Canadian seasons are harsh. Between holiday expenditures in the winter and boiling temperatures in the summer, sometimes the last thing on homeowners’ minds is home improvement. Seasonal downturns are real, and while they may affect pros at different times of the year, their effects across the board are undeniable.
Fortunately, there are steps pros can take to lessen the impacts of seasonality. With tools like HomeStars, they can adjust their strategies in real-time in response to whatever the outside world has in store. Here are a few tips for pros looking to make the most of their slow seasons.
1. Harness Every Opportunity
In months when leads are trickling in slowly, it only makes sense to jump on the ones that come in as quickly as possible to turn them into jobs. The easiest way to do this is with the HomeStars for Pros app which delivers real-time notifications when leads are available and lets you reply to them on the go. Studies show that your odds of connecting with a new lead are 100 times greater when you contact them within 5 minutes than when you try to contact them within 30 minutes. Every minute counts. For more tips on how to successfully respond to leads, check out this handy article.
Tip: To make sure you’re positioned front and center in front of homeowners looking for pros during the off season, reach out to your customer success manager to see if you meet the criteria for a HomeStars Featured Ad in your category.
2. Get Your Listing Ready For Busy Season (Build Your Brand)
The beauty of down time is that it allows you to refocus your efforts and get ready for your next step. Use the extra time you have available during the off season to make sure your HomeStars listing pops, so that by the time your busy season arrives, you have an easier time landing the types of jobs you want. It’s never a bad time to work on your brand.
Reach out to past clients to ask them to write reviews that speak to your professionalism. Update your listing with fresh pictures that demonstrate the quality of your work. Follow-up with past clients to see if they need anything else. Keep in mind: many homeowners start planning home improvement projects months in advance, so any “work” you do today to build your brand will pay off months down the line.
3. Consider Exploring a Change
It’s not always feasible for pros to change categories or expand into new cities at the drop of a hat, but where possible, HomeStars provides the flexibility to do so. What better time than your business’s annual slow season to explore these opportunities? Say, for example, you have the ability to hire a new employee in a new city where demand for your services remains high. Simply inform your Customer Success Manager you’d like to enable a new service area, and HomeStars can begin helping you inform local homeowners you’re open for business.
Similarly, if you’d like to expand the type of projects you take on — assuming this doesn’t require you to meet different licensing requirements — doing so is just a short call to your Customer Success Manager away. Of course, if neither of these are applicable solutions for you, feel free to look back at points one and two in this article to see how working on your brand and increasing your responsiveness can help you achieve similar goals.
Keep the Momentum Rolling
Seasonal downswings can seem like an insurmountable challenge, but they don’t have to be as hard as they once were. HomeStars gives pros the ability to maneuver around these challenges as they go, jump on any opportunities that arise immediately, and to set themselves up for future success by building their brand. Even if you’re not currently “working,” you can get started on the latter today. Log-in to your account to request a review from one of your satisfied customers, so it’s ready to go when the busy season arrives.
*Article updated on November 30, 2021.
