Take a deep breath. We’ve finally made it to Shoulder Season. The busiest (and often most profitable) time of year has passed, and you have a few months to work on the business and get ready for next year. Here are some ways you can improve your business during the slower season:
Organize your books and records. In the last quarter of the year, it’s tempting for many owners to start thinking about ways to minimize their annual tax bill. That often means spending money on nice-to-have equipment and other items, so your profitability looks lower at tax time. But if you’re planning on selling the company in the next two to three years, a tax minimization strategy may not be the right one.
I’ve written about this before: when you choose to minimize your profit rather than pay taxes, you save money in the short run: maybe 30 cents on every dollar. However, when you sell, a buyer makes an offer based on a multiple of the company’s Seller’s Discretionary Earnings (SDE). That means every dollar of profit that stays on the books can earn you $3- 4 when you sell. The math makes taking personal expenses and non-essential business expenses off the books a no-brainer.
The time you spend getting organized during the slow season will also pay off when you get ready to sell. You’ll spend less time finding documents for a buyer during the diligence process, so you can spend more time running your business. Even if you’re not in a short sale window, you’ll make your everyday life easier and tax time much more manageable. Your CPA will thank you, and you’ll save on professional fees.
Start planning for next year. This is a good time to bring on new staff if you need the help. You and your most experienced techs will have more time to train new hires before summer. Sending them out on service agreement appointments is a good way to evaluate their skills and reliability. They’ll be a known quantity long before the busy summer repair season starts.
This is also a good time to focus on selling service agreements. Your customers’ heating and cooling bills are lower, so they have a bit more in the budget to invest in maintenance. They’re also likely to be more open to buying a service agreement at this time of year. They’ll want to have confidence that their system will be running efficiently over the winter. It’s always a good idea to increase the percentage of your business dedicated to service and repair; you’ll even out cash flow over the year, keep your techs busy, and be more attractive to buyers when you’re ready to sell.
Tighten up your operations. With almost a full year’s worth of receipts in hand, this is a good time to see where the company’s money is going and where your staff’s time is being spent. If there are processes that take longer than they should, invest in training or other resources to help staff work more efficiently. If you don’t already have a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system in place, it’s a good idea to think about finding one that’s a fit for your business. It will save staff many hours by providing easy-to-access reports on past service records and reminders for service agreement renewals. Reviewing your customer service and sales scripts is also a worthwhile investment of your time, as is updating your website and soliciting testimonials and referrals from satisfied customers.
Shoulder season is a great time to take a step back from day-to-day operations and focus on growth and profitability. You’ll be setting yourself up for a great year in 2026.
