How to take advantage of slow winter months: Part 3

This four-part blog series will discuss how to take advantage of slow winter months. Downtime is not a bad thing as long as you are building an effective business strategy.

HERE ARE A FEW OPTIONS TO CONSIDER:

1. Nurture Current Customers
2. Find New Customers
3. Learn New Skills
4. Prepare Your Business

   LEARN NEW SKILLS

If you notice a consistent decrease in number of projects during the slow winter months, it might be time to acquire some new skills. If your current focus includes outdoor home improvement projects like patios, roofing, sidings, etc., then start to learn how to do more indoor projects.

Start marketing your new skillset to customers you’ve worked with in the past. If they’ve enjoyed the past work you’ve done for them, they’ll be more likely to trust you to work on other indoor projects, like kitchen and bathroom renovations.

However, learning an entirely new skillset may seem like a daunting task, but it could be critical to your success. We understand if you don’t have enough time to learn these skills, so don’t be afraid to find reliable subcontractors to fulfill the work instead.

Even though outdoor work might be your niche, anything from remodeling to repair to painting can help keep you and your staff busy. Not to mention the fact that it could be an opportunity to start to edge out your competition. They may not be thinking about taking the extra step of finding new, different types of projects.

Think of this as an experiment. If you don’t get any new customers for indoor work, you haven’t lost anything. But if you gain new customers, it could start to develop into a nice stream of revenue during the slow winter months.

Although you may experience a learning curve, what better time is there to invest in your company? Plus, it will give you plenty to work so you can take advantage of slow winter months in the future. Make sure you read the other articles in this series to see what strategies would work best for your business.