Deck the halls with bags of money.

Okay, I realize it’s not Christmas yet, and I too get annoyed when people have lights strung and their Christmas tree up as soon as the last trick-or-treater leaves the front porch. But if you haven’t felt it already, prepare your wallet for a full-on assault. The retail world is counting down to overdrive, and advertisers want consumers thinking about Christmas long before we sit down at the Thanksgiving table.

It starts subtly with Christmas carols playing in the grocery stores and Pre-Black Friday flyers coming in the mail. But it quickly escalates to people camping outside Best Buy, ready to trample anyone that gets between them and the pallet of flat screens. Tis the season.

In 2018, U.S. retail sales topped 1 TRILLION dollars in the months of November and December, and economists are expecting a 1.2 – 1.5% increase in 2019. What does this show us? To finish out this year, people will spend money at a rapid rate. And for many it’s money they don’t even have, maxing out credit cards and taking out personal loans for the holidays. But they will do it, sometimes against all logic.

The economy is good. Retail is booming. You’re a business. This should be fantastic news, right? Wait, you aren’t preparing for a massive crowd lining up outside your door on Black Friday fighting over boilers or water heaters?

Yeah, lots of money IS being spent, but probably not much extra is heading your way, at least not voluntarily. The holidays are the time of year when WANTS trump needs, and that’s not necessarily good for the “smart choice.” Human nature says that Christmas lists, Cyber Monday deals, and toys come first. Smart decisions, getting “back on track” and sanity can wait until after the first of 2020. We think about that when it comes to resolution time, not right now. But contractors have a budget to get back in the black as well, right?

Hopefully you are nowhere near red figures and don’t need to liquidate anything to show a profit. Thankfully your margins are much healthier than department stores. But are in-home contractors relegated to just sit back and watch during the shopping feeding frenzy at the end of each year? No, but I’ll warn you, it’s tough to get attention this time of year. It can be done, but it has to be a certain type of message.

Zig Ziglar has a quote that you’ve probably heard me use a few other times, and it is never more relevant than right now. He said, “You can have everything in life you want, if you’ll simply help others get what they want.”

Let’s face it. Homeowners don’t want you right now. They don’t even want to think about you. If they’re looking for your phone number over these next couple of weeks, it likely means they’re facing an expensive repair at the worst possible time. But what Zig Ziglar is proposing is that you flip the script.
What does the homeowner want? They want money for Christmas presents, turkey dinners, travel to see relatives, etc. They want the visit from the in-laws to go perfectly without one condescending look. They want to be able to afford the perfect gift that will make their children light up.

I wouldn’t suggest a, “I’ll do your Black Friday shopping, string your lights, and tuck your mother-in-law in at night if you’ll let me do a tune-up” special, but maybe you can give them some incentive to look your way to PARTNER in accomplishing the things that are already on their to-do lists. What you want are system replacements and additional sales; what they want is to have a smooth and affordable holiday season. You can work together, but to do this you must be creative, and more importantly, it must be mutually beneficial. Look at the current manufacturer’s rebates or year-end co-op opportunities you have and make them speak the homeowner’s language.

Here are a few ideas.

#1. Pay for Christmas- Instead of just a normal cash back offer, or simply applying a rebate to the total sale, think about making it relevant to NOW with this language. “You know your home comfort system (water heater, etc.) will need replacing soon. Why risk failure through the holidays? Act now and we’ll pay for your Christmas shopping with $X instant cash back!” There are many ways you can spin this, and the more specific the better. Figure up exactly how much you can incentivize and guarantee it. With normal cash back or rebate offers, consumers always expect the worst. “Yeah, you could give me UP TO $1,000, but that never happens to me. I’ll probably qualify for $100, and I’ll lose that in financing.” That message sounds a lot different when presented, “Get a new X BRAND unit and we’ll give you a $1,000 Target shopping spree!” Instant gratification always wins. You don’t have to do some extravagant partnership with Target to make it happen, just go buy some gift cards and keep it simple. Remember, always try to enter that conversation your prospect is having in their own mind. “Wait, I’m probably going to have to upgrade my system in the spring anyway, if it lasts that long. If I do it now, you’ll pay for Christmas?”

#2. Delay the pain- There are some homeowners out there who know their home is held together by duct tape and Band-Aids, and it’s keeping them up at night. They don’t need convincing every time their system kicks on could be its last, but they need convincing that now is the perfect time to get it fixed. They’re desperately trying to make it through the end of the year because they think finding a solution now would ruin their holiday plans. Come to their rescue. This is where a holiday-themed financing option can be a Godsend to many in your market and can push some replacement sales your way NOW that would have delayed.

#3. Make them worry- Yeah, the strongest marketing message in the home service world is, “What if?” No one wants to compound the stress on anyone during the holidays, but there are legitimate concerns that homeowners are not thinking about while their minds are on getting the stuffing recipe right.

What if all those Christmas lights overload the breaker and suddenly your family meal goes dark? Or worse yet, did you know the average family has 5 serious, unnoticed fire hazards in their home during the holidays?

What would you do with a house full of people if your heating goes out? You think your mother-in-law gives you cold looks now… Did you know that 90% of heating failures could have been prevented with a quick inspection before a breakdown?

Traveling for the holidays? The vast majority of winter plumbing emergencies happen when the family is not home, compounding the serious damage. Let us take a look. We’ll winterize your home giving you the peace of mind to fully enjoy time with your family.

Put yourself in the consumer’s shoes and think about how you’d respond if you received any of these offers. Would they grab your attention? Be careful with the legal side of things with giveaways, and NEVER promise anything you can’t or are unwilling to deliver. Making noise this time of year takes creativity.

At the VERY LEAST, be sure your customers know they are appreciated by sending them a holiday card like the ones Hudson,Ink offers. You can see our designs here, and this part is as easy as choose, click and show them the love. We’ll handle printing and delivery, all the way to the mailbox.

Business is out there to be had, so don’t fold up shop and think it’ll be absolute emergency calls or nothing until January. You have Christmas presents to buy too.

If you’d like some more tips and advice on how to put one of these ideas into place or want to talk about other aspects of what you can do NOW to make your business stronger going forward, reach out to us. You can call us at (800) 489-9099 or shoot us an email to [email protected] to arrange a personal conversation about your marketing.