When it is time to write an ad, and there is no felt need in the heart of the customer to which you can speak, make a paper cigar.
Teddy Roosevelt was a man of improvisation. He knew his paper cigars. This allowed him to explain the process of making them in the fewest possible words: “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
The slow weeks before and after peak season are called the shoulder season. People who can create ads that bring in business during the shoulder season are people you want on your team.
Winter is peak season for heating. Summer is peak season for air conditioning. But how does an HVAC company keep its employees paid during the shoulder season, those weeks of mild weather in between?
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
Funny, isn’t it? Teddy gave us the answer before air conditioning was even invented.1
Every HVAC company knows the answer to the shoulder season is to convince the public of the importance of routine maintenance. But that’s kind of like trying to convince people to shop early for Christmas. Everyone knows it’s a smart thing to do, but few people actually do it. As a result of our procrastination, we wait in long lines, choose from a picked-over selection and pay higher prices because we delayed our shopping – one day at a time – until December twenty-second and then flew into a blind panic.
Air conditioning maintenance is like that. We delay it until the unit breaks down.
When you need to sell a product or a service, and no one is feeling the need for that service, it’s time to make a paper cigar. But don’t rely on logic. Logic speaks to the mind of the customer. You’ve got to win the heart. And that takes wit and charm.
Here is a hugely successful TV ad for the shoulder season that was produced by Casey Welch and Korey McDonald. 2
SCENE ONE
TECH 1: Mr. Jenkins told me…
TECH 2: When it starts getting warmer and you’re thinking about turning on that Air Conditioner
TECH 3: [waving her palms in comic alarm] Don’t Do It!
TECH 4: [wagging his finger sternly] Don’t Do It!
SCENE TWO
TECH 2: A/C compressors get dried out during the winter
TECH 1: and they need to be brought into service
TECH 2: [with palms held downward, he slowly lowers them to illustrate “gently”] gennnntly.
SCENE THREE
CSR 1: For just 89 dollars, a Morris-Jenkins technician will wash the outside unit and bring it into service TECH 2: [palms downward, he slowly lowers them] gennnntly.
SCENE FOUR
TECH 1: And we promise NOT to disrupt your household.
DEWEY: We come and go [palms downward, he slowly lowers them] gennnntly.©
Here’s an even-more-successful ad Casey and Korey produced the following year.
SCENE ONE DEWEY: [takes a long step backward with one foot, and with a sweep of his arm reveals Techs standing behind him as he says] It’s that time again!
TECHS: [Music begins playing. Technicians begin dancing.]
It’s time for us to come-and-go gently, gently.
It’s time for us to come-and-go gently, gently.
Compressors-dry-out during wiiiiinter months
And-need-to-be brought back [palms downward, they lower them] gennnntly.
SCENE...
