Since finishing is the most production-oriented operation in the plant, it is absolutely critical that your finisher (presser) has the incentive to produce according to the standards you set.
A standard is the amount of pounds, pieces or units that a well-trained person or crew is expected to produce in a given time, working at a normal pace.
Standards are not estimated figures derived from a crystal ball or by a prejudiced guess by the plant owner or manager. They are determined by timing an operation with a stop watch.
The most common type of incentive is extra money in the form of wages. Hourly wages tend to lower the production rate and encourage "pacing," and then lead into no motivation at all.
In fact, plant operations based on a straight hourly wage, but not using incentives, can expect to obtain about 50 to 60 percent of the worker's potential production. After all, payment of hourly wages to a production worker (mainly finishers) is actually a penalty if the job gets done too quickly since less hours will be earned with a lower pay check at the end of the week.
The greatest motivator to a production worker is reward for quantity produced. For the plant owner, however, incentive wages are more expensive, but the reward is an increased production rate that will actually lower his or her hourly wage pay out.
Incentive wages eliminate pacing. In return, the work day will be shortened with a resultant reduction in production expenses.
Last month I wrote about motivating employees in a small package plant to get the work finished and go home with no loss of a week's full pay. What I failed to bring out was the fact that at least one employee in the production side could possibly be eliminated if the crew leaves every day early during the busy season, and the plant is actually over staffed.
Maintaining quality
The emphasis on quality must be always maintained and constantly monitored when an incentive system is in use. The desired degree of quality cannot, under any circumstance, be sacrificed for the sake of productivity. Close inspection must be performed and a penalty (in pay) must be made if the garment is rejected due to poor quality.
A poorly pressed garment should be returned to the finisher for correction and not corrected by the inspector. Otherwise, the finisher will figure that since the inspector, or "touch-up person," will correct the defect, "I will just turn out as much work as I can and get credit for the bad garments anyway."
However, an untrained inspector who does not know the critical quality points of a finished garment can "knit pick" to a point where the finisher will walk off the job, and you be "up the creek without a paddle."
In other words, an occasional wrinkle can be puffed out by the inspector as long as the defect is not critical to the completion of the garment.
A successful wage incentive program requires good management. It is necessary that standards of quality be established and supervision be provided to maintain those standards.
A uniform flow of work
To avoid pacing, the cleaner/spotter must see that a uniform flow of work goes to the pressers. It is common knowledge that finishers will work faster if work is piled up behind them.
The cleaner/spotter should make every effort to send either spot-free garments, or attach a "sorry" tag for permanent or damaging spots, to the finishing units since having to find spots and returning the garment to the cleaner/spotter can deter an incentive system very quickly.
If you were on an incentive plan, how would you feel if you had a garment 75 percent finished and then saw a big spot?
It is very important for management to purchase the right equipment for the right job. A good maintenance plan must be instituted to permit use of equipment with a minimum of down time. An abundant supply of steam, air and vacuum is critical to the success of an incentive system and the morale of the workers. This applies also to the drycleaning, spotting and laundry washing departments since these operations are critical to furnishing the garments to the finishers.
When should we start an incentive system? The most ideal time is when there is plenty of work and increased capacity is sorely needed. When there is plenty of work to be done, the finishers can readily see the opportunity to earn more money and even the cleaner/spotter and wash person are receptive to a bonus for doing their parts in increasing production.
TYPES OF INCENTIVE SYSTEMS
Piece work
This plan rewards the finisher in direct proportion to the amount of work produced. Each piece has a preassigned monetary value which is usually determined by dividing the hourly rate by the production standard for each piece, or the finisher is paid a percentage of the unit's sales price.
This plan is very simple, and it is easy to administer. The finisher usually hangs a colored ring or numbered tag over the hanger of the finished garment, and the inspector/assembler throws the rings into a separate container for each worker.
Other plants will count the number of pieces each presser finishes and enter that number in a record. To avoid arguments, an entry is also made in a record kept by the presser.
Wage calculations are limited to a simple multiplication of pieces finished times the basic rate per piece. It is easily understood by the employees.
