Dan Dowdy, Founder of Built for the Trades, and Tim Flynn, Owner of Winters Home Services, are two powerhouses in the home services industry. In this episode, they share how to conquer seasonality during the election year, battle complacency, and make strategic decisions. 

Why Election Years Impact Home Services

During election years, Tim highlights how there is a natural dip in demand.

“Always work as if you’re in a deficit. Always work as if you’re in a recession. Call by call.” - Tim

While this slower season may seem daunting at first, Dan recommends taking it as an opportunity to be proactive rather than reactive. Work on your maintenance contracts, tighten up your inside sales, and work with your staff to really hone the customer experience so that every call makes money. 

Dan surmises that the reason these election years impact sales is due in part to people being tighter with their money because they’re not sure what the economy is going to do. 

How to Be Proactive

If you are complacent, then when the economy slows down, you’re stuck. Three tangible ways you can be proactive are:

1. Start with your training. Your front line needs a good checklist and questions that will set your tech up for success. Work on improving your customer experience from start to finish.
2. Check your phone lines for dead numbers. This sounds simple, but you should never blindly trust. Verify and do quality checks often to ensure you’re receiving calls.
3. Stay optimistic and communicate clearly with your staff. When things get slow, it can be tempting to jump over your managers to get things done, thereby undermining the systems you have established.

“As a business owner, when things slow down and you start seeing all the flaws in your business, you just want to jump back in and start directing your customer service rep and your technician and going around your management team that you built. You really have to make sure that you stick with your chain of command and you’re empowering your leaders and managers in your company.” - Dan

Marketing for Seasonality

Another piece of being proactive is checking in with your marketing company or department for quality and verification. Keeping up consistent communication ensures that you aren’t spending unnecessary money, and your marketing tactics are helping you meet your goals. For a bonus point, do it with a smile!

“You’re the reflection of your people.” - Tim

Tips for maximizing your marketing:

• Focus on the demographics, geographics, and psychographics of your audience and how you are connecting with them.
• Diversify your marketing with various touch points (choose strategically) from door hangers to yard signs.
• Serve, educate, and sell on social media.

Think Strategically

Both Dan and Tim emphasize the importance of solving current problems with your long-term vision and goals in mind. Think strategically, take action, and plan for what you want the future to look like. 

Joining a mastermind group is a great way to connect with other owners and leaders in the home services community who can help you shoot holes in your ideas, improve your plan, and offer support along your journey. 

Dan: [email protected] BuiltfortheTrades.com

Tim: [email protected] Winters Home Services