Plan the Slow Season During the Busy One

It’s the middle of August. If you run a marina, a boat dealer, a landscaping crew, a lake rental or an air-conditioning company, there’s a good chance you’re reading this late at night because the day didn’t leave room for anything else.

That’s exactly why I’m writing it now. The best time to plan for the slow season is while you’re too busy to think about it.

Michiana runs on a calendar

Most businesses around here have a rhythm, and a lot of them feel it hard. The lake businesses in southwest Michigan and northern Indiana have a short, packed summer and a long, quiet winter. Landscapers go from mowing and installs to fall cleanups and then, for some, snow. HVAC companies are slammed in the first heat wave and the first cold snap, and a lot quieter in the shoulder months in between.

None of that is news to the owners. What surprises me is how often the slow season gets planned the week it starts. The phone goes quiet in October, and that’s when someone decides to run an ad. By then you’re starting from zero.

Busy season is when you have people to talk to

Here’s the part that’s easy to miss. The busiest months are when you have the most customers in front of you. They’re on the job site, at the counter, on the dock. That’s your chance to build the things that carry you through the quiet months.

A few things to do while the customers are here:

1. Collect contact information every time. An email or a mobile number, with their permission, on every invoice, work order and rental agreement. This becomes the list you talk to in January.
2. Ask for reviews while the job is fresh. A happy customer in August will leave a review in two minutes if you ask. By November they’ve moved on.
3. Take photos of the work. Finished patios, clean installs, boats on the water. Slow-season marketing needs pictures, and you won’t be taking them in February.
4. Write down the questions people ask. Those questions are next year’s website pages, social posts and radio scripts.
5. Note who fits the off-season. Which customers might need a fall cleanup, a furnace check, winter storage or a spring pre-booking?

None of these take much time. They just have to be built into how the busy day already runs.

Decide the slow-season offer now

Once you know who you’ll be talking to, decide what you’ll say. The slow season usually needs a reason for people to act before they normally would.

For a landscaper, that might be booking fall cleanup and snow service before the first frost. For an HVAC company, a furnace check in September before the calls start. For a marina, winterization and storage, plus a discount for reserving next summer’s slip early. For a lakeside restaurant, a reason for locals to come back when the tourists leave.

The point is to decide it while you still have time to announce it. If the offer is ready by Labor Day, you can mention it to every customer you see in September, put it on the website and send it to the list before things slow down.

Put it on the calendar

A slow-season plan doesn’t need to be complicated. It needs dates. Pick when the offer is final, when the first email goes out, when any advertising starts and when you’ll check whether it’s working. If you plan to run radio or digital ads in the off-season, talk to your reps early. Planning ahead gives you more options than calling the week you need it.

And keep the budget honest. The slow season isn’t always the time to spend the most, but going completely dark means starting over in the spring.

If you want a quick read on where your marketing is strongest and where it leaks, the Marketing Checkup takes about three minutes. August is a good month to take it.