For most people, winter is hibernation time, so taking on a home renovation project is often the last thing on a homeowner’s mind.

But the winter weather doesn’t always have to be disastrous for your residential floor contracting business’s bottom line. There are many ways to get past the winter slump and boost your sales.

Here are some tips to fill your sales pipeline and continue generating revenue during the dreary months ahead:

1. You already know that customer referrals are the lifeblood of a contractor. So ask your old clients if they would forward your information to any friends, family, or colleagues who are undergoing renovations or anyone who has expressed an interest in having work done on their floors. Trust is also key to securing new business, so make sure that any customer testimonials you have are prominently displayed on your website. If you don’t have any, simply ask satisfied customers if they would provide some. Google reviews are especially important to have, as the first thing someone will often do when they find out about your business is to Google it.

2. Reach out to old clients to see if they need any work done. Ask if their floors could use touch-ups, refinishing, or a re-application of European oil. This is also a financially smart move; compared to installations, refinishing usually has better profit margins.

3. If you have quite a few spots in your schedule to fill this winter, you can offer discounted pricing, but don’t feel pressured to do anything too drastic. You can refer to this as your “winter special”.

4. Make sure your business information has been submitted to a number of online directories, and that any information that is already in the directories is updated and correct. Some important directories to check include Houzz, Yelp, Google My Business, and Angi. Make sure you’re also active on your business’s social media pages, posting as consistently as possible on Instagram, Facebook, and Tik Tok (if you’ve made that leap!)

5. Send out emails to your clients with tips for maintaining their floors during the winter, including monitoring for abnormal gaps. The goal of this is to keep your company name fresh in their minds — brand recognition is important.

The winter doesn’t always have to spell downtime for your contracting business. As long as you plan ahead and implement these simple tips for keeping your sales pipeline filled, you can make sure this winter is a productive one for your contracting business.