What is Busy?

[gemsmom]

What do people mean when they ask if we are "busy". Do they mean how many orders we have taken in, or how much money those orders have generated? Or is it a combination of both? I have had slow days customer-wise that have been great money-wise; or I have had busy days people-wise where we didn't do diddly money-wise. I service more people at Christmas, but my average ticket goes down. I haven't seen as many people January-February, but our average ticket is way up. So I could say I was "busy" at Xmas, but in reality, I am making more money now, and working less hard to do it. My take on the Christmas season is, people are buying for others and won't spend as much money on others as they will for themselves. Therefore, our average ticket goes down.

 

[Charles Lowry]

Pamela, I just stepped in to help my wife, who was running our shop single-handed. She has almost 100 jobs to get out, and can't get any framing done because she has to keep helping customers. I'm trying to help her get the framing done so she can spend time with customers.
Our pricing doesn't seem to deter our customers. We seldom have anyone walk away because of a price quote. There are other 'big' framers who work less expensively that we do, but we have all we can handle right now. Jan-Mar is usually a slow time, but this year seems to be the exception. She stopped taking orders before Thanksgiving so she could get promised work out by Christmas.
We live in a bedroom community near Raleigh and the Research Triangle. Most of our customers work in Raleigh or the RTP. We try, emphasis on try, to be on the high-quality side. Some of the bigger outfits are losing their customers to smaller shops in the area.
So..busy to us is when we're this far behind and the work keeps coming in. Thank the Lord for that! As a now two-person operation, we need all the income we can get.

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Charles Lowry

 

[rosetl]

My regular customer's often ask this -- I think they are interesting in knowing if other people are shopping and buying---and assume that if you are busy you are making money--and will be there the next time they want something framed. Also, it's a way for them to ask you how the business is doing -- without really wanting to know the answer.

 

[sumik]

Charles,hope you're up to doing a lot of framing! There are a lot of shop owners wishing they had 100 jobs to get done. Maybe it's time to hire someone. What's your turnaround time? If people have to wait 4-5 weeks to get their work back...they may not BE back. Good luck,and happy framing!

 

[Greg Gomon]

We gained an awesome customer this week because the previous frame shop took 5 weeks to complete the framing projects. The "other" shop turn-around time is typically 3-5 weeks. Ours is religiously 7-10 days.

Question of busy. We get that question a lot from customers. Those that know us want to make sure they can still rely on the turn around time. Those in other businesses want to get a feel of the economy outside their market. I ask that question alot of customers when I know they are in another line of work. Just a way of keeping abreast of the local economy. Also a great way of starting a conversation.
"Busy" is a relative concept. We are always busy, taking care of customers, brainstorming the next marketing idea, sprucing up the store....least I forget framing their artwork.