What is the most profitable time of year for your business? Think about your organization and some key times of the year when your business spikes. For HVAC folks, summers in the south are great for revenue when capacitors pop on outside condenser units (anyone this has happened to knows what I’m talking about). But a better time to drum up business is the spring and fall where you do tedious but so necessary systems checks. They don’t always pay the bills, but they are a great way to get in front of people so that when the time comes for emergencies then YOU are the one they call.
For Gyms and those who work with taxes, it is the first of the year as we all work on our New Year’s resolutions or work with taxes. For those who provide health insurance it’s the late Fall as people renew Health Insurance and for medical and dental folks it’s the end of the year where everyone spends their flex-spending money or has met their deductible, so they get all of their work done. Which time of year is the best for customer-getting routines for you?
Let us say for a moment that you know your prime time of year to get customers, patients or clients. What form should the outreach and client-getting “sales” process take? What is something you can offer to get them in the door to try you? Obviously, this is different for each business but the ones who seem to be more successful have a couple of things in common. First, they are low cost, free, or a deep discount. Yes we take a big page from Facebook and other “freemium” providers here. What is something you can offer which gives lots of value for nothing, perceived or otherwise? Gyms offer a free week, Chiropractors or trainers offer free sessions; financial folks offer free audits. It must have a perceived value to someone, or they won’t participate.
The second trait that successful offers seem to have is community involvement. The more, and the larger, community that you can involve the better your chances of success. The community is usually the local one you serve regardless of whether members of it are customers of yours. Find a way to generate buzz in that community to stand out. Dentists sometimes offer “candy buy-back” programs to get families in for checkups. A Chiropractor we used to visit would have once monthly “talks” from thought leaders in nutrition, health, personal organization and more. Be creative and introduce your passion wherever possible. Use your business to give back and soon the customers will come on their own when they equate the experience they had to you. Don’t be blatant about sales when you interact with the community but do make sure that would-be customers connect you or your business indirectly to what’s going on.
What has worked for your business? When are your hot times of year to gather customers? To know this is to be able to plan for it and count on success. That success is more than just sales too and will pay dividends when you least expect it.
