[james roffey]

January better than last year but that was my second year so i would expect it to be a bit better, on the whole its been enough to get by but have noticed  that i have been messed about by a few, one cancelled after i arrived at his house, waited outside for 30 minutes to then get a phonecall saying he had to cancel   
A few others i have had to chase for payment, they are ex customers now.

[Jim_77]

Has the Recession bitten you?

"Oh for F**** Sake!"

[Jim_77]

Still a slightly upward trend in the last couple of years for me.  Peoples' buying habits are changing though.  I don't aim at the price shopping market but I'm finding customers keener than ever to get more value for their money.  My special offers take advantage of this so I'm actually getting people to spend a bit more money than they might, even though I'm giving away extra carpet cleaning for free.

I would strongly advise anyone to get some promo own-label spotters and give one to every single customer you want to keep.  After using them for just over a year now I'm finding they do help "superglue" customers to your business.

[clinton]

A nice tip there jim with the own spotters and a free top up whenever you clean for them..

[from edge2edge]

Ditto                 Alan(swindon)

[Paul H]

are we in a recession??

everytime i go to the local retail parks are shopping centres or supermarkets the car parks are rammed....dont be fooled .. still a lot of lot of people out there prepared to part with their cash..

re the post - struggled after xmas till about jan week 2 then a few dribs n drabs therefafter..picked up another weekly contract to add to my existing one so already ive over doubled my guaranteed monthly income so happy with that (its not mega bucks but its there)   the last week in jan first few weeks in feb ive been busy and last week was one of my best weeks since a started in the game (last april)...so that has giving me some confidence that its out there and id love to get to the point where every week was like last week then happy days...but i know ive a long long long way to go...

[Andrew Briscoe]

January for us was very good, Feb has been reasonable with only a lull
for a couple of days when phone was quiet.
Starting to clean 14 holiday cottages today, followed by carpet cleans as req.

Have targeted a lot of comercials since last Nov, pushed the fact that replacement
is much more expensive than clean and restore.
Also have a couple of builders cleans and a wooden floor to clean.

Had about 5 staff 2 years ago, now have 14 and still require some bank staff
for busy periods come easter.

Cant complain really, however i still keep a keen eye on our costs.

Andrew

[wayne zabel]

I had a decent January,better than last year which was my 1st Jan in business.

February has been slow though,but still managing to work everyday with at least one job.

Ive been messed about with cancelations and time waster no end this month too.

Im lucky in that my wife has a decent job so I can survive in these slow times.I dont know how I would manage if I was the main bread winner.

[james roffey]

Wayne we took in a lodger, and that took an enormous amount of pressure of starting the business.

[Peter Dawson]

Quite Jan for me but picking up in Feb. Never tried leaflets but now giving it serious thought to try and target better prices.

Peter
Beta Clean

[Allan Simmons]

We had a great January with the mailings done before Christmas to promote that.  February has been harder work, we find the snow just kills the phone and it stuck around for some time here, which is very unusual.

I've always believed the domestic carpet cleaning market is a little recession proof, we just work for different people on the social scale.  Those who might have had cleaned and can't afford so don't, but those who never had things cleaned and always just bought new are also feeling the pinch and having them cleaned instead of replacing.

Everyone wants a deal though!

Al.

[Ricky M]

no effect due to diversification AND turn over is up by 40% with 2 months till year end, been sort of not trying doing much in the way off site work for around 2 months building the new place interior from shack to something, we are talking walls knocked down and rooms built in some really big 10ft x 10ft been put in etc etc  , its been a real eye opener to say the least and ive learnt so much from these early days of this place, working with  eng desingers and welders etc etc. cant belive ive project managed the build from start to, well.......... soon as possible allowing for tweeks and stayed in budget
 ready in hopefully a week

What are you building Ricky a rug plant or something?

@  1st yes but now its evolved in to a whole more, welding station going in 3 weeks, craft area for my other little hush hush biz , a living area for when im on 24 hr call out duty big enough for 4 ( and its got all mod cons designer kitchen etc ) suround sound through out, and high end bespoke flooring done by a pro fitter with a flair for interior design and a training room with projectors etc etc.

its been blody hard work but ya nowt for nowt nower days pet 

[Barry Livingstone]

just done a check and am up on last Jan and feb my website hits are up over the same time 60%+ so i could say am doing ok! goolge analytics got its uses, you can compare year on year 

[Andrew Briscoe]

Jan & Feb this year is up 75% compared to last year,
and 18 % up on 2010.
I would say this is due to the weather we had the last 2 winters.

Very mild for time of year and does put people in a better spending frame of mind.

We targeted businesses before xmas and it is definately paying off, plus a lot
are closed or quiet around here  and getting cleaned up for the tourist season.

Last 3 weeks has been flat out, with staff working 10-12 hr days.

Andrew

[clive ware]

Hi Andrew.
That`s a lot of staff!
Do you do general cleaning as well or are they all out cleaning carpets?

[Andrew Briscoe]

Clive, we are contract cleaners too,
the figures i was quoting at top of post are for carpet cleaning.

We have now 14 staff doing offices and other cleans,
I wish i had 14 carpet cleaning 10-12 hrs a day !!!!

Andrew

[Steve Gunn]

Carpet side little quieter than last year but window cleaning taken off big style, charging more for cleaning windows than some cc's charging for cleaning carpets even suites  : Conservatory cleaning also a good little earner most only want roof doing

[wynne jones]

There was a thing on the news this morning about how nail bars are booming in the 'recession'.

Small amounts that lift the spirits, but because they are regular add up to a lot over a year. People still have money to spend, our job is to prise it from them and be happier for it.