how do you get work in the winter?

6t56

6t56

Location
Cleveland,oh
I'm just sitting here trying to figure out how i can keep my guys off of unemployment and maybe make a little money in the winter months.Around here the residential tree work market dries up completely around thanksgiving.Then it doesn't really start back up until april.So I have 4-5 months of absolutely nothing!I've thought about selling firewood but I think we would have to sell a ton of it to make it worth doing.That means buying more equipment and basically starting another business entirely.I'm set up to do tree work but my equipment sits all winter and if i cant figure out a way to keep working through the winter,i might just have to hang it up.
 
Find out what your daily operating costs are, then trim your profit margins via "Winter Discounts" for suitable tree work in the Winter months as you do sales throughout the peak season.

Ultimately, take your tradesman hat off, put your business persons hat on, and beat those bushes!

Your level of commitment to the objective will posess no boundaries to obtaining work. Marketing, flyers, mailouts to current clients offering refferal incentives, and even (what pride will often prevent) walking neighbourhoods and knocking on doors.

An observation of mine is that tree guys and gals often expect work to come to them. Other sales industries are often better at aggressively marketing themselves.
 
We usually have our "dry spell" too; this year has been worse than most, though, no doubt due to high unemployment- that is, people have no money to spend on such things.
 
Having a website and using Constant Contact is a great idea for staying in touch with your client base. I haven't used CC for my business bc I'm part time, and I'm afraid I might actually generate more than I can handle. The last few years have been consistent, except for this winter.

-Tom
 
Call your previous clients. Second that!

I guess in Ohio you would be in a situation more like my brother in Pa. They lay everyone off for a couple months then start back up when the work picks up. If you draw a paycheck you can lay yourself off as well. Just an idea, is there a market for bundle wood like at gas stations and such in your area. It makes firewood much more profitable and the repeat customer base will grow pretty strong every year. Something to think about.
 
Firewood is a good subsidiary business. Sell to nurseries, hot houses, smokers, wood oven pizza places, etc... Companies grow and prosper by understanding how they can expand their market and offer other products to their existing client base. It will take some time but it can be successful.

Mangoes made the point perfectly. Business needs to be generated not waited for. Go back over your client list and touch base with them. Develop a script for the call. Something like, "I see we it's been 'x' yrs since we last trimmed your trees and it would be beneficial to have them looked at again. Can I set an appt. to come by?"

Garden shows and groups. Local gardening centers may welcome you to set up an "ask the expert" table on a weekend. Drive neighbourhoods with mature trees looking for indications that trees need work then drop a brochure with a brief explanation of what you saw and that you can give them a free estimate.

When you do go out on a job have the guys blitz the neighbourhood with fliers.

These are things that need to be done all year, "Dig your well before you're thirsty."
 
Thanks for all the idea's.I'm the first to admit that marketing is not my strongest skill.Ohio is one of the hardest hit by the recession.Unemployment here is 10.9% and climbing.Every winter I say to myself "i'm not going through another winter like this" but I never do anything to change it,mainly because i'm not sure what to do.Keep the idea's coming!
 
I second that! Marketing is the last thing I like to do. But it has to be done. Thanks for the ideas.
It is interesting how tree work is so similar in different parts of the country. I dried up almost completely right about thanksgiving and still next to zilch. My only saving grace is I'm a 1-sometimes2 guy outfit and everthing is paid for.
What is this constant contact that you are talking about? I've never heard of that.
 
It's an online email marketing service. We (the New England Chapter ISA) use it to get bulk emails reminders out to membership. It's not just email, it's a design tool, helps you build your client lists, brand your message, track results, etc. Check it out:

http://www.constantcontact.com/index.jsp

Like I said, I don't personally use it for my biz, only for fear of generating too much work!

-Tom

(PS - You need to get in the habit of getting your clients' email addresses for this to work!)
 
