How to keep people out of your store
Much has been written and said about how to get new customers. Every cleaner — or at least all of those who have a plan for growth — has some type of program in place to attract customers. But do you have a
program to make sure that you
’re not driving customers away? Programs designed to attract customers into your
store can be easily defeated by your own actions
— or inaction. Dirty looking storefronts and messy looking displays are likely to
keep customers from even going into a store. Loud music in the store can be a
major turnoff. A store that looks crowded can discourage people from coming
inside.
Customers want to do business in stores that give them the sense that “this is the right place.” This requires a clean, organized, efficient and uncrowded store. Loud music or
a messy environment conveys to the customer that the staff is not paying
attention
— either to the goods or to the shopper. A crowded store with lines at the
counter store tells time-pressed customers,
“Don’t come in now unless you want to wait.”
The sights and sounds, and probably the smells, too, that customers get from
your store are things that form their first impressions. If that impression is
not good, you may never get a chance to impress them with your great prices,
high quality, friendly staff, wide range of services or whatever combination
you offer that you believe gives you a competitive edge.
The onset of the fall season, which brings out more customers, is a good time to
make sure you
’re not turning off customers before they even come in. Clean up the customer
service area, take down old signs, wash the windows, get the fingerprints off
the door, turn down (or off) the music (or the TV). Some of those little things
that you have just learned to
“live with” and not even notice may be creating hurdles at your front door, keeping new
customers from coming in just as if there were a brick wall instead of an
entryway.
For those who just can’t get enough
The old phrase “everything but the kitchen sink” is a colorful favorite at National Clothesline. The idea behind the original idiom is that if you had to bring a lot of
different things with you from one dwelling to another, a kitchen sink would
probably be on the bottom of the list. After all, it is not an easy thing to
take with you when you go.
Every so often, the editorial staff of this fine publication before you uses a
colloquial term to describe an issue that is jam-packed with articles of every
size, covering just about every drycleaning topic imaginable. Quite simply, it
’s a “kitchen sink” issue, which means that it feels like we’ve thrown everything in, leaving nothing out. During such deadlines, there is
more work to do. Proofreading the extra thousands of words alone will tack on
several extra hours at the end of the week, but that is not a complaint.
Rather, it
’s the opposite: the more news and information in an issue, the more hard work
goes into it, and subsequently, the more useful the final product will be to
our loyal (and stunningly handsome!) readership.
This month’s “kitchen sink” features all of our regular stalwart submissions — interesting and informative articles from our nine columnists, who cover a lot
of ground: cleaning leathers and the tanning process; reducing bleaches;
raising prices; organizing delivery routes; direct mail marketing; reeling in
customers and keeping them loyal; legally hiring employees and keeping them
honest; and how to simply have fun as the boss. Yes, apparently it is actually
possible!
In addition to those columns, as well as our other regular features — Newsmakers, Information Central and Dateline — we have insightful advice articles from marketing guru John Graham and Loyalty
Coach Allan Katz. Then there are the regional news sections. Six pages were
insufficient to the task of containing all of our regional news, so many
“local” stories have spilled over into other areas of the paper, including a full
breakdown of all of the upcoming trades shows in 2008.
If, for some inexplicable reason, your desire for drycleaning news and
information is still not satisfied after finishing this issue, then we suggest
that you seek professional help. You can find it at www.natclo.com. It is quite
possible that there may be an article or two you have missed in our previous
issues, and, fortunately, our
“kitchen sink” web site keeps an archive of entire issues for the past 11 years, dating back
to June of 1996.
