How Smart Contractors Fill Their Pipeline Before the Slow Season

Most replacement contractors think the slow season gets decided during the slow season. January arrives, the phone goes quiet, and the panic starts.

On a recent episode of Digital Marketing for Contractors, hosts Caitlyn Noble and Meredith Medlin argued that the quiet January was decided back in October. As Medlin put it, marketing runs on a delay. The seed planted today does not show up as a booked appointment for weeks, and sometimes not for months.

Want to find out how we can create a custom digital marketing game plan for your contractor business? Schedule a call with us at fatcatstrategies.com.

Transcript

Welcome to Digital Marketing for Contractors, a podcast for home improvement contractors to help you crush your lead goals and take your business to the next level. Join us each episode as we give you powerful insights and practical tips on the best digital marketing strategies to help you grow your home improvement business.

Let's get started.

Welcome back to Digital Marketing for Contractors. I'm Meredith Medlin.

And I am Caitlin Noble. This is the show from the team at Fat Cat Strategies, where we work with home improvement replacement contractors. Meredith, quick question. When does the slow season get decided?

Mm, this feels like a trick question.

It is a little bit of a trick question. Because most contractors think the slow season gets decided in the slow season. It is January, the phone is quiet, so they panic in January. But the truth is, a quiet January was decided back in October. So, what did you do, or what did you not do months earlier?

Yeah. Uh, marketing does run on a delay. When you are gonna plant the seed of today is not gonna show up as a booked appointment until weeks or even months from now.

Say it again. Marketing runs on a delay.

Yes.

Maybe that's our

Say it louder for the people in the back. That's our tagline.

Maybe we change everything about it. Right. The smart contractors are not reacting to the slow season. They are filling the pipeline before it, while they are still busy, when it feels like they least need to.

Exactly. And that is kind of why almost nobody does it. You don't feel like you need to do it, but you do. So, let's fix it right now, today.

Let's do it. Filling your pipeline before the slow season is not one tactic. It is three sources of work, and they run on three completely different timelines. Some fill fast, some take, uh, months. And if you ever reach for the fast one, you will always feel behind.

So, we are going to give you all three of these, and we're gonna tell you when to pull each lever. So, let's start with why the timing matters so much.

Yes, the lag, because this is the whole reason the word before is in the title.

Yeah. There are actually two lags that stack up on top of each other in this situation. The first one is the funnel itself. A lead does not become revenue the day it comes in. It goes through the whole journey: inquiry, appointment set, confirmed, issued, demo, sold, and then installed.

That takes time all by itself.

Correct. And then the second lag is the marketing lag. Some marketing produces leads almost instantly, check, but some marketing takes months to produce anything at all. SEO. So, when you add the marketing lag on top of the funnel lag, the gap between effort and result can be pretty long.

And that is the trap. When it is finally slow, and you finally feel the urgency, and you finally decide to do something about it, a lot of what you could do is already too late, and it's not gonna help in the slow season.

It's not. I mean, we still love and, and accept your phone calls for advice, but there is some groundwork to be made up.

100%.

Which is why we're here talking about it. Um, and you cannot rank a website in January to save January.

Nope.

That ship sailed in the fall.

It's a long journey. We're talking about ships from, like, the olden

Ugh

went transatlantic. So let's take a mental shift here. We need everybody listening in for this. Your busy season is when you are funding your slow season. The work is out of sync with the feeling. When you feel flush and swamped, that is exactly when you start planting. And when you feel nervous and quiet, that is when you are harvesting what you planted before.

Mm, I loved that Farmland game.

Oh, God. Yes.

And the way you help contractors do this without it feeling overwhelming is to think about three reservoirs. You fill your reservoir during the flood, so you have water during the drought.

I feel like we are on a farm.

I feel like...

That was a lot of analogies. I hope you guys are still with us, but let's lay out the three reservoirs.