Be wary of state and federal labor departments if you are ever inspected or suffer a complaint lodged against you for unpaid wages due to overtime or in disregard of the legal minimum wage.
Some local labor laws compute a worker's hourly wage by dividing the total number of hours worked into the gross wages paid.
Overtime can easily throw your calculations into a sub-legal hourly wage. Therefore, you must make sure that you still record hours worked, and your final pay calculation is at the legal minimum hourly wage, or above it.
A major disadvantage of the piece work incentive system is that weekly earnings vary with the plant volume, which leads to worker dissatisfaction in low volume periods. Therefore, the base hourly wage is very important to the worker during the slower season.
However, a plant situated in a high-income neighborhood, or one with dry stores in high-income neighborhoods, will always weather the storm by having enough work in the off-season to keep the employees happy.
Another form of piece work for finishers is to divide the total piece rate wages earned by the number of finishers working. The money is then divided equally among them.
This method encourages cooperation and teamwork whereby one presser will help another presser finish his or her line of garments. A slow or incompetent presser will be rejected by the others and pressure will be on management to replace the less competent finishers.
Standard hour incentive plan
In this plan, the finisher is guaranteed a basic hourly rate which may include added compensation for skill or length of service.
The basic hourly rate is in no way related to the job standard itself. The incentive payment is for production above the established standard. Pieces produced are not rated according to their value in money, but only in number of hours earned.
A time standard is set for each piece and this standard can be expressed in any of three ways:
1. Time per piece. Example: .05 hour per piece.
2. Pieces per hour. Examples: 30 pieces per hour.
3. Points per piece. Example: 5 points per piece (where 100 points are standard).
The amount of money earned by a finisher under the standard Hour Incentive Plan is calculated as follows:
Number of pieces produced multiplied by the time standard times the hourly rate.
Example: 30 pieces produced x .05 hours per piece standard = $1.50 x $7 hourly wage = $10.50 bonus hourly wage (instead of the normal $7).
If this total is less than the guaranteed wage, then the finisher receives the basic guaranteed hourly rate (example: $7).
Under this type of incentive plan, when the worker produces, for example: 50 percent more than the production standard, he or she will receive a 50 percent increase in the hourly rate. Notice that the time standard is written as a decimal part of the per-hour production standard, and the example is:
A basic standard of 20 pieces an hour has been established, and each piece takes 1/20 of an hour, or .05 hours.
This method is the least understood by the employees although it is still being implemented by several high production plants.
Ratio Sharing Plan
This type of incentive plan is similar to the Standard Hour Incentive Plan except for one difference: the Ratio Sharing Plan pays a bonus which begins at a level below 100 percent of the production standard.
The bonus earning is usually shared by management and employees at varying ratios.
Example: In a 50-50 Ratio Sharing Plan, the worker might start earning a bonus at 50 percent of standard production. The amount of his or her bonus would be one-half of 1 percent of the base hourly wage rate for each 1 percent of increase in production over 80 percent. The other half of the 1 percent goes to management.
This type of incentive is very effective in increasing production where the general efficiency of workers is low, and they have been working on an hourly-day basis.
This plan would give workers a "taste of the benefits of incentives," and they would be motivated to increase production with the opportunity for participation in more lucrative bonus plans later on.
Group Incentive Payment Plan
This plan is often used in situations where it is not possible, or practical, to measure individual output. Any one of the above types of incentive plants can be used as the incentive basis for a group plan.
The modified piece-rate system of dividing the total piece-rate wages (earned by all the pressers) among all the pressers as a group is one example. Also, the Standard Hour Incentive Plan works well with the Group Incentive Plan.
In this plan, the entire group, or unit with several workers in it, is treated as a single entity or group. Workers' output is divided equally among the workers within the group or unit.
Production records are simplified for time-keeping and accounting for the group or unit instead of for the individuals within it.
The chief disadvantage of the Group Incentive Plan is the lack of individual recognition for efficiency, skill or quality work. Management has no means of singling out the better workers in the group for individual recognition.
