As winter rolls around, many people fall under their annual assumption that most pests go into hibernation in the wilderness or die off during the cold months. Unfortunately, this means that those people may not be taking the proper precautions to protect their property from pests, which ultimately results in a dip in business for pest control companies across the country. If you are wondering how best to generate leads for your pest control business this holiday season, try these tips from other business owners who have thrived through the seasonal slowdowns.
Our number one method for generating more sales in the slow season involves sending hand addressed letters to our past customers giving them a friendly and informative update on things to look out for during the fall and winter months in regards to their home maintenance needs.
In the field of pest control we
remind folks that while they are holed up indoors, rats and mice may be taking up residence in their attic and crawl space, basement and garage. These rodents seek warmer and dryer conditions in the winter. Furthermore, pests around the yard continue to burrow and eat plants all winter long and we encourage customers to keep an eye on their yard even in inclement weather.
Additionally, we offer wintertime specials like free attic inspections for rats, and 50% off the first month of annual pest control. What's most important is getting the customers to remember that they have to keep up their home maintenance year-round and not let the distraction of the winter chill and the holiday festivities interrupt their pest control program.
Zachary Smith, President of Smith’s Pest Management
One very critical thing that home service business owners often neglect when it comes to their sales tactics is to take advantage of local listings online. Homeowners usually search for HVAC service providers through online search, and Google recommends on top of the results page those who are nearest to their locations.
Don't forget to set up local listings. Google, specifically Google My Business, is the leader when it comes to setting up your listings, so refer to them when looking for best practices. There are a variety of guidelines to follow to represent your business properly, including:
Skyler Reeves, President and CEO of Ardent Growth
As the founder of my cleaning services company, I can say that seasonal upticks and downturns have always been around. Preparing before the slowdown is helpful to find new streams of revenue when the phone normally stops ringing. To sell services during the seasonal slowdown:
Reach out to muted customers. During your slow season review customer profiles and put together a list of people who mentioned additional projects they were considering tackling in the future.
Enhance your social media strategy. Posting enhancing social media content during your slow season gives you time to practice and refine it before things get super busy again.
Jacob Martinez, Founder of SwiftClean
As a real estate agent who works with home service business owners, the best sales tip during a seasonal slowdown is to partner with other service providers who can recommend you to their clients. In my practice, I trust a group of service contractors to work with on different projects. I put in a good word when I talk about them to my clients so they know that I can vouch for their expertise and professionalism.
Matt Rostosky, Owner of Cashofferky.com
The seasonal slowdown is a great time to offer gift cards and promotions for customers. The holiday season is typically slow for many home service businesses but it’s also a time when people are looking to purchase gifts for loved ones and gift cards for home services are becoming increasingly popular. We have had a lot of luck selling gift cards for house cleaning as well as offering promotions like 20% off carpet cleaning through the months of December to February.
Roman Peysakhovich, CEO of OneDesk
A good way to sell services during seasonal dips is to frame and package your services as a seasonally specific service. As an example, an auto repair shop may offer a winter inspection when it's the same thing as typical preventive maintenance.
Another option is to offer new services that are specific for the season. For us, we offer Christmas tree pickup. Even though we typically clean-out yards and pick up yard debris, we specifically offer tree pick up as if it were a different service.
The holidays and seasons change how people search for services in certain industries. Know what services that are similar to yours that people are searching for offer a service specific to that search, even if it's pretty much the same thing that you already do.
Paul Cornell, Owner at Action Junk Removal Seattle
I think that you need to use the seasonal slowdown to focus more on giving the feelings people want during the season. Instead of offering a discount on an item, start to offer people the ability to give part of their purchase to charity and give up the discount instead. Most people will want to help others during this time, so this is a great way for customers to do that, and you still get your services sold at the same time.
Lucas Robinson, CMO of Crediful