If there’s anyone outside the driver’s seat of a vacuum truck who knows how busy your life was in 2022, it’s me. Try rounding up dozens of PROs for interviews and you soon find out how precious time is for owner-operators or technicians who run restroom routes. For the longest time, it’s been busy signals or full voicemail boxes when I try networking.
But round about the holiday season, that starts to change. Special event work is over. Construction slows down a bit, especially in the northern states. The daily routes are shorter, and drivers coming back to the office are looking for ways to fill in the rest of their workday. And you can start picking up the phone when I come calling for a story.
You can embrace the peace and quiet for a while. Spend more time with the family during Christmas week. Take a few hours here or there to make up for all the weekend days you worked last summer. But about the second week of January, you need to get back up on that horse and start riding. This is the time to come up with a plan to keep you and the crew actively working to build and improve the business.
When the white stuff starts to pile up outside, I turn to the piles of articles and periodicals sitting on my desktop. As I was going through that mess of paperwork recently, I came upon a column by Jennie Lyon, a small business marketing expert and occasional contributor to PRO. She was writing about this very topic, encouraging business owners to take advantage of seasonal slow periods when they suddenly have extra time on their hands. It was a pep talk, essentially, suggesting lulls in revenue actually present an important opportunity.
I realize you’re all probably paralyzed by the long to-do lists you’ve made as you tried to keep up with customer demands over the past year. Maybe you never thought the day would come when you would be able to cross a few items off those lists, but here we are. So I decided to tailor Jennie’s message to the portable sanitation industry.
Here are a few suggestions of ways to make the most of unexpected free time and help your business continue on its growth trajectory:
GO BACK TO SCHOOL
‘Tis the season for PROs to catch up on training and continuing education credits. Depending on your location, your state environment, transportation or local health departments may offer classes covering a variety of wastewater-related courses and health and safety training. Check out your industry trade associations for seminars or annual conferences that are often scheduled during winter months. Expand your horizons through local community college or state extension service classes that might enhance your business. Those could include general business or accounting, welding or mechanical courses, computer IT or marketing training. Encourage your staff to seek additional certifications that will benefit your team when business picks up again. “The money that goes into your education will pay off 10 times over as you start to get more clients,” Jennie Lyon said. “I believe that optimal personal development is key to a healthy lifestyle and sustainable career.”
GIVE EVERYONE SOME TIME OFF
When you face a slowdown, give your team some additional time for rest and relaxation. It’s their reward for the many weeks you asked them to work overtime and through the weekends. Burnout is real. And so is the prospect of lowered morale among frontline workers. You can avoid all of that by flexing free time into the calendar when you can get the work done with fewer people.
Take a vacation yourself, too. And I don’t just mean a few days off here and there. Plan a trip to a warm climate or check an important milestone off of your bucket list. Winter may afford you the opportunity to take at least a few weeks off in a row so you can really get away from the day-to-day grind. That way you can return with enthusiasm to attack the challenges coming this year.
FIX YOUR EQUIPMENT
During the busy season, it’s inevitable that you’ll shove damaged restrooms to the back of the yard and you’ll put off service vehicle maintenance and repairs. Anything to keep the wheels turning and restrooms moving over the summer. Now it’s time to shore up your inventory and spend some time wrenching on equipment. Failing to catch up on maintenance will mean devalued assets and profit-killing breakdowns during the next busy season. If you don’t already have a maintenance schedule written out, start keeping meticulous records and give some thought to an equipment replacement plan. Routine upgrades will boost efficiency and keep your team happy as they won’t be constantly dealing with broken machines and Band-Aid fixes later on.
MEET WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS
Create a list of your top event planners and call on them to review how things worked out last year, and look at ways to improve service next year. Touch bases with construction contractors as well; find out about their expectations for the building season ahead and look for ways to enhance the products and services you deliver to them. It’s important to show all customers you’re thinking about them even at times when you’re not sending invoices. It’s also important to offer added services, such as hand-wash stations, holding tanks and restroom trailers, so you can order that equipment in time to deliver in a few months.
MAKE THINGS TIDY
Put your people to work deep-cleaning all areas of your shop and office. In the shop, inventory and reorder necessary supplies. Sell or scrap obsolete equipment or machines that are no longer needed. Vacuum cobwebs, clean up oil spots on the floor, add a coat of paint to spiff things up. In the office, shred old files that are no longer needed. Declutter and organize work stations and recycle obsolete electronics stacked up in the corners or closets. Consider upgrading office chairs and other furniture that is threadbare or no longer comfortable or practical. Is it time for faster computers, the latest model of mobile phones or tablets? Is all of your software updated? Do you have a cloud backup for your records?
BOOST YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE
Lots of small businesses had good intentions when they launched a website, a blog or a YouTube video to find new customers. But lots of businesses then ignored the time-consuming chore of creating more content to fill and update those efforts. As a result, potential customers land on your web page to find the last post was made in 2017. As Lyon said, now is a good time to remedy that.
“Create batches of content and schedule them. This will take some pressure off of you to create in a pinch. Your content won’t go stale because everything has been planned ahead of time,” she said. For instance, create a dozen timeless blogs about restroom service and post them once a month over the next year. Or come up with a variety of topics for videos or podcasts — an example would be 10 tips for wedding restrooms — and have them available for viewing as bridal events are scheduled this winter.
DO SOME GOOD WORKS
Most PROs I’ve talked to are civically minded and want to help the communities where they live and work. And they do. But it can be very difficult to think about contributing time, talents and treasure during the busy season. Now is the time to pause and reflect on what kinds of charitable work you want to participate in. Involve your team in these discussions. They may feel strongly about helping local causes and would appreciate your interest. Identify a few opportunities and reach out to the appropriate people for more information. Look for ways you can contribute your equipment and specialized skills to charity events. Planned giving and follow-through is more effective than trying to respond to constant calls for help that pop up during the busy season.
WHAT’S UP?
So are you facing a welcome respite from working overtime right now? If so, how will you be filling out the hours over the next month or two? We’d like to know. Drop me a line at editor@promonthly and tell me about your slow-season activities. And fair warning, you may hear from me soon as I know you might find time to answer the phone!
