PDA

View Full Version : seasonal business



Leatherneck
08-16-2008, 08:44 AM
How many of you have a seasonal business or notice a decline or up swing in your business during certain times of the year.

The winters are dead for me as soon as the frost sets in. It varies from year to year, but mostly after the holiday season.

During vacation the phone doesn't ring as much either. I think that effects a lot of us unless your in the tourist business.

The early spring is when it is real busy doing estimates, because after a long winter people that want, or need a fence call and want too be on the list as soon as possible.

Evan
08-16-2008, 02:26 PM
Our family business (pool repairs and electronic leak detection) is seasonal. This year has been one of the most quietest years in over 20 years of operation. A/R is also a little slow too.

Aaron Hats
08-16-2008, 02:56 PM
I know all about seasonality. Sometimes I feel like I'm on a roller coaster. The seasonal buying I have to do is a bear to deal with. I used to buy most hats several months in advance then figured that for the most part I could place an order and within 1-2 weeks I have the product in hand.

Steve B
08-16-2008, 03:10 PM
I follow the same season as you Mak. My phone stops ringing on the 4th of July and stays slow until late August. Then it's slow again in January and February. Luckily I have a second business that I can focus on during those times and/or I can do some marketing stuff for the fence business that I can't do when I'm busy doing estimates and installations.

billbenson
08-16-2008, 03:56 PM
I'm slow from nov through feb. Both due to the holidays and a lot of the products I sell I used by workers outside. They delay projects in snow country to the warmer months when they can.

orion_joel
08-17-2008, 12:26 AM
Steve B - I think having a second business for seasonal businesses is probably the key to slow season proofing you business, and is also a good start towards, getting yourself multi streams of income.

When i was operating my business in full swing the middle of the year seemed to be the highest season for me, mainly because of the lay or the financial year for businesses in Australia, and also being the time that most businesses allocated their new budget. The one thing i was always trying to figure was how to level out the business a bit more, from high months of $50K turnover in the middle of the year to 4 or 5 months over just $5K turnover around December and January, it makes for major difficulty in planning anything really.

vangogh
08-20-2008, 01:36 AM
There's nothing inherently seasonal about my business, but I have noticed that the summers tend to be slower for me. It's possible it's because my client's businesses tend to slow at that time of the year I catch their seasonality to a degree.

In general my business does come in waves. Some months my clients have more work for me and I'm busy non stop and other months it could be a week or two without hearing from the majority of my clients. I think it's just the natural ebb and flow. The more clients I have the more busier times and the less down times, but it always follows an ebb and flow that's not entirely predictable.

What I've started to do is develop my own projects so during the times when I have less work I can spend my time as my own client and ideally create a variety of revenue streams.

ErinWrites
08-20-2008, 07:20 PM
My business is busiest after the New Year, each winter through the spring.

Then, I get another push around August as the "back to school" year starts.

I'd say mid-summer and early winter (holidays) are slowest.

I think small businesses are inspired by the back-to-school and new-year's-resolution times of year, to revamp their existing copy/marketing or beef up their advertising and push promotions.

That, or they tend to allow for more marketing budgets in the 1st and 3rd quarters???

Looks like we all have times of the year that suit our business best.

:-) - E

orion_joel
08-20-2008, 08:56 PM
No matter how good the months were or how consistent they were up to about October or November, the month of December was always a slow month followed by January. With Christmas and such there often seemed to be little activity for me in B2B IT Sales.

Although if i operated a retail store i would actually expect the complete opposite because people love buying electronic things for Christmas presents.

Ad-Vice_Man
08-21-2008, 02:36 PM
What about?

Have any of you ever tried expanding into a related but different industry to offset the seasonality... for instance... landscapers i know also do snow removal during the winter.

Leatherneck
08-21-2008, 02:54 PM
I do subcontract my truck too the town I live in plowing snow. I also have a shop where i'm going too start making items like Mail box posts, arbors, pergolas, etc. I want too get my web site set up too sell from it, and maybe try e bay for certain items.

vangogh
08-21-2008, 03:02 PM
In a sense I am expanding into related things, but not so much in a seasonal way. I do realize my business comes with ebbs and flows so I'm working on my own projects to help with the ebbs.

Ideally the sites I develop for myself will help cash flow, but they also give me something to do during slow work times and also help me increase my skills. Not exactly seasonal, but same concept I think.

billbenson
08-21-2008, 03:44 PM
The problem I have is my work load doesn't change in the slow season. Its b2b. Your still get RFQ's at the end of the year for people doing budgetary stuff for the next year. They just aren't ordering the end of the year. In some respects there is more work in the slow times.

ErinWrites
08-21-2008, 04:34 PM
I don't know, Ad-Man...

I kinda LIKE having "on" seasons and "off" seasons. :-)

I just focus on my own marketing/advertising in the off season. Also, catch up on bookkeeping and paperwork, etc. Clean out my desk drawers and email inbox. Maybe go on vacation or more frequent bike rides. Bone up on the latest industry news.

I think, if you plan for it and know it's coming, you can use the off season to your advantage.

But that's just me! I'm personally not trying to grow my small business into a marketing empire or anything. I just want a nice steady flow of income, while working from home on my own schedule - and then I get lots of down-time during the holidays and each summer!

Summers are an especially wonderful time to be slow, IMO - when you live in Southern California.

Surf's up!

:-) - Erin

vangogh
08-21-2008, 07:57 PM
Now there's a good attitude.

Blessed
08-21-2008, 11:58 PM
I diversified too much and now I don't have a slow season - HELP!

