Grapes Of Wrath

Making sales . . . weather or not

Neither rain nor snow nor sleet nor hail keeps you from running your business, but they sure put a damper on sales at times, don't they? To prevent your store from overstocking umbrellas during the next heat wave or scheduling outdoor promotional activities during a blizzard, Wayne, Pennsylvania-based Strategic Weather Services offers up to one-year-in-advance weather forecasts covering most of the United States as well as regions in Canada and Europe.

"[The weather] drives the way we live, work and the decisions we make," says Frederic Fox, president of the 6-year-old company, which charges businesses an annual fee of $10,000 to $100,000 for its consulting services. "What we bring to the table is a very reliable picture of what the long-range weather trends are going to be."

How reliable? Strategic Weather Services claims accuracy rates of more than 60 percent and 70 percent, respectively, for precipitation and temperature forecasts. Weather news is delivered via computer, telephone or printed reports. (No word on whether East Coast entrepreneurs need to pay extra for a sunny day.)-Debra Phillips

This article was originally published in the July 1996 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Grapes Of Wrath.