Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

Katie,

Most HVAC companies around my area advertise specials to keep their people working. One was 35% savings on a new furnace. Midwinter, that's gonna cost a bundle IF a company has time.


Michael

I just got a letter from a HVAC guy this morning.

He said everyone waits till the temperatures dip to check their furnace. They spoke of the problems he has with scheduling the flood of calls at that time. So, he's running a special on furnace checks now.

Carol
Sell Well and Prosper tm

your business is very similar to many other seasonal categories.
the wisdom behind marketing and advertising is to keep you in the consumer's mind at all times.
being a seasonal business, you should try what works for you in your particular area, and not just adopt a general consensus from all locations.
if you use direct marketing for example, you can monitor the success rate, the response to any particular offer or creative execution, and come to clear conclusions as to what works and what doesn't.
the same applies to any promotional idea, where you can think of certain tie ins with other providers of services that make sense with your service, and so on.
at the end of the day, it all depends on what you offer and how you offer it. the notion that one formula fits all doesn't work in your case as well as others.

Hi Katie

You have already had some very good responses and i agree with them.

I'd stress three things:

1. Looks like a well planned direct marketing strategy will help your business. You can target existing customers with a reminder "Free Check Up Service", give them energy saving tips, whatever -- both to generate business and to keep you top of mind. You can also prospect in your catchment area using DM. If you can't get local lists, be creative. Use a "door hanger" which you can have distributed in the area in which you are operating. "Door hangers" are also useful for when you are working at a location -- you can quickly use to visit the homes on either side and leave the "door hanger" - perhaps with a special "We are in your area discount".

2. As Ilan indicates test everything you do to asses what works best. I have seen great results with sme businesses that take this approach seriously.

3. Use WOM. Most businesses can benefit from getting existing customers to talk to their friends and introduce their service. A small incentive to do so may help -- doesn't have to be a personal incentive...it could be one that helps a local charity.

I guess I'll have to be the contrarian ... but only to a point.

It's been my experience (in a very closely related business, by the way) that advertising efficiency drops dramatically when you're in the low season. A direct mail vehicle that delivers qualified leads in the high season for $35 each might cost $60 or $70 in the low season.

That suggests saving your money for the high season where you'll get a lot better return on your advertising investment.

Of course, you don't want to lose all your technicians and go out of business during the low season either. You want to do only enough advertising to keep the technicians/mechanics working, not try to aggressively build market share.

In the specific case where we had experience in a related industry, we reduced advertising by about 33% during the slow months and told our technicians that we might only have work for them 3 days a week (versus 6 days during high season). By sharing our strategy with them and inviting their input, we were able to keep them all on-board.

In a few cases, we actually offered to give them a small draw against high-season earnings to keep them loyal. That, of course, must be done very carefully/selectively, and only with the people you trust to stick around ... not that there's so much work out there at other companies. After all, the slow season is slow for everyone in the business.

Many of the technicians found other, non-competitive seasonal work for the 2-3 days each week that they were not working for us, and the smarter ones scheduled vacations during the slow season as well.

I would suggest offering a different service to your customers: year-round maintenance. Let's say a typical service call costs $100 during the busy season. This new service would cost $75 (call it HVAC insurance) and avoid problems during the "high season", peace of mind, etc.

So instead of telling the "same old story", you're telling about something new, something to separate you from your competition.