[Jim_77]

The least said about Jan and Feb the better!

March starting to look OK now, have been doing some mailshots which always fills the diary up.  But still slow.

I wonder how many new starts in the last 12 months will be falling by the wayside...

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I started a job this morning at 7.30 got done early but have another job at 2,30pm and I'm now bored as I have a big hole in the middle of the day.

Jim do you still go out and quote old customers?

Shaun

[Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus)]

January seemed busy, but only because I was catching up on the work postponed due to the snow.

February was bloody awful !

Phone and e-mail enquiries have picked up over the last week.


Steve

[Jim_77]

Same here Shaun, I'm out and in 3 times today, got a morning's work spread over the entire day and scattered all over the countryside :

Still, I get to have a nice lunch at home in front of the telly

With the old custys booking from a mailshot, most of them just book me in and I'll price up on arrival.  Some of them want to know beforehand, so I'll give them an estimate and they're happy with confirming when I get there.

I do choose to actually go and look at a few jobs, the ones that sound like they might be awkward!

[chrisjohn]

February has been pretty good for me,but all of a sudden the phone has stopped ringing,and work has come to a grinding halt.Only 2 jobs booked in for this week.


Chris

[MAX Carpets]

very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very quite! Not been like this sine we first started (1988) Whats going on??

[Shaun_Ashmore]

as the saying goes "if you do nothing you get nothing" be like Derek and pro active, I am atm by drinking tea and watching Carol Vordermans clevage (well there's not much on TV) but I'm going to start putting letters in envelopes for an hour.

Shaun

[MAX Carpets]

Shaun

Just done this months mailshot..........................................

[Steve. Taylor]

Just got home cup of tea & sarnie going out now should drop 400 leaflets thats me for today
spoke to agent this morning 2 EOT NEXT WEEK and the start of 16 2 bed newbuild flats are starting to sale so the girls will be busy polishing them up for viewers. Apart from that crystal ball time

might have a look at the tea leaves and see whats in store

[clinton]

The bad weather has taken its toll on us all i think.

Picking up for march mind you.

Where are all the cleaners who get 10 to 20 calls a day

[derek west]

jan, trippled takings on last year but thats not saying anything as last jan was near non existant.
february was my second best month on record,

75% of work for this year was repeats and referals so i'm doing something right, obviously my wit and charm

booked up (and i use that term loosely) half day wednesday and most of thur fri this week. one job next week so see how it all goes, phones ringing 2 to 3 times a day so still a lot of work to do but to say i'm optimistic is an understatement.
2011 is gonna big massive. and 2012 see's derek buying a titan. arrrrroooooooggggaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[Simon Gerrard]

I think the quiet times are all par for the course and if you use them correctly you can actually do a lot of good for your business. It's no good sitting there bitching about it though, you have to do some things that help you be more distinctive in the market place. The trouble is lots of carpet cleaners have a sort of crowd mentality and advertise in the same places, with the same style and type of ads, instead of studying what your competitors do, not just in advertising, but in everything they do and seek out ways to do it better so that eventually you stand out from the crowd and if you can do that you will get recognised a lot more. So my advice, for what it's worth, is use the quiet times to your advantage and develop your business so that when business picks up you're in the box seat.

Simon

[Jon Oldham]

Joe

How did you get on with your first tile clean. Did you use your Rotovac? I haven't used mine for tile and grout yet.

Regards

Jon

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Today have had 7 enquiries, 3 have booked and 1 was a total waste infact I don't think he was on the same planet (from Doncaster enough said) and 3 have said that they will call back when they are ready which means they aren't ready or looking around but 1 was an old customer the 3 who booked were all old customers but all wanted decent and half decent work doing.

Shaun

[Jason Ryan]

Jan-so so, Feb-awful . By the sounds of everyone else i think (and i hope i wrong) that 2010 will be a hard year. 2009 nowhere as bad as predicted, ok infact.

Using the quiet times to market, market, market.

J

[Joe H]

Jon
Hope to get the machine Wed this week.
Did the job in Jan using a 15" rotary along with STS and black XR scrub pad from Solutions, grout brush and hard floor wand/brush connected to Prowler.
Came up well but wasnt really bad.
T&G is an area I want to expand this year.

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys

I haven't found it that bad, in fact today booked 5 jobs, turned down 2 others because too far west and about 4 quotes I didn't get.

I advertise through my web network over a large area and pick whether to travel depending on my work volume, so this time of year I will travel more than in say June.

I know others are finding it tough and I used to this time of year, there were a couple of times I seriously considered getting a proper job as my mum used to say, she wasn't that impressed that I packed up being a Chemist and became a CC!

During the last recession I put on smart clothes and went selling, it was the difference between surviving and not. I called commercial nursing homes, pubs, clubs, shops etc.

Cheers

Doug

[Nigel_W]

The bad weather has taken its toll on us all i think.

Picking up for march mind you.

Where are all the cleaners who get 10 to 20 calls a day

Clinton

Maybe like me they are keeping quiet because some will immediately question their validity and it seems rude to wax lyrical about your full order book when others are finding it hard going. There are plenty of people who are busy.

Nigel
www.designcare.co.uk

[mark_roberts]

When climbing today.  Best snow conditions Ive ever seen in the Mournes.  Clear blue skies to boot.

Why do you all want to work.

10 years cleaning carpets tomorrow.  I remember now why I like being self employed.

Mark

[Ricky M]

Jan good Feb ok but steady work booked all through the year.
spent the last 2 years dormant just seeing what comes in from non active marketing BUT April will see the opening of the 1st office with unit for off site work and a Big push for pro active marketing, caners planned for sept , have new Tech on board who is a very skilled flooring fitter and now adding 3 new services and another biz .

Ive spent some time watching listening and learning now is the time to see if I can do as well for myself as Ive done for others.

If not back to the old trade of the late 90's  oo ye wrong wrong but very right   

after the personal stab from   its made me really push even more so Thank you and just watch us grow.   

at this point I would like to thank: Shaun ash , Dave L/A , Stu Clem, sweeny todd, kev Loomes ( banned ??), Paul Moss (really opened my eyes to leather and added an extra 7k to last years takings kerr ching) , Andy Foster ( this guy really showed me how to diversify and expand ) Ian the lion heart, John Kelly of RESTomate ( top bloke )  My mum   
peace to all