Halt! And identify yourself
ne reason that many
cleaners never grow into major business enterprises is that
they fail to develop any individuality for their businesses.
They blend into the faceless mass of look-alike businesses, and
rely solely on location and price advertising to develop new
customers.
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It is very difficult to become well known
in today’s marketplace. It’s a rootless venture, to
say the least. Approximately, 20 percent to 30 percent of the
population moves every year.
The huge, national corporations tend to
capture the most attention. And it is a rare individual whose
name you can mention to people on the street and have it
recognized. Outside of the President of the United States,
famous television, movie, and sports personalities, and maybe,
the occasional, high-profile criminal, few people achieve real
public recognition.
You could walk down the street, and ask
people if they recognize the Vice-President of the United
States, or many other lesser office holders, and you can be
assured the majority of people will not know who they are.
The reason is that there is so much clamor
for public attention that it’s extremely difficult for
people to recall names unless they are constantly reminded.
Well known television personalities all
have high levels of recognition for a particular reason: They
have daily or weekly contact with their audiences. They come
across as friendly and exciting personalities.
In other words, they give people pleasure,
and for that they are remembered. That’s the thing to
keep in mind when developing the character and image of your
business. It should give people pleasure. It should not have
any negative aspects to it or be considered a cold-hearted
money-making machine.
The point is to develop a theme and a
character for your business that people will recognize in a
pleasurable way. Those entrepreneurs who have had the courage
to promote a unique business image to the public have enjoyed
great measures of success.
A hometown favorite that everyone in New
Orleans is familiar with is Al Copeland. His brother owned
several donut shops around town and Al eventually purchased
one. For several years he struggled, making average donuts in
the mornings, while having no business in the evenings.
Having his fryers sit idle all afternoon
bothered Al. So he began experimenting with different
“afternoon” recipes that would utilize this
downtime. He gave his experiments away at first, just to test
people’s reactions to dishes he’d created.
One day he made a spicy fried chicken.
And, being in New Orleans where spicy foods are preferred, most
everyone told him how good it was. Al started making his spicy
fried chicken every afternoon, after the morning donut crowd
had departed. New customers began showing up just to buy his
“special” chicken.
Business was booming, but Al wasn’t
finished. He knew that he need to give his brand of chicken an
identity that people would remember. Something more than
“that really good, spicy chicken, they make over at the
Tastee Donut shop.”
He also knew it had to be a pleasant,
friendly identity. Since his chicken had a
“strong,” spicy flavor, he picked a strong,
friendly character: Popeye the Sailor.
I won’t go on to tell you any more
about the muti-million dollar franchise Al’s enterprise
eventually became. But I will tell you that a large part of
that success was based on the fact that he quickly gave his
business a personality that customers enjoyed and remembered.
A footnote that many people don’t
know: Al Copeland was, and still is, such a “Rambo”
character himself that he used the Popeye name, logo-style of
type and character image for about eight years before King
Features (the copyright owners) caught up with him. However, by
that time he had already made millions, and was able to
negotiate a deal for the continued use of their trademark.
Popeye’s Famous Fried Chicken (He
named it “Famous” even when he was a nobody),
demonstrates the value of establishing a specific uniqueness
and character to your business to get public recognition of
your cleaners.
Dennis McCrory is president of The Golomb
Group Inc., a firm that designs marketing programs for
drycleaners. Contact him at The Golomb Group Inc., 7664 Plaza
Ct., Willowbrook, IL 60527 Tele: (800) 679-5856
E-mail: dennismccrory@golombgroup.com
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