Here in Minnesota, winter is the slow season for a lot of home service businesses. The phone gets quieter, the schedule opens up, and for the first time in months there’s room to think. (If you run snow removal, your busy season is just starting. Save this one for March.)
We think winter is the best time to set up spring. The businesses that start spring with a full schedule usually did the work in December and January. Here are five moves worth making before the snow melts.
1. Find out where last year’s jobs came from.
Pull your last 30 to 50 jobs and write down how each customer found you: a referral, Google, a repeat customer, a yard sign, a door hanger, Facebook, or something else. It doesn’t need to be perfect. Most owners find that one or two sources bring in most of the work, and that some of what they paid for brought in very little. Start next season by putting your time and money where the jobs actually come from.
2. Get your Google Business Profile ready for the off-season.
Your profile keeps working while you’re not. Set special hours for the holidays, so customers don’t call on a day you’re closed. Google lets you do this without changing your regular hours. Add a few real photos from this year’s jobs. Then reply to every review, including the ones you missed during the busy months.
3. Make it easy to say yes from a phone.
Open your own website on your phone. Can someone see what you do and where you work in the first few seconds? Is your phone number at the top, and does it call with one tap? Is your quote form short? Many people looking for home services are on a phone, sometimes standing in their own yard. If it takes more than a few taps to reach you, some of them will call the next company.
4. Plan your spring mail now.
If you use postcards or door hangers, the real work happens in winter. Pick the neighborhoods where you already have customers, since that’s where referrals and tight routes work in your favor. Choose one clear offer. Book the design and printing early, so your mail lands when homeowners start thinking about spring, not after your competitors’ mail does.
5. Fix the office side while it’s quiet.
If you spent the season answering calls from the truck and writing estimates at night, winter is the time to change that. Start by getting clear on what office help would really cost. Our free True Cost Calculator walks you through the full yearly cost of an employee, including the parts most owners leave out. For a $20-an-hour office hire, it’s usually about $46,000 to $56,000 a year. Then compare that with a skilled freelancer for only the hours you need. Our Built to Scale guides walk through the whole approach, from finding the right help to managing it.
Start with one
You don’t need to do all five this week. Pick the one that bothers you most and start there.
If you’d like a second set of eyes, we’re offering a free 15-minute marketing checkup for home service owners through the end of the year. We’ll look at your Google profile, your reviews, your website on a phone, and how fast you respond to new leads. Then we’ll tell you what we’d fix first. No pressure and no obligation. Book a free checkup.