National Clothesline

Benjamin Franklin said, “The man who does things makes many mistakes, but he never makes the biggest mistake of all — doing nothing.”

Is your RSR equal to your CSR?

For your information, an RSR is a Route Sales Representative. There are those people who only want drivers and others who want a combination of driver and salesperson.

Stop and think about your route salesperson. Is he or she simply picking up and delivering or is the person giving your customers great service, a warm smile, gifts for the kids, birthday cards for the clients, and dog biscuits for the family pet?

The RSR is a CSR on wheels and must be treated with the same respect as a CSR, possibly even more.

The reason I say more respect is that a route customer provides more business than a counter customer does. The qualifications for an RSR are higher than a CSR. Not only must the individual be warm and friendly, the person also needs to possess the ability to ask for referrals and maybe knock on doors.

Other than driving, asking for referrals, and possibly knocking on doors, the tasks of the CSR and RSR are very similar. There is one major difference and that is how they are paid.

A CSR is, traditionally, an hourly employee. An hourly RSR is the exception rather than the rule. One thing that is consistent in the drycleaning industry is the inconsistency of how a route sales representative is compensated.

I have seen hourly pay with hourly bonuses, commissions with bonuses for new customers, hourly pay with a commission, and, of course, straight commission. I am sure there are other permutations that I have not mentioned that are out there.

Is there a right or wrong way to compensate your RSR? What will motivate, inspire, and cause that representative to bring in more business? That is the key.

I offered a $100 bonus to my route sales representatives for each new customer they brought in. It worked for about 45 days. The ability to handle rejection when knocking on doors is a great talent. I knocked on doors many years ago before I bought my own business. My door knocking ended after one week.

The largest problem I have found with commissioned salespeople is that once they reach an income level that is higher than they have ever experienced, they stop hustling to bring in more business.

No matter what industry you are in you will hear that same thing from management level people. The only way to combat that complacency is thinking out of the box. As an owner or manager, you will have to come up with new and more inspiring ways to motivate your route sales representatives. It is a difficult task and one that is not easily handled.

Would you like 1,400 route sales representatives? I recently read an article about G&K Services, a uniform supply company that also handles floor mats, and restroom hygiene supplies. Their annual sales are $930 million.

They had a big problem because most of what the 1,400 RSRs did was handwritten. G&K and the Apacheta Corp. (www.apacheta.com) created a wireless route accounting system where data was entered while in the field. Handwritten mistakes were eliminated.

At the beginning of each day the invoices and customer information is downloaded wirelessly from the company’s software into the mobile computer. At the end of the day, the RSR downloads the day’s business.

What can be easier? If you are wise enough to go in this direction, meet with your current RSR personnel and get their input. Employee buy-in is of the utmost importance when you make changes in your organization.

The system utilizes a Motorola MC9060 handheld computer. In addition to the Motorola handheld, an O’Neil microFlash 4t thermal Bluetooth printer is connected to it so the RSR can print what is needed at the customer’s location.

The Motorola handheld computer has an integrated bar code scanner, keypad, and touch screen.

Think about what your driver can do with that bar code scanner. Every delivered order could be scanned at the time of delivery.

If you have routes, it is a terrific system. Customers love to see new technology, so do not wait until your competitors do it. Remember, you read about it here first.

Are you sending out a monthly newsletter to your clients? Better yet, do you collect your clients’ e-mail address? If not, why not? You are in an internet world today and the sooner you discover that, the faster your business will grow and the more money you will earn.

In addition to sending a monthly newsletter, you can send out a weekly or bi-weekly coupon or gift certificate promoting different services. Perhaps the owner of the company sends a personal “thank you” to select customers. What kind of impression would an occasional personal note make on a customer?

Your customers’ demographics will play a large part as to the effectiveness of an e-mail campaign. People who are accustomed to using computers and receiving offers by e-mail are the best targets.

If you are not aware of the demographics of your clientele, learn about them. There are companies that will provide the information after you give them your database.

Your thoughts about marketing cannot remain the same as they were last year or five years ago. Our world is changing and you need to change with it.

E-commerce sales are on the increase. Mike Bleier of Chicago, www.drivecleaning.com, is building his route sales with internet marketing.

Mike has been in our industry for about a year so he has the pleasure of thinking out of the box. Be certain to check out Mike’s website and then think about what Benjamin Franklin said.

Smart cleaners today not only have web sites, they have web sites that have been optimized so that search engines such as Google and Yahoo locate them by key words. Contact Darcy Moen, the crazy Canuck, at (306) 721-0124 and he will talk your ear off about search word optimization. Not only will he talk to you, he will design a heck of a web site. Tell Darcy I sent you, and maybe he will talk less.

Consider a statistic that was developed by ScanAlert. In 2006, on-line shoppers spent an average of 34 hours and 19 minutes on the internet between browsing and purchasing. This is up from the 19 hours shoppers spent on the internet in 2005. There is no excuse not to have a web site. An excuse only satisfies the person who gives it.

If you have a web site and receive an e-mail from a new customer, do you respond or does an employee respond?

I made certain all e-mails were directed to my mailbox. When I received an e-mail from a new customer, I not only responded with a thank you, I told the new customer all about the representative who would be caring for their family and their clothing.

I immediately attempted to establish a relationship with the client by making the person feel comfortable with our RSR.

I let the customer know I was the owner of the company whether we spoke on the phone or communicated by e-mail.

Furthermore, I supplied the customers with my personal telephone number in the event they needed to get in touch with me.

Over the years I established relationships with people whom I had never met in person but had an ongoing relationship by e-mail or on the telephone.

I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season. For those of you who are increasing sales and making more money than the previous year, I congratulate you. For those of you who have falling sales and little profitability call me at (310) 261-2623 or e-mail me consultme@msn.com. Because our economy is down trending, you need help. Don’t wait until it is too late.