We know that winter can be slow in our industry, but we’ve found a way to use the cold weather to our advantage, and want to share some tips with you –  the contractors that we are so proud to work with!

We recommend that you take the extra time that you don’t have in summer, to analyse your business’s performance over the winter months. Doing this will help you understand your areas of strength, and areas in which you want to improve. If you’ve heard of a SWOT Analysis before, identifying your internal strengths and  weaknesses, and the external opportunities, and threats allows you to actually match your strengths with opportunities and to convert weaknesses into strengths.

With a tip of the hat to social media, consumers are more informed now than they have ever been in the past. With increased access to product information, Pinterest boards of design inspiration, and more consumer reviews than ever before, consumers are no longer settling for “jack of all trades” contractors. They want the best. They want experts for their projects.

By analysing your business’s performance in the winter months, you should be able to identify what avenue you are an expert in. Whether it’s project design, custom exteriors, custom deck building, landscape design, custom fencing, or pergolas and gazebos, you should identify what you are the absolute best at, brand yourself as such, and start planning your attack on next year from this starting point.