It’s November, and Halloween has just passed. For us in the Northeast the leaves have fallen to cover our lawns and daylight savings has just taken effect. As a business owner, this starts the final mile in our business year race. Already there are discussions of the coming Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, which are great for consumers and companies that sell products. But what about the companies that sell a seasonal service, like a landscaper, a pool maintenance company or a painter? For these companies during the off-season, there is no urgency to buy their service. Yet with the right incentives, this end of year period can be a great head start for next year’s profits.
Consumers are always looking for a deal so during the slow off-season, a seasonal business could offer a discounted price for customers buying today what they may need tomorrow. The trouble a discounted price causes is that it lowers the value of your service. You may attract clients that will pay the discounted price, but will not return at a full price. Another problem may be current customers or prospects who want to take advantage of the special offer, causing you to lose money since they were prepared to purchase anyway. Far better to offer an additional service at a discounted rate, in exchange to a purchase during the off-season.
An example of a landscaper’s off-season incentive special
A landscaper may offer a free spring cleanup with anyone contracts lawn care for the following year. This offer would link to a web page that details the offer, covers all the terms & conditions, and has a form for the visitor to fill out to initiate the buying process. For a bonus, you could have the whole season paid up-front, using PayPal, in order to get the special offer.
A pool service company’s special offer
The pool maintenance company could offer a discount for people who pay now to have their pool opened in the spring for those clients that only want a one-time service. If a weekly or bi-weekly cleaning service is offered, then the pool opening could be offered as the incentive, similar to the lawn care business. Alternatively, the offer could be positioned as a holiday gift for a spouse or relative. On the details page, there would be a picture of a coffee mug or a hat, some promotional chotskie, with a certificate or poster describing the offer. Make it as easy as possible to see the purchase as a gift for giving.
Holiday offer from a painter
A painter could offer an exterior pressure washing in the spring for anyone who purchased interior painting this holiday season. Because each client’s house would have a different number of rooms and trim levels, there is no easy pricing to offer. To make a worthwhile incentive, the offer would include a percentage credit to wards another service for every dollar spent on the interior painting.
In Summary…
Whatever your business, the end of the year can be a strong revenue generator. Retail often states that 30 to 40% of their annual sales comes from the holiday season, but even summer seasonal businesses can get a bump at year-end. A few common traits to the above offers:
- Each add a service rather than reduce the primary price.
- The offers introduces a recurring service; monthly lawn care, opening pool service, and power washing. Each following year the client can be contacted to renew the service – leading to a high lifetime client value.
- As an infographic, the offer is easy to spread on social media, emails and banner advertising.
If you are interested in developing your own end-of-year offer campaign, please give us a call.