Suggestions Seasonal Business

[Skinnermagic]

We have found that, over the years, our peak times are early fall and early spring.

During the peak months we are filling in a hole (money wise) created by the slow months.

Our question is:
Are there other shops that have this issue?
What products or services do you offer to help offset this?

Any and all solutions are appreciated!

Phil

 

[ExecuPrintGS]

Dec - Feb are usually slow for us, but its also usually ungodly cold here.
We do paper printing and apparel along with our signage/ vehicle graphics so that usually fills in the slower months. "Summer" (Mar-Nov) we go like gangbusters on any nice day and pump as much work as we can to offset those slow months. We usually take advantage of the slow months and do things around the shop that need improving or re-vamping. Upgrade our vehicle graphics, re-wrap a wall in the lobby, clean/ organize things like that, not a money maker in the slow months but people notice when they start flowing back in.

 

[Gino]

Something I've been doing for years and years is to offer a discount to a rather large project, if they can wait til (whatever time you feel necessary) to move on the project.

We also push vehicle lettering all year long. We generally have 5 or 6 vehicles in here a week. Sometimes less, sometimes more. They're always a good money maker any time of the year.

 

[T_K]

I'm working in a niche market right now, and haven't figured out a pattern yet. But there are waves of busy and dead. When I worked at a print shop in Dallas, we mostly worked with small local businesses, and our schedule generally followed the school year. When the kids were in school, we'd be busy. When they were on vacation, we'd be slow. As I wasn't part of the outside sales (just took care of walk-ins personally), I'd use the slow times for reorganizing and trying to restructure workflow so we didn't get as many "heart attack" times in the busy season.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

I'm working in a niche market right now, and haven't figured out a pattern yet. But there are waves of busy and dead. When I worked at a print shop in Dallas, we mostly worked with small local businesses, and our schedule generally followed the school year. When the kids were in school, we'd be busy. When they were on vacation, we'd be slow. As I wasn't part of the outside sales (just took care of walk-ins personally), I'd use the slow times for reorganizing and trying to restructure workflow so we didn't get as many "heart attack" times in the busy season.

I'm in DFW area too and after a few years I discovered the same thing; When school is out we are DEAD. My biggest time of year is the second week in January. We are only slow during the "school holidays" and steady the rest of the year. So if you can't beat em, join em! I plan vacations and time-off with my school aged kid and the schedule works out great.

 

[bannertime]

Same, Jan and Feb can be pretty slow months for us in Arlington. June-Aug are pretty busy for us. Slows down this month, and picks back up at mid Oct til the end of November. Could probably close in December and no one notice, ha. We'll be doing a lot of revamping this winter while pushing service jobs and apparel. I have customers that actually take out loans just to make payroll during their slow season. What a nightmare.

 

[rjssigns]

We drop off during the cold months, usually. To offset I teach at the local college and also weld/fab for hire. Also take stock shots and sell the photos online.
At one point I was going to call my business Anything for a Buck Enterprises.