Cut back on planned equipment acquisitions. Reduce mechanic and administrative staff. DON’T cut back the sales staff. DO push them to go out and make more sales calls. DO push them to close deals.

What can they do at this stage? Go out and call on competitive accounts.

Here’s one scenario…….

Go see a competitors customer. Ask how the winter has gone. What winter? They are paying “per push” or “per event” – it’s been great, they have not had to spend any money this winter (relatively speaking). “That’s great” you say….. “I can make next winter even better for you”. Offer to do their work “per push” and cap their potential expenditure. Then, cap it at whatever your seasonal rate would have been. You’re giving them a hedge against the inevitable bad winter we all know is coming.

Ok – you can’t do that for everybody. But certainly, for a few you surely could. If your snow revenues are (in a normal, average winter) about $2 million, surely you could afford to take on $250k under this scenario. Of course, most prospect might wait until July to try to commit to this, and by then you won’t necessarily want to offer this type of deal. By that point in time, your “book of business” for this type work as been filled and you cannot take on any more work under this pricing scenario. Oh well….. BUT – at least they called you back, and now you can go in and chat about alternatives.

What’s the key here? They CALLED you. They remembered you. You’ve begun establishing a relationship. AND, your sales team had something to offer potential customers right NOW. In spring (or, close to spring).

Always be selling.

Remember – without sales, NOTHING happens.

Listen to the full interview here – http://www.johnallin.com/entrepreneurs-club.htm

The thing that should be done is to buckle down and sell more work for next winter. Start right at the end of this winter and start “working” existing snow customers. Get them to renew right away. Except for Colorado and Utah, no one should have concerned about having exceeded their budget. Not enough snow to make you think you didn’t perform properly.

So – schedule “End Of Season” reviews with your customers – to begin in April. Not a phone call to see how you did – and appointment to get in front of them and do an in-depth review of your performance this past winter. You MUST get in front of them so you can continue the rapport you want to establish last fall.

Remember – it’s the relationship that matters in the snow business. So – continue the relationship by getting in front of them. Failure to follow through in the spring could mean you lose an edge over the next guy who wants to dig in and establish a relationship with YOUR customer.

Ukraine, alone, has seen at least 131 deaths after another nine people, mostly homeless, succumbed to the cold. About 1,800 people have been hospitalized in the hard-hit country, where 75,000 have sought warm shelter and food. Poland, likewise, has suffered dozens of deaths, the latest reported eight fatalities lifting the total to at least 53. The westward spread of the cold brought Netherlands its lowest temperature in 27 years, the BBC said. Lelystad reached -21.8 degrees C, or -7 degrees F, on Saturday.

Meanwhile, heavy snow cover left villages snowbound and snarled transportation in southern Europe. In Serbia, about 70,000 villagers were reportedly cut off. Snow in Rome all-but halted normal life in the city.

Snow also hit the U.K., where London’s busy Heathrow Airport suffered major disruption its flight schedule. Even northwest Africa suffered harsh winter weather as biting winds from Europe crossed its shores. In Algeria, where at least 16 people have died, snow fell on the capital and port city, Algiers. The highland area of Kabylia was left isolated by snow. Snow also fell in neighboring Tunisia.

And in the United States – we bask in above average temperatures and way below average snowfall accumulation.

I seem to recall weather forecasters stating the entire city of Chicago would move, in mass, to some southern state as the snow piled up higher than the Transamerica building……. When exactly was that supposed to happen??

Nothing – absolutely NOTHING – happens in any company without sales. New Sales are a must for any growth strategy. Leading (or pointing) the company towards new sales must occur before anything else happens. No Operations happen, no Cash Flow happens, no new equipment gets bought, no profits materialize unless there is a sale, or two, or eight, or loads.

Spring is not that far away. As such, prime selling season (for snow work) is less than 5 months away.

Begin evaluating your sales staff and their plan for success NOW.

According to Accuweather.com Senior Meteorologist, Steven Kocet – “There is nothing terribly unusual about it. The atmosphere always goes through these cycles. Sometimes the weather is really bad; at other times it’s not.” Quite frankly though, there was more winter at the end of October when that big snowstorm hit the Northeast than there has been for the past two months. Since December 1st – snowfall totals are quite low: Minneapolis has had 11.4”, Chicago 12.9”, Detroit 12.4”, Boston 6.8”, New York City 4.3”, Washington D.C. 1.8” and Erie, PA 31.6” (about 1/3rd below normal).

Last year by this time, there had already been record snowfall from New Jersey across New England. Hartford, Conn., had nearly 90 inches of snow for the entire 2010-11 winter season, and in the Berkshires, winter totals were over 100 inches. And what about February 2010 when the mid-Atlantic region was hit by a one-two punch that rivaled the biggest snowfalls of all time? During that month alone, Baltimore had 50 inches of snow and southern New Jersey had more than 3 feet.

Why Isn’t Winter Getting into Gear?

Naturally, to answer these questions we have to look at the jet stream.

The jet stream has been farther north than it should be which has stopped frigid air masses from migrating south. Furthermore, any cold air that has come down has made a quick retreat before any storm could tap it. Thus the general lack of snow from the Great Plains to the Eastern Seaboard has continued.

So could this pattern persist all winter? Sure, it could.

However, something will happen later next week that could be a sign that February will turn out much different than December and January. Look for a major storm coming out of the South later next week followed by an immediate shift to much colder conditions.

