Six Ways to Help Your Snow Customers this Spring...

By Brian K. Birch

I know that many of you out there who provide a good or service to the snow industry see the spring as maybe your off-season in terms of snow and ice. I know that we used to feel that way at SIMA...but as the industry matures and our members grow professionally, we are finding that snow and ice is most definitely a year-round relationship.

There are many ways you can help your customers during this challenging time of year for them. Not only are they operationally trying to prepare for a service change (moving from snow to landscaping for most of them), they are also working on collecting on unpaid accounts, getting equipment prepped for storage, etc.
The best way you can help them is to save them time at this juncture. If you are making attempts to work with them this spring, make sure you are prepared in your conversations, and that you are respectful of their time; in my experience this is the most stressful time in their work cycles each year, as the weather is still unpredictable, their landscaping clients are demanding action, and their crews are rusty or tired from a long winter. You need to ask yourself ‘How can I be helpful to them in their time of need?’.

Here are a few tips:

1.  If your expertise is product or equipment-related, share with them some simple tips on upkeep for storage, or provide that service for them if possible locally
2. Understand their challenges related to cash flow; they are ramping up landscaping (with major capital expenses to get moving) and trying to collect any unpaid snow accounts; if you can be flexible in payments/billing terms, now is the time to show them!
3. If you are speaking with them by phone or in-person, do your homework and be prepared, make sure they understand how much you value their business and their time. Also, save their time by emailing pertinent information first before just calling them out of the blue
4. Deliver on what you promised; during this stressful time, if you are doing more business with them in the spring, make sure you set reasonable expectations and make sure you don’t fail to deliver on what you promise. These folks, just like any of us, will react more strongly under times of great pressure when things go wrong...and if you screw up, make it right ASAP!
5. Don’t be invisible; even though the snow season is drawing to a close, it is always a good idea to keep contact with these folks, via any local, regional, or national advertising, and B2B.
6. Don’t write off winter! As I stated at the beginning, snow is a full-time business, and in March most owners will be meeting with their staffs to evaluate the season and plan for next. How do you set yourself up to help solve the challenges they talk about at that meeting? Now is the time to stay in front of these folks respectfully, as they will make decisions now for next season and start implementing them in the fall...if you wait until then to get to them, it may be too late!

If you take a little time to think about the way you are speaking or marketing to snow contractors at the end of the season, I think you’ll find some ways you can improve and help them through this crazy time of year!