Month In Review: January 2011

The start of the year is always the toughest part of the year. That is why it is important to make as much headway as possible before the end of the year. If you can start booking fitting for January during the last couple of months of the year then you can hit the ground running in the New Year.


As is expected, the beginning of January came whimpering in. Not huge levels of activity. People had more important bills to pay, like credit card bills and Christmas. So low lead levels. But we sold much of what we went on, which is the key when things are quiet.


As the month progressed leads came slowly flowing back, as did sales and revenues. But one thing which was obvious was the caution customers were showing. People are still very nervous about placing orders. Presumably this is down to low consumer confidence and the worries about jobs and lower wages. 


Product quality is going to be the key I think this year. Price is going to be important, but as more and more people start to learn that going cheap is more expensive in the long run and it's better for them to buy quality, it's going to become imperative that installers fit the best product they can.