(upbeat rock music)
-: Hello, and welcome to The Sharpest Tool
where we take the sting out of marketing
with everything that we're bringing to the table.
My name is Josh Smith.
I'll be your host today,
and I'm really excited because we have Matthew Eckhart
in the booth who was a director of business development
for the home services division here at Scorpion.
So Mathew, welcome.
-: Thank you for having me, Josh.
-: Honestly, it's great to have you here in the booth,
and why don't you give our listeners
a little inside scoop as to what a director
of business development does day in and day out.
What's your day look like?
-: Yeah, I spend the day on the phone with contractors.
I'm kinda developing strategies to help them
attract more of their ideal customers
in their local markets really is with an understanding
of their business, their business goals,
and really what they to accomplish year in and year out
depending on what it is.
More new trucks, more new tax revenue base?
As just formulating those plans
and really help them get there.
-: What do you find is like a consistent challenge
that you're seeing with today's contractor?
-: A lot of it's seasonality.
I mean, we're dealing with that right now,
and they're really, there's two sides of it.
There's the people who have been planning for it
and are actively doing it.
Then the complete other side is it's hot out.
(Josh laughs)
We're having this crazy weather right now,
and their phone's not ringing.
So it's definitely dealing with the seasonality thing
side of things.
-: The seasonality, and so give me a little inside scoop.
Like let's step back for a minute.
What is marketing for seasonality mean?
What's that look like in your world?
-: Right, it's really about showing up at the right time
with the right messaging for the type
of season that they're in.
It's like when you're leading up to a hot,
traditionally hot season,
you have some months that are always hot.
So leading up to that, you wanna make sure
that you're in front of those people
with messaging similar to like hey,
it's about to be that hot season.
Let's put in that preventative maintenance
that you typically see-- -: Sure.
-: HVAC companies doing of like servicing those units,
making sure that when they fire 'em up in the hot season,
that they actually fire up and don't blow up.
And then the reverse of that of like when it's cold,
same kind of thing.
-: And you work with a lot of different types of businesses,
not just HVACs. -: Yeah.
-: But plumbers.
What are the types of businesses that you typically help?
-: Yeah, anything home service-related
when you have like basically a tech or contractor
walking into a home.
Roofing, pest control, plumbing,
HVAC, carpet cleaners,
pretty much anything where someone would walk into a home
and service a home.
-: And would say that seasonality affects
every single one of these, you know, these business types
that you work with?
-: Absolutely.
That can be storm-related.
There can be people who do restoration-type work.
Those are definitely seasonalities
of when those immediate needs hit,
but then it's also in the off-seasons
making sure that you're planning for that,
like you have enough techs on hand when things get busy
or when there's slowdown
of not necessarily laying off people,
but putting them into like a bear,
like they're that little dormant stage
of not quite as much work as they're used to.
-: Sure, and how does that change the kind
of marketing messages that you're getting in front of?
Or that you're putting in front of people.
I know it's about the right message,
right time, right place.
Obviously during seasonality there's decreases in searches
I'm sure. -: Yep.
-: There's people aren't looking for things as much,
and that's impacting the business.
So how does a business owner stay
in front of those changes for the slow season?
I know you mentioned HVAC.
-: Yeah. -: Coming into the,
the slow season's a couple months away.
Right? -: Yeah.
-: (laughs) That's every business owner's
looking at that.
So how do you change and adjust your strategy
to where you're not having to lay people off,
and you're not having to make some of those
tough business decisions in that respect?
-: Yeah, I mean example of that is I'm talking
to a roofer now, and there's typical slow season
is August, September.
For whatever reason is like people aren't willing
or wanting to pay a fee for getting something done.
It's like that. -: Sure.
-: It's not a necessity at that time,
so they're not thinking with it.
But it's getting them with a message that says
something along the lines of it's preventative.
It's like you're trying to prevent them
from a job that can be a $300 patch job
on your roof-- -: Sure.
-: To a $10,000 roof replacement
maybe because you waited too long.
So it's messaging like that is like really just
saving the consumer money in the long run
of if you don't address this now,
a small fix can then be a huge fix.
-: Sure, and do you find in your dealing with business owners
that a lot of them are aware of what the service
offerings seasonality aspect is?
-: Yes and no.
I mean, there're some that have been around awhile,
so they kinda understand it.
More of it from just a seasonality
is they're typically slow,
so they know it's just a status quo of the business
where it doesn't have to be that way.
-: Yeah, and oftentimes do they have an idea
of the types of products or services that they might shift
to their focus to when it comes to their marketing?
-: Again, yes and no.
The more well laid out ones are the definitely ones
that don't necessarily have what is traditionally
known as a slow season. -: Sure.
-: Whereas as they're doing that preventative steps
whether it's internal or local
is like they just send their guys on vacation.
Not necessarily most ideal for them,
but so far as a revenue stream,
but then again it's they've adapted over the years
and have their own plans.
Not necessarily a marketing strategy and plan,
and that's where we kinda come in and say, "Hey look,
"traditionally this is your slow period.
