[davids3511]

[Its probably NOT a good time to be thinking of buying that new van. Or new system. Or that extension on your house or remortaging....

Sit tight. Work hard. Save a few quid for a rainy day.

I do agree hard times are coming and we have to be vigilent to make sure we ride it out but what you have said is exactly why it will get worse and worse.

If now isn't a good time to buy a van (and I am not saying it is) when is? Is it when the motor industry is on its knees and all the staff layed off and we have lost them as customers?

Same for the systems, is it a god time to buy when Brodex and the others are bust because nobody is buying? Same for the builders, is it a good time to get an extention when all the suppliers and trademen are either bust or working in other industries?

Meanwhile we will have lost these as customers so will not be able to purchase anything ourselves because everyone else hase gone to the wall and dumped us.

Same for just about every trade going. If everybody takes this attitude we will be bankrupt as a country with nobody buying anything.

[Clive McDonald]

The winning strategy is quality, cost and volume.But what's great about it is that as Ewan points out this is counter intuitive so very few in our game have the smarts to figure it.


Of course there aren't 95 out of a hundred people working. People not registered such as school kids, pensioners, housewives, sickness claimants, immigrants, illegals, people too affluent or on the first six weeks of redunacy money etc- these number quite a few.

[geefree]

Thats the way guys.

Blooming Heck, Thanks for all your replies.

Thank god for positive people.

 

[peter holley]

Cheers dave.

its geared at steering us through the bad times,

we all know the facts... but its how we choose to deal with them thats important.

there are too many doom and gloom topics, which people can post on, if thats how they feel, although i do understand the facts and figures,

this is not what this topic is about.



its about being positive, and i dont mean being positive by saying its getting worse, or look whats happening here there, or anywhere.
move your customers to 8 weeks if need be when in danger of losing them, canvass more.. leaflet more, ask friends and neighbours and customers for recommends.... fill any gaps that may appear in your round, or fill them before ...if you feel you have to.

Be positive.

i agree ...we may well be on the down, but ill go down FIGHTING   I HAVE A CUSTOMER WHOS A RETIRED MILLIONAIR   OOPS SORRY FOR SHOUTING.....his advice was work hard !work hard !work hard! then work even harder!

[Oakley Windows]

his advice was work hard !work hard !work hard! then work even harder!

I take it he doesn't advocate an electric reel then 

[peter holley]

his advice was work hard !work hard !work hard! then work even harder!

I take it he doesn't advocate an electric reel then 

lol

[mark dew]

It doesn't matter what the situation is like. The worries can be debated forever. There isn't really much point.
There are 3 ways i can go. Carry on working the same way. Reduce prices, or give up.
All i can do is to keep trying to do a good job and keep hold of what customers i have, instead of dropping them cos they take a couple of months to pay. Look for opportunities and hopefully grab them when they arise.
Whatever happens, i'll just carry on. I will let other people worry about it.

[windowwashers]

Your a long time dead, and negative thoughts tend to be people feeling sorry for themselves, Look at what you have and what you can get, some just dont know how lucky they are, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart.

[dai]

It doesn't matter what the situation is like. The worries can be debated forever. There isn't really much point.
There are 3 ways i can go. Carry on working the same way. Reduce prices, or give up.
All i can do is to keep trying to do a good job and keep hold of what customers i have, instead of dropping them cos they take a couple of months to pay. Look for opportunities and hopefully grab them when they arise.
Whatever happens, i'll just carry on. I will let other people worry about it.

Mark we all have to carry on mate, I agree with Gazza, and even dare I say it Ewan on this occasion, we do have to think positive to move forward, hence my post a few weeks ago about this being no time to rest on our laurels.
We will lose customers and we will have to face working in a  more competitive environment.
There is nobody more positive than me, I did start back in this game when I was in my 50's, and built my round from scratch, this following redundancy and the loss of my wife.

We are sailing through uncharted waters, we have to think about the worse case scenario and develop strategies to cope with it. one strategy is to try and recruit as many new clients as possible now, to make up for any future losses.
Now does anyone have a round made up entirely of policemen, social workers, school teachers, armed forces members and health care workers?
If you do you only have to worry about undercutting Newbies.

[Clive McDonald]

hey windy have you paid your ad fee?

[wightsurf]

Well i'm still picking up work, so i'm doing something right   yes there is a bad patch to get through but there is light at the end of the tunnel. I have my own plan and in less than 8 wks i have more work than i can cope with. I will need to lose 100 custies  before i start to worry    

                           *******Merry christmas*******
                                                  

[Tosh]

Now does anyone have a round made up entirely of policemen, social workers, school teachers, armed forces members and health care workers?

Keep away from army married quarters; they're a nightmare as customers!  They keep on getting sent off to Afganistan or Iraq and their wives go home to Mum; and the married quarter is left empty for months on end; or you when you've built up a good customer base, they up-sticks and do a 'unit move' and you lose all your customers.

They're not good customers.

But getting back on topic, I can't say we've felt the 'credit crunch' here; maybe a few lost customers but last Autumn was probably our best ever period for taking on good quality new work.

And for the first time since I started window cleaning, this Christmas is all paid for, bills covered till January; we're going to have two-weeks off and we're only working part-time uptill we finish anyway.

What credit crunch?