What’s stopping you from starting?
With a small investment, you can buy a vehicle or rent one, paint it an
attractive color with your name and phone number, including on the roof!
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You never have to worry about a lease or change in fees. Driver labor, part-time
or full-time is abundant. Off-hours are everywhere — students, mail carriers, firemen, police, retirees, male or female!
Think about the minimal investment and a major opportunity of success and
compare it to a drop stores or a branch.
Routes are fail-safe in every way. If you need more business, just knock on more
doors. With little advertising, you can pick and choose just where you want
this new business. Plus you have your counter team giving you daily support.
Routes have no problem with bad weather, traffic, or parking (a driver can
always park at a hydrant, when making a pick-up or delivery). I am not
advocating a stop here or a stop there, but at least six calls without moving
the van. Most condos and luxury apartments advocate pick-up in a garment bag
and leaving at the door with no lost or stolen clothes.
Here’s a sure way to start this lucrative practice and kick it off. Start with slip
covers and draperies. Whatever your price on slip covers and draperies, raise
it by 15 or 20 percent and now offer a similar discount, and announce your new
service: “We will pick-up and remove and re-hang your draperies at 20 percent discount at
your convenience!”
This is an attractive offer, especially when a customer is struggling to bring
in heavy drapes or slipcovers. Remember, most if not all of housewives are
working women, and they don’t need this horrendous chore. So this is your opening.
You have a new customer with neighbors, so start with a recommendation (just
look at the beautiful job, you did — and at a discount!) If it’s a private home you have the houses next door and across the street. Remember,
you want to make six calls and if you can’t get that, ask to serve them on an on-call basis.
Condos and large apartment building have multiple units with two or three
bedrooms, so ask your new customer to recommend a neighbor and place your
attractive door knob tab on those apartments first. Why? The larger apartments
have more people!
Remember your looking for a minimum of six calls or customers before you move to
a new stop. With that type of plan, you know you will never walk away empty
handed.
Use every offer you can. Smile and say “I’d like you to try us! The first garment is free. And we would like to receive
something difficult that your average drycleaner could not handle. We also do
small repairs at no charge.”
Remind them that you are serving their neighbors in the building every Monday and Thursday or you can
also serve them on an on-call basis.
I started this article with the idea of promoting the drycleaning of draperies.
I like drycleaning draperies because they are easy and profitable. The main
concern is that they will be dusty. Usually there is no spotting and little or
no pressing, or finishing since we can give them a short rinse, with a large
drapery hanger and to hang them properly when the cycle ends. Being warm, any
wrinkles will fall out immediately. What could be easier?
There is a treasure chest of business out there no matter where you are located!
Start with the lobby of a building where drapes are displayed and and make an
offer to the tenant group or association.
Survey a large furniture outlet and notice how the displays have drapery
backgrounds. They might require overnight service; all you have to do is make
sure they marked and tagged in the proper sequence.
Next solicit offices large and small. Approach the manager and offer to remove,
dryclean and re-hang the draperies. Fortunately this can be accomplished over a
weekend including all the carpeting steam cleaned. What’s nice about this arrangement? It’s all dry on Monday morning!
You now have a perfect candidate for a call and delivery drycleaning stop. All
it takes is one party as the office manager and few dozen printed drycleaning
bags, with the workers’ names and any special instructions. The office-appointed individual even
handles the payments and you, the drycleaner, can sponsor an outing or company
picnic! All we need is a secure closet or cloak room for pick-up and delivery.
Every town and city is different, but let me assure you, the business is there.
