What to expect this December?

jimmybuffit

jimmybuffit

That'll buff right out!
As you may know, Christmas and New Year's fall on Thursday this year. With Christmas Eve and NY Eve, of course, on Wednesday. I'm afraid many of my potential clients will take extended vacations, before and after, and if true, essentially one half of the month is gone!



I spoke with a Detroit area Shop owner (fairly large) recently, and he's planning to CLOSE from Dec 20, and not reopen until Jan 5th! YIKES! That's 16 days! He has already told his staff to apply for unemployment for the period...



I know everyone's situation is different, but I'd enjoy some different points of view (and some suggested strategies). Historically, December has been good for us, particulary for Gift Certificates.



Jim
 
November through mid Jan it's a ghost town around here anyways. Once the snow falls I basically pick up another job for the winter and go to appointments only. Last winter was my first opened and it about killed me right off. Hopefully this winter will be better.
 
Jimmy - Are you referring to Classic Appreciation? If so, that's very shocking that they would close for that long and lay their employees off. Doesn't sound too smart to me. I'd be pretty upset if my employer did that(especially around the holidays). I'd go look for a new job immediately. Even if it's slow, I don't see closing your doors to your customers or workers. My shop was and still is swamped in December & January mostly because the dealers we do business with still sends details out. If we slowed down that much, we'd clean the shop and paint the walls.



Jake - I thought your shop was opened longer? Don't you do any dealer work?
 
You know, David, I never did get the name of his Shop - my tint guy brought him in to redo a clear bra install gone bad. But, obviously he got me thinking, and that's a good thing.



I'll certainly be open the days before Christmas. I'm hoping for 15-20 last minute Gift Certificate Sales. In the past we've done a surprising number of student cars home for the Holidays - go figure.



We do very little dealer work, although we're surrounded by five majors. They send us 'problem cars'.



My bread and butter is high end retail, and I'm guessing most will be either skiing or sunbathing...



But, we'll be open for most of it.



Jim
 
Our climate is pretty good for detailing almost year round. Like Jimmy mentioned above, I am already getting calls from clients booking appointments for their college kids rides while they are home for the holidays. This may be something you want to advertise towards (kind of like retailers do in July with back to school promotions).
 
Yea I have a few dealers but here it's just dead. My dealers don't really pick up until the income taxes start rolling in. Then they are swammped to no end. and thus I'm super busy from the end of Jan till end of spring with dealer car then I switch over to my customer pays. It's pretty slow around Nov-Dec. although I do quite a bit of gift cert sales for the holidays. I usually take a night job (local ski resort if I can get in) and then book details around my schedule. If I have something I'll come up to the shop if not I'll sleep in. But I don't actually close my doors by any means. I'm locked into a lease LOL they wouldn't let me if I wanted to.
 
Most people in the high end market who ski and sunbathe during the Christmas/News Years vacation period fly to their destinations.



For those of you pros open year round, I could see a potential for a "treat your car to a spa detail while you are on vacation" advertising campaign.
 
The only thing that really affects me in the winter is the weather. As long as it is dry, I'm working. If we get an unusually wet winter, I'll probably go to Phoenix for a few weeks and work there. Several Phoenix members on another board I go to say they can get me 30-40 cars to do if I can stay that long.



I have an umbilical hernia I plan on getting fixed before the end of the year (when my back got injured last year when my Mazda got rear-ended, that got filed with my health insurance and knocked my deductible way down), probably do that the week after Thanksgiving so I am up and running again by early December. I am sure y'all are in the same boat, mad rush until Christmas. Don't want to miss out on Christmas tips either. ;)
 
Personally, I operate until christmas and then take off till the 1st. Come the 2nd I am up an running full speed ahead. As you mentioned, gift certificates are a good way to collect while you are slower, and yes marketing to the college kids will keep you busy as well. During that time, I usually hint to customers that it makes a great gift for their kids since they will enjoy it and it will keep their cars looking great. Just don't get the cars that the kids don't car about, bc they take forever. You also may want to consider offering holiday specials to motivate potential customers! Best of luck...
 
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