Now what ?

Posted on March 7, 2012 by John Allin

Ok…..it’s warm. Winter is essentially kaputz. We might see a nor’easter come up the east coast, or an Alberta Clipper or two come across the country, but the prospects for a significant snow storm (if you pay attention to the long range forecasts) seem slim.

What’s a snow contractor to do?

Begin the necessary work for next season – that’s what !!!

This kind of challenge is what makes the good companies separate themselves from the “rest of the crowd”. Overcoming adversity makes a company stronger. For those contractors in the mid-Atlantic, this might have been an outstanding season. Last fall customers were screaming for fixed fee, seasonal contracts. These “customers” were hurting from the previous two winter seasons harsh winter storms, and felt the need to press contractors to protect their budgets. It was a scary time for contractors. Many told me they had no choice but to acquiesce to the clients desires (translation = “demands”) if they wanted to keep the business. Of course, it was prophetic inasmuch as the mild winter probably has brought some windfall profits to some….while others in the Midwest charge customers predominantly on a per-event or per-push, or per-application basis and as a result are hurting due to the mild winter.

So – how to approach the upcoming spring sales season…….

First of all, visit EVERY single customer you have. Consider it an end of season review of performance. With little snow it will likely be hard to have fouled up the winter season performance (I hope). You have to get in front of them to ensure they still know who you are.

This is a first step. More steps will follow as over the next few weeks…..

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Snow for the North East – it’s about time

Posted on February 29, 2012 by John Allin

The same storm delivering a Leap Day blizzard to portions of the northern Plains and the Upper Midwest will push snow, ice and rain into the Northeast beginning Wednesday. The storm will result in slow travel for many, shoveling snow for some and umbrella weather for others. During Wednesday morning, a wintry mix will break out across western and central upstate New York, part of southern Ontario and portions of central Pennsylvania. The wintry mix will constitute not only areas of snow and rain, but also areas of some sleet and freezing rain.

Slippery surfaces are possible in this area due to the early start of the wintry precipitation Wednesday. More widespread problems will develop farther east later Wednesday into Thursday. According to Expert Senior Meteorologist Brian Wimer, “During Wednesday midday and afternoon, the time of the day and the intensity of the snow and wintry mix will play a role on the condition of road surfaces.”

Where frozen precipitation falls at a heavy rate, it will overwhelm the late-February sun effect and can accumulate on roads. This is possible in portions of New England, eastern upstate New York, northern New Jersey and northeastern Pennsylvania. “Snow would continue to accumulate on non-paved areas regardless,” Wimer said.

A brief period of wintry precipitation is forecast in some of the northern and western suburbs of Philadelphia and within the New York metro area during the middle of the day Wednesday, prior to a change to rain. However, few road problems are anticipated due to the timing of the event. As the storm evolves, delays from fog and low clouds could be problem at the airports for a time from the south coast of New England to the coastal mid-Atlantic.

A delay in the changeover to rain by a couple of hours can result in greater accumulation and will depend on a mere couple of degrees not only at the surface, but up through several-thousand feet above the ground. A very marked increase in accumulation is expected a few miles north on the Thruway from New York City to Albany and on I-91 heading northward through the Connecticut River Valley.

According to Senior Meteorologist Kristina Pydynowski, “The storm will continue or get a second wind later Wednesday night into Thursday.”
If the storm behaves as expected, people from Albany, N.Y., to Rutland, Vt., Concord, N.H., Worcester, Mass., and portions of northern Connecticut could have snow up to their shins by Thursday midday or sooner.

The storm has the potential to be the biggest single-snow event of the season for the cities of Albany and Boston, which escaped the worst of the freak snowstorm of late October.

From AccuWeather.com

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Who got what ?

Posted on February 24, 2012 by John Allin

A winter storm made its way out of the Rockies on Thursday and tracked from the Dakotas across the Midwest laying down a stripe of snow.

So – who got all the snow?

The heaviest snow in Illinois was found over the extreme northeast part of the state, north of Chicago – from Rockford to Wadsworth between Interstate 90 and 94.

In Wisconsin, the highest totals were found across the far southeast part of the state – again between I-90 and I-94; stretching even farther east to the lakeshore.

In Michigan, the highest totals – approaching a foot – were found across the north-central part of the state.

Even before the snow reached MI, IL and WI, totals of between 5 to 8 inches were common across northeast Iowa with even greater amounts south-central North Dakota and eastern South Dakota.

It’s not enough to make snow contractors feel better – but, at least it’s “something”.

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Don’t stop selling !!!

Posted on February 18, 2012 by John Allin

The east coast has had a below average winter. In some cases, considerably below average. There will be some belt tightening – for certain. However, one area should not see any cutbacks. Sales (and by definition – marketing). DON’T stop selling. DON’T stop pushing your sales staff. DON’T stop educating the troops about obtaining new business.

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.

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JAA on the Radio

Posted on February 15, 2012 by John Allin

On February 13, 2012 – I was interviewed on a nationally syndicated show – Entrepreneur’s Club.

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

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Relationship building – even with little snow.

Posted on February 13, 2012 by John Allin

Some are concerned about the lack of snow this winter – and how that will affect their business over the next 8 months. Some will become concerned and not do anything – they will become paralyzed by worry.

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.

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Europe – according to AccuWeather reports……

Posted on February 5, 2012 by John Allin

Bitter Europe cold, compounded by heavy snow in many areas, has continued to claim lives during the weekend. The cold wave will persist through the coming week as further snowstorms take place, meteorologists at AccuWeather.com believe. As of Sunday, the toll rose to at least 297 following latest reported victims in Ukraine, Poland, Italy and France, the Australian ABC website, citing the AFP, said.

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??

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Nothing happens if there are no sales…….. NOTHING.

Posted on February 1, 2012 by John Allin

If your sales staff is not closing $500,000 to $750,000 in new business each season – something is WRONG. I’m not talking about “bidding” work and hoping they have quoted low enough numbers to get the business (and then beat on their chest about how great they are). I’m talking about actual selling. This means prospecting properly…..qualifying customers appropriately…..finding out their needs and then teaching the prospective customers about what you can do to resolve issues they may have.

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.

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What’s wrong with this winter ???

Posted on January 28, 2012 by John Allin

What’s wrong with this winter you ask?

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.

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Shameless Self Promotion

Posted on January 25, 2012 by John Allin

Education as well as preparation is key to success in any endeavor. The same holds true in the snow industry. Educating oneself and one’s employees can save considerable time and expense later on. Of course, one can (and should) learn from mistakes that are made along the way. However, wouldn’t it be nice to avoid all those landmines which seem to be strategically placed to do the most damage at the most inopportune times?

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.

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