Remember, in our industry we must recognize the fact that your workers are there for one main reason: Money. They can't exist without it. Benefits such as health insurance and paid vacations add the "icing on the cake."
In the old days, when most of the surveys were taken among big-industry factory workers (not cleaning or laundry plant workers,) the most important motivator was job security followed by company loyalty and "being in on things." Good wages ranked #5 on the list. In fact, the main poll was taken in the 1950s with much higher paid workers than we had.
NOTE: My video, "The Caplan Method of Stain Removal," which includes my comprehensive test with handy spotting board reference, is now available. Please order from Dennis McCrory, Successful Management Group, (800) 646-5736, PIN 4615. Also, watch for my latest video on step-by-step shirt finishing using both a double-buck and single-buck unit with either one or two operators -- soon to be released along with a comprehensive text.
Stan Caplan has over 35 years experience in his own drycleaning/laundry business and over 20 years experience teaching and consulting. A former chief instructor at IFI the SDA school in Denton, TX and the ISFA school in Illinois, he offers consulting services on work flow concepts, lot systems management, call-office efficiency studies, production studies, plant equipment layout, engineering studies and specifications, equipment specifications, TQM, training programs, cost analysis and accounting and general plant management. He can be reached at 3601 Clarks Lane, Suite 307, Baltimore, MD 21215; phone or fax (410) 358-0870. His e-mail address is: stancap100@aol.com
We don't need to be too "mature" to see some of the changes in the last few years. (Notice I use the word mature in place of saying old!)
I connect no shame with being a senior citizen because it gives me some perspective in seeing various trends -- frightening ones that sometimes turn around and become more joyous.
My plant was not more than two years old and just starting to show a profit when on a Sunday morning, sitting in church, a young woman passed in front of me dressed in a nondescript sweater and faded dungarees!
Wow! I grew up in depression days, and even among the poorest of the poor, we always went to church in the best clothes that we had, our utmost finery. That's the way it was with everyone. You dressed in your Sunday Best, no matter what the occasion or your personal circumstances.
Later on, young men and then adult males began growing their hair longer and longer, down to shoulder length. Then evening clothes got more wrinkled and more casual. That trend eventually spread to the business community.
Gone forever was the traditional three-piece gray flannel suit. It was replaced by no-tie casual "Dress Down Friday." That stared out as a summer trend, but somehow continued to the entire week and became the year-round fashionable wardrobe.
Architects, draftsmen, office managers, etc., loved it. They could sport Khaki slacks and a washable sport shirt or even feel right at home in their golf outfits.
Fortunately, the trend escaped some industries such as banking and the stock market and outside salesman, who had still had to "dress for success."
With its share of polyester, double-knit blends, etc., this trend had to hurt drycleaning volume. Would you believe that at one time, prior to these miracle fibers, there was a substantial amount of business in "press only" and "press while you wait?"
What goes around comes around. We find "press only" has gone the way of the Goony bird. But with the advent of all these washable fabrics and safe detergents plus the promotion of wetcleaning, has the time arrived for wash at home, and press only, at your coin laundry or professional drycleaner?
Dressing up again
Now we are being introduced to a new wave of the future: "Dress Up Friday."
Maybe the prosperous stock market started it all along with the reality of two-income families. It was a joy to see.
I recently went down to Manhattan, to visit my old outfit in the Chrysler building, and again a few weeks later at my son's new computer engineering firm. It seems someone started it by designating the last Friday of the month "Dress Up Friday."
There they were, dressed in all their finery. The women in full-length dresses with new hairdo's and appropriate jewelry! The men equally well decked out in blue suits, bow ties, ruffled shirts with gold cuffs links, etc.
I guess they all wanted to prove to the each other that they owned such elegant outfits. Perhaps there were some celebrations planned afterwards.
They all love it. Comments like "Clothes make the man!" seem to be the topic of the day, along with "Why didn't we do this sooner?"
There's no argument from me, especially when I learned that the fashion industry is supporting this dress-up trend, along with the jewelry designers and cosmetics companies.
