On getting your business in shape
t’s not
uncommon for cleaners to readily commit to doing whatever it
takes to grow their businesses only to break the deal
prematurely when circumstances become difficult or when the
actual results fail to meet their expectations.
Just last week, for example, I answered a
call from a cleaner on the east coast. He was disappointed with
the effect of his prospecting effort and wanted to drop a
program we had
recently designed for him.
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“No problem,” I assured him,
“We’ll stop the mailings immediately.”
He claimed he’d seen only about 50
new customers in the two weeks since his program started and
didn’t feel the results were good enough to justify
continuing the program. Before you read any further,
let’s do the math. That comes to 25 new customers a week
or about four a day. I personally know cleaners who’d
crawl a mile over broken glass to get numbers like that!
Today’s society craves speed. We
want fast food, fast travel, fast products and services. We
also want instant results from our marketing. But some things
just can’t be hurried. They take a great deal of effort
and they require lots of time. Let me explain.
Four short months ago, I embarked on a
very demanding self-improvement campaign. At the start, I had
several goals to achieve. First, I wanted to lose at least 60
pounds. Second, I wanted to be free from all meds. And third,
it’s been over 25 years since I could play a pick-up game
of hoops in my driveway without collapsing from total
exhaustion after only a minute or two.
Realizing my secret desire to get in
shape, my son, Kevin, a junior in college, offered to take me
over to the weight room and “introduce” me to each
piece of workout equipment. I took him up on it.
“Here, Dad,” he said.
“Meet Ab-Crunch… and over here is
Chest-Press… and just to the right of him is Mr.
Leg Curl. These guys will soon become a few of your closest
friends because you’ll be working together every
day.”
He showed me how to breathe when lifting
weights and stressed the fact that the number of reps is more
important than the amount of weight (at least during the early
stages of my development). He suggested that I start with
smaller weights and then gradually increase the number of reps
before going on to heavier weights.
I quickly developed a routine. Get up at 5:
30 every morning, hit the gym at 5:45, work out until 6:45 then
shower and head off to work.
Two weeks into my routine, however, I
couldn’t see any progress. In fact, I hadn’t even
lost a pound. It was depressing. I was tempted to tell Kevin to
take his weight program and give it to someone else, but I
continued and within a month, I managed to double my reps. In
fact, things got easier and easier, so I began increasing the
weights.
I’m now four months into my
get-in-shape program and things are looking good. I’ve
lost 29 pounds. I’m getting stronger. I don’t tire
as quickly. My watchband flops on my wrist, my pants are baggy
and my wife calls me “skinny” every now and
then. These are all good signs. The funny thing is, however,
you’re not aware of progress on a day-to-day basis but in
time, especially over several months, the difference is
obvious.
It hasn’t been easy. My get-in-shape
program has required a number of lifestyle changes as well as a
total commitment to success. It’s cost me a lot of
time… a minimum of one hour a day for six days a week.
I’ve given up a lot of the foods and beverages that I
really enjoy. I’ve had to learn to work more efficiently
so I can get more sleep. And I’ve even changed what I
listen to as I drive to and from work. I’ve switched to
stuff that’s more inspirational and spiritual in nature.
So why do I tell you about my workout
program? Here’s why. Almost every day I talk to cleaners
who want to make significant improvements in their lives and
because of the nature of our business, the desired improvement
usually centers on an increase in sales and profit. They either
want to take a struggling business and breathe new life into it
or they want to take a successful cleaning program and kick it
up a notch.
Most of them, however, aren’t ready
for the truth, and the truth is, it
can’t be done in an instant. To
get a business in shape takes a great deal of effort, sometimes
an investment of money but always time… lots of time.
Only two days ago I was at the 165th floor
on the stair climber and had just burned off about 600 calories
when I realized that a business grows stronger in much the same
way as a body in the gym. It’s not a radical change
during which you suddenly increase sales by 25 percent or 50
percent. (Sure, you can get surges in your sales figures, but
these don’t last and they can’t be sustained at
peak levels for long.)
Instead, the change is gradual and
progress is slow, but steady. In fact, unless you keep
accurate, timely sales figures, you may not even notice that
you’re growing at all. But don’t despair. A gradual
evolution is actually taking place.
The cleaner from the east coast who
dropped his mailing program is probably never going to be
satisfied with any marketing plan. He’ll always be
looking for immediate double-digit growth. But it’s just
a dream… a wish. He’ll probably never find it and
if he does, he’ll never be able to sustain it for more
than a brief period of time.
The sad part is, he’s probably a
good operator. He probably has a great business with lots of
potential and under-exploited resources, but few people will
ever get the opportunity to experience it. Why? He’s too
anxious. He’s not willing to allow time for it to work.
On top of that, his expectations are simply too high. He
doesn’t realize that four new customers a day works out
to approximately 1,450 new customers a year. His problem is, he
wants them all at once instead of taking care of them little by
little, as they come.
Our company has provided marketing for
cleaners for more than 20 years, and here’s an
interesting statistic that ties into this concept of getting
your business in shape.
We’ve found over the years that 43
percent of the cleaners who stick with a marketing program for
at least six months end up staying with the program for at
least three years or longer. It usually takes four to six
months to evaluate the effectiveness of any marketing plan but
once you’ve allowed it sufficient time to work, then you
can more accurately assess the value of the program in your
application.
If you’re thinking about getting
your business in shape, know up front that it will cost you. To
effectively market will take a financial commitment on your
part, probably a long-term one. That’s one of the biggest
barriers facing most people when it comes to getting their
businesses into shape.
And if your payroll is running high, you
may need to cut help and do some of the work yourself. Above
all, make sure your staff is well trained and knowledgeable and
that your production people are capable of turning out
top-quality work.
There’s no sense filling a leaking
bucket and that’s what will happen if you fail to hold
onto your
Bill Bishop has been a consultant with the
Golomb Group for the past 12 years, designing marketing and
promotional programs for drycleaners. He can be reached at the
Golomb Group at (800) 679-5856 or by e-mail at billbishop@golombgroup.com.
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