I really like working on boat innerds. My phone rang pretty early yesterday morning. I usually spend most of Saturday in Sew 'n Sew. Some for me (playing with embroidery) and try to get odds and ends on projects finished up on Saturday while I'm doing laundry. The gentleman asked how late I was opened. I told him that we could set a time and I would make sure I was available. He wasn't sure when he could be by so I asked him to call first as Jimmy has got to be walked every day or he just bounces off the walls : ) Anyway, this gentleman had 8 office chairs in his suv and pictures of some "back to back" seats in his boat. Definitely a guy I want to talk to.
About 45 minutes later, the Sew 'n Sew doorbell rang and I went upstairs to find a gentleman that I had done some seats for his boat early summer. I knew he had more work for me to do but that it would be after his boat was docked for the winter. We went downstairs and talked. He wanted to know how much vinyl of his I had and how much notice I needed to finish up his boat. I dug out his vinyl so he could eyeball it and it looks to be just about what we need to finish him up. As we chatted, he told me that a friend of his was going to call -- about some office chairs and a boat to be decked out in "Husker" fashion. I told him that the gentleman had already called. Old customer was supposed to pick up the chairs but couldn't get hold of the new customer. I figured the visitor was done and that old would give my card to new so that he could email me pictures of what needed to be done as that is what old told me was going to happen.
Mid afternoon Bob and I went for our walk. Came home and sure enough I had missed a call and it was from new customer. 20 minutes out and wanted to see if I was home. At least he decided to chance it and was going to drive by. I had no sooner cleared the call and he showed up. Spent the afternoon showing him pictures of jobs I've done and picking out the correct "Husker red and cream" colors. LOL. We did get the office chairs into the garage (Bob is sooooo happy about that as well as breaking one down first to make sure that this wasn't going to be a job I would regret when it came time to put things back together. I did some chairs for a laundremat that really had me cursing like a drunken sailor (to quote my mother). Anyway these chairs latch at the bottom and are easy to pop out once you know how they are assembled. Headliner tool saved the day for sure.
I started out the day with sure work through most of December and some maybe's for January and now am mostly booked through much of the winter. I can slip small stuff in here and there but I think I've got some time intensive dedicated jobs.
Oh and just turned down a job as the guy wanted to drop his boat off so that I could work on it throughout the winter. I think he didn't want to pay storage fees and figured it would be cheaper to do some upholstery work. I would definitely be divorced if I went upstairs and told Bob that we would have a boat in our garage for all of winter. :eek I wasn't even upset about not getting the job. It's mid-November and I've got 4 boat jobs already (one almost done). I'm thinking this might be The Winter of The Boats.
For Darren: yes, I increased my pricing on the office chairs. They don't involve too much work but I'll get a nice check for Bob's and my efforts. The boat seats will cost him more than what I charged "old" customer as my knowledge base has expanded considerably since then, which of course is reflected in my work.
Virginia
I hate it when a customer ties me up at a housecall for a hour
Customers who don't respect your time, sometimes you have to tell them time for me to go work on something that pays!
Time management, just as important as learning how to do upholstery.
So, me too Mike, the worst tire kickers that I have to get out the door is the car guys. They will stay an hour or more if you let them. I think a lot of them, that come in are sniffing out how to do something for them selves.
Time is money!!!!
Doyle
most all my customers are retired doyle so they just start chatting sometimes I have to stop interjecting to the conversation and not be rude