28 | APRIL 2018
News
Read online at www.proinstaller.co.uk
PREPARING FOR THE RUSH
Any business that has big
seasonal variations has a
challenge. This means the
cashflow doesn’t flow smoothly
through the year and nor does
the work. Benjamin Dyer, CEO of
Powered Now, looks at various
ideas for reducing the strain.
When I was growing up
my family ran a hotel on
the Isle of Wight. The hotel
was always busy, but there
was a problem – during the
summer visitors rolled in
faster than we could deal
with, the hotel was a hive
of continuous activity. The
winter however was the
converse, aside from the
odd ‘Tinsel and Turkey’
coach party things were
relatively dead. The solu-
tion? During the summer
months my family worked
seven days a week, starting
early and finishing late,
serving in the bar. Dur-
ing the winter the family
would decamp for Spain
where they lived for several
months, doing nothing.
My family’s problem with
the hotel perfectly illus-
trates the problem faced
by Installers – demand isn’t
flat-out throughout the
year. Spring can be a very
busy time for installers, the
longer days and warmer
weather mean not only
lighter moods but turn peo-
ple’s thoughts to improving
their houses.
In this article, I will look
at some ideas for coping
with this issue.
Manage when the
work gets done
Tour operators have a
way of handling the sum-
mer rush. They move as
much demand as possible
away from the peak period
by using surge pricing.
Anyone that has children
knows the painful (and
expensive) experience of
booking during the sum-
mer holidays.
People without kids near-
ly always go on holiday in
the spring, early summer or
autumn because it’s much
cheaper. Tour operators
have expensive overheads
and fixed assets that need
utilising the whole time.
So, it makes sense to price
much lower outside the
summer period to shift
demand, even if holidays
run at a slight loss during
that time.
You can use the same
technique by offering ‘early
bird’ deals for people who
make a commitment just
before your busy period.
You could also offer ‘late
bird’ offers – delay for four
months and get 10% off.
When people commit to
you, the competition has
lost, so you may well end
up with more business
overall as well as a more
manageable workload. It’s
also a way of capturing
price-sensitive customers
without disadvantaging
you.
You should also try to
move other work to a dif-
ferent time of the year. For
instance, if you do landlord
certificates maybe you
could offer them early and
at a much lower price to
move them from your busy
period. That way you can
benefit from the full price
in the years to come while
at the same time they are
much more convenient, and
you can provide a better
service.
Do everything you
can out of season
During the busy period,
be very careful to avoid an-
ything that could possibly
distract you from getting
the job done. So, explain
to staff that holidays are
not encouraged during
this period. While this may
make you a little unpopular
this needn’t be a problem
provided the message gets
through in good time. Tell-
ing someone that they can’t
have time off once they
have made arrangements is
much more problematical,
so make communication a
priority.
Gas engineer John
McLouglin says: “Every
five years I have to do an
assessment and re-sit the
core gas qualifications”.
You should look at what
time of year this is going to
happen and if it falls in the
busy period, do it earlier
to avoid losing available
time.
In the same way, deal-
ing with problem staff
as well as recruiting new
staff should all be sorted
would need to charge for the quote
‘ if You
you need to do a survey so you can
guarantee the price with no unforseens ’
out before the peak load.
In the case of new staff,
recruit them well before so
you never have to provide
additional supervision and
training when everyone’s
hands are on the pump.
On another point, did
you know that if you are a
limited liability company
you can mov