Quote from: sourgrapes on 30 January 2014, 11:09:52 am

I'm finding it very quiet right now - even Jamie Oliver is closing 3 restaurants out of 4 because they're losing money. Not particularly high-end, either. People aren't spending. Why, if we're in such a marvelous economic recovery??

- But I would still never cancel going to a hotel just because the phone was quiet before I left home

Sarah x x x

HI Sarah, I am only able to do outcalls and obviously this limits bookings, I was looking into booking a hotel room on laterooms and then just setting up there for the day but I figured I should wait til I had at least a couple of bookings for that day first though to cover expenses.  Do you have experience with this? thanks.x

This week has probably been slow due to the fact most clients won't have been paid since the 19th December and tax bills for 2013 are also due this week. There's also the fact that Christmas will have made a lot of people skint too.
I'm sure it will pick up again by march

Thank goodness for my regulars, Jan has been very good for me and this week has been busy, probably because I am off for the whole of Febuary.

I concur. Like I said before, despite things being the way it is...sometimes when push comes to shove, you have to make clients feel that if they don't see you this week, they'll never see you again. I've really been having to push that I'm moving, and although I haven't even found a new place or boxed my things up...it's bought me a few extra clients that would otherwise put off meeting me. This past couple weeks, I been meeting clients who have put off seeing me for MONTHS and YEARS, and now that they know I'm 'moving', they're coming around.

Sometimes in life, in some businesses, you have to fib a little to get ahead. Just a little. Especially when things get too slow.

nope im touring there and its always busy for me

may not be the same if i was there perminatly tho x

if you offer a good service u dont need to lower your rates 

indeed  .. i lower my rate for bristol as i dont have the overheads of london!

There is nothing you can do about TW sometimes. I have seen a guy ring girls up on AW and call three up, book all them, then decide who he wanted at last minute cause, he can't make his mind up! My jaw dropped at  how selfish and inconsiderate some people can be.

I find saying "so is this a definite booking then?" sometimes gets an honest "can I let you know" , I tell them yes but I cancel the booking. They made the booking in the hope that they could make it without actually knowing for sure if they could. I dont do hope. I do definite.Sometimes they call back and Im still free or Im not but sometimes you dont hear from them again which means they would have cancelled anyway or just not shown up. If they say "errr yeah" after hesitating then I still dont consider it a sure thing tbh as they had to think about it. x