Owned and Operated - A Plumbing, Electrical, and HVAC Business Growth Podcast

Is Direct Mail Back? The 2026 Growth Strategy for Service Businesses

14 snips

Feb 17, 2026

Sam Preston, CEO of Service Scalers and direct-response marketing pro for home services, breaks down why direct mail still works in 2026. Short takes on formats that stand out, the four audiences to mail, how testing and iteration separate winners from losers, and why offer and ticket size decide whether mail prints money or burns it.

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INSIGHT

Legacy Media Still Wins

Legacy media like direct mail still works because competition is lower than digital channels.
Someone in your market is already winning with mail, so study local winners rather than dismissing the channel.

ANECDOTE

Same Market, Different Results

John tells a story of two multi-location shops mailing the same market with very different ROI outcomes.
One saw 14x return while the other got about 1x, proving execution and offer matter hugely.

ADVICE

Segment Your Mailing Audience

Segment your mailing audience into members, active customers, inactive customers, and net-new prospects before you mail.
Expect dramatically different conversion rates and set goals per segment rather than treating all recipients the same.

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Is direct mail actually back in 2026 — or is it a dinosaur channel that should stay extinct?

In this episode of Owned and Operated, John Wilson sits down with Sam Preston (CEO of Service Scalers) to break down how the best home service companies are using direct mail as direct response, why some operators get 14x ROI while others lose money mailing the same market, and the exact levers you can pull to make mailers perform (audience, offer, format, frequency, and iteration).

They also get into why “legacy media” still works when executed well, how to think about underserved markets, and why your offer + ticket size determines whether direct mail prints money… or burns it.

Key Topics Covered:

Why “someone in your market is winning” with direct mail (even if you think it’s dead)
The 4 audiences to mail (members → active customers → inactive customers → net-new)
What formats work: postcards, letters, Valpak, door hangers, even “weird” creative mail

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🎙️ Hosts
Host: John Wilson — https://x.com/WilsonCompanies
Guest: Sam Preston (Service Scalers) https://www.linkedin.com/in/sampreston/

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John Wilson, CEO of Wilson Companies
Jack Carr, CEO of Rapid HVAC

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