11/18/2024
This first snow of the year always reminds me of a few things:
Thereโs always a ton of accidents the first few days until people get their snow legs under them.
In California itโs the rain ๐.
Reaction times are slow, not giving the car in front enough space, not planning ahead or leaving earlier to account for the unforeseen situations that can/will happen.
Youโre in panic modeโฆwhite knuckle driving.
Just like the four seasons, businesses have seasonality as well.
Depending on your business, you may be entering the slow season or peak season, or even shoulder season for that matter.
When I was running the trucking & brokerage company, our primary niche was building materials.
We moved freight across the entire lower 48, but when winter hits, there isnโt a ton of building going on.
Everyone starts to panic, โOh sh@!โ. White knuckle driving.
Or, they say, โItโs the slow season, happens every year.โ
I said, โF@$! That!โ
I knew we had to diversify to offset the dip in revenue over the winters.
So, I hired a salesman that had a large book of business in produce.
That hire pumped almost $1.5 million in revenue into the business the first year.
Would you add another service to your business if it added that much more money to the top line?
Does a bear sh!@ in the woodsโฆdamn right!
Then we started adding machinery, heavy equipment, government contracts, etc.
You get my drift.
I took this same approach to my marketing biz (Incumbent Solutions) because Iโll be damned if I let the seasonality of a clientโs business affect my revenue.
I began my business working with mainly home service providers. We now work with primarily sewer and drain companies as well as industrial equipment suppliers.
I started introducing the concept to some of my clients and a few bought in.
One of them (my very first client in fact) liked it so much that he took the idea and ended up pivoting to an entirely new industry where he made more money with better profit margins and worked less hours than he did with his previous business.
Moral of the story, you donโt have to accept things as they are.
You can always plan ahead, add on, adapt or pivot.
If youโre a business owner, how can you offset your seasonality?
Start planting seeds now that you can harvest come spring or even the next few months.
Be proactive, not reactive.
The best time to market your business is when you donโt think you need to.
Have the day you deserve!
Demetrius
