How is business....

[Just Me]

Crashed. Utterly crashed. We were flat ROLLING, getting work faster than I could crank it out... and now I am just sitting wondering why the phone never rings.

It literally stalled to nothing about 4 weeks ago. No transition... just flat stopped.

same way here, dead!

 

[Des6139]

I Cant believe how bad it is over here, Nobody is buying and when a job does come up the customer starts by telling you what he can get it for elsewhere.

 

[gabagoo]

I was pretty busy all summer and Oct it has slowed down. I am a little concerned as to how you guys deal with employee costs. I always have something to do because I wear so many hats here but one of my employees is basically a weeder , masker installer and when the work slows down I am scrambling to find work for her. I now decided she can start painting the main offices when it is slow for her, just so that she can still earn a wage. Since moving to digital and more and more projects being digital, her work load is getting less and less.
I have quotes out there and am waiting for P.O.s hopefully they start showing up soon or it could be a bleak Xmas.

 

[GK]

Very busy with our larger clients (chain restaurants, retail stores, and liquor companies) walk in customers...very slow...but we never really depended on them it was just busy work and extra cash flow. With the holidays passing and more coming up our other sales have been extremely well.

 

[Mikeifg]

Same here very dead here..................

 

[High Octane]

Not too bad here...signs and vehicles a bit slow...but the screen printing side is still cool.
We are fortunate enough to have a couple of big players we do work for like a couple of big bands and radio stations n such...they never have enough tee shirts

 

[legacyborn]

Dead but just started picking up!

 

[OldPaint]

iam with flamey and pat...........WE ALL AGREE ON THIS........NADA....FLAT nothing for me for the last 2 months.livin off SS CHECK.........

 

[ProWraps]

how many of you are doing active marketing? what are you doing to market your business? it seems so many on here are passive marketing. wrong time wrong place. this post isnt meant to degrade but only to help.

why is your business slow? and what are you doing or not doing to counteract it?

 

[legacyborn]

I am an ambassador with the chamber and do every chamber event.

I direct mail a marketing campaign to my current clients and have revamped my website and now use facebook and twitter. We also have just moved our monthly newsletter "Sign Language" to twice a month at the request of many of our clients.

I work with three different marketing groups in the area and go to all of their events.

Once a week I choose a business complex and do walk ins. (soon to be twice a week)

Our last yard sign was just taken down (even though it was in an area where I had permission) And we will soon be doing a new batch of those. (we get great response with these.)

I have no doubt that many people in my area will be using me when they need something. I have a strong following and great word of mouth.

The big issue I am running into is people don't know all the services I offer but I am working on a plan to improve this which includes our new website and the Sign Buyers Guide from thesignexpert.com as well as more education of my customers (Trying to learn how to do this without wasting too much time on a client that won't buy something is difficult for me, i love talking with people)

We are giving out a lot of bids and I know we are competitive (thanks to Signs101) And as I mentioned business is starting to pick back up. It seems we just had a month long lull.

 

[gnatt66]

I made a facebook page for my business last night. Well atleast started one, i'll add much more when i'm at work. It can't hurt.

 

[Jillbeans]

I had my biggest November ever, and my biggest August.
Probably my steadiest year since 1984 too.
I have no idea why.
Love....Jill

 

[signage]

Jill that's fantastic that you have had your best November ever being we're only 4 days into it! I think you meant October!

 

[Jillbeans]

Nope, I meant November.
$162 Monday from Saturday's mail, $3600 that afternoon.
$370 yesterday, and $180 last night (someone dropped off a check very late and I was not wearing pants!)

 

[Deaton Design]

Its been pretty steady for me since May. Just now starting to slow down a little. A few really nice paying high end jobs in there too. I usually stay busy until January, so Im anxious to see how it goes from here on out. Thinking about going home based and building a garage/shop/studio on my property.

 

[Finishline Signs]

We are pretty steady, overall we are up for the year. November, December and Jaunary are typically our slowest months as I'm sure it is for most people.

 

[Letterbox Mike]

Same boat as alot of people, dead. October was our best month ever, closed the books with record numbers, but the last week of Oct dropped off to nothing. We're sort of like pat, we have maybe a dozen or so jobs in the shop, the largest is about $2000. In the last 1-2 months we have been quoting alot more permanent signs (channel letters, boxes, monuments, etc.) which had dried up around here for the most part since about a year ago (we're in an area with a downright terrible economy, so nobody was doing anything big because no businesses were opening or moving or remodeling). Hopefully some of those quotes start rolling over to jobs.

On a positive note, the outcomes of yesterday's elections got alot of corrupt politicians out of local offices, and alot of levys got passed around here, so hopefully people will be a little more optimistic on our area's outlook and will open their wallets a little more...

 

[signage]

Nope, I meant November.
$162 Monday from Saturday's mail, $3600 that afternoon.
$370 yesterday, and $180 last night (someone dropped off a check very late and I was not wearing pants!)

Like I said before then that is great to hear and hopefully it only get better form here!

 

[Doyle]

Not doing too bad here, I am a one man shop for about half of the year, the rest of the year a two man shop. I had a GREAT Sept. and Oct. (doubled my numbers from last year, which were horrible). With the work I have right now, I will be in good shape through December.

After last fall (the worst few months of business EVER) anything looks good to me.

 

[Jack Knight1979]

This has been a good year for us. Traditionally Sept/Oct is the busiest months for us. No idea why. I would think it would slow down with kids going back to school, but we're always slammed.

As soon as Nov. hits, we're dead. We don't pick up again until end of Feb.