Already slowing down..

Built2ride said:

Well... Can't believe it's almost November, but I'm already seeing things slow down. I absolutely hate it. Now I spend every free hour I have to market my company in interesting ways. Promotions, door hangers, mass emails. CHRISTMAS LIGHTS. I blame this mostly on residential. Which currently I'm 95%.
I've decided to really go after general contractors and bidding websites and see what I can get, if anything.

When things start slowing down for you owners out there, what tricks do you pull out of your hats? I always try to save some good marketing ideas I have for wintertime.

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I start praying to the good Lord above. So far the last 2 weeks we have been awarded a 140k, 115k, and 850k jobs. Thank you God!

Built2ride said:

Well... Can't believe it's almost November, but I'm already seeing things slow down. I absolutely hate it. Now I spend every free hour I have to market my company in interesting ways. Promotions, door hangers, mass emails. CHRISTMAS LIGHTS. I blame this mostly on residential. Which currently I'm 95%.
I've decided to really go after general contractors and bidding websites and see what I can get, if anything.

When things start slowing down for you owners out there, what tricks do you pull out of your hats? I always try to save some good marketing ideas I have for wintertime.

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This might be bottom feeder but who knows http://www.quickcontractors.com/

We are a vacation destination with thousands of second homes and after labor day we loose 75% of our population. We rely heavily on our condos and resorts for winter work. Most schedule remodels and upgrades for the off season. We have gained many of these clients by marketing to them in the spring . We sent out intro packets to all the various resorts and condo associations. Then we follow up with a phone call. Are initial jobs are emergency work in the summer and providing same day service locks us in with these clients. One of the staples of our work is residential boat docks . We land most of the work in summer but we will offer w 10% discount if they let us book the work in the winter months. Many owners are happy to do this.

The key is to anticipate potential slower times and plan accordingly to avoid or reduce the slower period.

I always get busier in the winter. It's crabbing season, the weather sucks, and everyone's electrical stuff starts breaking.

I almost wish it was slowing down abit for us. Way behind on service calls, projects keep getting larger, borrowing help from 2 other companies and can't find guys to hire. This is the craziest its been, if I wasn't already bald I would be soon!

I think I would try to be the king of generators and generator repairs if I lived in snow country. That and get me a snowplow attachment for a truck.

dawgs said:

I start praying to the good Lord above. So far the last 2 weeks we have been awarded a 140k, 115k, and 850k jobs. Thank you God!

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I've got to start adding prayer to my marketing mix... :thumbup:

dawgs said:

I start praying to the good Lord above. So far the last 2 weeks we have been awarded a 140k, 115k, and 850k jobs. Thank you God!

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Out of curiosity, what's your breakdown on those? Material vs labor vs gross profit?

emahler said:

Out of curiosity, what's your breakdown on those? Material vs labor vs gross profit?

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I would have to look at the at the estimates on all three. But the large job is about 50% labor and the rest material and equipment. I shoot for 20% net profit on industrial work. I'm happy with 15 though.

erics37 said:

I always get busier in the winter. It's crabbing season, the weather sucks, and everyone's electrical stuff starts breaking.

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Winter is always good for lots of frozen pumps and pipes for us.

My favorite are frantic calls for heat tracing cause they heard on the weather it was gonna be the first freeze :blink: :laughing: Yeah way to plan ahead.

We usually slow down from about November through March, but so far this year, it will not be that way.

Jlarson said:

Winter is always good for lots of frozen pumps and pipes for us.

My favorite are frantic calls for heat tracing cause they heard on the weather it was gonna be the first freeze :blink: :laughing: Yeah way to plan ahead.

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We get these also. Just fi is he'd a bunch of heat trace at a power plant.

aftershockews said:

We usually slow down from about November through March, but so far this year, it will not be that way.

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Is there anything you're doing differently to make that happen or is it just a lucky year so far?

GoldStarElectrical said:

Is there anything you're doing differently to make that happen or is it just a lucky year so far?

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I can speculate, but it is too early. We did pick up an additional GC to do work for this year

That may be it. I will have to wait and see.

Please state the regions you guys are in.

aftershockews said:

I can speculate, but it is too early. We did pick up an additional GC to do work for this year

That may be it. I will have to wait and see.

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I'd be interested to hear. If you can figure out exactly what it is, then hopefully it's something you could repeat each year.