Will that last? Who knows for certain, but John Kocet feels there will be a lot more fun and games in February than there has been over the past eight or nine weeks.

We can only hope and pray……

Above from Accuweather reports.

This is what I do in my consulting operation to snow contractors around North America.

I take an interest in my clients well being, assist in their avoiding those aforementioned landmines. Additionally, I become friends with my clients (an added bonus, if not the originally intended goal).

So I ask – and this is shameless self-promotion – that you consider utilizing my services if you seek to grow profitably, increase efficiencies and increase margins in your operation.

End of sales pitch.

I was instrumental in putting together many of the SIMA programs. I am involved with ASCA as it begins its growth initiatives. Various state and provincial non-profit organizations put on regular educational functions geared towards the snow industry. I have spoken at many of them. The municipal market has an annual snow trade show or two, geared towards equipment. There are two trade magazines dedicated to the snow contracting industry. Over the past 15 years there have been great strides made in the area of equipment advancement, business acumen and learning from each other as the industry matures at a good pace.

However, as made clear by the contractor in the deposition noted above – there is nothing geared strictly towards educating all facets of the snow industry (contractors, municipalities in snow regions of the country, streets departments, property managers, institutional facility managers, etc.) on how to do their jobs better as it relates to “snow”. In my opinion, this must change if the industry is going to continue to evolve as it needs to.

I have spent the last 12 months developing a plan for initial, on-going and continuing education of those involved in the snow and ice management industry throughout North America. Snowfighters University has been launched in Erie, PA. Yes – this is my idea, and I have been instrumental in getting this off the ground. I have had help from others – as is always the case when something new is tried.

We are in the final stages of construction of an educational facility geared solely towards educating those involved in “snow” issues across a wide range of competencies within the entire snow and ice management spectrum. Classroom and field instruction with a curriculum that will eventually allow those considering entering the snow management business (as a contractor, employee, sub-contractor, manager of snow operations in many areas of the snow business) to be educated on many, if not all, facets of the overall business.

Imagine facility managers becoming educated on how to deal with snow contractors professionally. Imagine those running large snow operations (private or municipal) actually understanding how salt “works”. Imagine the snow industry being given the same respect as building contractors, roofing contractors and landscapers. I imagine these things and dream of how we can get there.

It is not my intent to ‘compete’ with SIMA or ASCA. I have a slightly different dream than what those two fine organizations want to achieve in terms of educating ALL who are involved in the snow industry. However, we must start somewhere – and starting with the snow contracting business is where I’m most comfortable. We did an initial “boot camp” type event with a small sampling of potential students recently, so as to work the bugs out of what we want to accomplish initially.

GIE Media Group has handed over the reins of the Inner Circle event to Snowfighters University. Held multiple times in 2009 and 2010, the Inner Circle was a success inasmuch as the attendees were enthusiastically complimentary of the interaction between non-competing snow contractors bent on educating each other (with guidance from various facilitators) on various aspects of the snow contracting business.

The 2012 Inner Circle will be held April 23-26 in our newly constructed education facility in Erie, PA. Past attendees will be given first option to return for this enhanced, restyled and advanced event. The opportunity to attend will then be open to others in the industry. Attendance – as in the past – will be limited and we will not allow any “competitors” to be a part of the same group during the same Inner Circle event. In this way, there will be no reason for attendees to shy away from discussing their own operation for fear of giving out “company trade secrets” that can be used against them.

More formal announcements will be forthcoming through the national trade press, direct mail and on the Snowfighters University website – www.snowfightersuniversity.com .

The SIMA Symposium this June in Buffalo. ASCA’s formation and their efforts on behalf of an insurance program to benefit snow contractors. Even the weathermen’s totally fouled up “winter prediction” where everyone in Chicago was going to leave that city because of all the snow (now – that was bold). And, to a lesser extent – the 2nd Edition of Managing Snow and Ice being published.

There is more in the offing. Expect another announcement coming very soon about the formation of something to benefit the entire snow industry (contracting, municipal, facility managers, and more).

A couple days prior to her passing, my good friend Frank Dedon from Abraxus Snow in Parma, Ohio sent me an email that stated, in part, “I have often said – only one thing in this life that is for sure, is who your mother is. Everything else can possibly have a “maybe” attached to it. That’s why mom’s are the special one, and if you get a chance – tell her this guy you know, Frank said she did a pretty damn good job in showing the world what she is about with the person her son has become. I also know that dad was the other 49% of who you are…. someone I and many others call a friend.”

Truer words were never spoken. I never got to tell Mom what Frank said because by the time I got that message from Frank, she was in a state where she was being made comfortable and was not coherent enough to have any conversation. I surely do hope she understood and realized she was loved. She had her faults, as we all do – but Frank is spot on inasmuch it was hard to see her leave us. I’m secure in the knowledge she is no longer suffering, and Lord knows she went through much more in the past year than anyone should have to endure.

My father was her care-giver these past few years, never once complaining about it. He was there every step of the way, including sitting with her for 8, 10, 12 hours during her many and lengthy stays in various hospitals over the years, and in the skilled nursing facility the last week of her life. I do have one issue with Frank’s missive. While Dad’s are our closest friends at times – I also think he is a saint. If it should happen to me that Peggy must go first, I can only hope I can be half as good to her as my father was to my mother.