Am I Crazy?
First, if you have more than 3000 residential maintenance plans (or more than 3,000 hours of commercial maintenance) your phone might not be crazy busy when it gets hot. Why? Because you are doing maintenance properly and the systems have been taken care of before that hot day.
For those of you with less than these numbers, your phone is probably ringing off the hook at the beginning of the summer. You are busy. Your techs are working overtime.
And, I think you should market for new customers. Am I crazy?
No. When it is hot is when people are paying attention to your messages. When it is mild and the customer doesn’t need heating or air conditioning, they are not paying attention.
Look at it this way. When the weather is mild and people don’t need heating or air conditioning, the only people searching the Internet for your company are your competitors. They will click on your ads just to cost you money. Cut your SEO budgets drastically when the weather is mild. Increase them significantly in hot or cold weather. That’s when you will generate new customers.
If you send out a direct mail message when your potential customers don’t need heating or air conditioning, they won’t respond. You get no results and you say email, texting, and direct mail doesn’t work. Of course it doesn’t work; your message is ignored because people don’t need you.
If you send out the same direct mail message when it is hot, some people’s air conditioners are not working well and they will pay attention – especially if you give them an incentive to try your company’s services – a $25 coupon, a discount on a repair, etc. Direct mail will work.
For those of you with many maintenance agreements, this is the time of year to get new customers. Your maintenance agreement customers should not have service issues assuming that you perform the maintenance properly. You should enroll one new maintenance customer for every three non-maintenance customers you ask.
Finally, be strategic about your marketing. Find an area where you already have a large number of customers. Market to non-customers in those areas. These people probably have seen your trucks driving in their neighborhoods and can probably talk to a neighbor who is using your company’s services. And, if Mrs. Jones calls with a problem and your technician is across the street, taking care of Mrs. Smith, it’s easy to slip in that additional call. There’s no travel time.
Continue marketing in the summer!
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Ruth King is well known as “The Profitability Master.” She is passionate about helping small business owners become profitable and stay profitable. For over 40 years she has coached, trained, and helped contractors and others achieve the business growth and goals they wanted to achieve.
Contact Ruth by emailing ruthking@hvacchannel.tv.
