It’s no secret that May to September is the busiest time of year for hot tub dealers and pool builders. So, as your busy season comes to a close, you may be looking ahead to the next few months and wondering what to do with all this available time (other than taking a vacation to recover from the last few months).
Your slow season is a great time to focus on the behind the scenes aspects of your business. After all, there is always something to do and those busy months of installs and packed showrooms often mean you get behind on other things that need your attention.
Get Caught Up
Use this time to catch up on everything that falls through the cracks when you and your staff are on the clock all summer long. Consider adding the following tasks to your to-do list for the winter:
- Update your client lists with new clients and updated previous client info
- Take stock of your inventory and determine what you need to prepare for next year’s busy season
- Reorganize (and deep clean) your showroom to give it a fresh look
- Examine your service routes to make sure you’re using time and money wisely
Hit Up Trade Shows
Most of the trade shows for your industry are during the slower months for good reason. You should attend at least one. This will give you a great opportunity to meet with your vendors one-on-one (be sure to schedule those meet-ups in advance), take advantage of educational opportunities, and browse the trade show floor for new, top-notch products you can start offering to your own customers.
Beef-Up Your Marketing
The slow season is a great time to really examine your marketing efforts and work toward growing your business. Have you started an email marketing campaign to keep potential customers that visit your website engaged (don’t worry, we can help you!)? What about planning your content calendar for your blog and social media several months in advance (we can help there too!)?
Revisit your marketing budget and see how you can utilize it better.  Now is the time to plan these things so that they’re already in place during the busy season and you don’t have to think about it then.
While we highly recommend taking a vacation when things slow down, once you’ve hit that reset button, dive into all the behind-the-scenes aspects of your business to keep things running smoothly all year long.
