Posted:  11 Oct 2013 21:26
Registered User Currently Offline Join Date: Mar 2012	Posts:  24 Reputation:  1 User Rank: 1 - Seedling
Is it just me, or is everyone having challenges booking holiday business this year? This year in pre booking it appears that many of our regular clients are either cutting back or eliminating it altogether, it's really weird.  Budgets ain't what they used to be, either.  We're selling jobs at half what we used to get 5 years ago. That downward trend has been for a while, but combined with people scaling back, it's having a really negative impact on our numbers this year. Sorry to be a gloomy gus!  Anybody want to cheer me up and tell me they're not noticing any difference?

Posted:  11 Oct 2013 23:41
Registered User Currently Offline Join Date: Jan 2011	Posts:  798 Reputation:  43 User Rank: 10 - Blossom
We've seen some interest in adding plants and in new office jobs lately, but nothing to write home about.  As for holiday, we discourage it (we're small and don't want to have to hire and train for just holiday work), but we do a couple of buildings with large trees, wreaths, etc. and some poinsettias in office accounts.  Just enough to be annoying and ruin Thanksgiving week! If you're in a market with a lot of low-end competition, good luck.  If you're fortunate enough to be in an affluent market with a lot of high-end clientele and not much competition, you're doing okay.  We have carved out a comfy niche in mostly small office with a bit of residential and some larger buildings.  A good mix, because small office is much less price-sensitive than major office facilities and much more loyal, too.  We're not looking to loot the coffers of our competitors in the area, just hold our own and grow modestly ("sustainably"?  In my book, that means no bigger than my psyche can stand!).  We anticipate our usual CPI-based rate increase next January, with the possible exception of one notoriously cheap large commercial realty company that expects prices to decrease every year.  I'd like some of what they're smoking.

Posted:  15 Oct 2013 23:47
Registered User Currently Offline Join Date: Mar 2012	Posts:  24 Reputation:  1 User Rank: 1 - Seedling
Thanks Clem, We do a big holiday business, always have, we decorate a lot of hotels and other properties.  I'm just finding it strange...These are major hotel chains in a major metro area, and for the budget they're giving us this year it's just not even worth it.

Posted:  16 Oct 2013 19:28
Registered User Currently Offline Join Date: Jan 2011	Posts:  798 Reputation:  43 User Rank: 10 - Blossom
I think it's the commoditization effect that people have developed over the past ten years or so due to big box store and online shopping price cutting.  We get lumped in with other products and services that people THINK they can buy online or from a chain for less money.  Even if this is a mistaken assumption on their part, many will insist that they can find some other vendor to give them what they want cheaper.  In some cases, they are correct.  That only serves to reinforce their belief.

Posted:  06 Nov 2013 20:43
Registered User Currently Offline Join Date: Oct 2013	Posts:  2 Reputation: Unranked User Rank: 1 - Seedling
There has not been much of a change here.  We did have a drop in Fall season installments.  However it seems our bulb sales and as of yet our winter/holiday are well on track...  but every year has its up's and downs.

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