As the holiday season approaches, we emphasize the critical importance of leveraging this period to enhance your business prospects for the coming year. Eric G and John Dudley discuss strategic initiatives that can be undertaken during the typically slower months of November and December. They advocate for proactive engagement with past clients, suggesting that holiday gatherings often prompt considerations for home improvements, thus presenting an opportune moment to reconnect. Furthermore, we highlight the significance of marketing during this timeframe, as many competitors may withdraw their efforts, allowing your voice to resonate more clearly in the marketplace. Ultimately, by dedicating a modicum of time to outreach and strategic planning, one can position their enterprise advantageously for the upcoming year.

As we transition into the final months of the calendar year, it becomes imperative for business owners within the construction and home improvement sectors to strategically position themselves for the forthcoming year. Eric G and John Dudley, in this week's Pro Insider podcast, elucidate on the myriad of opportunities that arise during this typically quieter period. The discourse commences with reflections on the seasonal slowdown, emphasizing the potential for proactive measures that can yield substantial benefits. Eric and John advocate for a dual approach: utilizing this time to reconnect with past clients while simultaneously laying the groundwork for future projects. They suggest that engaging in warranty walkthroughs not only enhances client relationships but can also stimulate new project discussions, especially as the holidays draw near and homeowners begin to contemplate renovations in anticipation of family gatherings.

Furthermore, the hosts underscore the significance of targeted marketing during this period. While many businesses retreat from promotional efforts, Eric and John argue that maintaining visibility can differentiate one's services from competitors who have opted for a holiday hiatus. The conversation also touches on practical fiscal strategies, such as taking advantage of seasonal tool sales and evaluating tax positions to optimize financial outcomes. As Eric aptly puts it, a little effort now can translate into significant financial gains in the upcoming year, underscoring the importance of perseverance and strategic foresight in the trades industry.

Takeaways:

• As the holiday season approaches, it is prudent to utilize this time to strategize for future projects, ensuring that your business is well-prepared for the upcoming year.
• Engaging with past clients during slower months can yield fruitful opportunities for new contracts, particularly as they contemplate renovations before family gatherings.
• The holiday season presents an opportune moment to acquire tools at discounted rates, allowing for both immediate savings and future tax deductions when considering business expenses.
• Marketing efforts should be intensified during this period, as many competitors reduce their outreach, thus providing a unique opportunity to stand out and attract potential clients.

Links referenced in this episode:

• aroundthehouseonline.com

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• DeWalt
• Milwaukee
• Makita
• Home Depot
• Lowe's

Foreign.

Welcome to the around the House Pro Insider.

This is the podcast for trades pros, carpenters, contractors, interior designers and innovators building homes, renovating spaces, or creating the next big thing.

Let's dive in with your host, Eric.

G. Welcome to the around the House Pro Insider.

This is for all you people out there that are contractors, designers.

Maybe you're home builder, maybe you're an inventor and you're trying to get it through this home improvement design, construction space.

Johnny and I are here to give you a hand and hopefully give you some tips for next week or next month in your current project.

Dudley, good to see you, my friend.

What's happening, brother?

Man, I tell you what, I'm.

This is my favorite time of year coming into.

Coming in the end of October.

It's Halloween today for all the people out there, trick or treating.

And of course, tomorrow for us is November 1st.

And this is that time of year where things get slow down or they get picked up a little bit because you're trying to get stuff done before the holidays.

But to me, there are some things you could be doing right now to get ready for next year that I think it's one of the most important times a year for your business.

Yeah, I agree, man.

Like, I was talking to you before the show, like, I always find more work during the times when everybody else is relaxing.

And I know that sounds a little obsessive.

Oh, yeah, let's all relax.

It takes time.

Take time off and watch football and think about turkey.

And I'm like, no, I'm gonna go get work.

And it's never really from that context, but I find it way more effective.

Put out bids on Saturday when everybody else is not paying attention.

Yeah, it seems to work.

And I would say that your client finds are typically better as well, because it is the people, it is the folks that are thinking about tax time next year.

