[chrisjohn]

Very quiet this week,but ive got plenty booked in for 1st two weeks in December.

Chris

[Neil Grainger]

Done something different this year, my wife is off work so got her to send out letters to my client base for Jobs done in October November and December, she has sent out approx 500 letters. Letters went out first weeks of December

So far I have picked up 20 jobs just from these letters to existing clients. From now on we are going to do this every month to my client base.

After saying this i bet my phonedoesnotring today.

Xmas is never any different from any other time of month, August is always my best month.

[MAX Carpets]

hi Neil

How is it going? We've just done our usual xmas mail shot 685 letters, fngers crossed! Its been a tough year though.

[Joe H]

morning is origami, the afternoon is flower arranging and then in the evening i do an hour of pilates, its great for my carpet cleaning, i'm agile on the stairs, when moving flowers out the way they always look better in the vase when i'm finished and you should see the look on the custy's face when i hand them the bill in the shape of a swan.

That was funny Derek, very witty. 

[Neil Grainger]

Yes it has been tough, result are as low as my 2nd year this year, New customers have been rubbish but got work from my existing customers.

My Van has died so am waiting on a new one to arrive. Need to hire one for the next 4 weeks.
How you doing anyway

[MAX Carpets]

As I said it has been a tough year, but most of it was mistakes that I made, costly and take a long time to correct. It didnt help all the snow at the start of the year. Its looking good now thugh, roll on next year!

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys

A couple of weeks ago the phones were quieter than usual but end of last week and beginning of this has seen a lot of bookings/enquiries.

People soon forget their woes as Xmas approaches.

Cheers

Doug

[clinton]

The jobs will come in guys and you will get that last min job when they phone .

[colin thomas]

i hate this xmas rush business, i like it steady all the time, i either turn the 'phone off or say that i am fully booked even if i perhaps could squeeze another in.

derek, i was finishing on the 22nd also but i have to do one job 1st thing on the 23rd and then that's it!
colin

[richy27]

i shall be finishing on the 10 th this year get married on the 11th and then off to sun tll end of first week of jan cant wait

[derek west]

congrats RBF, av a good en. ya jammy bugga.

[richy27]

cheers del . nohing to worry about apart from burning my feet getting off to he sunbed to the bar . havent had a holiday since i started up an had a good year so time for a little treat

[wynne jones]

So you couldn't persuade her to have it in January then?

[Mike Halliday]

I wonder if the xmas phenomenon is something that is more prominent amongst the lower classes and because this sector of the market is more affected by the bad economy it has a knock effect to our industry.

I've got to say Xmas only slightly increases my business from its normal busy state. i put this down to the type of customer I clean for who get their carpet cleaned no matter what time of year it is and not just for xmas.

i believe people who think" its xmas I need my carpets cleaned" are a bit daft

[wynne jones]

I think it's more because family is coming round and that's the only time they worry about living in poo. 'Oh what will Auntie Mary think?'

You are probably right Mike about more high end. Becasue they are more 'maintenance' orientated they may look at it at Christmas and think it's fine, but don't think for a minute they are not susceptible to the same thoughts as the less well off when it comes to the powerful human motivator that is SHAME. 

[Neil Williams]

There's no ryme or reason on how things work in this industry.
I'm roughly in the same area as Neil and Jason and overall this year hasn't been too bad compared to previous ones.
We hit lucky with some nice large-ish jobs that will be ongoing and although in it's infancy it's helped with some diversity into another market.
But we must have put out some 600 leaflets the last couple of days which pulled in 2 jobs, but strangely we had 2 seperate enquiries from the same street within 30 minutes of each other which we haven't leafleted yet

[Mike Halliday]

Wynne

I think it's more because family is coming round and that's the only time they worry about living in poo. 'Oh what will Auntie Mary think?'


this is exactly my point.... its the lower classes that live in poo so have this attitude of cleaning  for xmas.
If you target this sector then you will suffer from their hard times.

[wynne jones]

I totally agree with you and I'm not sure anyone is saying target this market merely that traditionally response goes up over Christmas because of it.

You can't beat the custy who gets 'maintenance' because they don't see it so much as a cost, more of a long term saving and you end up cleaning fairly clean carpets multiple times a year as opposed to once every 3 years. 

[will_turton]

 i do very very well out of xmas, mostly its 12 hours days 7days a week, and its stacked up with work now,

[wynne jones]

Same here Will. It was a bit quiet a few weeks ago but it's make hay while the sun shines and if that means 7 days a week then so be it.