National Clothesline

Did you visit the Clean Show? What did you see that would increase your profitability?

If you did not visit the Clean Show, you need to read everything you can about new labor-saving equipment. You should also read everything you can to put your marketing into this century.

Let us look at two ways of increasing profitability, reducing labor costs and increasing sales dollars.

As an aside, you all know I sold my drycleaning business. The next step in our life-changing moves is selling our condominium that we moved to three years ago. We are in the process of buying a house near our grandkids.

Barbara, my wife of many years, told me she is getting me a dog. My grandson, Reed, heard about the dog and said we should name the dog Rolex.

I asked Reed why he wants me to name the dog Rolex and his 9-year-old response was, “because it is going to be a watchdog”.

Robert Frost, the noted author, said, “The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working the moment you get up in the morning, and does not stop working until you get into the office. ”

If that quote fits your behavior, you have a big problem. You wear many hats and are busy putting out fires but you cannot blind yourself to your labor costs.

If you are not measuring your labor and you are happy with your profits, consider the fact that you will make even more money if you do a few simple things.

Please remember, labor is the largest and most important cost that you can personally control. If your labor costs are out of line, it is impossible to be profitable.

Do you keep records? I bet you know how many dollars you are taking in.

However, do you know how many pounds you are cleaning?

Do you know the total number of garments you are processing?

Do you know how many garments per hour are being finished?

How many garments are being marked in and tagged every hour?

I visited a plant where the owner did not want to count the pieces each finisher was turning out because he did not want the finishers to get angry with him. An excuse like that only satisfies the person who gives it. It certainly did not satisfy me.

When I first started measuring the finished garments in my plant, I had a clipboard at each finisher ’s station with a simple hourly chart. As the day progressed, the finisher could see what their production was.

The negative part of this method was the finishers would pace themselves to produce the hourly goal that was assigned. It always amazed me how much faster a finisher would work when there was a large line of clothing waiting to be finished in front of the station.

My next step was to move the clipboards to the inspecting station. Multiple clipboards were eliminated. I had one clipboard for the entire department with each finisher ’s hourly production noted on an hourly chart.

The inspector would count the pieces as they came down the line. There was a different colored caped hanger for each finishing station so finisher identification for counting and returns was easy. The only problem was inconsistency in the color of the logo.

The inconsistency of the logo color had to change, so little paper tags were introduced. All the caped hangers were printed the same color and those little paper tags that went over the hanger identified the finisher.

What you need is an inspector who is not visually impaired, can count garments, and have the ability to write numbers.

Whether you have one finisher or six, there is no acceptable reason for you not to count the number of garments produced each hour. Counting finished garments is the most basic way of controlling your finishing labor cost.

Use as large a blackboard as space permits, and show the hourly production numbers for each finisher along with hourly departmental totals. Competition between the finishers can drive up the numbers.

After you have commenced keeping score, you can consider moving to the next phase, which is rewarding the person or team for surpassing the goal you have set for the individual or department.

The reward can be as simple as ordering pizza in for lunch for everyone, a gift certificate for the local super market or a gift certificate for dinner for two.

Be creative and think out of the box. A surprise bonus might make your employee happier than an announced bonus for performance.

I love increasing sales. That is the fun part of our industry. Whatever you do to increase sales, never forget to make it a fun experience.

The fun has to be for the customer and your employee. There is a great sales training video about Pike ’s Fish Market in Seattle.

The employees are having fun and so are the customers. Fishes are being tossed around like baseballs.

If you like to read, pick up a book or two by Dr. Joseph Michelli. The two I suggest reading are “When Fish Fly” and “The Starbucks Experience.”

How can you make increasing sales a fun experience for your employees and customers?

It can be very simple monetary incentives. Games are a good start. Giveaways are even a better start. Every consumer loves the words “FREE” and “SALE.”

Games for employees can be fun for everyone. I created a WOW The Customer game. I changed the spelling of WOW to WAW so I ended up with WAW The Customer. The changed letters stood for We Are Winners.

Creating a positive attitude among the counter sales staff is imperative. The goal of this game was doing something extraordinary and beyond the call of duty for the customer.

This is a win-win game because the customer gets the benefit of outstanding service and the employee or employees who have provided the most unusual and outstanding WAW gets a bonus.

One-hundred dollars for every new customer was another incentive that I put into effect for my route sales staff.

The money was spread out over three months. The first month, the route salesperson would receive $50; the second month $25, and the third month the final $25 was paid.

The goal was not only to get a new customer but also to keep that customer for three months.

Incentives for employees do not have to be announced. Spontaneous gifts for outstanding performance can work well.

Even a simple “Thank you” works wonders.

I had one counter sales representative who worked his shift and, because we were short handed, continued to work into the next shift without being asked.

I walked up to that young man, shook his hand and thanked him for what he was doing.

His response to me was, “You are the first employer I have ever had who has thanked me for the work I have done ”.

Have you changed your marketing to move into the 21st century? Are you using your brain or sitting on it and not making any changes?

Piece counts are dropping and the pie keeps getting smaller. What are you doing to gain new customers?

Are you familiar with web site optimization? Google and Yahoo both have key word programs. Call the Canadian boy wonder, Darcy Moen, at (306) 721-0124 and learn about getting more new customers through your web site.

I was fortunate to spend some time with Darcy in the Cleaners Supply booth in Las Vegas and you will find him a fun person to deal with if you can get by his Canadian accent.

In summary, count the pieces, have the employees work in a fun environment and reward those employees who make a difference to your company and your customers. Optimize your web site and, finally, do not name your dog Rolex.