June 2002
In This Issue:

1. “To mark-in or not to mark-in,” That is the question
2. The seven degrees of “YES”
3. Promote, promote, promote

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To Mark-in or Not to Mark-in?

One of the recommended characteristics to look for when choosing a dry cleaner is the ability and willingness to mark-in or tag your customers garments for identification and re-assembling after processing.  Many drycleaners will not want to offer this service, or if they do will charge you a higher wholesale price. 

You have to decide if the extra cost warrants the time saved:

1. If your business is a one-man operation, can you better utilize that time to add more customers and increase sales and profits?
2. By marking –in your own orders will you examine the garments closer and find additional revenue through needed repairs or up-charges the dry cleaners staff may miss?
3. Is hiring a part-time worker to do this duty more cost effective than either of the two previous choices?
4. Are you willing to do this chore after spending time servicing your customers, or will you tend to let things slide and create order delays and other problems by not properly performing this duty?  Worse yet, will you feel overburdened with things to do and find yourself devoting too much attention to processing orders and too little to customer service?

If your wholesale costs are based on your drycleaners prices, you should be seeking a fifty-fifty split and if the drycleaner is willing to mark in and sort your orders, a sixty-forty split is more probable. 

These percentages are not cast in stone, and prices and services will vary among different individual dry cleaners.  Unfortunately, the beginning Mobil Dry Cleaning Operator is at a disadvantage because he has no track record of sales volume to offer the dry cleaner.  On the other hand, the light volume enables the dry cleaner to work this extra business into his operation without increasing labor or other fixed costs and the extra cash flow can be a positive benefit.

When negotiating with a dry cleaner, negotiate from a position of benefits to the dry cleaner just as you would when prospecting for a new customer, this position always helps to keep you in the driver’s seat.

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The Seven Degrees of Yes

Many individuals shun the thought of going out and contacting people in an effort to sell their products or services. They lack confidence or fear the thought of rejection. This is a reasonable concern, but work to overcome these fears and turn these negative thoughts to positive ones.

In this business, you have to be willing to knock on doors. Direct selling always was and always will be the key to this market.   If you want to be successful in your business, you should motivate yourself to perform this task.  Remember the phrase from your childhood– “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”  “NO” is nothing but a word.  Actually, “No” is a word you should be looking for when cold-calling on prospects. It has been said, when you are selling it takes seven to ten “No’s” before you can get a “Yes”, so when you hear the word “No”, be encouraged - you only need hear it 6 more times before you find the “Yes” you are seeking. Accept “No” don’t fear it!  Look for the seven degrees of yes and turn that negative word “No” into positive action.

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Promote, Promote, Promote your Services

You have devoted a lot of time and hard work into finding that first-time customer.  The truth is you will put more effort into finding first-time customers than any other task you perform. Once you have established the customer, cultivated a relationship, earned their trust, and satisfied their expectations, selling additional services may simply be a matter of asking.  Statistics show that existing, repeat customers are four to five times more likely to purchase supplemental services than first-time buyers.

To illustrate the value of promoting additional services, let’s assume that a customer’s average weekly order consists of two dry-cleaned garments and five laundered shirts totaling $17.00.  That equates to annual sales of $880.00. Using 75% of costs as drycleaning profit and $.50 profit per shirt, your annual net profit is $301.16. Add an additional 25% or $220.00 in annual sales to that same customer for supplemental services and you have increased their annual sales volume to $1100.00. But more important than the increased sales to you, is the increased profits. Since supplemental services are more profitable than basic services, profit margins can double and rather than experiencing a 75% markup, you now can mark up your services to 150% or more resulting in at least $110.00 in profits or 33% more profit for 25% of the work. 

You will find that most drycleaners will offer these additional services or at least allow you to access them through their vendors.  Some services such as shoe repair or table and bed linens may not be available through your drycleaner, but can be contracted through local shoe repair shops and wholesale laundry operators.   

The following list itemizes various supplemental services offered by many drycleaning operators:

 

Laundry Services Household Items Table Linens Area Rugs Bedding (sheets & cases) Drapery Cleaning Tailoring Pillow re-ticking Alterations Leather & Suede Cleaning Invisible Reweaving Fur Cleaning and Glazing Shoe Repair Winter box Storage Formal Wear Fur Storage Wedding Gown Cleaning Waterproofing Wedding Gown Preservation Mothproofing Christening Outfits Down Cleaning Smoke & Odor Restoration

All of the above listed items are needed services generating high profits.  Many are so specialized they are industries in themselves, and are offered to the drycleaning trades only and not to retail markets. Pricing these services for retail markets requires specialized knowledge, but guidance can be gotten from the drycleaner or wholesaler providing the service.

Most of these services are high profit items, for example, a wedding gown may cost $50.00 to $75.00 wholesale to dryclean, but you can charge $150.00 retail and up for this service.

You may pay $13.00 or more to clean a suede coat, but the retail price can be $36.00 or more.  Since there is such a high mark-up on these items, you will find many drycleaners offering special promotions for these services. Many times, however, the customer has made a considerable investment to purchase these items and will trust their cleaning only to those who have earned their confidence.

Once you have established customer loyalty, select one item each week and promote it to all your customers.  The following week promote another service and once the list has been exhausted, start over again.  You will be delighted with the results.

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The future is yours, you are now a business owner, an S.O.B., and only you
can make it happen.

Wishing you all loads of success.
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C. E. Hill
The Mobile Dry Cleaning Manual
www.themobiledrycleaner.com