Content about Major

SAN FRANCISCO — In the continual quest for more sales and profit, invariably the subject of diversification arises. Diversification discussions usually include the topic of disaster restoration, so it might be appropriate to explore the reasoning behind a major effort to diversify and particularly to expand in the arena of disaster restoration services.

Diversification into any new business is a serious commitment, but restoration may require even more exploration than other related businesses. The large potential orders are alluring, the processing sounds easy, and the volume can help utilize excess capacity.

It is normal to have this driving incentive to increase sales volume, which is absolutely legitimate with a few caveats. I’ll attempt to list considerations to ponder before deciding to capitalize on this potentially lucrative source of business.

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:

SAN FRANCISCO — Do you dream of a new plant? Are you tired of “making do” with what you have? What would you include in your wish list for a new or renovated plant if you were not constrained by cash or space?

Of course, that is never the actuality and there are always constraints, but let’s suspend budgetary and space limitations momentarily and dream a bit.

In addition to the obvious basics for which there exist standard checklists, a state-of-the-art dry cleaning and laundry plant would include:

RETAIL STORE FRONT

Even in industrial locations, retail plant stores can generate substantial sales volume if they are well designed, appropriately marketed, and also professionally managed.

Some considerations and components that increase the probability of success for any dry cleaning store include:

SAN FRANCISCO — Are you thinking of changing or adding solvents? Are the various considerations adding to the complexity of making your decision? You are right to weigh all the issues, so perhaps we can outline some of them to help simplify your conclusions (for now).

Whatever choices you make, they may be only temporary because of the dynamic environment in which you operate your business.

This temporary nature is also true for this major decision regarding your choice of solvent(s), but the expense of a change complicates it further and limits the number of times you can make a change, so planning ahead is essential.

THE CONSIDERATIONS. For the purposes of this column, we are leaving the discussion of the negative effects of perc and other solvents to others. But the net effect of the perception-versus-reality argument is that many perceive dry cleaning as being “bad.” In addition to having a major impact on dry cleaners, that perception directly influences the thinking of politicians, regulators, landlords and consumers.

Your mission is to evaluate the impact on your operation.

WASHINGTON — When the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) posted the final health assessment for tetrachloroethylene—also known as perchloroethylene, or perc—to its Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database in February, it deemed the chemical to be a “likely human carcinogen.”

The assessment replaces the 1988 IRIS assessment for perc and for the first time includes a hazard characterization for cancer effects. The assessment underwent several levels of rigorous, independent peer review including: agency review, interagency review, public comment, and external peer review by the National Research Council, according to the EPA, and all major review comments were addressed.

The Halogenated Solvents Industry Alliance says 70% of U.S. commercial dry cleaners use perc; EPA estimates the total number to be 27,000. So what does this development mean for the future of the industry’s preferred solvent?

SAN FRANCISCO — Since the November/December issue of American Drycleaner features fashion and fabricare, it might be opportune to examine the impact of the haute couture runway fervor on the day-to-day business of dry cleaning.

GOOD FOR BUSINESS

The obvious effect of the fashion previews is to help us determine what challenges may lay ahead in caring for the fashions that eventually arrive in our stores. The more important influence is likely much greater. Being attuned to fashion and the interests of passionate fashionistas is good for your business. And the fashion industry is the most direct path to reach these desirable, fashion-obsessed consumers.

The elusive next generation of young dry cleaning customers avidly follows fashion trends via all media, including electronic and print magazines. Fashion influence will direct them to your doors (or vans).

PEMBROKE, Mass. — I meet lots of drycleaners who are looking to sell. There’s nothing wrong with that, but there is a time to sell and a time not to sell. This is a time not to sell. Wait a few years, and it should be a better market. You might even double your price if you wait. Here’s why.

The current economic situation is quite tenuous. Now, nobody is ever really sure what’s going on, but the last few years have been particularly iffy. In 2008, the economy almost collapsed. We have not experienced such a crisis since the Great Depression. Government tinkering averted a complete meltdown, but the fear of that almost-catastrophe lingers.

The economic situation is looking up. Major companies such as Microsoft, Intel and Exxon have billions in their tills. The stock market has recovered, and the future looks promising. If you’d invested $100,000 in the market at the depth of the recession, you might have $140,000 now.

HOUSTON — Confidence is improving among small-business owners, according to a recent survey from human-resources firm Administaff, but almost three-quarters (71%) continue to name the economy as their top short-term concern.

More than 39% of small-business owners expect an economic turnaround in 2010, says the firm's quarterly Business Confidence Survey, while 44% think a rebound will occur in 2011. About 17% were unsure.

CHICAGO — Drycleaners nationwide reported subtle improvements in the business climate, according to this month's StatShot survey, but February's freak snowstorms kept year-to-year sales declines common.

Sales dropped 6.4% in the Midwest last month from February 2009. In the South, where unexpected, heavy snowfalls paralyzed major metro areas such as Atlanta and Washington, D.C., sales fell 5.4%.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Fabric Restoration Service Team (FRSTeam) has opened a new facility in Jacksonville, Fla.

Jacqui Schaefer, who owns and oversees the FRSTeam facility in Madison Heights, Mich., also owns the new Jacksonville facility. The new facility expands FRSTeam’s ability to respond to major hurricanes, which can be a major source of business for the company in northeast Florida.

Employees are like weeds. They’re usually “green” when I hire them, and unless they’ve worked at another plant, they think they can make up their own rules. When one staffer gets away with breaking a rule, others wonder why they shouldn’t do the same thing. My role? To make sure that the crabgrass doesn’t spread to the rest of the lawn.

WASHINGTON, D.C. —  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is moving to clarify its regulations covering airborne percholorethylene emissions from drycleaning plants. The changes will relax some of the responsibilities mandated by EPA in its NESHAP revisions of 2006.