National Clothesline

Given a choice, which would you rather do: A) work long and hard your whole life, scrimp and save constantly, make a few safe low-yield investments and avoid any extravagant purchases so that some day (far down the road) you may retire as a millionaire; or B) win the lottery.

Of course, most of us would choose B even though the odds of you becoming a millionaire are more in your favor if you rely on option A rather than option B. It is certainly a much wiser approach to personal finance than the “live for today and buy lots of lottery tickets” second strategy. Lottery odds vary from state to state, but to put it in perspective, if you were to “invest” one dollar a week in a lottery that features six balls (numbered one to 50), then the odds of you winning the big jackpot are approximately 16 million to one.

In fact, you are far more likely to be struck by a bolt of lightning, according to numbers provided by the National Weather Service web site. The odds of that happening are about 1 in 700,000. (So, you might want to rethink leaving the comfort of your home during a heavy rainstorm in order to buy a last-minute lottery ticket before that night’s drawing.)

Despite such overwhelming odds, millions of Americans still play the lottery every week because they dream of getting rich quickly and easily. We have always been a society that tends to prefer instant gratification. It’s why fast food is so popular. It’s why texting is so prevalent. It’s also a powerful tool for your marketing program.

This month, columnist Bill Bishop discusses incorporating instant gratification into advertising promotions in order to increase their overall effectiveness. As he points out, instant gratification does not have to simply mean a discount, either. Customers tend to remember a shopping experience more if they come home with something free and tangible. There are numerous ways to accomplish this, but Bishop suggests a simple idea that could hit your customers like the proverbial bolt of lightning – which is not nearly as dangerous as the real thing.

The promotion is really quite inexpensive and it offers a potentially large ROI (Return on Investment). More importantly, it is easy to implement so cleaners stand to enjoy some instant gratification of their own. Go check it out now.

In his column this month, Frank Kollman suggests that professional management consultants aren’t the only, or even the best, source of improving one’s managerial skills. He offers some reading suggestions that can help managers of people think differently about their job — how to better understand what motivates people and how to channel those motivations to achieve the goals of the company.

Two of the “management” books he recommends aren’t really books about management, he notes; they are books that describe what makes people tick, what goes on inside their heads and how they respond to outside influences. In other words, these books offer a look from outside the normal channels for insight on how to do your job better.

In that spirit, we turn to baseball and one of the all-time great managers, Earl Weaver, whose teams won 100 or more games in five seasons and who now resides in the Hall of Fame. Weaver once offered this nugget of wisdom: “It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.”

Weaver knew that despite his many years of experience and after achieving great success, there was more to learn. Going beyond the package of accumulated knowledge to learn something new is the key to continued success. And that brings us back to the topic of consultants. In this industry there are many good ones who have not only done it themselves but also have had success showing others how to do it. If you have reached the point of knowing it all, it’s time to reach out to one of these people and find out what else there is to learn. There are also groups of cleaners who regularly get together to share ideas and critique each others’ operations. Join one of these groups or bring an industry consultant into your plant and find out what you don’t know. Don’t risk becoming a know-it-all.








						Give customers something to remember Given a choice, which would you rather do: A) work long and hard your whole life, scrimp and save constantly, make a few safe low-yield investments and avoid any extravagant purchases so that some day (far down the road) you may retire as a millionaire; or B) win the lottery. Of course, most of us would choose B even though the odds of you becoming a millionaire are more in your favor if you rely on option A rather than option B. It is certainly a much wiser approach to personal finance than the “live for today and buy lots of lottery tickets” second strategy. Lottery odds vary from state to state, but to put it in perspective, if you were to “invest” one dollar a week in a lottery that features six balls (numbered one to 50), then the odds of you winning the big jackpot are approximately 16 million to one. In fact, you are far more likely to be struck by a bolt of lightning, according to numbers provided by the National Weather Service web site. The odds of that happening are about 1 in 700,000. (So, you might want to rethink leaving the comfort of your home during a heavy rainstorm in order to buy a last-minute lottery ticket before that night’s drawing.) Despite such overwhelming odds, millions of Americans still play the lottery every week because they dream of getting rich quickly and easily. We have always been a society that tends to prefer instant gratification. It’s why fast food is so popular. It’s why texting is so prevalent. It’s also a powerful tool for your marketing program. This month, columnist Bill Bishop discusses incorporating instant gratification into advertising promotions in order to increase their overall effectiveness. As he points out, instant gratification does not have to simply mean a discount, either. Customers tend to remember a shopping experience more if they come home with something free and tangible. There are numerous ways to accomplish this, but Bishop suggests a simple idea that could hit your customers like the proverbial bolt of lightning – which is not nearly as dangerous as the real thing. The promotion is really quite inexpensive and it offers a potentially large ROI (Return on Investment). More importantly, it is easy to implement so cleaners stand to enjoy some instant gratification of their own. Go check it out now. Where to turn when you know it all In his column this month, Frank Kollman suggests that professional management consultants aren’t the only, or even the best, source of improving one’s managerial skills. He offers some reading suggestions that can help managers of people think differently about their job — how to better understand what motivates people and how to channel those motivations to achieve the goals of the company. Two of the “management” books he recommends aren’t really books about management, he notes; they are books that describe what makes people tick, what goes on inside their heads and how they respond to outside influences. In other words, these books offer a look from outside the normal channels for insight on how to do your job better. In that spirit, we turn to baseball and one of the all-time great managers, Earl Weaver, whose teams won 100 or more games in five seasons and who now resides in the Hall of Fame. Weaver once offered this nugget of wisdom: “It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.” Weaver knew that despite his many years of experience and after achieving great success, there was more to learn. Going beyond the package of accumulated knowledge to learn something new is the key to continued success. And that brings us back to the topic of consultants. In this industry there are many good ones who have not only done it themselves but also have had success showing others how to do it. If you have reached the point of knowing it all, it’s time to reach out to one of these people and find out what else there is to learn. There are also groups of cleaners who regularly get together to share ideas and critique each others’ operations. Join one of these groups or bring an industry consultant into your plant and find out what you don’t know. Don’t risk becoming a know-it-all.