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I've seen a lot of remodelers do this. You're booked out four months, so marketing drops to the bottom of the list. When the backlog runs out, you turn the ads back on. Now you're desperate for leads, so you pay whatever the market charges.
That's no way to run a business.
In this post I'll show you why being booked out is actually the best time to build your marketing.
Who we are
I'm Temi from Lead Phoenix AI. Over the last few years, we've generated over 10,000 leads for our clients and over $3 million in remodeling projects.
The backlog trap
Being booked out is a good spot to be in. I'm not going to pretend it isn't.
But it's a tricky one, because it gives you a false sense of security. A backlog feels like a pipeline, but it's not. A backlog is work you've already sold. A pipeline is work that's still coming.
And while you're busy working through the backlog, nothing is being built for after it.
So what happens? Maybe the referrals don't come in as fast as they used to. Maybe a big job gets pushed. Maybe leads now cost more, because everybody's heading into busy season.
Marketing works like a tap
In a lot of remodeling companies, marketing isn't anybody's full-time job. So it works like a tap. Slow month, you turn it on. Busy, you turn it off.
Here's the problem with the tap. You only turn it on because you need leads, so you're buying in a hurry. And when you buy in a hurry, you pay whatever price is on the table, whatever Meta or any other platform wants for that lead at that moment.
That price only goes one way, and that's up. Ask anyone who's been in this trade since the 90s. Leads used to cost $5, then $15, then $40. Now some markets pay $100 and call it normal.
So the tap doesn't save you money. It makes sure you're always buying at the top.
Always 3 months late
Here's the part people don't know. The stuff that brings in leads on its own doesn't kick in immediately. It takes time. For us, it's about two to three months before it really gets going.
So think about it. If it takes three months to start working, and you only start when the backlog runs low, you're always three months late.
Think about ordering materials. You don't order them the morning the crew shows up to do the work. You order them weeks before. Because you know what happens when you don't: someone's heading to Home Depot, paying crazy prices for whatever you're missing.
Leads work the exact same way.
Do the marketing before you need the leads
Charlie Gindele built Renewal by Andersen of Orange County to about $45 million in revenue. Here's what he said on the podcast: "You gotta be doing the marketing before you need the leads."
And he didn't just say it. Every afternoon, around 1:30 or 2, his team looked at the next day's calendar. If there were empty slots, they got on the phone. In his words, they were nurturing their database, manufacturing appointments to fill tomorrow's time slots.
Every single day. Not just when things got slow.
What to build while you're busy
So what do you actually build to keep that backlog full? Three things.
1. Videos. I talk about these all the time on this channel. Videos that answer the questions homeowners are asking. What does it really cost? How long does it take? What do most contractors get wrong?
Only about 3% of homeowners are shopping right now. The other 97% are still thinking about it. Your videos get you in front of them before anybody else.
2. Something useful they can take away. A checklist, a planner, something they'd want even if they never hired you. That's how someone who just watched a video becomes a lead, without you asking them to book a sales call.
3. A follow-up system. It keeps working every lead you get, every month, forever. Most of them won't buy this month. But some will buy in month three, or month six. You need to stay top of mind.
Those are the three assets that keep your pipeline and your backlog full, so you're not waiting until you need them.
Choose your clients
Here's the best part. Filling your backlog this way isn't about more jobs. You may not even be able to take on all of them. But you get to choose which jobs you take.
You get to pick the projects you actually want. You stop discounting to win jobs just because you want to grab every one. You pick, and you charge what you're actually worth.
It's supply and demand. When you have lots of demand and not enough supply, prices go up.
That's what it's really about: being able to choose the clients you work with.
It doesn't take years
And it doesn't take years to build. When I started my remodeling company in Calgary, I knew nobody. No referrals, no relationships, nothing. I couldn't wait for referrals. I had to build it from day one.
Four months later, we'd brought in 835 leads and $600,000 in projects.
It's the same for the remodelers we work with. One design-build company did over $1.8 million in signed work. It didn't happen in month one. The first couple of months were pretty normal while we built the videos, the follow-up and the assets. Then the work came in over nine months.
That's how it always goes. The first month, you're building it. You start seeing results by month three. You don't just turn on a tap and have it work.
But once you have it, it's a flywheel that keeps on giving. Leads, sales and jobs. You just have to keep it running, even when you're booked out.
Where to start
Everything is in the playbook: the Trojan Horse, the Attraction Offer and the Forever Follow-Up. And if you'd rather have us build it in your company for you, there's a link for that in the playbook too.
If you want to build this while you're booked out, grab the free $1.8 million remodeling playbook.
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