Actually that's ok, we're trying to get out of debt before the little one starts school so I'm willing to sacrifice my off times for now. Once we're out of debt and have a 6 month emergency fund built up I'll re-evaluate and re-arrange so that I'm not so busy - and that will probably mean dropping some of the least enjoyable and least profitable things I do. Also I do get a slow week on occasion which is nice for re-energizing and organizing!

orion_joel
08-22-2008, 01:13 AM
I have the feeling that if you can plan for slow period's that they will work out much better in the long run then just realizing you are in a slow season and not sure how long it will last.

For example if you are running a business and six month's in it slows down, often this first time will be a scary thing, you generally may not be able to see straight away why it slowed, but it has. then three month's later it picks up again and you fly along for another 9 months before you hit that slow period again. Once you either know where the slow period will be or can plan them based on your marketing it gives you much more freedom in your business. It means you can better plan your financial affairs to keep reserves for the month you know will be slow and especially if you have staff plan other projects that will mean they are being utilized and ding things for the future.

Paul Elliott
08-22-2008, 10:51 PM
Mak, I'm not sure this would work in your area, but I had a landscaping/lawn maintenance client in Dallas which kept year-round employees and needed to do something in the winter.

With little snow to be removed in Dallas, ;) they began to do seasonal lights. Of course, they started with the December Holidays, but soon realized there was a market for Halloween, Thanksgiving, New Years, and Valentines Day lighting for homes. Sometimes the customers for one type would add others when they found out they were available.

The company would supply lights and decorations, use the customer's, put them up, and take them down. Each service had a price.

Not only that, but they teamed up with an Interior Designer and a Caterer/Event Planner for putting in interior decorations and helping with the seasonal parties for each of the lighting types. It was a natural, because when he was contacted for outside lighting the homeowners often hadn't gotten around to doing much planning for the inside. He could offer to take over all the problems for them.;) He would take ~10-15% of their fee as a finder and help them with some of their labor needs.

It was a wonderful solution to the seasonality of the landscaping/lawn maintenance business. This became his "back end"--something he offered every one of landscape/lawn maintenance customers.

I didn't have any follow-up, but I suspect his winter work became more lucrative than his summer business.

Perhaps a version of this would be possible for you. If you're interested, I can fill in more of the details.

Paul

Blessed
08-23-2008, 07:54 AM
Paul - that sounds like a landscaper that was using his brain! Awesome idea... I know a landscaping company I might just pass that idea along to :D

Although here in the Midwest we get snow that needs to be removed! :rolleyes:

Paul Elliott
08-23-2008, 04:03 PM
Paul - that sounds like a landscaper that was using his brain! Awesome idea... I know a landscaping company I might just pass that idea along to :D

Although here in the Midwest we get snow that needs to be removed! :rolleyes:

Why not all 3? :cool:

That particular company was prepared to grow aggressively and was very motivated to do so. The business was family owned, and they wanted to grow so other members of the family could be included in it. They went from 250 lawns/season to adding the seasonal lighting, seasonal interior decorating, and catering/event planning. The next year they went to 1,500 lawns in 10 months.

Just an example of what marketing can do for a business that is ready to deploy it. BIG results. . . or BIG disaster if the business is not prepared for the ride.

Needless to say they had few personnel problems. They offered benefits, year-round employment and decent hourly pay. They got a lot of legal immigrants applying as soon as the word got out.

They were preparing their business in such a manner as to sell it (a la Michael Berger in The E-Myth), though I think they simply took in other family members. The way it was structured--in a very business-like manner--everyone knew where he or she stood. The shares were distributed in a set manner for set performance or investment. That way no one got hurt and everyone had a proportional vote in company policies.

I recommended that they offer regular stock bonuses to their non-family key employees--to avoid training their own competition a la James Tandy of Tandy RadioShack. I'm not sure they ever did that. In my view, that is one of the best ways to keep key employees committed to your business and avoid them becoming your most difficult competitors. I believe vesting in the company to be one of the least expensive and most effective sales and marketing costs.

Think about it for a moment.

Most of us on this forum are in business for ourselves. Look at how hard we will work for ourselves. Now, turn the tables. Why would an intelligent, ambitious, hard working employee stay working for us once he or she had learned how we do things. Again, IMO, he or she would be rather shortsighted to FAIL to start his or her own business.

Paul

Paul Elliott
08-23-2008, 04:34 PM
Paul - that sounds like a landscaper that was using his brain! Awesome idea... I know a landscaping company I might just pass that idea along to :D

If you decide to do that, offer to help him develop his marketing strategy and tactics (including all the written/printed materials, e.g., brochures, door hangers, business cards, mailers, coupons, ads, web copy, etc. Offer him a killer deal on ads in your magazine ;)) for a fee based on the new business your programs generate for him. :cool:

That's one way I make the guarantees of my marketing. I agree to get paid ONLY IF my programs generate business and then from the profits my programs produce. It's a bit unorthodox, and I am at the mercy of my clients which is why I require a deposit--usually at least $20,000--which will be returned to the business in the last 2 months of our agreement.

Thus, if the business decides not to implement the programs after I've put in many hours work on them, I keep the deposit.

I'll be glad to coach you through the process with the techniques I've already proven work very well and, voila, you're in a new business. YOU can be the HERO!

Paul

Leatherneck
08-23-2008, 07:57 PM
Thanks Paul, that sounds interesting. Thanks for the idea I really appreciate your help. It could be a bit of an investment too start out, but after that it wouldn't take much over head. Right now between plowing and setting up my shop too build things, I will be rather busy, but in the future if I have people I want too keep busy, that business might be a great option too get into.

Paul Elliott
08-23-2008, 08:46 PM
If you want to take a closer look at the ideas, hollar.

Paul