“The Winter HMI TO DO LIST”
Jen Mazur
Essential Winterizing Tips for Your Concrete Business
It is Sunday morning January 24th, 2016 and I am sitting at my kitchen table thinking. The family has enjoyed breakfast and is off to planned activities while anticipating the playoff games this afternoon (The Packers should be there!). The news is saturated with the horrors of the East Coast Blizzard over the last few days. Here in Wisconsin we are also expecting snow (what else is new) and even my friends in Florida are whining about freeze warnings. I am thinking about what I going to tell my customers in the morning about their concrete lifting/leveling business? Simple: its winter – so use the time to winterize. That is – work on your business now and not in your business now since in many cases weather is preventing you from starting jobs. Let’s face it – when the weather gets better you will want to be out there injecting/pumping and not thinking about changing systems/processes, maintaining equipment or crafting new marketing initiatives.
TODAYS BUSINESS WINTERIZING TIPS:
- Review all your marketing material and consider the feedback from customers last year. What questions did they ask the most? Implant answers to all those question in new drafts of your: brochures, letter communications and even your web site.
- Freshen up the look of your marketing material with new pictures from jobs you did last year. If you need new pictures call me.
- Document your process to include developing generic scripts for each phase of your customer communication from the initial inquiry to request for a referral when you send and invoice.
- If you have not explored or experimented with the Estimate Rocket made available to you by HMI because you did not have time or feared the tech. Now is a time when you can focus on it and get help from a relative or friend if you think you need support. Remember a 30 day trial is FREE and it will change your life. For a refresher on the benefits go to You Tube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZilP_QEPsNg and listen to a seminar about from the people who use it and designed it.
- Draft out a series of marketing plans to include mass email to last year’s prospects and customer to give your season a kick start.
- Evaluate some new markets (neighborhoods, homeowner associations, warehousing areas) and learn where you can secure lists of: owners, association leaders or property managers. Prepare mailings to them and roll them out now so your service is top of mind when the thaw comes and they see the damage or our weather today.
- Think about, plan and invest in equipment and processes that we allow you to better leverage photos and video in your 2016 marketing program. Pictures do not lie and video is now one of the fastest growing marketing mediums on the web. Remember YouTube is the second largest search engine. For a few hundred dollar investment in a GoPro camera you can have professional grade video of every job.
- YES – Maintain, clean and prep your equipment. But – do not limit your thinking to oil and hose changes. Should you be updating and refreshing the wrap and or lettering on your truck/trailer? How about your equipment.
- Plan To Try – AT A MINIMUM ONE NEW MARKETING INITIATIVE to help kick off the season. If you do not use yard signs – order a trial supply. If you have not tried demonstrations or home shows – research the schedule and commit for Spring.
- DO SOMETHING – Yes – do enjoy the games this afternoon – but – as I see it there are a few hours before kickoff (a few weeks before thaw) where you can invest time and energy in increasing your revenue and profit margin.
Things may slow down this time of year, but take the opportunity to work on your company and not in it!
