[Chris R]

This time last year I was fully booked up until Christmas 

Not so this year 

Booked up next week and got lots of bookings spread out through December, but still quite a few vacancies 

How is everyone else finding it this year ?

Cheers

Chris

ps  God help us in January 

[cleaning co]

yes i think the whole country is very slow at min  ,prob my slowest xmas time in over ten years

[Glynn]

Verrrry busy here.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

If there's time to breathe there's time to fit another carpet clean in, or am I being greedy?

Shaun

[Elite (Ben)]

i've been trading for 2.5 months so have no comparisons, but i am receiving a minimum of 2 calls per day, 6 jobs booked in and 5 quotes to do.

ben

[John_Flynn]

My mate thinks all his birthdays have come at once passing him 3 jobs a day yesterday and today, never known it as busy in last 6 years!!

[COLIN BRIGHT]

for me, this month the phone has not rang as much , but the calls im getting are from repeats or referals = more bigger, better jobs
less time waster thus more profit!! Horahhhhhh

[Neil Grainger]

Start of November went mad but has gone very quiet over the last few days.

I think that the phones ring at the start and end of the month when people have the cash available. So hopefully it will start ringing soon.

This is my first year so have no idea about Xmas but was told that this is when you will do very well. It better start soon.

[HolmansUKLTD]

Busy here also fully booked untill Jan 06

[mark_roberts]

Very good November and spuratic (sp) throughout December.  To be honest Ive never found December to be the busiest month especially as only three odd weeks.

Mark

[Stephen SWC Cleaning]

Been a good year all round for me, Would be better if the money would come in a bit quicker though.  I stick to mainly commercial work these days as there are way too many £10.00 a carpet firms in this area .

[stevegunn]

Getting busier now but why do people ring up to have their carpet cleaned next week when i reply nothing before 20th December but you did it last year.Am I supposed to drop everything so i can do it for them :

[COLIN BRIGHT]

unfortunatle i get more cancellation this time of year than the whole of the rest of the year put together

these people are pesants and i hope they die

[stevegunn]

Theres the Colin Bright punchline
"they are peasants" love it

[Fintan_Coll]

Busy at the moment, what I do dread is when the book is full in December and people do not want to take no for an answer. However you must draw a line somewhere. When I first began cleaning , January and February were always slow months. Now I find them to be just as busy as the rest of the year.
i you do find yourself unable to cope in December try to get you customers to put the work off until after Christmas by offering them something like a free room of cleaning.

[mark_roberts]

No mornings free until Christmas apart from one Saturday which I need for shopping .  I dont work Sundays but have about 7 free afternoons but they will all go by next week.  Lost one job today as lady wanted it done next week but fully booked.

Over the last few days Ive been booking 6-8 jobs a day which is helpful.  New yellow pages out this week too and  a few good jobs with good feedback on the ad.  Had a newspaper ad designed last week but am going to shelf it until January.

Mark

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I market to my database October so I can get them out of the way for the November and December run in to pick up new clients. It really helps me develop my database that way.

I've already made a start on January with a total of £1850 in it already, some new clients will wait not all but some, I'm still getting a high frequency of calls coming in but the ratio of turning them into bookings is low because they NEED it done before the big day.

I do quote over the phone but am finding most jobs over £200 need to be 'audited' so next year I will be endevouring to see every new client regardless of what they need doing.

A very good cc friend of mine says that you don't know the real life time value of a client over the phone, well he calls them Cash Cows but same thing.

Shaun

[Neil Grainger]

mark

could you e-mail me your newspaper add as I use one and it would be good to see how others are done.

regards

neil

[Chris R]

Shaun,
I also usually send out a mail shot mid september, didnt do it this year and the difference is huge !

I put a note on the mail shot saying that my prices will be rising mid November, this encourages them to book early, and costs me nothing 

Chris