National Clothesline

Bill Gates said, “In this business, by the time you realize you're in trouble, it's too late to save yourself. Unless you're running scared all the time, you’re gone.”

Can that quote apply to the drycleaning industry?

Even if you are not running scared, are you looking over your shoulder to see who is chasing you? Microsoft is constantly looking over its shoulder. Otherwise, they would not be coming out with Windows 7. Or would they, considering the problems with Vista?

There is good news about Windows 7. It does not eat the memory Vista does, and it might make anti-virus software optional.

There are a few route questions this month.

The first: “Why do you recommend operating routes six days and some people say run routes five days?”

My response: “Why are you in business? Are you in business for your convenience, the driver’s convenience, or the customer’s convenience?”

There are companies that operate Monday to Thursday, and Tuesday to Friday schedules. Why Wednesday and Saturday are ignored is puzzling. On Saturdays, the family is home. If you are soliciting business the chances of obtaining new customers is much greater.

If the driver is paid a commission, why isn’t he or she hungry enough to go after new customers? If your route driver worked four hours on Wednesday, and four hours on Saturday, there would not be overtime and you would provide your customers with the convenience they want and need.

Those eight hours can be used to knock on doors and bring in new business. In addition, if a customer had an emergency pick up or delivery, it could be handled.

Route question number 2: “Is knocking on doors the only way to build routes?”

My answer: “Absolutely not.”

Routes can be built in many ways. You can be very impersonal and drop a bag at the potential customer’s door. You can leave printed door hangers on everyone’s door. Retailers can be used as salespersons to build your routes. What is important, if you use that method, is the relationship you develop with the merchant.

You can make sure your web site is optimized so search engines will find your company before any other company in your area. You can become active in the local chamber of commerce and other networking organizations. You can become active in the social networks on the internet.

How hard do you want to work to build your route or routes? I had some drivers who would hang door hangers on the door rather than knock on the door. Fear of rejection can be a great motivator, or in this case, non-motivator.

Route question number 3: “My friend pays his route driver an hourly rate. Why should I pay a commission?”

My response: “You will get what you pay for.”

A route driver can be a pick-up and delivery person and do nothing else. A route driver can be a route builder if you show the person he or she can earn more money by increasing route sales.

One of my best drivers came out of the restaurant supply business. He was married with children. He fit the model that works best for an incentivized driver. He had the financial responsibility of making house payments and feeding his family. Unlike many other drivers, he was never satisfied with his earnings, no matter how high they went. He was always looking to build business.

This man was the exception. Unfortunately, many people who are commissioned become satisfied with their earnings and then complacency sets in. This is not unique to the drycleaning industry. My brother-in-law had the same experience in a paper supply business.

In a situation where the commissioned driver becomes complacent, you can divide the route geographically, and add another route to your company. A commissioned driver won’t be happy about that.

What you do to keep the commissioned person happy is give him a commission on his old customer’s sales for a pre-determined number of months. The number of months can be based on how long you will give the new driver to build the new route to where it becomes profitable, usually no more than six to nine months.

Final route question: “What can I do to automate the pick up and delivery process in the field?”

The first thing I would do is check with my POS (point of sale) software vendor. Find out what the newest software does and upgrade to it. Besides new software, there are many new hardware items available.

Think about those new little computers that you can purchase for $200 or $300 dollars. Think about the ability to scan bar codes in the field. All you need is a printer to attach to the computer so you can actually print tickets at the time of pick up.

The key to automation is your POS vendor. If you are not satisfied with what is being provided, look at alternative vendors. It might initially cost you money to change software, but those dollars will be offset with time savings and fewer errors made in the field.

The next question is, “What is new in CRM (customer relationship management)?”

My response: “There are lots of new ideas to deal with in this down economy.”

As I mentioned in a previous article, the new social media is what is happening. Even if you don’t get a sale from this media, you can find out what people are thinking. This information can provide you with potential innovation ideas, maybe even the big idea that could pull you out of a downtrend.

Here are eight suggestions regarding social media.

1. Ask your social customers what they want from you.

2. Blog if you have the courage to get feedback.

3. Facebook has 200 million subscribers, why not you?

4. Interact with your customers. If you can’t do that, learn how.

5. If you have young people working for you tap that resource on dealing with social networking.

6. Do not go into every social network. Too many can dilute your efforts.

7. Bazaarvoice says the average customer implementation of product-page reviews sees at least a 20% increase in sales.

8. Twitter has grown from 8 million to 19 million in a matter of months. Oprah’s first words on Twitter: “Hi Twitters.”

The computer tip of the month — download Google Chrome. This has to be the fastest access to the internet that is available. It is faster than Mozilla or Safari. After I downloaded Chrome, I was blown away by how well it worked. There is no more waiting to access the net with this product.

If you don’t agree, let me know. I will have plenty of time to listen as I had surgery on my left foot on July 24. That will make both of my feet look the same. There is a chance I might get back to the bowling alleys by October or November after my annual cruise. I sure miss the social networking at the bowling alley.