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October 30, 2012
Positioning Yourself for Luxury Item Care

SAN FRANCISCO — Take these steps to become the cleaner of choice for the discriminating customer

SAN FRANCISCO — During visits to couture cleaners in large cities, it is always amazing to see the many garments and other textile items that are shipped from outlying regions for cleaning by these expert cleaners.

These shipments do not always contain haute couture, heirlooms or vintage collections. Often, the contents are simply nice quality and easy to process by any competent cleaner with attention to detail and professional skill.

More often than not, these expensive items are transported at the suggestion of the retail stores that sell them, because many retailers tend to distrust the ability of local cleaners to care for luxury fashions.

Many cleaners do not wish to incur the risk of cleaning pricey specialty garments and $1,500-plus bed linens, but you may wish to retain this work in your own market.

If you do want to target the “special” garments in your area, there are several steps you can take to become the cleaner of choice for the discriminating customer.

September 6, 2012
All’s Quiet on the Boring Front

PEMBROKE, Mass. — Hey Mr. Strip Mall Dry Cleaner, try making your storefront expressive

PEMBROKE, Mass. — If your dry cleaning shop is in a strip mall, I’m sorry to tell you that your storefront is boring, forgettable, nondescript.

A mall dry cleaner in Peoria has a front identical to a mall dry cleaner in Miami, which looks just like a store in Portland, and so on. Whether a drop store or a plant, few passersby take notice. There’s lots of glass, a door with hours printed on it, perhaps a 2-foot-high wall, and not much else. Your front matches the optometrist on one side and the tax office on the other.

No one walking by would ever turn to look at your shop. And if he or she did, nothing would register. It could be that your shop is four miles closer to his house than his current dry cleaner, but you will not get the prospect to give you a try. That’s because he will not see you, even though he looked right at you. And that is your problem, Mr. Strip Mall Dry Cleaner: lack of identity.

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:

November 28, 2011
What’s All the Fuss About Haute Couture?

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).

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?