isn't it amazing how a recession doesn't hurt until the main stream media gets a hold of it and beats the crap out of it and tells you to be afraid and who to blame, then the next big story shows up they move on and the economy mysteriously starts to recover.......rant over
a recession is what you make of it, we had a rough winter and spring, been steady but nothing fantastic, and i feel it is somewhat self induced, however starting to take steps to change that and step out of the box
I know what you are getting at. And you are correct to a certain extent. We know that there is a recession, so we just accept piss poor sales as a result of that recession instead of doing whatever it takes to increase sales.
But at the same time, if people dont have any money, they aint gonna buy, regardless of how much marketing you do. You cant get blood out of a turnup. Most people in my area seem to be broke. It's amazing how many people come into my shop, get a quote, they say that they want to place the order, I ask for a deposit, they tell me that they "dont have the money right now". Of course that happened a lot before the recession, just not as much. Those people piss me off.
So I run into a school principle that I happen to know, ask him if he is ready for us to put up those directional signs that I quoted on a few months back, he says that he will definately use us to put up the signs, when they get the money. I suggest that we could go ahead and put up the signs and wait to invoice until they get the new budget funding from the district. He says, you dont understand, we got the new budget but we got no money. I pick up the paper, and sure enough, the school system is furloughing administrators and teachers (10 days without pay), they laid off bus drivers, and completely eleminated the classroom materials funding. Can't get blood out of a turnup.
Not to long ago I chatted with a guy who sold his very sucessful sign shop. He was starting a new one and was only going to to high end 3D type signage. He wasn't even going to sell yardsigns and banners and the like. Now, a year after opening up, I see his yardsigns all over the county: "Get 100's of signs like these DIRT CHEAP". Seems that high end 3D sign thing didn't work out to well and now he is targeting the "dirt cheap" market.
I cant sell to an unemployed person. I cant sell to a business that is planning on closing it's doors next month (yes I can - maybe a going out of business sign). I cant sell to a strip mall full of vacant store fronts.
Now I'm not whining about slow sales one bit. I hate it that business is slow, but we are surviving. Whats slow to me may be a ton of work to other shops. I still have a few employees left. In a way, I am actually enjoying going home at 5:30. I am enjoying not having to work on weekends. Most importantly, I am enjoying not having as much stress and being able to goof off a little during the day.
Now if only I can figure out how I can make payroll tomorrow.
