Several weeks ago we woke up to a post-frontal morning in south Alabama, and that’s all it took for my wife to announce that fall was officially here. She immediately fairy dusted our living room with pumpkin spice, pulled out her cozy sweaters, and started cooking a pot of chili. I drew the line when she asked me to get the Christmas decorations out of storage. The date was September 3rd and the temperature outside was a frigid 64 degrees. (It would be 80 by midday.)
I may be exaggerating (a little), and my wife doesn’t read these anyway, so I’m safe. But she will bail on the season we’re in and prematurely start celebrating the next one in a hot second. Of course, she’s definitely not alone in that, and other than wanting the “dog days of summer” to be over as soon as possible, much of our seasonal discontent is driven by marketing and commercialism.
Have you ever walked through a big box store’s seasonal section and made the comment, “I can’t believe they already have the (name your holiday) stuff out!” Yeah, you and every other person who shops there. They’ll start promoting the next holiday season seconds after the last ends: Valentine’s candy right after the Christmas trees, Easter baskets on February 15th, etc. This is simple economics - they want the stuff they can only sell at certain times of the year to be exposed with shelf time for as long as possible. And while most people still procrastinate in making these purchases, the marketing wizards know the sooner they can plant a seed into the mind of a consumer that “something’s coming, I better prepare” the more times they can potentially sell through and restock a display at full price before having to slash it to 50% clearance on December 26th.
This is a concept called “lengthening the window” and it potentially adds millions in sales to big box stores each year. Effective marketing is chess, not checkers. It’s a weird blend of psychology, sociology, and maybe a little bit of voodoo. But I can promise you when you see a major company doing something that seems to be out of place but it catches your eye, it’s no accident.
Unfortunately, in-home contractors mostly work these principles in the exact opposite way, shortening the buying windows and leaving money on the table. As a group, contractors are notoriously weather-driven, and our demand ebbs and flows with Mother Nature rather than us truly driving and influencing the thinking of our market.
What do I mean by that? Well, we’re a few weeks into the technical, by-the-calendar, fall season now, and even though the weather might still be scorching hot for some of you, how many contractors have resigned themselves to the shoulder season preemptively? Have you told yourself, “No one’s going to buy a system this late in the year. They’ll just put it off, so why bother?” If I can be blunt, that’s bad salesmanship, and it’s costing you money.
If you can present a solution with valuable reasons why NOW is the time to buy and clearly show how it benefits them to not wait, people will jump into action. It makes no sense for a guy to buy his wife’s Valentine’s Day present in mid-January, until you tell him, “Do it now, and you don’t have to worry about forgetting later. No fighting through the mob of desperate husbands crowding the card rack on February 13th.” I don’t know about you other husbands reading this, but peace of mind that I won’t pull a Justin and forget later as well as avoiding the store right before a holiday is worth EXTRA to me. Can you communicate to that late-season system replacement candidate that even though they won’t need their AC in a few short weeks, right now you can offer them a late-season discount, the peace of mind that when they go to turn it on in the spring it will fire right up, AND that if they buy now they’ll get priority service that you wouldn’t be able to guarantee if something were to happen during peak season?
What it really comes down to is this question: Are you selling products and services, or just waiting for them to be bought? Have you already resigned yourself to the slower months, or do you still see potential out there if you get the right message in front of the right audience? Fall should be one of the highest volume seasons for HVAC guys because you can be selling late-season ACs and early-season heating units, but homeowners will not think proactively like that on their own. However, put it in front of them with the right sales pitch, and you’ll be surprised by what happens.
If you’d like more tips for creating additional sales opportunities or fall marketing plans, shoot me an email to [email protected] or call (800) 489-9099 to book a one-on-one strategy session with me. You can also click here to explore some of Hudson Ink’s “done-for-you” marketing options!