"Dress Up Friday." Perhaps its time has come. Startling proof is the number who are anxious to have their picture taken at their desks or on the job.
I know professionals have always believed in maintaining an image. We all know that the better we look, the better we feel. Going along with looking good is feeling good.
I'm sure we must be performing better no matter what our job is! I also think the pendulum had swung too far in being comfortable and going to work with unpressed slacks, a sport shirt, sweat socks and jogging sneakers.
The time has come to shine in the other direction. The dreaded Monday morning now will be looked upon with anticipation. To say morale has improved 100 percent is an understatement for the professional drycleaner, who readily admits to all customers that when you look good WE look good!
The customers and clients who call on these professional offices are all equally impressed. Who wouldn't be?
I also have to add that it's time to stand up and be counted. It's time we started using three- and four-color printed garment bags. Do you know that as an industry we send out a few million garment bags and shirt and sweater packages a week?
It's time to propagate our message. It's time we did some promoting. It doesn't have to be costly. We have a means of communicating a variety of timely messages. Our packaging is like millions of walking billboards and we have never taken advantage of it. Isn't it time we did?
We can send out hundreds colorful messages per plant for all to see, and all for few pennies. I don't care what message we use as long as it's colorful and continual. The drycleaner has the least amount of cost in promoting "Dress Up Friday" by using packaging. The fashion, cosmetics, and jewelry industries have the hard bucks of advertising cost.
Let's do our share. Get on board... "Let's be Clothes Friends!"
Ray Colucci, a consultant to the fabric care industry, has three booklets available that cover key topics. The titles include: "Up Front is Where it Counts," which tells how to train people to work at the counter and contains a pre-hiring personality test; "The Route to Success," which tells how to start, hire, train and sell routes; and "Pressed for Perfection," which ends the dilemma of hire and fire in the finishing department and provides a quality control final inspection color coding system. The booklets are available for $10 each or all three for $25. He also has a slide presentation seminar entitled "Management and Motivation" and he is available for speaking engagements. For information, contact Ray Colucci, 410 Warren Ave., Mamaroneck, NY, 10543.
Summertime has its own season of hard to remove stains. Are you ready to tackle them?
Mustard
Mustard is a tannin stain since the source of mustard is from the seed of leafy plants.
Mustard stains are made more difficult to remove because of amateurish attempts to remove the stain by the customer and improper procedures that are attempted. Mustard seeds contain oils, so dryside procedures should be attempted first.
Procedure
(1) Scrape off dry mustard with a dry brush or spatula.
(2) Work stain out using dryside method first.
Tannin Method
Chocolate
The cocoa tree produces the seed or cocoa bean from which all chocolates are made. The seeds usually contain about 54 percent cocoa butter, which is the natural fat of the cocoa seed. Chocolate is often blended with milk and should be worked as a combination stain.
Procedure
(1) Work all chocolate stains on the dryside. (See mustard stain instructions.)
(2) Use the tannin procedure next. Do not use general formula since alcohol will set the protein portion of the stain. (See mustard stain.)
Protein Procedure
Ketchup
A sauce made from tomatoes, ketchup consists of tomato pulp, sugar, salt, mustard, vinegar and spices. Attempt stain removal using the same procedures as for mustard stains.
Grass
Grass, as well as other plants, is usually green because of a green colored substance it contains that is called chlorophyll.
Procedure
Although grass is a tannin stain, the chlorophyll portion of the stain is best removed on the dryside.
Amyl Acetate is an important step in the stain removal procedure.
Procedure
Mud, asphalt
The summer months also result in a variety of medicine stains. Some common stains are:
Mercurochrome stains
Mercurochrome is a trade name for a weak antiseptic that is used in a water solution. Mercurochrome stains have an orange-yellow cast similar in appearance to an ink stains.
Procedure
Iodine
Iodine appears reddish brown on fabrics without starch but reacts to a blue or blue black color on starched fabrics.
Dan Eisen is chief garment analyst for the Neighborhood Cleaners Association Inter-national. He can be reached at the NCAI office, (212) 967-3002, ext. 243 or via e-mail: ncai@sprynet.com.
