Content about Management

PEMBROKE, Mass. — Do you have a map on your office wall? No? You should. I don’t mean a road map, but rather a map of your marketplace.

This map would depict your competitors, busy main drags, affluent neighborhoods, any information that tells you where your customers are coming from.

This is not something that you can purchase, so I suggest you get started making your own. Start with a town or city map that lists streets; have it blown up. Then fill in the information that you need.

Obviously there’s the town you’re in, but if you do business in neighboring towns, include them. Put in competitors in all directions. Color-code affluent high-use neighborhoods. Mark in busy shopping streets and commuter roadways. You might have to drive around and explore the territory in order to do justice to your project. The effort gets you canvassing the territory, which is a good thing to do, because you’ll continually make discoveries.

EVANSTON, Ill. — I once wrote an article titled Training Foreign-Born Hispanics for Supervisory Jobs in the Dry Cleaning Industry due to the need to teach the growing numbers of Latino first-level supervisors how to improve performance in the face of customer demands for high-quality cleaning and next-day service, all at competitive prices.

The article explained how dry cleaners could boost productivity and speed turnaround times by training Hispanic supervisors to adapt the traditional authoritarian Latino leadership style to a U.S. “best practices” mode of supervision. I also discussed the five key elements needed for effective training of Hispanic supervisors.

Here are those elements, and the continued results of the training from six dry cleaners using this approach. Each had four to seven drop-off stores, for customer convenience, feeding their garments to a single central plant.

PEMBROKE, Mass. — Running a dry cleaning business is not rocket science. It is a matter of adopting and living by one simple principle: the inflow must be greater than the outflow.

Simplified, it’s R > E, in which R equals revenue (inflow) and E equals expenses (outflow). But then the rule gets a bit complicated. It doesn’t apply to end-of-year results, it applies to every day you open your doors. For most, that means 270 to 360 days a year. Every day you’re open for business, the inflow must be greater than the outflow.

If it isn’t hard, why then do so many dry cleaners either limp along without much success or fold up? The answers vary:

GILBERT, Ariz. — The newest Lapels Dry Cleaning plant from Massachusetts-based franchisor Next Step Franchising features granite counters, custom cabinetry, chandeliers, pendant lighting, French doors, etched glass, crown moldings, and a fully separated call area from the on-site plant.

Lapels offers dry cleaning, shirt service, on-site tailoring, leather/suede care, shoe repair, 24-hour drop-off, heirlooming, and same-day service, pickup and delivery.

The air-conditioned production area in the 2,200-square-foot facility includes a Firbimatic hydrocarbon dry cleaning machine, Wascomat wet cleaning equipment, and Forenta and Unipress finishing and tensioning equipment. Boiler room equipment is by Fulton and Ingersoll Rand. The plant utilizes DCCS and SPOT Business Systems point-of-sale software.

This Lapels location employs 12 full-time-equivalent workers.

Next Step Franchising designed the plant layout, and Mike Marden, Marden Design, was architect.

GREENBELT, Md. — Jared Jeffries of the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers, along with business partner Shawn Strader, recently joined the likes of Shaquille O’Neal, Venus Williams and Drew Brees in looking to make a fortune in franchises.

Jeffries and Strader have committed to opening a ZIPS Dry Cleaners, a Mid-Atlantic-based chain that has built a brand name on its low-cost, one-price-for-any-garment model. Their franchise is expected to open in Northern Virginia by the end of the year.

“Owning a franchise was the next logical step for me and Shawn, and ZIPS provided a safe and promising way to ease into the industry,” says Jeffries, who has been business partners with Strader since the two started their own company specializing in residential real estate investment in 2007.

Jeffries also believes franchising is uniquely suited to the skill sets he has developed as a professional athlete.

SAN FRANCISCO — What a year it has been! Much about 2011 was erratic—the economy, sales trends, financial markets, even the weather. Plus, there were asteroids headed for earth, natural (and man-made) disasters, industry consolidation … and the necessity to proactively sell our services.

The uncertainty created by all these events affected our customers as well as our businesses. It has made budgeting and goal setting for the coming year a greater challenge than ever.

Although there were strong signs of improvement, there are no guarantees for 2012. If you feel that 2011 drove you to be reactive instead of proactive, now is the time to create your strategic and tactical plans for the year ahead.

Planning for the Future

As a business owner, you have worked to improve your efficiency, but this may not be enough to generate distinctive competitive advantages.

CHICAGO — Workplace violence is far too common; it seems like there’s a news report about a shooting rampage daily. Someone often knows about the killer’s emotional problems or violent tendencies, but does nothing. Are people afraid to get involved? Is society reluctant to profile those who might be a threat to others for the sake of individual rights?

SAN LEANDRO, Calif. — Small-business leaders believe that the work environment has more impact on employee satisfaction than financial factors such as benefits or compensation, according to a quarterly survey of more than 250 small businesses conducted for TriNet, a provider of human-resources outsourcing services to small businesses.

Suppliers and vendors are critical to the success or failure of a drycleaning operation. They are the source of your equipment and its longevity; your vehicles and their roadworthiness; and your point-of-sale (POS) systems, cleaning solutions and packaging materials. They represent your company’s second-largest expense after employees.