The Plan · Win the Job · Step 25 of 30
Sell Jetting (Not Just Snaking)
A cable clears the clog. Jetting clears the pipe. That one sentence is the whole difference between a $200 job that comes back in three months and a $1,200 job that actually fixes the problem. Your job is to help the customer understand that difference honestly, then let them choose.
This is not about hard selling. It is about explaining a real distinction so clearly that the right customers pick the better fix on their own. When you lead with the camera and the truth, jetting stops feeling like an upsell and starts feeling like the obvious call.
Explain snaking vs jetting in one breath
Homeowners think a clog is a clog. Give them the mental picture: a cable pokes a hole through the blockage, water flows, and the buildup on the pipe walls stays. A jetter blasts water at high pressure and scours the pipe back to bare wall. One buys weeks, the other buys years.
"Think of your pipe like an artery. A snake pokes a hole through the clog so water gets moving again. Jetting is like a pressure washer for the inside of the pipe. It cuts the roots and strips the grease off the walls so it stays clear."
Let the camera do the selling
Do not argue for jetting. Show the pipe. When the customer has watched grease coating the walls or roots packed at a joint, you do not have to convince them a cable won't cut it. The footage makes the case and you just name the option.
"You saw all that grease lining the walls. I can snake it and get you flowing today for a couple hundred, but you'll be calling me again by spring. Or we jet it now, strip it back to clean pipe, and you're good for years. Which way do you want to go?"
"You really should do the jetting, it's way better, trust me." No proof, no picture, no reason. That is a pushy salesman, not a tradesman.
Be honest about when jetting isn't right
Nothing builds trust faster than telling someone they don't need the expensive option. Old, fragile clay or Orangeburg pipe can be damaged by high pressure. A simple soft blockage in good pipe may only need a cable. Say so. The customer you talk out of jetting today refers you for years.
"Honestly, your line's in good shape and this is just a soft clog. A snake handles it fine. I wouldn't spend the extra on jetting today, but if it comes back, we'll camera it and talk."
Quote it at the table, calmly
Present snaking and jetting as two clear choices with two clear prices, then stop talking. No pressure, no "today only." Confident silence after an honest option closes more jobs than any pitch.
Arrow Sewer & Drain (New Jersey) lays out hydro jetting vs snaking in plain terms, including when each one is the right call, which is exactly the honest, camera-backed framing that lets the customer choose jetting without feeling pushed.
Do this: Write down your two-sentence snaking-vs-jetting pitch and have every tech memorize it, then practice quoting both options and going silent. The pause sells the job.
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