When a cleaner joins the Golomb Group, we send the new member a Survey Report that consists of about 60 questions.
The information provides us with the clients' method of operation and things they are doing right and wrong, along with their goals in both business and life. Then it's our job to assist them in attaining their goals.
The Survey Form below is quite informative because the entrepreneur can rate his/her own present situation on a scale of 1 to 5 in eight categories.
Not one out of a thousand cleaners rated themselves as a "5" in all categories.
If you rate yourself a "5" in all categories, you wouldn't need assistance in reaching your goals. You would already be there and we would never have heard from you.
We only hear from people who acknowledge they are not perfect and can improve.
Golomb Group Survey FormHow do you rate yourself with your competition
on a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being the highest)?Price ___________
Location _______
Quality ________
Promotional activity _________
Counter personnel __________
Fast service ____________
Guarantee your work ________
Claim policy ___________
Let's review the factors one by one.
Price
What you charge should be based on your need to make a fair return on your investment.
The consumer looks at price as a cost for value received. If you are in a convenient location with a nice storefront and have well-trained people to handle the customer's needs, you should be able to charge a fair price.
On the other hand, if you offer low-price service and can operate to make a fair profit, you are the exception. There is a fixed cost to do business and profits start beyond break-even.
Consumers are much more sophisticated than they are often given credit for being.
People who shop at stores like Nordstrom's know they are paying higher prices for quality merchandise and that they will receive A-1 service.
If you operate a route, you have every right to upcharge for your service because you have the added cost of a driver along with the vehicle expense.
If you operate a very efficient plant and can hold your expenses down, you can charge a lower price and still do well.
However, never let your price be dictated by your competition.
Location
Location is an extremely important factor. It usually relates to the rent and prime locations do not come cheap.
And location does not mean just being centrally located in the market. It also means ample parking, good visibility, easy access, and traffic flow, and, most important, it has to have the potential.
A great location without ample parking is not going to allow a plant to do large volume.
Rent, as it relates to sales, is okay as long as the rent percentage does not exceed 10 percent of sales.
We know of plants that are paying as much as $15,000 a month. How can a plant paying that much rent succeed? It can if sales are over $150,000 a month.
I know of plants that pay even more with a rental factor of 7 percent of sales.
That's because they do $50,000 a week in over the counter sales. This comes to an average of $216,500 a month and 7 percent of sales comes to $15,120. Any plant would be happy to pay $15,000 a month for sales like that.
Most cleaning plants, on average, do $21,650 a month, or an average of $5,000 a week. A 10 percent rent factor of $2,165, is acceptable.
The beauty of a fixed cost like rent is that, in most cases, additional sales do not increase the rent. Any sales over $5,000 a week would reduce the rental percentage significantly.
But what does a plant do that does not have a good location? There are alternatives such as running routes, drop stores, and/or wholesale work.
There are some exceptionally profitable plants that rate their location as a "1" that do very well because of good locations for drop stores, or a fabulous route operation.
Quality
More affluent customers will demand top quality cleaning just as they will opt for expensive cars like Lexus, BMW, Jaguar, and now the rage for SUVs (Sport Utility Vehicle). They also live in more expensive homes as these are the rewards of financial success.
In all cases, the quality must be consistent. If not, customers will lose confidence in a plant and will be inclined to change cleaners quickly.
Promotional activity
If all other factors are equal, the plant that promotes its services to its prime market will dominate that market.
It's obvious that if you have four cleaners servicing a community and one of them is a steady, consistent promoter and the others are just there, the promoter will get the lion's share of the business.
Counter personnel
One of the industry greats, Charlie Carnegie, who ran a chain of hundreds of stores, often said, "Give me a second rate location and a top-notch counter salesperson and it will outperform better locations."
How important is having well trained and friendly attendants? My brother, Jerry Golomb, now retired, was a virtuoso in dealing with customers. He sincerely loves people and his customers felt they were visiting a friend when they brought in their cleaning.