"It doesn't have to be."
-: Yeah.
(laughs) It doesn't have to be.
If every business owner can hear that,
I'm sure they'll be, that'll be music to their ears.
Oftentimes we look up at seasonality, I'm sure,
and it's such a negative monkey on the back
of the business owner, right?
How can marketing impact seasonality really head on
in a very positive way?
Can it affect it in a positive way?
Does it have to be this negative connotation?
-: No, it has to be part of your overall strategy.
When you're looking at hey,
there's probably a little less search volume
for those particular things,
but it's not where people are spending their time.
It's like they're still people
spending their time on social media.
So shifting and adapting to where people
are spending their time,
and then actually putting out messaging
that is still like hey, now's the time to act for fixing
that leaky roof because when the storm season comes,
it's gonna create restoration problems,
mold problems, so many problems.
So it's about marketing to what people
are looking for at that time.
-: What would say, just kind of a curious, random thought.
What would you say in your experience
when dealing with these business owners,
in their busy season, how much of the annual revenue
is their busy season really accounting for?
Is there a percentage that ya might typically see?
Do most businesses see 70% of their revenue
come from their busy season?
Or what does that look like?
-: Yeah, great question.
I mean, what I typically see is, it is what you nailed it,
is about 70% is they're so focused on that.
Those seasons where it's just like
the phone's ringing off the hook,
they're scheduling stuff two weeks out,
all their guys are back-to-back jobs.
But again, having to rely on that.
Let's say the weather's mild like it has been
in certain locations this year or just crazy weather.
When you're so reliant on those factors,
you can lose a lot of revenue
if the weather doesn't cooperate with you.
-: So how should you plan really
from a marketing perspective?
How you should you plan for the slow season
as things start to slow down
when looking at your budget
and the diversification of your marketing,
what would that look like for an HVAC contractor, let's say?
-: Yeah, I mean you definitely wanna diversify
and make sure that you're showing up
where people are spending their time.
That's what it's all about.
It's like just 'cause they're not doing a search
for AC repair or things like that,
they're still spending time online.
They may be watching YouTube videos.
They may be paying attention-- -: Sure.
-: To social media.
They're always on social media,
so advertising in those places
while still paying attention to the in-need services
that typical paid advertising does like PPC with Google.
But it's really making sure that you're diversifying it,
and then really just with that the messages
that lead to them giving you a call
because you've piqued enough interest for them
to really just say, "Wow, that fits my scenario
"of like, yeah, I have a AC unit that was dripping
"a lot during the summer, so maybe I need to get
"that paid attention to, so when I fire it up
"in the winter, it's not gonna poop out on me."
-: (laughs) So, how would you say,
what would you say is the impact actually
of if you do it right in the off-season.
I'm sure you've seen a lot of businesses
who have this locked down.
They get it.
They understand the impact of it,
the short-term and the long-term impact.
What is the impact for the following season?
That's your busy season.
What's the impact of doing it right in the off-season,
and making sure that you're not just shutting
everything off from a marketing perspective,
but you're staying in front of those customers.
How does that affect the next year?
-: It really helps it grow.
You're staying in front of your customers
during the times where they're not necessarily
gonna call you for in-demand service is.
-: Sure.
-: What you're doing is preventative maintenance
is you're keeping the guys in the called the off-season busy
with service work that is gonna prevent things
from happening in the slow months.
So those slow months you're able to really
just get in front of them for that type of business.
Just keeps your schedule pretty full with the service work,
but then in this on-demand stuff
that you're hoping happens
that you're-- -: Sure.
-: Also available for that.
-: How important is it in terms of building the brand too,
and the value that you're providing customers
keeping your mind fresh in people's mind.
Does that play a factor?
-: Absolutely.
I mean, the more, I mean the customer loyalty
isn't what it used to be is.
Like you see a lot more people just pulling out their phone,
doing a search, finding whoever is available at that time.
So keeping relevant, keeping in those searches
is like we have people who turn advertising off.
Definitely not the smartest of things to do
because people aren't have that brand loyalty.
Even if they look you up,
make sure you're there in that search.
-: Yeah.
You mentioned the loyalty's not what it's used to be.
I wanna kinda dive into that a little bit more
(laughs) because I think that's a really valuable
and important for a lot of owners to understand.
Just because you do business once with a company
doesn't mean that they're loyal to you.
I heard a quote once.
It was that "Immediacy trumps loyalty."
And so when a customer has an immediate need,
customer loyalty is out of the question.
It's out the window.
If you're not there, they're not gonna be loyal to you
because they have an immediate need.
Describe that a bit more to me
that idea of customer loyalty is not what it used to be.
How so, and in what ways can business owners
get in front of that?
-: Yeah, it's really about making, again, sure
that you're always showing up when searches
are done for that need is a person
is going to do a search on their phone,
on their computer, whatever it is,
and pretty much call the first person they find.
They may even do a search
for your name of your company,
and if you guys aren't there,
they are going to click and call that person who's on there,
and it happens all the time.
