[derek west]

we are officially entering a recession, and was wondering if you guys are worried or rubbing your hands.
i personally am rubbing my hands, the theory i have is people will not be able to afford to replace carpets and certainly won't sit in a house with filthy carpets, theyve got 2 options, clean them themselves or have a professional to clean them.
to me that means 2 options not 3. so in theory carpet cleaning should go up by 33%.
anyway thats my view, i could be wrong  but then i always see the glass as half full.

yours votes and comments please gentlemen.

derek

[markpowell]

Derek,
I think you are spot on with what you are thinking, i think the only problem will be more price shoppers.
Mark

[mark shannon]

Keep it positive Derek

[clinton]

Same here derek  am still busy and up on last year.

Just going to give the clients a good value service and do a little extra for them

Just as mark said more price shopers..

[Neil Williams]

Derek,
I think you are spot on with what you are thinking, i think the only problem will be more price shoppers.
Mark

Had more than the average Price Shopper lately, they even used to try and hide the fact, but this week we've had a few with, "I'm just ringing around to find the cheapest"
In return I don't even waste my breath and time now with "You get what you pay for"

I spend time explaining to those who care but those who want cheap can have cheap off the £20 merchants.

[Glynn]

Derek
I dont think.
I know your talking crap !.

I have operated my business through a recession and I know that your philosphy is wrong. People don't even give having their carpet cleaned a minutes thought  (on average ) . Although I survived the turndown and probably a few more  it's never easy.You have to be the best. And firmly believe in being the best. But simply tossing aside the current scenario to do with the downturn as if it isn't there will do no one no good. Believe me.

[derek west]

mark p
think you might be right with the price shoppers but there will still be the quality shoppers as well, like i said, no ones gonna invite aunt fanny from america for xmas and show her there filthy carpets.
mark s
keep the faith mate that 318 is gonna be flat out over xmas.
clinton
good thinking with a little extra and glad to see your doing well, gott my best week ever booked in next week, and still got thursday off, fingers crossed i'll fill that too.
glass is half full guys.
derek

[ollie]

Im up this month from  last year. Ive had two customers this month specifically telling me they were going to buy new suites but decided to enquire about cleaning their existing ones instead. The way I see it, house proud folk will still be house proud "recession" or not. At the end of the day people are still going to spend on necessities and neccessities are subjective. Im still going to buy the best red wine whether we are in a "recession" or not.

[Peter Blackburn]

Just as soon as the news and press start banding the word Recession around, which they have done for the last two weeks. You should have felt a negative slow down on your business.
From now till April 2009 you will still be able to trade ok but things will be tough. April 2009 will be Recession proper and most business including ours will come to a grinding halt, not even the trusty rug enquiry’s will come through.

At the moment you should be stopping or massively reducing advertising, work hard to obtain commercial maintenance arrangements for regular cleaning work, making cut backs on business spending and looking for ways to invest and put away for what’s about to hit. You need to be bombarding your existing customers with letters and offers. Your existing customers will understand and be sympathetic to the current situation and if they like you as a person, value the service you provide and hope your business prospers they will support you as much as possible, they are the people who will carry you through a recession.

Peter

[Jim_77]

I think that there'll be just as many losses as there are gains.

Only those bold enough to spend more on marketing are going to grow or at least stay static.  The ones who stop spending on marketing will feel the pinch.

The thing is, when times get a little easier, those who've learned how to keep their businesses afloat during the bad times will get even stronger in the good times.

Despite this, I voted "bad" because in the short term I think it will be.... bad for my hair line

[ianharper]

guys

just remember that you will need to message to market match in all your marketing. by giving offers that are linked to value and give the reason to the slow down then people will think that its worth spending the money.

its no good just thinking that you get the work because people will not replace carpets. you still have to work hard for the jobs.

I also think that you will see a slow down with Internet work. the reason is that people will not go out looking for our services. and its these offers linked to an exp date that will convince them that its worth cleaning now.

We are now started to use manual marketing again as this is where we can top up our work. we still will use the Internet but not expect the levels that we have had.

as JP always goes on about the more marketing you do the bigger your chances. i am reviewing everything i do to see if i have got lazy with my marketing.

good luck

Ian Harper

[maxcarpets]

Who knows, but only a fool would ignore it. I have built my business on special offers and now people ring a just say " what special offers do you have this month " I think as from Feb next year some drastic offers will be needed!

[Mr Dvae]

how can there be an increase in business , will more people think about carpet cleaning? i don't think so, this will only happen if the thought is put into their minds by our marketing

[Dave_Lee]

Some are going to feel the reccession more than others. Those that lose their jobs are going to be the hardest hit. The rest will, as now be paying more for power, gas, fuel (It will soon be back up, after the OPEC decision) etc.
The more established customers you have, that will feel it the least, the better you will do. I personally never felt the last reccession, in that, I was busy right the way through it, and I wasnt advertising at all, not even in contact with my regulars. I just waited for the phone to ring, and it did. I dont think it is going to be the time to be relying on a whole lot of new customers giving you a call, so I would think the new and recent start ups are in for a rough ride.
Dave.

[Russell Morgan]

how can there be an increase in business , will more people think about carpet cleaning? i don't think so, this will only happen if the thought is put into their minds by our marketing

They may decide to have them cleaned rather than replace? just a thought

[ollie]

Just been to my local out of town shopping complex and I dont think anyones told people to expect a recession!!!  15 minutes to get a parking spot!!

[derek west]

funny thing on the news, women saying how she really needs to cut back on spending, she was moaning about everything going up, blah blah blah, then the camera panned out and there she was, in the trafford center with about 20 bags of desighner shopping, don't think people know how to cut back nowadays.
derek

[John Kelly]

Is only a recession if you have no money. People have never been as well off as they are now. There are a lot of people inheriting their parents houses and ending up with a chunk of anything from 100k for an ex council house up to a million plus.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Look at the past recessions and 'physical' industry was in trouble like Coal and Steel, this time it's more invisible, shares and loans etc I think people will hold on to their jobs and probably their money but I think the media have made the most of it.

The worst thing that will happen is that carpet cleaners will put their prices down and fuel etc will go up making us less profitable.

Shaun

[mark shannon]

Yeah but wasn't the 1930s depression caused by a breakdown of the financial infrastructure, i only hope its just a recession like the early 1990s.