4 Years In, Lone Star Pure Water Still Calls Wisetack the Tool That "Turns a No Into a Yes"

Lone Star Pure Water has been serving the Houston area for more than 20 years, providing residential, commercial, and light industrial water purification. Owner, Michael Cohen and his team of five handles the full range of water treatment work — softeners, reverse osmosis, whole-house filtration, drinking water systems — from initial sale through ongoing service.

Residential makes up about 40–45% of the business, with a steady stream of incoming leads. Most residential customers come to Michael and his team with a specific complaint: water that smells from municipal chemical treatment, concerns about metals in the water supply, or hard water scaling that's already damaged appliances like water heaters, dishwashers, and washing machines. Others are dealing with dry skin, dry hair, or eczema. Nearly all of them are looking for a whole-house fix rather than a single-fixture patch.

A typical whole-house setup — the company's dual-tank filter-and-softener system paired with an under-sink reverse osmosis unit — runs around $5,000, with other configurations priced higher depending on the home.

The challenge: financing was a hassle with low approval rates

Lone Star Pure Water didn't always offer financing, and when it eventually tried, the experience nearly turned the team off the idea entirely. For four to five years, they worked with another financing provider, and Michael describes the process bluntly: "Every single job was a headache." Paperwork was frequently wrong, sometimes requiring a return trip to a customer's home just to get it filled out correctly. Approval rates were low, and there was no 0% option — just standard rates the team could get from a competitor for a fraction of the hassle.

To ease the hassle, the team stopped advertising financing altogether. "If somebody wanted to finance, it was more like, 'oh, yes, we kind of offer it' — not wanting to have to deal with it, honestly," Michael said.

The switch to Wisetack

Lone Star Pure Water has now been with Wisetack for nearly 4 years, a switch prompted by a recommendation from a partner company in Houston that was already using the platform. The difference showed up immediately: instead of paperwork and return visits, the process ran through a text message from start to finish.

The results: the 0% option helped close 1/3 more jobs

Michael estimates that offering financing — particularly the 0% option — turns roughly a third of would-be "no's" into closed jobs over the course of a year. "I'd say it helps about one-third of those people that would have been a no turn into a yes," he said.

Notably, the effect isn't limited to price-sensitive customers. Michael has seen homeowners with high-end properties choose financing purely because they'd rather not pay out of pocket, especially at 0%.

Beyond the close rate, Michael points to the pre-qualification link and payment calculator as genuine sales tools in their own right — giving customers a clear, no-commitment picture of what a purchase would actually cost per month before they decide.

Why Michael recommends Wisetack

Having worked with other finance companies and banks, Michael sees Wisetack's process — from pre-approval through final funding — as unusually smooth. "The process of getting somebody pre-approved to the final approval, to closing the installation out, and being able to then get the money, is pretty seamless and straightforward," he said. He also credits the support team directly: when a customer has a question or an issue, Wisetack will reach out and walk them through it.

"I definitely recommend it," Michael said, "and think that it would help anybody's business."

Michael's advice to other contractors

"Look at Wisetack as just another tool that you have to close a customer."

— Michael Cohen, Lone Star Pure Water

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