This is not a complaint on my part but an inquisitive question as to the psychology of the average client,....why is it that I can go for almost 18 months with little or no work of any significance and then three weeks prior to my taking a trip to Danville and my phone starts ringing off the hook. I've booked as much work in the last two weeks as I have in the past 18 months money wise,...not to say I haven't been doing any work just that the work was not anything significant in value,..just small jobs here and there,...now all of a sudden I have two walls that will pay very well and another three or four jobs that tie into these walls and everyone can't seem to wait,....whats with the customers? I've decided to start telling them I'm quitting the business and going into the computer tech field so business will pick up hahahahaha seems the customers always want what I try not to give them,..if I tell them I'm going out of town they load me up with work when they know I have a tight schedule,...if I tell them I'm thinking about getting out of the sign business they start calling all of a sudden with alot of work,....why is it? When I was seeking to provide a service for them they wanted nothing to do with me,...go figure,...
Posted by W. R. Pickett (Member # 3842) on :
They can wait. You are only going to be away for a (long) weekend.
Posted by Tim Barrow (Member # 576) on :
I understand that part Billy,..its the part about all of a sudden them wanting what they think they can't get,...it has been available to them all along and they didn't seem to want it,..now that there is a chance they can't have it(my services) they can't seem to get enough,...
[ July 24, 2010, 07:41 AM: Message edited by: Tim Barrow ]
Posted by Don Hulsey (Member # 128) on :
Hey Tim,
Start a room addition on your house!!!
I started mine in Sept 06, and haven't had time to finish it yet. Even if I get the time, I'm not sure I want to finish it for fear the work will slow down then.
Posted by Tim Barrow (Member # 576) on :
What was the joke back in the day,..throw away a pattern and soon as you do they'll call with a job you'll need it on,....
Posted by Bruce Brickman (Member # 8180) on :
I was a bartender and I swear I won so much on the houses money and as soon as I was the client just the opposite.
Posted by Rusty Bradley (Member # 6938) on :
Tim...it sounds to me like either all your customers are involved in a conspiracy against you...or it's just coincidence...if you'll apply the logic of "Achem's Razor"...which says that for any given phenomenon the simpliest explanation with the fewest assumptions is usually the correct one...then you will know which of the above 2 reasons is the most probable.
[ July 25, 2010, 01:07 AM: Message edited by: Rusty Bradley ]
Posted by Guy H. J. Hilliard (Member # 2529) on :
Sounds like you need a "Closing Soon! (5:00 each and every day)" sign and then you will never be out of work.
Around here I think the clients conspire to drive me to distraction. I never have only one job at a time, it may go 3 - 5 weeks between jobs but as soon as a client puts down a deposit for some work I could bet the deposit that more work will be ordered within 24 hours and make money every time.
Posted by Si Allen (Member # 420) on :
Just move along folks ... nothing new here!
I have been in this biz for 43 yeas, full time ... and it has always been like that!
Toss out a pattern, and they call ... plan a trip, and they call ... always need it yesterday!
Posted by Michael Clanton (Member # 2419) on :
I have learned (the hard way) that there is something subconsious that goes on in the mind of clients when they learn you are not going to be at their beck and call- it seems to motivate them to try to get their projects done first, and everyone starts coming out of nowhere.
I have used this to my advantage- when things start getting slow, I just start passing the word around that I am going on a trip, or will be gone for a few days on personal business- sometimes I don't even go... other times, I don't even let anyone know until the last possible minute- that really freaks some of them out...
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