Join me for a moment. Step out of the business-owner mindset and into the shoes of your homeowners.
Now ask yourself, “What do the next few months look like for me? What do I HOPE they will be?” What fears and anxieties are you met with in November and December? Or, to most of us guys, what is your wife SO stressed about?
Businesses hope to finish the last two months strong, maybe grab a few extra appointments from the end of Fall and ramp up into the Winter. But on the flip side, homeowners are largely putting all their thoughts toward the holidays, and you’re likely the last call they want to be forced into making right now. Thinking of calling a contractor right now probably causes tremendous anxiety, because it likely means something has gone wrong and has a strong possibility of negatively affecting their plans.
Few choose to make large-scale renovations, remodels, or large household purchases (even if they’re needed) during the last quarter of the year (especially in the uncertainty of an election year). So, what should your marketing look like now so that you aren’t wasting money and falling on deaf ears?
The holiday season is always an odd mix of a super-frantic pace followed by trying to hit the pause button for a few short hours. When we enter November and December, the panic of Christmas shopping, traveling, and hosting plans seem to hit us like a Mack truck. But then it’s redeemed with memories of family, good food, and valuable times ahead. We gather around tables, swap stories, laugh together, and build the bonds that help us make it through the rest of the year.
That’s what life is really about, right? We spend a LOT of our most precious and limited commodity - TIME - working long hours, stressing, planning and saving, just to BUY a few hours of rest and comfort. And so, if something threatens to take all that hard work away and ruin your plans, you’re interested in how you can prevent that, right?
Therein lies the key to smart holiday marketing. You can present yourself as their holiday insurance policy, their Santa safety net, the one who will protect their best-laid plans at all costs, and two words will speak louder to your homeowners than any others this time of year: availability and relationship. “I’m here to help; trust me.”
The first win of holiday marketing is reminding your homeowners that Murphy’s Law still exists, and no matter how much we plan, life has a way of laughing at us as it changes them.
Can you imagine a beautiful Thanksgiving table laid out with hours-worth of laboring over a hot stove, the place settings perfect, and the house cleaned and decorated, only to have the entire family bundled up, huddled around a space heater because the unit went out a few hours before they arrived? How about the panic of knowing guests are on their way and you’re going to have to send them to the closest hotel because that toilet you’ve been meaning to fix finally flooded the second floor?
The contractor’s best sales job right now is helping to cross one last worry off the homeowner’s list - a worry they probably don’t even realize they should be concerned about. You can come early to make sure 99% of the potential disaster is removed, and also assure them that if things do go sideways you’ll come to their rescue (with overtime, holiday, emergency, and ten other “you shoulda listened” fees tacked on). But the first big checkpoint in holiday marketing is presenting yourself as just a quick phone call away and reminding them that they’re always running a risk when overlooking the extra stress that crowds, lights, and “the best laid plans” put on their systems.
Next, holidays are all about building and enjoying relationships - and contractor/homeowner communication this time of year should be no different. If you’ve been putting in the work of having a steady and effective customer retention program the other 10 months of the year, then November and December will come as second nature, and you’ll already be reaping benefits. But while homeowners are more distracted and money is tighter than most any other time of the year, who WILL be getting the calls from those in need? The contractor they have the best relationship with wins every time.
About 20% of this is general branding and name recognition: staying at the top of the Google listings and getting your logo as visible as possible. But this is also FAR more expensive than establishing a genuine relationship with each homeowner you’ve serviced, investing in the next call before you’ve even finished the first. “If my holiday plans have to be perfect, I’m not calling just anyone!” Who wins that battle? The contractor who has invested in them, shown they care, and is interested in more than just a quick buck made off a desperate homeowner.
We build trust by regular communication known as “soft touches” throughout the year. This is communication like newsletters that aren’t hard sales solicitations, but friendly advice and a show of concern over their household’s wellbeing. Another great option to set yourself apart is sending a holiday card to show how much you appreciate their business throughout the year. It's this sense of closeness and appreciation that the holidays bring out in us, and, as contractors, we have a unique opportunity to extend this spirit to our customer relationships.
Now, before you dismiss this as “just marketing,” consider this: building and maintaining relationships with customers isn’t far off from nurturing relationships with friends and family. Each connection requires intentionality, care, and consistent communication, especially when the pace slows down. In the same way we show up for family and friends during the holidays, contractors have the perfect chance to reach out, showing their customers that they’re a part of the family as well. After all, if you sit down to a nice Thanksgiving spread, it’s your area homeowners who bought that for you. Don’t forget that fact, and remember a little investment in showing your appreciation can keep your plate full for years to come.
If you’d like some help starting an almost “done-for-you” automated customer retention program, click here for a free information kit. And maybe you’d like to send a holiday card to your customer base with a warm “thank you” message? We can handle that for you too- Click here to see our card templates.