Surviving in the Off Season

In the moving industry, we all have our share of ups and downs. One month you could be fully swamped with projects here and there. While on other months, you see tumbleweeds rolling by inside the office. Movers are always busiest during the summer months from May to September but what about the rest of the year?

How does one survive during off-season?

In this article we’ll tell you how.

Focus on the Local Market

One of best sources of revenue is the local market. If you think about it, relocations within the same town our county will always outnumber long distance moves. And not only do local markets offer continuous business, they are also a good source for repeat business.

Local customers bring in more referrals than long distance. If you perform your job well and satisfy your client, they will share the story with their friends and use you again and again for any moving needs.  So not only will they be your regulars, they can also be your unofficial sales agents too.

Plus, you also have to note that long distance clients will probably hire you only once. For one thing, it’s not common for people to move interstate on a regular basis, and two, once they’re located far away, they’ll probably get a new company that’s closer to their location.

So you see, if you want your business to survive during off season, you have to bank on the steadier and profitable local market. To do this, make sure that you get all the necessary local licenses in order for your company to do operations.

Other Tips to Prepare Your Business for Off-Season

Aside from tapping into the local scene, there are also a couple of things that you can implement to survive when business is slow:

• Manage your cash flow – Reduce your expenses as much as possible during slow months. Adjust your budget and make it adapt to the calendar. Skip extravagant expenses that you really don’t deem important and make sure to minimize your daily operational expenses.
• Use your resources wisely – You can minimize your expenses with even simple acts of turning off the lights in your office during lunch time or using recycled (already used) papers for printing documents that are not too important.
• Don’t waste time – There’s a saying that peace is only preparation for war. Spend your time wisely and think of ways on how to market yourself better for peak season.
• Maximize your workforce – An option would be to keep a low number of capable employees during off-peak season, and then hire seasonal workers once summer approaches. Just make sure to keep your best employees permanent so you will always be on top of your game no matter what time of the year it is.
• Perform marketing initiatives during the peak months – While you may be at your busiest during summer, you should have a dedicated initiative on getting more clients for the coming off months. People often plan their relocations months ahead of their target dates so you have to adjust to that.
• Find other sources of revenue – You can offer self-storage facilities for people who are not necessary moving. You can also offer specialty moving services like for bulky musical equipment, antiques, furniture and so on. This is for getting customers who not necessarily after moving their entire household and those who prefer to move most of their stuff by themselves.
• Focus your efforts on reaching new markets – If you feel that your company is catering to a very limited demographic then it’s time to do expansion. Scour nearby cities and towns and make your presence known there. You can also leverage the power of the internet and therefore be available for a bigger audience regardless of location. Just make sure to prepare a website or blog so that people can actually find you online.

All in all, the key here is to be creative and persistent on finding other sources of income. Just because you don’t have too many projects right now, it doesn’t mean that you can already slack off and take a breather. You have to work on your business each and every day.