I love this topic. I hate that we're calling them reservoirs. Okay, so the three. I will name them, then we go deep on each. Reservoir number one is your database, leads and customers already sitting in your CRM. This is the fastest one to fill and tap, and it is almost free.

All right, the second one is owned demand, your SEO and your brand. This is the slowest one, and it has to be filled months ahead. Um, this is exactly why it often gets ignored.

And number three is pulled forward demand, using offers and paid search to move people who were going to buy eventually into buying now, so the job lands in your slow window instead of after it.

And the reason we want you to hold all three in your head is that they cover you across every timeframe. The database fills this month, the offers fill the next two weeks, and the owned demand fills next year. If you ever use only one, you're gonna have a gap somewhere.

So let's start with the fastest one, because it's also the most wanted.

All right, so number one, your database. And I wanna be blunt. For most contractors, this is the single most underused asset in the entire company. It is money already in the building.

So, who is actually in that database? Three groups worth talking about: past customers, aged leads, and demo no sale leads.

All right, let's take them one by one. Uh, past customers first. These are the people who already trusted you enough to buy. In this industry, that is gold, because a bath customer might need a window, a roof customer might need gutters, and every happy customer knows a neighbor. A simple reactivation reaching out to past customers can produce work faster than almost anything else.

Then aged leads, just like I like some aged wine cheese. These are the people who inquired, you paid to get them, and then they went cold. Most contractors just let those die, but a lead going quiet in the spring is not a dead lead in the fall. Circumstances change.

A well-timed follow-up campaign to aged leads is basically reclaiming money you already spent.

And then we've got demo no sell.

Mm-hmm.

The salesperson went out, gave the full presentation, and the homeowner did not sign. Those people were interested enough to let you come out and sit through a demo, that is your warm list. A lot of them just needed time, or the timing was off for them.

And a tool for all of this is the CRM that you already have. Whether you are running some other sort of tool that allows you to send out an email or text sequence to reactivate these groups, go ahead and build it, do it ahead of the slow season.

The key phrase there is on purpose, not just a random text or email blast when you get scared and are panicking. A planned reactivation, time to fill work into that slow window.

And here's the honest part. This has a floor. Your database is only as big as it is. You cannot squeeze unlimited work out of it. So the fastest reservoir, it is that one, but it is not infinite, which is exactly why you need the other two.

So the first move for the listener, go count how many past customers, aged leads, and unsold demos are sitting in your CRM right now, and they're not doing anything for you. Just that number. Most owners are shocked by how big that list is.

All right. Number two, owned demand. That's hard to say.

Owned demand. It's 'cause it ends with a D and starts with a

demand.

Mm-hmm.

Um, this is your SEO and your brand, and this is the one this whole episode is really about, because it is the one you cannot cram.

Right. So the database you can tap in a week. Owned demand, you cannot. And if you want to rank for roofing in your service area during the winter, that work had to start in the summer, or honestly, earlier.

Earlier.

Search visibility builds slowly over time.

And the same is true for brand. Being the name people recognize in your market is a compounding thing. It does not happen because you got nervous in December.

So why bother if it's slow? Like, why? Because it is the reservoir that lowers your cost. When people are searching for your work by name, or search for your company by name, those leads cost you way less than buying every click cold. Over time, owned demand is what takes the pressure off of your entire system.

And I want to be really honest here, the same way we always try to be on this show, this is a compounding investment, not a switch you flip. Nobody should promise you that SEO fixes your next slow season. What it does is make your slow season after that, and the one after that, less scary.

So the way to think about it is if you're always filling your reservoir, number two, for the version of your business that exists a year from now, that contractor is gonna thank you.

And I'm gonna be honest, we've had more and more clients come to us recently who are just interested in SEO and AI visibility, and I think that's fantastic. You know? It's necessary.

As long as they understand that it is a long

Yep

and it isn't that flip you can switch, um... Switch you can flip? You can flip, switch, and flip around, and it doesn't make sense.

Focus on your SEO. If you're not focusing on your SEO or AI visibility, you are missing out on a huge gap.

