,000, which covered much of the $128,000 he spent on the new Peterbilt.
“My accountant said it was a no-brainer,” he says. “Now, if that truck ever goes down, I’m out of business for a while. But I make up for that with less maintenance costs, lower insurance costs and more depreciation.”
In addition to the septic service rig, DiTota runs a Volvo EC55 mini-excavator and a New Holland TC45 backhoe to do repairs and installations. He also has a small inventory of portable restrooms, mostly from PolyPortables Inc., and services the restrooms with a 1996 Chevrolet 3500HD with a slide-in unit built by Imperial Industries Inc. (450-gallon waste/100-gallon freshwater tank) with a vacuum pump made by Masport Inc. He also relies on a 2006 Chevrolet C55 plumbing utility truck.
GREAT CAREER MOVE
Overall, DiTota has no regrets about trading his butcher knife for a pump hose. And he has no aspirations to buy more trucks and become a bigger business, noting he typically has more business than he and his son, Jason, a student who works for him full time during the summer, can handle.
“My philosophy is I don’t want to be the biggest,” he says. “I just want to be the best. And it all comes down to customer service. If you do right by customers, customers will do right by you.”
