homeowner calls =0 for 3 weeks!!!

[huggytree]

i ususally get 4-5 homeowner calls a day...usually 1 turns out to be good.

since school started i have only gotten like 3 calls and all were people wanting advice..no jobs...

im burried because of contractor work, but worry about the economy

i know it slows down when school lets out and when school starts again,but its more extreme this year.

anyone else notice a sudden drop off 3 weeks ago?

[Steve B]

I did. Our school year starts very early (mid August). My calls dropped considerably.

Real estate is picking up in this area, so hopefully things will get better.

[Dan Furman]

Me too - I noticed a definite drop starting 2-3 weeks ago.

I just got a real nice job yesterday - will carry me well into October (taking a vacation soon too.) But man, working for yourself can be soooo tough sometimes.

[huggytree]

ive been scoring builder jobs like crazy....Oct. is going to be very buzy and profitable....but i look for the homeowner work to fill in the gaps and wow is it gone...

Fall is usually my busiest time....I make 1/3rd of my profit from a 2 month period (oct/nov).....im hoping the homeowner calls come back in the next 2-3 weeks

im finding it a good time to pick up new builders again....i havent picked up any new ones in 6 months of this year and now have 5 new ones within the last 2 months....im bidding lower(sadly), but will still make decent profit(i still have room to drop if the economy goes down further)..

just sent out my mailers and got back another 4 returned (out of business) 4 home builders a month gone....

[orion_joel]

It could be possible that the drop off at the start of the school year is due to less money in house holds sue to the need to pay school fees, and such. Especially in times of hardship, i would imagine that education would still play a decent role in many families, and would possibly comes before anything but the most essential repairs.

This would not account for all homeowners of course, however a good portion. Plus the fact that teachers and other administration staff from schools would also be back to work.

[orion_joel]

Another quick point is who are you marketing to this potential market. If it is just the phone book, then you maybe could consider other ways to get in front of potential customers. It comes down to your other thread about not just waiting for the customers to come.

[cocoy]

I had 0 new jobs in August. This month I'm currently at 5 new jobs.

[dbelmont]

The usual wisdon is to imporve marketing to increase calls. But what if the situation is there are virtually no consumers who are in the market right now.

One of my businesses is home inspections. Very dependent on interest in real estate. Since we didn't have the flood of foreclosures in Vermont as most of our lenders stayed away from the creative loan vehicles. That now seems to be one reason we have a low real estate stock of decent properties.

In the face of proven marketing that would get me plenty of calls I had none in August or the first 2 weeks in September. This wekk first call since July. Inspection booked for Friday.

[huggytree]

i wrote this post 2 weeks ago....i got 1 call this week....1 call in 5 weeks....its a 1 hour job from a old customer....its unbelievable right now....its worse than February...

im still burried w/ large builder projects...Sept was barely profitable, but Oct will be fantastic.

[huggytree]

Week 6!....today i got 5 new calls!!!....just like someone flicked a switch...


im slow after next week, so its perfect timing