And scene.

And scene. All right. So the first move on this one is a mindset move as much as anything. Look at your calendar, find your predictable slow stretch. When's, when's the next one coming? And then count backwards several months. Y'all, I'm talking like three, four, five months.

Mm-hmm.

That earlier date is when the own demand work needs to really be underway. If it is not, that is the lesson for the next cycle, and the reason to start now.

Plant that tree. The best time was a while ago. The second-best time is today.

And it's never too late. Exactly. It is never too late. If you're sitting here thinking, "Oh my gosh, I have no-"

I'm so behind.

Yes. Just go ahead and get started.

Yes.

And then just know in three to six months, you're gonna have some good work ahead of

gonna have some little, um, what are they called? Seedlings.

I knew you were gonna say that.

Yeah.

Okay.

Reservoir three, pulled forward demand, and this is the one that directly targets the slow window itself.

So the idea here is that there are always homeowners who are going to do the project eventually. They are on the fence. They are going to replace the roof or redo the bath sometime in the next several months. Pulled forward demand is about giving those people a reason to book now instead of later, so the job lands in your slow period.

And the main lever is the promotional offer.

Ooh.

Most of our listeners already run seasonal or monthly offers. The

Or offer financing

financing, some sort

Gimmick?

offer. Please, not a gimmick, but, you just some sort of special or offer. Um, and the thing is, you need to be doing those when your slow season window is already upon you. Make it compelling. Get that fence-sitter in action right now.

And you amplify it with paid search, because paid search reaches people at the exact moment they are looking.

Mm-hmm.

you pair a real offer with paid ads, timed to run into a slow season, and you catch demand right when intent is the highest. I want you guys to hear that again. You're running paid ads into the slow season. You have to.

Mm-hmm.

A lot of people want to stop ads as they start slow season. Well, no.

No. You're playing yourself.

Playing yourself.

Um, one caution, though, uh, this reservoir can borrow from the future, so if you pull a

Mm-hmm

of demand forward, you may see a quieter stretch right after. That is usually a fine trade-off, because you are smoothing out a valley you already knew was coming. Just go in with your eyes open when you go into this.

That's such a fair point. Um, it is a smoothing tool, not a free demand

So, the first move here, look at your calendar, find the weeks you're trying to fill, and design one genuine offer aimed at getting homeowners to book work into those specific weeks. Then plan the paid support around it.

Spoiler alert, y'all, summer can be slow. Go ahead and start to think about how you're going to entice people who are

Mm

all over the summer.

Mm-hmm.

holidays, think about it. Like, come on. What are we gonna do? Okay, so now we have three reservoirs. Let's put them on a timeline because the timing is the whole game.

Okay, furthest out, months before the slow season, is your owned demand. Reservoir two, the SEO and brand work has to be in motion well ahead of time because it's the slowest to pay off. If you only think that far ahead about one thing, let it be this one

Mm. In the middle window, weeks before the dip, is pulled forward demand. Reservoir three, that is when you launch the offer and turn on the paid support so the bookings land right in the slow stretch.

And closest in, you have the database, reservoir one. That is the one that you can fire up fastest, so it is your nearest term fill, and honestly, your safety net if you got a late start

And notice what that gives you. The three reservoirs are not competing. They are covering three different stretches of the calendar: long lead, medium lead, and short lead. Stack all three and you do not have a hole.

And if you're listening to this already inside of a slow season, don't tune out. Start with your database today and run an offer this month, and go ahead and start that owned demand work now so next year you're the contractor who planned ahead.

I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. All right, let me tie this together with an example. As always, this is a fictional company. Our friends at Heritage Exteriors isn't... They are not a real client, but we are using their fake name and their fake numbers to illustrate what we're trying to tell you.

Okay, so imaginary Heritage Exteriors, picture them. They are a roofing and siding company, 12 million in revenue.

That's amazing

and in a market with real winters,

It's not like South winters

not like Southern winters,

Our winters are cold down here in North Carolina.

