Most light installers make their money on rooflines and end up leaving cash on the table everywhere else. The homeowner who's already paying you to hang lights is also the easiest person on earth to sell a wreath, some garland, or a few pathway stakes to. You're already on site, already have the ladder out, and they've already said yes once this season.
Add-ons don't require new customers or new marketing spend. They just require you to ask at the right moment and price them so they're worth your time.
What Actually Sells
Not every extra is worth stocking. Focus on items that are quick to install, easy to store, and visually obvious from the street — because that's what drives the next referral.
- Wreaths and swags for the front door or garage — high visibility, low install time
- Garland along porch railings, mailboxes, or entryways
- Pathway and yard stakes to fill out the display without touching the roof
- Wrapped trees and shrubs — mini lights on trunks and branches
- Ribbon and bows as a cheap upsell that makes everything look finished
Skip anything that needs custom fabrication or long lead times during peak season. You want items you can grab off a shelf and install in ten minutes.
Price Them Like a Line Item, Not a Favor
A common mistake is tossing in a wreath for free to "seal the deal." That trains customers to expect freebies and quietly eats your margin. Price add-ons the same way you price the light install itself — materials, labor, and a markup that makes it worth the extra stop.
A simple rule: if it adds more than five minutes of install time, it needs its own line on the quote. Bundle pricing works well too — for example, a discount when someone adds garland and a wreath together versus buying one alone. It nudges people toward the bigger order without you having to hard-sell.
Train Your Crew to Ask, Once
Your installers are the ones standing at the door. Give them one simple line to use during the estimate or install, not a sales script:
"A lot of folks add a wreath or some garland to finish the look — want me to price that out while I'm here?"
That's it. No pressure, no pitch. If the answer is no, move on. The goal is consistency — every customer gets asked, every time, so you're not relying on memory or mood.
Keep Inventory Separate and Trackable
Add-ons have a way of disappearing into the same bins as your clips and connectors, which makes it hard to know what you actually have on hand mid-season. Keep wreaths, garland, and stakes in their own labeled totes, and count them at the start and end of the season just like your light strands. If you're already using something like Pinecone's features to track inventory and job details, add these items to the same list — it saves you from a scramble in early December when someone wants three wreaths and you're not sure if you have any left in the shop.
Photograph Everything
Homes with a full display — lights, wreath, garland, wrapped trees — photograph better than a roofline alone, and better photos are what get shared and referred. Ask every add-on customer if you can snap a quick picture for your portfolio. Over a season, that becomes your best sales tool for next year's quotes.
The Off-Season Payoff
Add-ons also give you something to sell during the slower shoulder weeks before the rush — early-bird customers who book installs in October are often happy to add extras when there's no time pressure. It smooths out your schedule and lifts your average ticket before your crews are even at full speed.
None of this requires new trucks, new hires, or new marketing. It just means treating the wreath on the porch with the same seriousness as the lights on the roof — because to the customer looking at their house from the curb, it's all one picture.