The winter season is known for a lot of things, but mainly stress and tremendous amounts of hectic activity. I wish there was a workshop full of elves making all my kids’ gifts and a fat man ready to show up to deliver it all, but that’s not the way life works. If we want things to be right and those around us to be taken care of, it takes work. We plan for months to make our holidays extra special, but after it’s all over and the ball drops, we better shift gears quickly to planning and strategizing our business moves for 2024. If we spend too long recovering from the holiday hangover, next Christmas might be a lot leaner.

If you haven’t already, make a New Year’s resolution that you won’t go far into 2024 without an organized plan to achieve your goals this year. Getting that strategy appointment on the books is important, but from my experience as an in-home contractor marketing coach, I can also tell you a lot depends on you for our strategy sessions to be successful before our conversation ever happens. You can’t fine-tune and map your route to a destination unless you have a vision for where you want to go.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself to help your Marketing Coach develop the right plan for you:

1. What are my GOALS for this year?

And before we get too deep, let me reemphasize the words this year. You can go more granular and set your goals for each quarter, or even things you want to accomplish in the first month or two. But I would caution you about projecting too far out or being too vague. We can throw out generalities and pie-in-the-sky dreams like, “I want to be pulling $50 million in revenue in 10 years,” or “I want to be dominating my market in 5,” but that just might not be achievable if you’re a young upstart in a major metro. And unfortunately, these large, long-term goals normally get forgotten, or the right incremental system isn’t put in place to get you there. But what’s more shocking than aggressive goals is the fact that (according to LinkedIn polling) 72% of small business owners don’t set any goals at all.

Here are a few suggestions to get your wheels turning. Find an area that needs improvement, set an achievable goal, and get to work.

Cut costs: Shop around for new distributors/equipment contracts or have a sit-down conversation with your manufacturer’s reps to maximize your co-oped marketing spend.

Improve productivity: Plan a phase out of older service vehicles or better grouping of calls by dispatch to cut down on windshield time and operating expense.

Healthy revenue growth: Again, don’t let this get too subjective — think more year-over-year. Focus on growth inside your existing customer base with a good customer retention and engagement program.

When goal setting, always make sure you follow the SMART System. Your goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.

Who is My Audience?

One of the most important questions a business owner can ever ask themselves is, “Who am I here for?” The real key to growing your business is simple — find out your ideal customer, and then ask yourself how to best communicate and appeal to them to gain their business. For the savvy business owner, this question is not as easily answered as, “Anyone and everyone… I want a call from everyone with a home.” Everyone is not for you, and if you’re trying to brand yourself as one-size-fits-all, you’re likely coming off as a commodity. Expansion into new areas might not be the next logical step for you, and this year’s growth might actually mean saying no a lot more often than yes. And that’s OK.

Sometimes the wrong fit can bring far more headaches than benefits, and except for our most rural contractors, you likely can be much more targeted and selective with your messaging than you ever thought. If you looked at your database and pulled out the top 10% most profitable homes you service (low complaints, multiple services/appointments during the year, referrals given), what commonalities would you see among that group? Same neighborhood or zip code? Close age or income demographic?

Now ask yourself, what would it mean for your 2024 if you doubled that 10% by marketing directly to households like them?

What changes will move me forward in 2024?

And now we’re down to brass tacks. It’s not enough to have a goal, know exactly what needs to be done, or even who to target to achieve those goals. Changes happen when we decide to start the wheels in motion to produce the change we desire.

If you know the dispatching software is a nightmare, ask around to find out what others are having success with and schedule some demos. Identify the problem and have a clear next step towarda solution. But if you know the problems all too well but don’t see a simple fix, the first step is probably a phone call for advice. And if you can answer the questions above, knowing your goals and your target audience, it will put you light-years ahead in the consultation with a business and marketing coach.

Chances are your struggle is one which trained consultants deal with commonly, but the solution for you must be nuanced and specific — because your market, budget, personality, and situation are entirely unique. Success takes three things: Knowing what we want, desiring what we want enough to make us act, and a smart plan to help us get there. Where are you stalling out? Will you take the necessary steps and make the necessary contacts to bring significant changes in 2024?