We got, like, a single flake of snow last year, didn't we? It was impressive.

It wasn't a real winter in my mind.

Fair.

they've got a real winter

They've got a real one.

They're doing exteriors. They're a pretty big company.

Exactly, and, you know, every year it's roughly the same thing. Great spring, great

Yep

and then the calendar falls off a cliff in the winter, and every year the owner scrambles in December, buying extra aggregator leads at a premium trying to plug that hole.

And it never quite works because December is too late to fix December.

Right, the reframe

the holidays

it, yeah.

Like

not forget that

the holidays.

Um, the reframe for Heritage is to fill the

It's the hardest word

God bless it

I whoever came up with this

reservoirs that great summer when it feels least necessary. Over the summer, they reactivate their database of past roofing customers and unsold demos to book siding and gutter work into the winter. Reservoir one, they keep the SEO and brand work going all year long so they own more demand heading into the cold months, reservoir two.

And they design a winter offer supported by paid search launched in the fall, reservoir three.

I'm glad you don't have a speech impediment.

If I, if I did, I would

My

very hardly tested right

could not say her Rs until I think she was seven. I mean, she would not be able... I mean, these are hard words anyways.

I can barely say this word.

It's hard. Okay, but the point of the story is not the exact numbers. It is that Heritage stopped trying to fix the slow season during the slow season. They funded it in the busy season instead. Same company, same market, much calmer winter.

Fill the reservoirs during the flood.

Love it.

All right.

I'm going to give you guys something that you can do tomorrow, Monday morning. Get ready. Here five things.

One, put your next predictable slow stretch on a calendar. Actually mark the weeks you need to fill. You cannot aim at a target that you have not named.

Two, count your database. How many past customers, aged leads, and unsold demos are sitting in your CRM right now? Go as far back as all of the data that you actually have.

Mm-hmm.

congratulations, you have that data.

Yeah. You're ahead of the game.

Get the number.

Three, plan one reactivation campaign to those groups. Time to book work into your slow weeks.

Yes. Number four, design one genuine offer aimed at those slow windows, and sketch the paid search support to go with it. And I'm just throwing this out there for you guys, a lot of those reactivations that we do for our clients, steal it if you want to, we will typically tell demo no sales that we will take 10% off the quote that we gave them.

Mm-hmm.

And that goes over really well.

Yeah.

Number five.

Number five, count backwards from your slow season several months and start your own demand work by that date. Even if this year's already late, that's fine, because the whole lesson of this episode is that the best time to fill the reservoirs is before you are thirsty. Good day.

I am so thirsty. I'm so... My... I don't know if you could hear me slurping my water, but it is empty. And this episode doesn't help at all.

We're just talking about and reservoirs.

So we're gonna bring it home in all seriousness, guys. Your three reservoirs are your database, your owned demand, and your pulled forward demand, filled on three different timelines so they are covered across the whole calendar, and the one idea underneath all of it, the slow season is decided by the busy season, in the busy season.

The slow season is decided in the busy season. Plant early.

And if you're looking at a slow stretch coming up and you're not sure which reservoir to prioritize or how far hard, far ahead to start, that is a great conversation to have with a partner who knows this industry. Hint, hint, that's us.

It is. So, if you want a help building this plan to fill your pipeline before your next slow season, book a strategy call with us. We do this all the time. We do this for all of our clients.

Mm-hmm.

We absolutely love it. We know our clients' slow seasons. We can look at Google search volume trends. We know when to expect peaks and spikes. It's amazing, and if it's not us, you guys do it. Good luck. Have fun. You can find us at fatcatstrategies.com, and we will help you map this timeline back from your slow weeks so you're planting at the right time instead of scrambling at the wrong one.

All right. That'll do it for this week. Thank you guys for listening to Digital Marketing for Contractors. We will see you next time.

Bye, y'all.

Digital marketing for contractors is created by Fat Cat Strategies. For more information, visit fatcatstrategies.com.