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April 3, 2013
Fending Off Hack Attacks (Conclusion)

CHICAGO — Banks commonly refuse to indemnify companies for funds stolen from commercial accounts

CHICAGO — Quick. Easy. Efficient. Who doesn’t love online banking? Be aware, though, of the danger: Hackers can access your account, drain your funds and threaten the survival of your business.

The risk is growing. Cyber attacks increased some 24% in the first half of 2012 over the same period the previous year, according to a new report from security firm Symantec. Reason? “Any time the economy goes down, white collar crime goes up,” says Bill McDermott, CEO of Atlanta-based McDermott Financial Solutions. “We’re seeing an increase in corporate account takeovers. It’s a huge problem.”

Banks commonly refuse to indemnify companies for funds stolen from commercial accounts. “A lot of people have the misunderstanding that banks offer to business accounts the protection offered to consumers,” says McDermott. “In fact, banks will not hold business account holders harmless for losses from cyber-fraud.”

September 12, 2012
10 Secrets to Promoting Your Cleaner...Now! (Part 2 of 2)

LONG BEACH, Calif. — Make sure your message is where the people are

LONG BEACH, Calif. — Brian Wallace, president/CEO of the Coin Laundry Association, was given a daunting task: to capture the audience’s attention during the final hour of a regional dry cleaning and laundry trade show in sunny Southern California.

But his task was no more challenging than one faced by every dry cleaner: to successfully market his or her store(s) in an environment where potential customers have access to information almost instantaneously and from a variety of sources.

On top of all the other “hats” that a dry cleaner “wears”—customer service, maintenance, production, human resources, accounting—he or she can add one more hat to that mix: director of marketing, Wallace told attendees of Fabricare 2012.

“You work incredibly hard for your business, but the fact of the matter is things have changed. … We’re all trying to reinvent ourselves on the fly, trying to deal with the new marketplace. I think that trying to come to grips with some of the new marketing techniques is really an important part of that overall process.”

August 28, 2012
Profiling Customers to Increase Your Dry Cleaning Sales and Profit

SAN FRANCISCO — More you know about customers, more you can engage them with services

SAN FRANCISCO — The more you know about your customers, the more you can engage them with your services. The more you know about your best and most profitable customers, the more you can attract prospects that will become best customers.

So how do you go about it? You may have worked on compiling demographic information such as age, location and income levels. But is that enough?

DEMOGRAPHIC AND PSYCHOGRAPHIC PROFILING

Let’s use a hypothetical example: you have determined that you want to target consumers who earn more than $150,000, live in a specific ZIP code, are 35-45 years old, own a home worth more than the median price in your market, and have a college degree.

I’m going to describe two prospects:

March 1, 2012
Eliminate Aggravating Traits in a Dry Cleaner Clerk

PEMBROKE, Mass. — A customer walks into your store and says a few words to the counter person. Your employee enacts some business: looks up an order, takes in money, pulls the order off the rack and hands it to the customer, or checks the status of an item. Then the customer leaves.

This exchange is typically brief—three to five minutes at most—but it is the most important few minutes for you and your customer.

This time of customer/employee interaction is an opportunity for your business to shine or to disappoint. It is how the customer forms his/her opinion of his/her dry cleaner. The customer walks out with answers to these questions:

December 21, 2010
Fed Seeks to Limit Debit Interchange Fees

WASHINGTON — A proposal from the Federal Reserve could limit debit interchange fees—charges associated with accepting debit-card payments—to 12 cents per transaction. If enacted, the proposal stands to benefit small businesses.

The average interchange fee for debit transactions in 2009 was 44 cents per transaction, according to Fed research. “Setting a cap ensures that no issuer is able to receive an interchange fee at an unreasonably high level,” the proposal says.

February 22, 2010
SPOT Earns PCI Security Certification

DRAPER, Utah — SPOT Business Systems has received its Payment Card Industry (PCI) certification after more than a year of enhancing the software to comply with the new standards.

The PCI Security Standards Council is an open, global forum for the ongoing development, enhancement, storage, dissemination and implementation of security standards for account data protection.

June 24, 2009
Take the Next Step with Your System

You have a point-of-sale (POS) system in place. It holds your pricelist, and you can change it at any time. Employees and garment descriptions are listed, too, and you’ve taken inventory.

You’re familiar with cash reports. You’ve tallied customer counts, and may have mastered a few customer-activity reports, getting frequency and lapsed lists. What else is there?

September 10, 2008
Your Best Prospects Already Know You

I have a beef with many businesses: They expend so much effort on finding new customers, and very little on keeping the customers they already have. Nothing sticks me more than a business that caters more to complete strangers than it does to customers who have proven their value for years.