I mean, when we run a pretty strong campaigns
against that to make sure our guys show up
where they need to when that person does that search.
-: Sure.
-: And by name because that customer loyalty
is hasn't been passed down through the generations.
People are losing business.
People are moving in.
People are moving out.
You just have to constantly adapt and change
for what's happening in your marketplace.
-: Definitely.
Let's talk about planning a little bit.
I think that's something a lot of business owners
might struggle with.
A lot of business owners probably
are built into the trade.
They apprenticed into the trade.
They weren't apprenticing as a business owner,
but at a technician.
And so now they've,
your average business owner finds himself
in charge of this multi-million dollar company potentially
or even just a startup.
So, planning.
How should you plan for seasonal marketing
from a strategy perspective?
Talk a little bit about hiring,
lead flow, that marketing funnel.
How should you plan moving into those months?
-: Yeah, you definitely have to diversify
and pay attention to what traditionally
is like if depending on the type
of business you're in of like what actually drives
business for the on-demand side of things
versus the kind of advertising and things
that people are just paying to call it the off-season.
And then when you're looking
at most home service contractors call the off-season
is times where it's typically slow.
During those times,
you definitely still wanna make sure you're out there,
but also be providing informational things
like hey, now's the time to check
and make sure to fire up your unit.
Make sure it works.
-: Yeah.
-: Those type of things, and then in the midst
of the hot seasons or the cold seasons
or even in plumbing when pipes are freezing
is being in front of them for those types of things.
So it's adjusting your strategy
based on what's happening in the marketplace at that time.
If you can plan that with your marketing team,
it's really just you're not gonna have these ups, downs
as much as you would see in a company
that's not planning for those things.
-: Sure, and what different services
do business owners really need to,
they need to consider, you know,
to offer based on the seasonality.
When things start to go low or dip low,
what do they need to dial up in order to stay relevant
and in front of potential problems for customers?
-: Yeah, it's really about building the value
of getting their units serviced
is a simple $300 checkup can go a long ways
to making sure that (laughs) when you fire it up
in the off-season that it's not gonna blow up on you,
and you're gonna need a whole new unit.
I see it constantly with my guys
that I work with is that is like really making sure
that they're doing the service
because it does bring a lot of value to those people,
and smart consumers tend to see that.
-: Awesome.
We talk a lot about the marketing funnel,
and this idea of the different stage
of the consumer journey.
You mentioned different stages of the consumer journey.
Where's your customer at?
Where are they hanging out?
What message do you need to write?
How does that play into seasonality?
Are you shifting focus to a specific part
of the consumer journey in the off-season
versus the on-season, and how should you maximize
your marketing mix for the funnel at the different stages?
-: Yeah, definitely a sales funnel is very important.
I mean, you have people doing research on like okay,
well this last, let's say the last summer my AC
wasn't keeping my home cold.
What can I do to prevent that next year
because it's a miserable year in my house.
My kids were crying.
That type of thing.
So it's when you're advertising to those people,
you definitely wanna make sure you're providing information
about what units are out there,
what a typical home size should have as the type of unit
to keep that square footage cool,
zoning, things like that.
Providing information that is really
that top part of the funnel,
and in the middle you kinda have where people
are in that decision-making mode.
They're probably gonna be choosing someone
to come in and putting in the unit or install a new toilet
that has better water flow or whatnot
or they just had another kid,
so there's definitely factors
that go into this that are unseen.
So you definitely wanna make sure you're hitting it out.
Then you have the demand people
who are like I need a fix.
(Josh laughing)
Let's just get in there and do it.
So it's making sure that you hit them at all phases
of whatever part they're in in that funnel.
-: To maximize the impacts.
-: Exactly.
-: Yes.
-: If they just see you,
like if they're just cruising around social media
and they see little advertisements for you,
they're just gonna remember that name,
and customer loyalty, again, not being what it used to.
Just the frequency of seeing you
in all the searches that they're doing
in the social media and all their feeds,
it just leads to when it comes in time of need.
-: Sure.
-: Or it comes in time of hey,
I need to get this thing serviced, they'll think of you.
-: Awesome.
Matt, well this has been awesome.
I wanna wrap this up with a nice bow, so.
For those experiencing seasonality,
whatever stage you're in for your business,
what would you say is the one piece of advice
that you can give them in order to maximize
their marketing efforts in the off-season?
-: It's really don't stop what you're doing
during the not off-season is it's a traditional thing
to just shut everything off and just give up.
It's not the strategy that's gonna make you guys
succeed and win business and get whatever,
hit whatever goals it is you wanna do is come up
with a strategy that keeps you in front of those people
who are actively searching or doing
on finding services that you guys provide.
-: Matt, well this has been awesome.
I appreciate you taking the time out of your busy day
to talk to all of our listeners.
So, thank you.
Thank you so much.
And for all you listening,
if you enjoyed the content you heard today,
definitely hit that subscribe button
wherever you might be at so we could continue
to bring more things your way.
And from all of us here at The Sharpest Tool,
we'll catch ya next time.
Thanks.
(upbeat rock music)