QUICK START PROGRAM

The Journey’s Highway!

A major benefit of owning a Mobile Dry Cleaning Business is its ease of set-up. Simply perform the following steps and you are ready to start your new business. If you feel you have sufficient business knowledge, this program will provide enough information to help you begin operations immediately. However, The Mobile Dry Cleaner Manual explores these basics in much greater detail and introduces an in-depth study for operating and marketing a successful mobile dry cleaning business.

To get started immediately you should:

1.       Have a delivery vehicle (a van or station wagon is preferable).
2.      Contract with a dry cleaner to do your drycleaning and pressing
3.      Acquire a few supplies (mostly from items you already have at home),
4.      Establish your prices.
5.      Find your customers.
6.      Begin earning cash!

Transportation

Unless you live in a high-density area, a large apartment building, a condominium, and are within steps of your selected dry cleaner, you must have, at the least, an automobile. The ideal vehicle is a cargo van but, during the start-up phase, an automobile is sufficient. Once you establish your business, you can purchase a van with your profits.

Contracting a Dry Cleaner

Your next consideration is finding a dry cleaner to do your cleaning and pressing. If you are presently using a local drycleaner and/or know one who is willing to work with you and help get you started, use his or her services. When working with others, it helps when you are affiliated with someone you know and trust. The drycleaner can also provide you with needed supplies.

If you are not familiar with a dry cleaner, check your telephone directory for a list of dry cleaners in your area. Contact them and ask if they offer wholesale dry cleaning. Do they provide a complete package, (tagging garments for identification, drycleaning, pressing, and packaging), what additional services do they provide, and what do they charge per item.

After surveying several dry cleaners, choose the one who offers:

A high confidence level
The most services
The best value for their services

A word of caution. While the motto “the lower the cost the higher the profit” is the ideal pursuit, value for dollars spent should not be totally ignored. If a dry cleaner quotes a higher item price but provides better services and/or reliability, carefully weigh the pros and cons of his service. In the end, while the cost may be slightly higher, the quality of work or the extent of services offered may more than offset the advantages of lower cost. It may be wiser, during the earlier learning stages of your new business, to sacrifice some profit margin for better services and a solid working relationship.

Gathering your Supplies

A local dry cleaning supply house can furnish all your necessary supplies. To find a supply house in your area, refer to your telephone directory under the “cleaners-supplies” category. If you are attempting to start on a shoestring, you can find the majority of needed supplies in your own home or at an office supply retailer.

To start, you will need:

Garment bags - or you can substitute with a box of plastic bags (the type used for 30 gallon trashcan liners are best) for separating customer orders.·
A receipt book – A three-copy carbonless book is best. One copy for the customer, one to stay with the order, and one for your records.·
A writing pen and note pad – used for memos or special instructions ·
A ringed note binder or some type of copybook – use to record customer information and driving directions between customers.·
Safety pins - size #2 is preferable.·
A few wire garment hangers – Used for hanging specialty garments.·
Business cards – Used to identify you and promote your business services. ·
Garment rack – To hang in the back of your vehicle for carrying finished orders.

Establish your price

Doubling the cost of drycleaning is the simplest way to establish your price. Most wholesale prices will be set at approximately half of the going rate for your particular marketing area. If you are not sure which is the best pricing policy to pursue, ask the drycleaner doing your work for his advice, or survey the retail prices of the drycleaners in your targeted market and structure your prices similar to theirs. You will find that while prices vary among dry cleaners a specific price range will emerge for similar garments in comparable markets. Another method is to calculate your costs for each item and add the desired profit ratio to determine retail prices. Refer to Chapter III for a more detailed explanation of the various pricing methods.

Many dry cleaners offer special discounts to entice traffic to their stores while others rely on convenient location, service and quality, or combinations of marketing techniques. Studies have shown that the two foremost reasons for choosing a dry cleaner are convenience and pricing respectively. A Mobile Dry Cleaning Business satisfies both reasons, so choose your pricing wisely, but choose profitably.

Find Your Customers

Simply find your customers! At this point, you are probably saying, “I knew there was a catch. Another of those “go and sign up everybody-you-see deals.” If it were that easy, the world would be overrun with millionaires. Well, it can be that easy, but like any other business, customers are not going to fall from the sky simply because you created and formed a commercial entity. You must let your prospects know you exist. Talk to your friends, relatives, and neighbors. Tell them of your service. Offer to be of assistance to them. Most will try what you offer and once they see what you can do, will be pleased to recommend you to their friends or acquaintances. Further increase your customer base by distributing flyers and business cards in your own neighborhood followed up by face-to-face contact. You are more inclined to understand the market in which you live and, since you live in the same community, your neighbors, even though they don’t know you personally, are more inclined to relate to your services. Let me assure you, personal contact with prospects produces results. Not everyone you approach will become a customer, but the law of averages will apply and persistent action will return positive results.

Begin Earning Cash

Feel the excitement! You are ready to go! After you find your customers, take their soiled garments to the drycleaner, return the completed order, collect your money, and count the profit!

While this is an oversimplification, it demonstrates how simple it is to start and operate your Mobile Dry Cleaning Business. There are principles and guidelines to follow and The Mobile Dry Cleaner Manual will acquaint you with those principles and practices. It is important to point out here, however, that education is an ongoing experience, and you should always be searching for ways to improve your business.

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Acknowledgements, Disclaimers, and Notices

HOW TO START A MOBILE DRYCLEANING BUSINESS and THE QUICK START PROGRAM was developed thanks to the efforts and advice of Gerald P. Hill. Mr. Hill has forty years experience in the drycleaning industry, is a retired owner-operator of two drycleaning plants, four pick-up & delivery routes and former general manager of dry cleaning plant servicing a retail location, Laundromat, eight delivery routes and three hotel/motel locations.

While this is an attempt to identify many of the requirements and concerns that apply to starting and operating a Mobil Dry Cleaning Business, it is not guaranteed that this manual is complete. The contents of this manual reflect the author’s views acquired through his experience in the drycleaning profession. This is no attempt to render any legal information or advice. The information found here does not relieve the reader of the duty to ascertain what laws apply to their activities or the manner in which they must comply with those laws. Professional legal, financial, and/or accounting services are highly recommended. All requirements and other information are subject to change. Results and sales figures are not guaranteed and may be higher or lower than those represented depending on individual efforts and markets.

All rights reserved. No part of this manual or information contained here-in may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical without written permission from the publisher.