The Best Way to Handle “Slow Months”: Stop Having Them!

Recently, I came across an electrical contractor in the southwest United States. He said that in the super-hot summers his phones go dead. It’s so hot that no one wants to do anything—let alone have a contractor come to their home and have work done. He said he simply tries to play it safe and survive.

Do you have certain times of the year when you really find yourself slow? What do you do during those times? Do you go into a turtle position and hide within your shell, like this contractor I talked to? Do you go in your shell and hope things get better and customers start calling sooner than later? I absolutely understand why you’d feel that way. You think it’s the safe and prudent path during that tough stretch of the calendar. But what it also means is one of these days it may lead to you shutting down your doors.

Playing it safe. What really does that mean anyway? If you look at the word ‘safe’, you can view it from multiple angles. Safe can mean taking it easy and not taking any risks. It can also mean being aggressive and going after a bigger piece of the consumer pie. Your success depends on how you wish to view the ‘safe mode.’

Smart business owners will not sit still and avoid risks. They don’t wait out the traditionally slow months. They eliminate what I call “stinking thinking”—you know what I’m talking about… It’s that negative mindset that you simply can’t do something. Smart contractors use traditionally slow times to spring into action! They don’t accept months where they’ll lose money.

May I ask you: In these traditionally “slow” times of the year, do you put together a plan to guarantee you’ll be making money every month? Or do you hide in your shell? Again, I understand why you’d hide in your shell and go into “safe mode.” But that doesn’t make it right. And it doesn’t make it safe for the long-term future of your business.

So, resist that temptation to do nothing and do something when things slow down. Even if it means knocking on homeowners’ doors and offering safety inspections or calling old customers seeing if they have work—that’s better than nothing. In fact, ESI has numerous strategies and tactics you can use to keep busy during those traditionally “slow months.” We simply don’t believe you should be losing money any month. Let us show you what you can do.