Is January slow for you?
It depends on your trade and where you work. For a lot of remodelers, painters and handymen, the weeks after the holidays go quiet. For a furnace or frozen-pipe specialist, January can be the busiest month of the year.
Open your calendar from last January. If it had gaps, those gaps are coming back unless you book them now.
Why now, not in January
In November and December, your phone is still ringing and you’re talking to customers every day. That’s when filling January is easiest: one line at the end of a conversation you’re already having.
Wait until the first week of January, and you’re cold-calling people who are paying off the holidays.
Fix 01: Offer January to the “not right now” list
Every contractor has customers who said “not right now”:
- the estimate they asked you to keep open
- the second bathroom they’ll “do next year”
- the “while you’re here, can you look at…” job you didn’t have time for
Those people already trust you, and the work is already scoped. Send each one a short message:
“Hi Sarah, you mentioned the second bathroom. I’ve got openings in the second week of January. Want me to hold one for you?”
One message each. If they say no, leave it.
Fix 02: Move your maintenance visits into January
If you run annual service visits, like furnace checks, gutter cleans or pest inspections, you choose when most of them land. Put the flexible ones into your quiet weeks, and keep the busy months for urgent work.
Book the January visits now, with a date and time, rather than “sometime in the new year.”
Fix 03: Offer the date, not a discount
A January discount teaches your customers to wait for January. What a quiet week really gives you is time: a start date that’s weeks away in your busy season, and days away in January.
“We can start the week of January 11.”
For a customer who’s been waiting, an early start date is worth more than 10% off.
This week’s checklist
- Look at last January’s calendar and count the empty days.
- Make a list of every customer with work they put off, and send each one a January date.
- Book this winter’s maintenance visits into your quiet weeks.
Common questions
When do contractors usually slow down?It depends on the trade and the climate. Look at your own calendar from the last two years. Your own quiet weeks are what matter.
Should I run a January sale to get more work?Usually not. A discount trains customers to wait for it. An early start date is a better offer in a quiet month.
How far ahead should I book my slow season?Start six to eight weeks out, while you’re still busy and talking to customers every day.
How Goanna Digital handles this
Every Goanna Digital plan includes a job pipeline that shows every opportunity at a glance, including the quoted and waiting ones, so the “not right now” list is already there when you need it. A quarterly customer email with seasonal tips and reminders keeps past customers warm.
Want this handled for you? Goanna Digital runs your website, your Google presence, your lead inbox, quoting and invoicing from one app on your phone. Book a free 15-minute call and we’ll show you how it would work for your business.
Want this handled for you?
Goanna Digital runs your website, your Google presence, your lead inbox, estimates and invoicing from one app on your phone.