Surviving the Shoulder Season: Marketing When the Phone Stops

It's the first week of April. Yesterday you had three emergency AC calls. Today, nothing. Tomorrow looks the same.

Your trucks are sitting in the lot. Your techs are asking about hours. And you're staring at the same overhead costs you had last month when the phone was ringing off the hook.

Welcome to the shoulder season.

The Real Cost of Mild Weather

That revenue drop during shoulder seasons is not just an inconvenience. Depending on your market, maintenance base, and customer mix, many contractors see their monthly revenue fall significantly, sometimes by half or more compared to peak months.

But your costs do not drop at the same rate. Your insurance stays the same. Your truck payments stay the same. Your office rent stays the same. And your best techs? They're looking at job listings if you start cutting their hours.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, HVAC technician employment is projected to grow 8% from 2024 to 2034. That means the good ones have options. Lose them during a slow season, and you might not get them back.

The shoulder season does not just hurt your Q2 numbers. It can gut your ability to handle the summer rush. This is why building a cash reserve before the slow season hits is critical for any seasonal trade.

Why Your Phone Goes Silent

Here's what's actually happening in your customer's head during mild weather:

The AC worked fine last summer. The heat worked fine last winter. Nothing's broken. Why would they call you?

They are not thinking about their HVAC system. They're thinking about yard work, spring cleaning, their kid's soccer schedule. You're not even on their radar.

This is not a marketing problem in the traditional sense. You can not just "market harder" to people who have zero motivation to act. Running the same "Call us for AC repair!" ads in April that worked in July is like selling umbrellas on a sunny day.

The game changes in shoulder season. You need to give homeowners a reason to think about you when they're not sweating or freezing.

The Manual Fix: Shoulder Season Marketing That Works

1. Flip Your Messaging

Stop talking about breakdowns. Start talking about prevention, comfort, and indoor air quality.

During mild weather, homeowners respond to:

• Maintenance: "Get your AC ready before the first 90-degree day"
• Air quality: "Spring allergies? Your ductwork might be part of the problem"
• Efficiency: "Lower your summer electric bills with a spring tune-up"

These messages work because they're forward-looking. You're helping them avoid future problems, not fixing current ones.

2. Build a Pre-Season Campaign

The weeks before peak season are when many homeowners start thinking about which HVAC company they'll call when things get hot. Here's a simple campaign structure:

Weeks 1-4: Awareness

• Email past customers about spring maintenance specials
• Run social posts about seasonal preparation tips
• Send direct mail to your service area

Weeks 5-8: Urgency

• "Schedule now before our summer rush"
• Early bird pricing on maintenance agreements
• Limited-time indoor air quality assessments

Weeks 9-12: Last Call

• "Summer schedule filling up fast"
• Testimonials from customers who avoided breakdowns
• Final push on maintenance plan enrollment

3. Push Maintenance Agreements Hard

This is your shoulder season survival tool. A solid maintenance agreement program can provide steady, predictable revenue that helps cover your fixed costs, things like rent, insurance, admin salaries, and vehicle payments, during slow months. If you haven't adjusted your maintenance agreement pricing recently, now might be the time -a well-crafted price increase letter keeps most of your customers while protecting your margins.

Here's a sample pitch (adjust pricing for your market):

"Mr. Johnson, you spent $450 on that repair last summer. For around $189 a year, you get two tune-ups, priority scheduling, and 15% off any repairs. Many contractors find that their maintenance agreement customers experience fewer emergency breakdowns. Want me to sign you up before you leave?"

The key is timing. Pitch maintenance agreements during every service call in the six weeks before shoulder season starts. That's when customers are still feeling the pain of their heating or cooling bills.

4. Reactivate Your Past Customer List

You have a goldmine sitting in your CRM. Every customer from the past 2-3 years who has not heard from you in a while is a warm lead.

According to Harvard Business Review, acquiring a new customer can cost five to twenty-five times more than retaining an existing one. During slow periods, your past customer list is where your marketing dollars should go first.

Sample reactivation email:

Subject: It's been a while (quick question)

Hi [First Name],

We serviced your [system type] back in [month/year]. Just wanted to check in and see how everything's running.

Spring's a great time for a tune-up before the summer heat hits. We're offering our past customers a discounted tune-up through April 30.

Want me to get you on the schedule?

[Your name]

(Note: If you're sending commercial emails, make sure you're following CAN-SPAM requirements - include your business address and an unsubscribe option.)

5. Capture More Leads

During peak season, you can afford to miss a few calls. You're busy. During shoulder season, every lead is precious.

If you're losing calls to voicemail or slow response times, that's money walking out the door. One missed call during a slow month hurts a lot more than during the summer rush.

Same goes for no-shows. When you finally do get a booking during shoulder season, make absolutely sure that customer shows up. A no-show in April is not just lost revenue. It's a wasted opportunity that might not come again for weeks. The same confirmation systems that reduce no-shows for plumbers work for HVAC too.

A Better Way to Handle the Cycle

The manual approach works. I've seen contractors meaningfully reduce their shoulder season revenue drops using these strategies consistently.

But here's the thing. Running a pre-season campaign, reactivating hundreds of past customers, and making sure every lead gets timely follow-up takes hours every week. Hours you probably don't have, especially when you're also trying to keep your techs busy and your customers happy.

This is where automation starts to make sense. Not as a replacement for the strategy, but as a way to execute it without burning out.

Imagine your past customer list getting check-in emails based on their service history. New leads getting a quick response, even early on a Saturday morning. Your pre-season campaign running on schedule while you focus on jobs.

The strategy stays the same. The execution gets easier.

The Bottom Line

Shoulder seasons are not going away. Mild weather happens every year, and every year unprepared contractors scramble.

The ones who thrive have figured out that shoulder season marketing is a different game. Prevention over repair. Maintenance agreements over emergency calls. Past customer reactivation over cold prospecting.

Start implementing these strategies now. The weeks before summer are already ticking.

If you want help setting up automated marketing systems that keep working during your slow seasons, let's talk. Sometimes the right automation can be the difference between surviving the shoulder season and actually growing during it.