Help Your Customers Become SepticSmart

Use the Environmental Protection Agency materials to promote your company and educate homeowners during SepticSmart Week and beyond

Help Your Customers Become SepticSmart

After the installation of quality, long-lasting onsite systems, educating your customers about how their system works and how to take care of it is probably your most important job. And it’s not easy. 

It’s typical of a homeowner to have an “out of sight, out of mind” approach to their septic system. When it’s functioning, what is there to think about? They don’t want to spend money to inspect and pump a system when there’s nothing wrong with it. They just don’t get it if it hasn’t been explained to them in a way they can understand.

Participating in SepticSmart Week is an easy way to increase your homeowner education efforts. The EPA created SepticSmart Week as an annual event focused on educating homeowners and communities on the proper care and maintenance on onsite septic systems — and they’ve done a lot of the hard work for you.

SepticSmart Week is September 16-20, 2019. If you haven’t checked out the EPA’s SepticSmart Homeowners webpage dedicated to septic care, now is the perfect time. There are so many resources provided that you can download and give to your customers to help guide your message. 

There’s also an Outreach Toolkit full of materials you can use to create your own local event. There’s even a proclamation for governors, mayors and other community leaders to officially declare SepticSmart Week in your area.

The “Quick Tips” images can be downloaded to share on your social media during the week, or printed to give out with manuals or other education and outreach materials.

The site also provides a complete homeowner’s guide to septic systems, a “Do’s and Don’ts” brochure, mail inserts, door hangers and reminder postcards. You can even download graphics to add to your website or materials you already have.

Basically, it’s never been easier to provide your customers with everything they need to know. It still involves some work on your part but the great thing about these EPA materials is they are simple to understand — which makes them helpful when introducing new homeowners to septic care.

Along with encouraging your town, city or state to embrace the SepticSmart Week program with the proclamation, there are other simple things you can do.

– Make sure you’re keeping up with reminder postcards for maintenance and septic pumping. The EPA provides several different versions, including a reminder about not overloading the septic system during the holiday season. (It’s worth the effort to avoid emergency pumpouts when you’re sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner.)

– Print up some of the door hangers to leave behind when there’s no one home to receive other materials.

– Talk with a Realtors association or neighborhood group about doing educational programs. It’s a good opportunity for you to promote your business while also doing the entire community a service by fielding questions and explaining how systems work. 

Dive into the Outreach Toolkit and start planning your SepticSmart Week. We would love to hear what else you do to education your customers. If you have a great idea, share it with us in the comments or the Onsite Installer social media pages.



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