In today’s lesson, I want to talk about a common frustration amongst carpet cleaners –slow season.
Slow season can happen for any number of reasons. Maybe the Summer heat cause people to leave town. Maybe it’s tax time and your customers are too busy getting their invoices in order.
Whatever the cause, “slow season” can frustrate many carpet cleaners at one point or another.
But don’t worry. If you have a “slow season,” the following are some proven ways to create extra profits where there used to be none.
How to avoid the “slow season blues”
The most critical step to avoiding slow season is to plan for it.
Many carpet cleaners claim they are “too busy” to plan. But planning ahead of time will help you win clients and stay busy while your competition is sitting around frustrated.
What should your slow season marketing plan look like?
You must start your “slow season marketing” at least two months ahead. By doing this you will be able to line up enough clients to fill your time.
First, you should look for strategies that you can double. You need to make your marketing work twice as hard.So if you’re using the 3-letter strategy to cold prospects and you’re making money … send double the number of letters out before slow season. This will help keep your client numbers steady.
Second, push for more referrals. If you normally pay $25 for a referral, bump it up to $50 for your slow season(you’ll make it back in repeat business). To get these extra referrals, send a letter to paid clients that mentions the special referral program, AND the expiration of that special referral amount.
Finally, send a letter out to existing clients who haven’t had their carpets cleaned in the last 12 months and who haven’t rescheduled. Typically, this letter will get good response because these clients already trust you to some degree.
If you do all of these things, you’ll be able to survive (and profit) when slow season rolls around. Of course, your cost per client might go up a little, but that’s 100 times better than having almost NO clients at all.
TODAY’S TASK: Plan Ahead For Slow Season
- Get a planner, or planning software. Block out time to plan for the upcoming slow season. Remember, execution of the marketing plan MUST be done in advance of the slow season.
- Use the Slow Season Marketing strategies. Pick the ones you feel comfortable using from the three above and then implement them.