I found that constant contact thing while surfing the web a while back.How do you think that might work as a random mail.For instance sending out 20-30 thousand emails a month to people in your area that you have never worked for.I'm willing to try it,i'm never worried about to much work
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I'm just sitting here trying to figure out how i can keep my guys off of unemployment and maybe make a little money in the winter months.Around here the residential tree work market dries up completely around thanksgiving.Then it doesn't really start back up until april.So I have 4-5 months of absolutely nothing!I've thought about selling firewood but I think we would have to sell a ton of it to make it worth doing.That means buying more equipment and basically starting another business entirely.I'm set up to do tree work but my equipment sits all winter and if i cant figure out a way to keep working through the winter,i might just have to hang it up.

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Move to California, year round all the time!
 
[ QUOTE ]
I found that constant contact thing while surfing the web a while back.How do you think that might work as a random mail.For instance sending out 20-30 thousand emails a month to people in your area that you have never worked for.I'm willing to try it,i'm never worried about to much work
grin.gif


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I don't know where you would get such an email list, and I think that most would consider that spam. CC probably doesn't allow that type of use, either. Send'em an email, let us know what they say!

-Tom
 
All these ideas on here have hit the nail on the head. I agree with planning for the winter. Marketing for the winter is tough but it can be done all year round.
Try rotating your customer base so that some will move to the winter to get stuff done.
Commercial accounts usually have their budget by mid January for everything including tree care, and winter is the best time to prune!
We use ACT! by Sage as a customer database. great for planning and e-marketing.

California doesn't sound that bad either!
 
As the owner of the business you need to manage your client contact. Often the mistake made is marketing with selling. Marketing gets prospects interested, selling gets them to buy. Mass mailings have a 1-3% success rate which is fine when you've got the budget. I'd rather use a "warmer" approach where I have a contact name and some sort of lead in. Tools like ACT! or Constant Contact are great once you've landed a prospect but you need to develop some tools to generate leads. Have you "cold called" local property management companies, developers, residential or commercial property owners? Condo corps and commercial landscapers as well.

It's easy to get caught up in the doom and gloom of the times but remember that while 10.9% are officially unemployed the majority is still employed and that needs to be your focus.
 
[ QUOTE ]
As the owner of the business you need to manage your client contact. Often the mistake made is marketing with selling. Marketing gets prospects interested, selling gets them to buy. Mass mailings have a 1-3% success rate which is fine when you've got the budget. I'd rather use a "warmer" approach where I have a contact name and some sort of lead in. Tools like ACT! or Constant Contact are great once you've landed a prospect but you need to develop some tools to generate leads. Have you "cold called" local property management companies, developers, residential or commercial property owners? Condo corps and commercial landscapers as well.

It's easy to get caught up in the doom and gloom of the times but remember that while 10.9% are officially unemployed the majority is still employed and that needs to be your focus.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yea I just read about the success rate of mass mailings,your right on with the 1-3%.I agree with you 100% on the warmer approach and the lead in!And as a matter of fact,last night I was trying to find some contact information for home owner's associations in my area.Of all the web searches I did,I couldn't find an address or phone number for the association itself.I just come up with links to realty companies selling homes located in these places.I'm going to keep trying,but does anyone know a good way to get that kind of information?
 
My saving grace is the white stuff that keeps us from climbing anyway. It can be a pain in the a$$ sometimes but one day of plowing can equal a full week of tree work.
 
I also plow snow,but i've never made enough plowing in one day to equal a week of tree work.I guess what your saying is relative to what you normally make in a week.The point i'm at with overhead,I would have to plow every single day just to make half of what we make doing tree work.The way I see it is, plowing snow will keep the creditor's at bay until something that pays comes in.i'm just tired of it being that way.
 
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My saving grace is the white stuff that keeps us from climbing anyway. It can be a pain in the a$$ sometimes but one day of plowing can equal a full week of tree work.

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You must not charge enough for your tree work. Around here, prices range from $50-$100 per man-hour for tree work. A two man crew should never be pulling in less than $800 for a full day IMO. At that rate, one man at $50 an hour for 40 hours is $2K. You're making that in a day plowing snow?

-Tom
 
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