Put the Shutters up! Take the Shutters down…

I was at a potential customer’s office, giving a demo when I noticed these two excellent newspaper comic’s taped to a wall. I took photos using the camera on my phone … but for this first one, found a better quality photo online

 

1) All about “removable” shutters, aren’t we?!!

 

2) What do you really really want for christmas?

(the text says “Oh, hi! … it’s only you. We were hoping the roofers were finally here to fix our hurricane damage.” 

 

Ha Ha Ha

Here’s to 12 week waiting periods for accordions and 6 week backlogs for inspections and multiple week waits for permits!!!

Seasonal Blogs

I’ve been trying to read online about various industry resources that publish information about the hurricane protection or the shutter industry and honestly, I haven’t found a lot of material.

The industry magazine seems like the best resource so far … and I guess the more hands-on the industry (c’mon, construction/permits/metals/panels/etc) the fewer the people who write from within or about the industry.

Sure, there are tons of resources about the hurricane’s themselves and about weather forecasting and insurance products and how to get help post-hurricane. But information realted to what kind of shutter to install, why to choose one product over another and who to ask the questions to … thats real scarce!

Also, most blogs pop up during the start of the hurricane season, and then slowly die out (case in point: this sun-sentinel.com blog, Miles O’Brien on CNN and this Slidell Hurricane Damage blog) after a season or two.
Do you know of any resources that can help and fill this gap?

This hibernating industry

One of the first things I noticed about the Hurricane Protection Industry is that it regularly goes into hibernation from September to January. Thats a long Winter break. Part of the reason I can understand … who wants to get any construction done during hurricane season! However, I also see a lot of companies really struggle for sales even a few months before and few months after the hurricane season is over. For example, of the many people I’ve been speaking with over the last month, almost 50% commented “business hasn’t picked up”.

Now, I would believe this at once, except for the fact that the other half said “we are already soo busy and overloaded”.

Hmm, that doesn’t seem right. Does this have to do with a dearth of sales or with poor marketing and bad planning?

Do these slumbering companies really take too long to wake up for the new year, thus giving their competition a free reign on the leads and potential sales?

 

Technorati Tags: hurricane – shutter – industry – sales