March 2003  

In This Issue:

Spring – All the hard  work finally pays off

Beware the Moth- 1/2 inch terror lurking in summer closets

Garment storage/ Fur storage

Spring – All the hard work finally pays off

Winter is ending and Spring is dawning.  Nature is about to bloom.  For most of us we can compare the next few months to a bear coming out of hibernation.  Like a hungry bear, the drycleaning industry will experience a voracious appetite. All those cold stormy winter months are coming to an end.  The winter vacationers will be returning home, wardrobes will be rotated, household items will undergo the traditional spring-cleaning process, and the dry cleaner will begin to see the fruits of his/her hard work.  Orders will double in size, become more frequent, and more plentiful.  Prepare to be busy.

However, there is a catch-22: The fruit is ripe on the tree and now is the time for harvesting. Getting new customers will be easier this time of the year than any other, but the time allotted for prospecting will be diminished.  You will be busy servicing your present customers.  Business will be better than ever and you will have the tendency to be lulled into a sense of false security.  After July 4, you will begin to experience another important change in your sales volume. August with its hot muggy weather will return, more households will be taking vacation, and the drycleaning orders will become smaller and less frequent for the next six to eight weeks.

Don’t loose sight of the forest for the trees.  Budget your time!   If you are working part-time, set aside another day for prospecting, if your are working full time, extend your workday to allow for this important chore. The rewards will be worth the effort.  You have a twelve-week window that will directly impact the other 40 weeks.  The seeds you plant  will sprout immediately now and again in the fall. Your Spring and Fall harvest will be so much better.

This is why you are working; don’t loose sight of the opportunity.

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Beware the Moth- 1/2 inch terror lurking in summer closets

You can count on being asked advice concerning moth protection from at least one if not more of your customers.  The following links will give you information and insight into the more acceptable methods of moth control.  But, a warning- Be prepared to have some traditional beliefs destroyed.

http://www.ent.orst.edu/urban/Clothes%20Moth.html

http://www.ianr.unl.edu/pubs/textiles/nf14.htm

Spring presents the opportunity for two very lucrative supplemental services that you can offer your customer – Garment and fur storage, and moth proofing. The exclusion of one service sets up the need for the other.

Be certain your drycleaner can provide these services before promoting them, but if they are available, you can add even more revenues to your already expanding sales volume.

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Garment Storage/ Fur Storage

Garment or “box” storage, as it is more commonly called, is the process whereby you take your customers clothing and store them in boxes designed for that purpose.  The dry cleaner, then drycleans the garments, and returns them to the storage box to be pressed at a later date, ideally during the slower summer months.  You, the Mobile Dry Cleaner, then return the garments to the customer in the fall.  It is not common practice, but if you need the cash flow to pay your cleaning expenses, you can request a deposit when receiving the order and collect the remaining balance at  time of delivery.

Fur storage, as with box storage, incorporates the same procedure. The differences between the two services lie in both the cleaning and the storage process.  You must have access to a cold storage and fur cleaning facility otherwise do not offer this service.  Without the proper utilities, mistakes can be very costly. Your drycleaner, will be your best source of information on the procedures for these services as he/she will most likely have existing arrangements.

The furrier will be charged an insurance premium for each fur garment stored, but this charge in turn is passed on to the consumer as an itemized cost and at a premium to you.

Concerns

Before offering these services there are some considerations you must first look at.

1.      You will not be paid for this service until the fall when the garments are delivered.

2.      Your bailee insurance may not cover stored garments and additional insurance riders must be purchased. As previously stated, you can pass these charges to the consumer as a surcharge at a premium rate.

3.      Your drycleaner may not have the facilities required for this service.

Your Advantages

1.      Larger orders.

2.      Guaranteed fall revenues

3.      Extra income for insurance charges. (Rates are calculated at a fixed charge per $100.00.  I charge $3.00 for the first $100.00 and $1.00 for each additional $100.00 valuation. Your insurance agent or drycleaner can further assist you with these charges.

The Customers Advantages

1.      You provide a time saving service – no packing or transferring clothes from one closet to another or stuffing garments in drawers or containers.

2.      A space saving service - putting clothes in storage frees needed closet space.

3.      Convenience – garments are returned in the fall cleaned and press and ready to be placed in the closet.

4.      Protection against moth and insect damage – garments are dry cleaned killing any infestation and stored in an insect free environment.

It is also important to discuss insurance issues with the drycleaner and your bailee insurance agent.  Many insurance companies do not cover garments left in a store over a period of three months unless a rider is included for stored garments.  This cost is usually passed on to the consumer when placing clothes in storage.

The practice is to charge for the cleaning process, but to offer to store the garments for free.  But to cover the cost of insurance and to earn additional revenues, individual insurance policies must be purchased before you will assume any responsibility for the garments placed in storage. 

If your drycleaner accepts box storage, he should be able to advise you on additional insurance policies and what amounts to charge per clothing valuation.

Moth Proofing

If your customer doesn’t require box storage services, then discuss the importance of moth proofing.  If you followed the previous links you will have read the only effective way to kill existing moth larvae is through drycleaning and then to chemically treat the garments to prevent future infestation. You benefit from both methods.  The garment is drycleaned and extra charges are incurred for the moth proofing.

Be sure to discuss the availability of either service with your drycleaner and if he does offer them, you can create a price structure based on his charges to you.

The Winds of Change

We are presently redesigning our web site. Some of the features we are working to improve or add include:

·         A new URL that is more descriptive of the mobile dry cleaning industry

·         Redesigned web site

·         Discussion group capability for manual owners seeking answers or offering suggestions to or from the author and other operators

·      A monthly newsletter in place of the present quarterly newsletter.

·         Coupons, flyers, monthly promotions, and referral rewards that you can use.  Just fill in your information and print. ·         Fabric care tips that you can make available free to your customers as an added service.

·         Quality control tips to assist you to insure your customers are receiving the best product and service possible.

·         Suggestions and advice for expanding to other markets and promoting high profit services.

·         E- mail support and suggestions to improve your services or increase your bottom line.

·         Free updates on any manual changes and inclusion in any new programs.

·         Industry specific information about suppliers, manufacturers, trade organizations etc.

Continuing support is important to any business and it is our intention to provide this support while at the same time avoiding the expenses of a costly franchise. 

There are additional features that we wish to add, but are of a more technical nature and will be addressed upon completion of this first stage of development.

Since you are a member of the community we are targeting, The Mobile Dry Cleaning Owner, your comments and opinions are valuable and most welcome.  In the very near future, there will be a survey of all our subscribers in an effort to determine how many of you have actually started and are operating your own Mobile Dry Cleaning business and what success and problems you are experiencing.

Please don’t wait for our survey, if there is anything you wish to add, we would love to hear from you. Address your comments to info@themobiledrycleaner.com

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Be persistent:

The person, who flat out
rejected you today and yesterday,
can be your customer tomorrow.

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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