As Colorado contractors may know, even though Colorado winters are mild, it is never too early to plan for the slow cold months. If you are a successful contractor, you have obviously known how to get and keep clients. To keep your business flourishing in the winter months, tap into your hearty base of return clients while continuing to build new relationships from referrals.
One way to do this is by using your skills to offer additional services that you may not normally advertise. Here at Rocky Mountain Forest Products, we have come up with some services that everyone needs from their Colorado contractors, year after year:
- Snow Removal: Whether there is a blizzard or a couple inches of new snow fall, every homeowner faces the task of keeping their driveways and walkways clear of snow and ice. Letting your current customers know that you can reliably provide them with snow removal after any amount of snow fall is a guaranteed way to acquire some business all winter long.
- Holiday Decorating: Coloradans love the holidays and most homeowners are eager to start putting up decorations in November. Assisting your clients with lighting and other decorating will not only get you business at the beginning of the season, but also at the end when the decorations must come down.
- Interior Remodeling: When you are working with repeat customers, they will most likely mention any thoughts of future projects that they may be considering. If they talk about any interior projects, persuade them to hold off on those until winter when family visits, entertaining, and outdoor projects tend to drop off to reduce the stress. Keep in mind that this can be one large remodel project or several small things like painting, flooring, tiling, cabinet changes, countertop upgrades, or new doors and windows.
- Seasonal Pricing: You can work to encourage your clients in the summer months to consider interior projects that they may want to do in the future which can bring you business during the winter. Let them know that you will be lowering your pricing during a short time in the upcoming winter months and you would like to pass this along to them. Have them start make a list of items that they want done so that you can “get them scheduled”, so that they can take advantage of the savings.
- Future Home Sale: You may have clients that have mentioned that they may putting their home on the market the following spring or summer. This is a great time to help them see the value in making minor upgrades throughout their home. Encourage them to read articles on some of the top real estate sites to see that things like new windows and doors, appliance upgrades, built-ins, flooring, and other cosmetic changes that will add value to their home.
- Home Efficiency: What homeowner does not want to reduce their utility bills? Most of us think about this every time we pay bills but may not have the time or knowledge to do so. Offering home efficiency services can not only be lucrative in the winter, but all year long. In the winter, we want to maximize our heat usage, and in the summer, we want to reduce air conditioning costs. Here are some do-it-yourself home efficiency projects that will make a huge reduction in utility bills that you can offer to your clients all year round:
- Vent and Duct cleaning
- Adding extra ventilation to vents, pipes, doors and windows
- Changing out lighting fixtures to more efficient pieces
- Cleaning gutters and downspouts
- Replacing seals of doors and windows
These are just a few of the many things that Colorado contractors can doo around the house to improve heating and cooling costs.
Don’t Wait Until it is Too Late
It is easy to put off planning for the winter when business is booming in the summer. But DO NOT wait until you are struggling to make some of these considerations. Once you implement these simple additions to your services, they will follow you for years to come. The most valuable thing to a Colorado contractors’ business is its clients, so use them to stay on top of your game and the money coming in.
