National Clothesline

I continue to get barraged with calls about what are routes going to look like when gas prices reach $7 a gallon.

It is somewhat scary, but this gives you even more reasons to have a delivery service as long as it is productive, efficient, marketable and managed. We cannot control rising gas prices, but we can control the efficiency of our routes through various ways.

I had several drycleaners contact me stating that they are thinking about going to once-a-week routes to save money. They justify their doing so by claiming that they will use half the gas and get similar results.

My reply is that they can save even more money by not doing it at all! The bottom line, though, is that you are losing more income by doing so.

Routes work when you are constantly marketing them by making each delivery day more efficient and by servicing your clients twice a week.

Take your current stops and continually fill in the gaps. Simply take one page of the manifest and make it a goal to add 10 customers a week in between the stops. Go through each page and when you reach the end, start over!

Unfortunately, many of you do not manage your routes and leave the drivers self-sustained. It is sad that on many a project, I witness a lack of accountability. Especially with gas prices going up, you must hold the drivers even more accountable on the amount of miles, time and gas spent on each and every route. No exceptions.

I once rode on a route where the driver spent an hour driving the opposite direction to pick up a garage sale item. I have seen others who will “all of a sudden” use another tank of gas. Be careful, they are suffering, too.

I have made a list of some Do’s and Don’ts concerning the price of gas and how it affects the home and office delivery service.

Do

• Do monitor the miles daily. Use a log sheet and the manifest and hold the drivers responsible.

• Monitor your gas card and money spent weekly. Compare week to week the amount of money your drivers are spending.

• Keep selling. The best way to make your route efficient is to fill in the gaps.

• Call me (shameless plug). I have a unique way of monitoring your route efficiency in a simple manner.

• Use the rising cost of gas as a marketing tool.

• Get locked gas caps for all your vans. I have heard a lot of stories about parked vans getting their gas stolen.

Don’t

• Don’t put a portion of customers on “will call” or “on call.” This is one of the biggest mistakes I see people do. Many times it makes your route more inefficient because of all the time spent picking up a couple of items.

• Don’t set up minimums.

• Don’t go to one day a week route service.

• Don’t charge the customers a “fuel” or gas fee. This takes away the free part of the routes. Customers are suffering, too.

There are so many creative ways that you can utilize the route to ensure growth and profitability. Just as the price of hangers and issues surrounding perc or whatever get thrown at us, gas is a biggie. This unbelievable and painful rise in the price of fuel makes it even more critical than ever to either get off your rear and go out and get the delivery going or to take your stagnate route and get it growing.

Here is the deal, you must be constructive minded while being productive minded. I know I say this all the time, but it needs to ring ever so true today. Any operational decision you make or any changes that affect customer service can severely hurt your marketing and your business.

If you were to skip my “do’s and don’ts section” and tried to “save” money, some of your customers might acquiesce to these changes. I know that some will say they understand. But your route will not grow and your competition will snatch up those who do not like the changes you made.

Also, potential clients will be less likely to sign up when they are serviced less, or charged more for the route.

The time is now to get your route up to speed and not let your competition swallow you up. Retail stores are really starting to hear customers talk about the drive to the store. Sure, it is usually on the way to work or something, but customers are starting to feel the pinch.

Don’t panic, gas prices are not going to ever go down, but your sales will if you try to cut too many corners. Keep going and keep growing.