And that's.

As a contractor, that was always my thought in these months, man.

Tax time's coming way quicker than you think it is.

And three months, four months, people are going to start seeing some dough.

And they're planning their kitchen remodel now because they're going to cook their turkey for Thanksgiving.

They're like, I'm so tired of this kitchen.

Bam.

There's your personal amen.

Amen.

I used to market that on the radio back with my old design firm.

I'd go, is this the last time you're going to cook in that kitchen?

Are you cooking that turkey?

Do you know you're going to burn Half of it.

Do you know that it's just not laid out correctly and you have too many people in a small space.

Let's make that this last year.

And it worked out well for the kitchen and bath space.

But to me, when you're doing projects, especially if you're a modeling contractor, I think one of the biggest times of year when things slow down just a little bit and you go, oh my gosh, what am I doing for next year?

This seems counterintuitive, but I would go back six months to 18 months in your back projects and go schedule warranty walkthroughs with them.

And you go, what?

I don't want to be doing free work.

No.

But that Kitch remodel that you did last year, they have now paid for it usually.

And now they're thinking, boy, that master bathroom looks horrible.

Yep.

And everybody's coming over for the holidays.

And that you've got them in the.

Right mindset to them, hey, I'll give you, I'll give.

If you can give me five people, I'll give you 10 off your next project.

Off the labor.

Yeah, yeah.

Boom.

There's always those kind of things you can do and just showing back up and seeing them.

And they now have gotten over the frustration of you being there the entire time.

It's now kind of a I missed you a little bit, shall we say, Right.

You get in there and you're tuning up the cabinets maybe, or you're putting a little touch up stick or a little touch up on paint where somebody ran into a corner of a piece of molding.

Do some dumb stuff, go in there and go, wow, let's take care of this.

Spend an hour with them chit chatting and you could walk into the next phase of the project.

And maybe they weren't going to call you.

Maybe they were.

But the while you're at it is where you can make some money.

Yeah, yeah.

It's like you said, it seems counterintuitive.

You're thinking, people don't want to be bothered right now.

They're all busy with the holidays coming up.

They don't have any money because they're worried about paying for presents for Christmas.

But the flip side of that coin is a lot of them are in really good moods because they know they got two weeks vacation coming up or they're excited to have the family over they're feeling good about.

It's the holidays, it's the season of joy.

So the.

There's two sides of the coin for sure.

But you're bound to catch a couple of fish in that lake.

Yeah.

Because there's a lot in there and they're ones you've already closed before.

So you already know that you've connected, you've already been through that.

So that's low hanging fruit where I come from.

Because you could sit there and just really go through that and you're golden.

You're golden.

It's that simple.

And so I think these are those important times to be doing that and making sure that.

I think the other thing is too is if you're needing tools, the holidays is where all the tool sales come out.

So you got the Black Friday sales.

Now is the time that if you're a DeWalt person or a Milwaukee person or a Makita person, start looking for it because all of a sudden you're gonna see these special buys where Home Depot or Lowe's or even your local big tool store or your favorite online one is trying to get those retail sales.

And it's the perfect time to go in there and get maybe the free extra four batteries when you buy the thousand dollar toolkit.

Yep, exactly.

And you can write it off next year.

That's the cool thing.

That's the other thing.

Get it in before.

Yeah, Yep.

And if you got a big company and you don't and you're doing your own taxes or you got somebody that you're taking down at H R Block or whatever it is, go run your taxes right now.

Where are you at?

Do you need to go spend some money?

Do you need another truck?

Do you need some more tools?

Do you need to get that down for write offs or you do you know where you're at?

The this is the cool thing is a little bit of work right now.

And even if you got your numbers running through AI let it tell you where you think you're at.

Yep.

And those are things that you can really do to maybe reduce that tax liability.

Where next year you walk into your tax person in February and go, here you go.

And they're like, dude, you're killing yourself.

Smart move.

So you gotta jump in.

So you know, these are things you could be doing right now.

And I think it's also the great time to be marketing as well.

