A multi-trade home services company with three brands of work

The situation

This is an example, not a customer story. Say you run a company that grew one trade at a time. You started as a plumbing shop, added electrical under the same name, and a few years ago bought a small HVAC company that came with its own name, phone number, website, Google profile and loyal customers. You kept that name running because you didn't want to lose the customers who knew it.

Now you have three kinds of work under two names. There are two websites that look nothing alike, more than one Google profile, several phone numbers and customer lists in two systems. Your plumbing customers don't know you do heating and cooling. Your HVAC customers don't know you do electrical. Your techs hand out different business cards depending on which truck they drive.

You're not sure which name brings in which calls, or whether the second name helps or confuses people. And every time you think about fixing it, you worry about losing the reviews and search visibility each name has earned.

What's getting in the way

• Two names, one company. Customers can't tell the names are connected, so neither one gets credit for the whole business.
• Split customer lists. Nobody can see that a customer has used you for plumbing and HVAC, or that they haven't.
• Websites that tell half the story. Each site only explains its own trades.
• Scattered phone numbers. Calls are answered with different greetings and routed by whoever picks up.
• No clear view of what works. You can't see which trade, name or source brings in which jobs.
• Techs who stay in their lane. A plumber who notices an old electrical panel has no simple way to pass it on.

The plan

Week 1: Take stock and decide

• You run the free AI report on each business name to see how each one shows up on Google and against nearby competitors.
• Zome lists everything you have: every website, domain, Google profile, directory listing, phone number, customer list and email tool, with the reviews and traffic attached to each.
• You decide how the brands will fit together. Zome lays out the usual options and their risks: one company name with three trade lines, two names that clearly point to each other, or a gradual move from two names to one. The choice is yours. Before retiring the acquired name, check what your purchase agreement says about it.
• You agree on the order of work, so nothing that brings in calls today is switched off before its replacement is ready.

Weeks 2 to 4: One site, one story, consistent listings

This example assumes you chose one company name with three trade lines, reached gradually.

• Zome builds one website with a section for each trade and service pages under each. A page for the acquired name explains that it's now part of your company, with the same techs and the same number, so people searching the old name still find you.
• The old domain redirects to the matching section of the new site, so links and bookmarks keep working.
• Zome updates your Google profiles within Google's guidelines for businesses with more than one brand. Don't delete or merge a profile that has reviews until you understand exactly what will happen to them.
• Listings across the major directories are updated so each one shows the right name, address and phone number.
• You decide how calls are answered: one greeting, then routed by trade. Old numbers forward rather than go dead.

Months 2 and 3: Connect the customers

• Your customer lists are combined and cleaned up, with each customer's permission to hear from you carried over exactly as it was. Nobody is added to messages they didn't agree to.
• Past customers of the acquired company get a short, honest note explaining the change: who you are, what stays the same and how to reach you.
• Cross-trade messages go to customers who agreed to hear from you. Plumbing customers hear about heating and cooling tune-ups, and HVAC customers hear about electrical safety checks. Each person gets messages that fit their home and history, not every offer you have.
• You set up a simple habit for techs: if they notice something for another trade, they note it on the job, and the office follows up. No selling on site.
• Zome's reporting shows requests and booked jobs by trade and source, and how many customers use more than one trade.

What Zome does and what you do

What to track

• Requests by trade and by source. Shows where each line of work comes from.
• Customers who use more than one trade. The main number for this plan.
• Calls to old numbers and visits to the old domain. Tells you when it's safe to retire them.
• New reviews on each profile. Make sure no profile goes quiet during the change.
• Listing errors remaining. A shrinking list means customers see one consistent company everywhere.
• Tech handoff notes, and how many became jobs. Shows whether the habit is sticking.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Changing everything in one weekend. Customers and search engines need time to catch up.
• Deleting a profile, domain or phone number that still brings in work.
• Sending every offer to the whole combined list.
• Turning techs into salespeople instead of giving them a simple way to pass things on.
• Answering the phone three different ways. Our guide to branding for home service businesses covers how to keep one voice.

Your first step

Run the free AI report on each of your business names to see how they show up side by side. Then book a demo to talk through the brand decision and the order of work for your company.