How to Create Your Plan for Success in 2014

Unless you’re closing up shop for good on December 31, the end of the year is not an end of anything – except for a certain set of numbers that give you a picture of 2013. That picture can serve as a sound good guide for your vision for 2014, but only if you color in the details. Contractor marketing specialist Adams Hudson offers several insights that can help: 

“Contractors have notoriously based their marketing on responding to certain conditions,” Hudson said. “Like this: ‘It’s hot? Great, we get calls. It’s cold? Great, we get calls. It’s mild? Uh-oh. We better do something right now and get calls.’” 

 

In fact, instead of responding to conditions all year long, Hudson recommends that contractors look ahead and create their own conditions. “You do that by creating a marketing plan that can carry you through each season – capitalizing on the busy times, while employing fertile customer retention strategies that help you weather mild times.”

In order to be ready for the new year, Hudson says contractors should take these important steps:

• Define Goals – A goal is not “do the best we can.” It’s based on an assessment of opportunities, competition and potential pitfalls. Look reality and possibility in the face, and make the case for where you want to go. That also means…
• Make Goals Actionable – Reaching your market is done with tactics. Your goal guides the development of tactics that can be employed and ultimately measured, which means…   
• Make Goals Achievable – There’s nothing more discouraging (and less profitable) than creating an impossible scenario – and not reaching it. Seek a balance between reality and possibility.

To make this process easy, Hudson, Ink offers a tool for HVAC contractors that instantly creates a 12-month strategic marketing plan. You can find out more about the HVAC Marketing PowerPlan System at www.contractormarketingplan.com.

Contractors who buy this tool by the end of this month also get a free month’s membership in an exclusive Marketing Coaching Club for contractors.

“Responding to conditions is a type of ‘marketing conditioning’ that needs to end now,” Hudson said. “Take control of your business by taking control of your marketing plan. Create a plan that fits your message, your weather and your budget – for every media, every month – and you’ve taken a giant leap toward a successful year.” 

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