National Clothesline

Birmingham, Alabama, was the site of the inaugural meeting of the Golomb Group Masters of Marketing on May 2-4. The group was organized by Golomb Group members to form an elite contingent of passionate cleaners seeking the latest techniques, ideas, and concepts to improve their businesses. Each meeting will take place at a different member ’s plant to showcase their latest ideas and innovations in the industry.

Charter member David Whitehurst’s Champion Cleaners was the focal point of the first meeting. Whitehurst has built a successful operation in Birmingham that features a stand-alone building including a drive-thru and a full plant.

His second plant is under construction and the group toured the shell of the new building to get an idea of how to build a cleaners literally from the ground up before going on to see the working plant.

The tour provided a look at a first class operation in action — the CSRs racing out to meet drive-up cars, the glass partitions that let customers see the operation in action in all its spic-and-span cleanliness, and the way the offices and lunch rooms are situated gave everyone information and ideas to bring back to their respective plants.

One innovative idea that Whitehurst planned was a small locker room where clients could pick up and drop off orders even after store hours. This is a self-contained room off the call office with a series of long and short lockers. Each locker can be programmed with a new combination. If Ms. Jones calls to say she would like to pick up her order after hours, she is given a locker number and a combination. The room is similar to an ATM room with access for customers.

After the tour, Whitehurst gave a presentation on his history in the business and his concepts for the future.

During the afternoon session, each member gave a presentation of their best marketing ideas and concepts of doing business in their part of the country. As most members were meeting each other for the first time, the presentations proved to be very exciting and interesting.

For example, in New Orleans “fast service” means your clothes will be ready in two weeks. This is due to the slow recovery from Katrina and the lack of qualified workers who can return to their homes.

In New York, on the other hand, quick service means ready in two hours. Interesting enough, one cleaner charges double for anyone who insists on two-hour service.

The diversity of cleaners, the diversity of their locations around the North America continent, and the diversity of personalities within the group created an array of ideas and concepts. Each member had a chance to show innovative mailing pieces and the group actively dissected the elements of each piece and defined the plusses and minuses of each new mailing.

All attendees agreed that they look forward to the next meeting with an extended agenda and extra time to share ideas. Bob Clarke offered to host the next meeting in Los Angeles, which will take place in early November.