[pingu]

Hi guys...just a few questions.....if you would be so kind...

For those who have been going a couple of years ...how do you find your business ticks over...i.e do you find that most work comes from word of mouth or do you still chase the work so to speak..Have you spotted any trends?

I appreciate this is a very vague question but it is asked to try and find any common traits when moving from the frantic 1st 18months into the 2nd growing period...

Many thanks
Dave.

[Davew]

Thats's something i want to know too i.e. when you are "established" do you still need to look for work or do you have to turn it away?

[steve smith]

This is my second Winter, i do get work coming in through word of mouth but i do still leaflet when i get some spare time but i do only leaflet in the area`s i am already working but saying that i am comfortable with it now so not chasing so hard at the minute.

[pingu]

Thanks for the info guys anymore for anyome (ringmaster styleeee)

Cheers
Dave.

[Ian Lancaster]

Thanks for the info guys anymore for anyome (ringmaster styleeee)

Cheers
Dave.

I started my current business about 6 years ago (had plenty of previous experience, so may have had an advantage)  Canvassed as much as possible for about 3-4 months, then let it build by itself.  Kept an ongoing ad in Yellow Pages (two directories - the border is a mile to the east of me )  Had enough for a decent income within 6 months, after 4 years was doing a 7 week cycle instead of 4

[NWH]

Word of mouth,i`m turning work away on a daily basis.I always look at new jobs just incase it`s a goldmine as you never know,the art of building a really good round i find is constantly replace work with better paying work if you can but i`ve been at the point for a few years now that none of my work is bad enough to dump.

[Paul Coleman]

Hi guys...just a few questions.....if you would be so kind...

For those who have been going a couple of years ...how do you find your business ticks over...i.e do you find that most work comes from word of mouth or do you still chase the work so to speak..Have you spotted any trends?

I appreciate this is a very vague question but it is asked to try and find any common traits when moving from the frantic 1st 18months into the 2nd growing period...

Many thanks
Dave.

I've been going rather more than a couple of years but I didn't need to canvass after the first year.  Work just flowed my way.  These days I realise it was because I was reliable and because I was far too cheap.
Looking back with what I know now, I would have carried on canvassing in totally different areas to where I started up.  The new areas would have had decent price tags attached to the jobs.  I would have also continued with the original areas as my mainstay to ensure I earnt money while I was building up better work elsewhere.  Around the end of year 2 or somewhere in year 3, I would have passed on the original, poorer priced work.  I doubt it would have been sellable due to the prices but it would have given someone else a start.  Instead, what happened was that I continued pricing a bit low because I worked the same areas and a lot of people knew each other so it was difficult pushing up new prices.

[Paul Coleman]

Word of mouth,i`m turning work away on a daily basis.I always look at new jobs just incase it`s a goldmine as you never know,the art of building a really good round i find is constantly replace work with better paying work if you can but i`ve been at the point for a few years now that none of my work is bad enough to dump.

That's a nice place to be.  I hope to be there eventually as well.

[AuRavelling79]

I started p/t trad in 1997 when I bought about £200 worth of work for £300. It was a fair price to pay as it was underpriced and out in the sticks - well 5/6 miles away!

I also worked for someone else on a 75% basis for three months that winter which was better priced as I still got about £70 a day for three days a month.

But it gave me three days work plus my own three days (Yep! I was new and £65/70 a day was what I could manage!) and something to build up from. It grew by recommendation/ people asking to about £500 per month when I decided to bite the bullet, drop my % work and canvass.

I canvassed commercial (3 miles from home) and some stuff about a mile from where I lived and luckily picked up about £250 a month commercial and about the same domestic.

So now, 1999 my round was worth about £1000 a month p/t and taking me about 12 days to cover it. In 2000 I went full time - I bought another £200 of good stuff from David Bishop (before he sold rounds regularly) for £600, but it was good enough for me to do in a day and a half of ladders. My round grew to about £1500.

In 2001 my one bit of luck was my bro-in-law whose factory offices needed a w/c and that got me another £150 and my round was now about £1800

By 2005 I was on about £2000 a month in the summer and £1800 in the winter from about 17 days/15days per month.

Then I went trolley wfp in May 2005
Tank in car in May 2006 (handed about a £100 to a new starter and replaced with £200 worth of better stuff)
Tank in Van Nov 2006 (dropped a bit more and replaced with better)

I now work 6/7 hr days in spring/summer, 5/6 hr days in winter - rarely in the rain (my choice) 15 days a month and my round ticks over at a rather higher rate than in 2005.

I simply take on better priced jobs and give away/drop awkward low priced jobs.

If I wanted to boost my round i'd be a bit more business like and put the bottom £500 up to about £600, lose a few and earn the same money for less time!

[NWH]

Perfect answer,dump the rubbish or bring it up to date with price.We all know the type of work,if it`s increased to the correct amount you will be doing 1 house and earning the same money you used to get from 2 or in certain cases 3.The idea is to work smarter not harder.

[Paul Coleman]

Perfect answer,dump the rubbish or bring it up to date with price.We all know the type of work,if it`s increased to the correct amount you will be doing 1 house and earning the same money you used to get from 2 or in certain cases 3.The idea is to work smarter not harder.

Absolutely right.  For the moment though, I won't be dropping any more work unless it's problematic as I have gaps to fill.  I've picked up some OK jobs recently.  Not especially large ones but decent earners anyway.
I think an important thing is knowing when to say "no" as putting in a high price doesn't compensate for some things.  I did so yesterday.  The parking was awful and the access to run the hose was down a side alley at the end of the terrace.  Loads of dogs' mess in the alley, spikey overhanging bushes to negotiate and, at the end of it all, a gate that was so overgrown with vegetation, I would have needed a flamethrower to open it.  I politely declined to offer a quotation and she seemed very surprised.

[tatman]

once youve been going for a couple of years you should find the work comes to you. I still drop the odd leaflet if i like the look of a new area where a new quote comes in. Dont advertise at the moment but have been thinking of doing a yellow pages ad to try and get some commerial work Nearly all my domestic is word of mouth be reliable the word gets around. Im still picking up work in streets that ive cleaned for over two years.  There are plenty of fly by night shiners out there.

[sussex187]

i have to say most of my new work comes from yellow pages i never leaflet drop sometimes 5 or 6 new jobs a week from it