Because yes, people get inundated by the Hallmark movies on television or they get in, whatever it is.

But if you're trying to book up next year, people are thinking about next year.

So be the one marketing when everybody else has turned their marketing off because they don't want to compete with the, the Macy's sale.

Yeah.

Or they're.

And again, I'm not saying don't take some time off.

Don't, you know, don't neglect the family.

Don't put full effort here, but you can put half the effort into marketing and outreach in times like these, when other people are sleeping, other people are like focused on what they're gonna buy their son for Christmas or whatever.

Absolutely.

Your marketing becomes a lot louder when the field is thinned by half.

And that's what happens again.

It's the Saturday of the year and people are chilling, they're kicking back, they're thinking about the end of the year, they're thinking about all the holidays, and there's way fewer voices and yours will stand out better.

It's so effective every time.

Yeah, it really works.

It really works.

It's one of those things that if you do it right and take your time off, you know, the.

I always tell my friends that are married, it's, hey, your biggest mistake is that divorce, because that's gonna cost you the most money versus, trust me, I've learned this the hard way.

But again, it sounds like a lot to add on top of the holidays.

Oh, now you want me to go market and be proactive for my business when I've got all these things to do and I got to get the house ready.

And again, the point being is there's half the people in the market pool right now that aren't doing anything.

So really, you can half your efforts.

It's not a full court press.

No, it's a little bit extra work.

Take a couple hours each week and like you said, go around touch base, though.

Clients get on the phone, even send out your postcards, send out your thank you, happy Christmas cards.

That stuff makes a big difference, man.

And people notice.

And here's the thing too.

People go, oh, I used to be this guy.

I don't have the time for that.

I'm so busy doing this, this and this.

Set it up like it's a two hour zoom call.

Guess what?

You make it through the zoom meeting and if you take it with the same seriousness and go, okay, I'm going to turn my phone off and put it into do not disturb mode.

Like I'm in a meeting.

If your significant other calls and you know there's emergency, you can look at it, but you can put it in do not disturb and give people access into your do not disturb.

Like on my Apple iPhone, I can sit there and say, hey, if I have my ringer off this person will still ring through.

If you've got the wife or the husband and kids or whatever, you can still put those things through or your four project managers, but you can reduce.

You don't owe somebody a phone call 30 seconds later.

Take the time.

Yeah, yeah.

And you, you got to approach it with, okay, yeah, maybe it's something extra to fit in these busy holiday times, but if it lands me an extra 100k next year, maybe it's worth a couple hours a week.

Yeah, it's worth a couple of business cards.

Maybe it's worth a couple of Christmas cards.

You don't know, man.

Even if it's not your ex client, maybe it's your ex client's sister in law and they remember, oh yeah, she was talking about a new kitchen this Thanksgiving.

Or they're at Thanksgiving and they're like, we're so sick of this kitchen.

And they go, hey, our contractor just contacted us.

You should give him a call.

He was great.

It's just boom.

Yeah, the two hours is worth 200 grand.

Go get it.

Go make it happen.

Yeah, bring the money in.

It'll make you're chasing it down when you want it so much easier because you've already got that bird in hand.

Yep.

Awesome, brother.

Hey, we always like to keep these under just a little bit so people can get their thing and not make this the Joe Rogan show here or the Y Files where we go on for two and a half hours.

However comma we want to keep this short.

Everybody have a great week.

We'll see you next week into November where we're going to have some fun talking about some new stuff.

Johnny and I had just a great conversation the other day with an attorney talking construction law.

We'll share some of that up here and maybe have him come on and do that.

And if you've got questions about your business, head over to aroundthehouse online.com hit that contact us page that ends up in my inbox and we'll see if we can answer that directly and help you get that business across the finish line of what your goals are.

I'm Eric G. I'm Johnny D. You've been listening to the around the House Pro Insider.

We'll see you next week.

Thanks for tuning in to the around the House Pro Insider.

We are happy to be back.

Make sure you subscribe so you know to catch the next episode.

We will see you next time.

Get it back, man.

I need to focus now.

What is that?