Jerry was always at the counter with a friendly greeting and knew every customer's name. And they would greet him with a big smile and say, "Hi, Jerry." He had little gifts for the children. He didn't do this to make points; he just enjoyed doing these things.
To say that he was a successful drycleaner would be an understatement. Jerry was also president of the Neighborhood Cleaners Association about 10 years ago and is one of the most popular guys in New Rochelle, NY.
Fast service
In my opinion, this is not as important as people think. Very few customers demand or need one-hour cleaning. What is important is keeping your promise.
If you say the work will be ready the next day, it better be. If you fail to keep your promise a few times, it's good-bye to your customer.
Guarantee your work
When Sid Tuchman was running his 35-plant operation in Indianapolis and doing $5 million a year, he investigated what was, at the time, a new concept.
Should he guarantee his work to be ready, right and on time or the customer would not have to pay?
He tested this for awhile and found that sales shot up.
He changed the name of his stores to Signature Cleaners and had special signs made up stating his policy.
"Your order will be ready, right and on time or you pay nothing."
His sales went up from $5 million to $6 million in one year.
Sure it cost something as some orders did not meet the standards. But the trade off was so great that it really paid off.
Most important is that if the plant failed, they made good instantly and kept the customer.
Claim policy
Claims are inevitable in this business just as they are in many businesses.
But in providing drycleaning service, claims are more likely because cleaning is not a "cookie cutter" business like making pre-cut hamburgers.
Drycleaners deal with worn and out of shape garments and many times, it is impossible to satisfy a customer's demands. Claims are a normal part of the business and one half of one percent is an acceptable level.
More than this indicates that the plant is not doing a careful job and less than this often means the cleaner is too tight on claims.
If you were honest in your assessment of these eight categories as they apply to your operation, you know where you stand and how this affects your success in the drycleaning business.
And if you fell short... now, not tomorrow, is the time to make positive changes.
Stan Golomb 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 60521; phone (630) 887-7339. His e-mail address is: sgolomb@ix.netcom.com
Consumers are far less enthusiastic about being loyal to one cleaner over another, despite an increase in personalized communications and newly developed promotions, according to a study released recently by Harte-Hanks Market Research, of River Edge, NJ.
The national syndicated study of consumer loyalty looked at 2,000 credit-worthy consumers across the country who earn more than $30,000 each year and have at least one major credit card. More than 70 percent said they don't see a clear benefit in being loyal.
It appears that the unwritten contract implying a two-way allegiance between drycleaners and their customers is now perceived as null and void.
Customer loyalty has not only fallen off, the overall direction is clearly downward. And the degree is often unnerving.
Consumer loyalty has not eroded in a vacuum. There are several major forces which have accelerated the general degradation of customer loyalty.
The first cause is choice, of which there is now an overwhelming abundance.
Consumers today have more options and variations to choose from.
As the field of choice grows larger and larger, values blur, distinctions are lost, and people grow distracted.
The second contributor is the availability and increasing volume of information.
The better informed consumer has become empowered to comparison shop more ably. More customers are able to say, "I know what I want and where to get it for the lowest cost."
A third factor could be called entitlement.
Many customers now take the attitude of, "What have you done for me lately?" It is difficult for loyalty to take root in this type of climate.
The fourth cause, one that is extremely important, yet receives little notice, is that drycleaning is becoming a commodity.
The vanilla effect
The decline of quality, increased competition, and price discounts have a vanilla-ing effect: More and more offerings and messages look the same. Nothing stands out to be loyal to.
"Pick any industry and you find products, services, and prices all beginning to look alike, to blur together," says Larry Wilson in his book, "Stop Selling."
For several years now, I have been advising plant owners to stop selling drycleaning! Every other plant owner is selling drycleaning.
In order to set yourself apart, you should call your process something else -- anything else, as One Hour Martinizing did about 40 years ago. It worked then, and can still work now.
Call yours the "Mountain Fresh Process" or any other creatively named process you can think of. This will be the beginning of making your work unique in the customer's mind.
The fifth cause influencing customer loyalty is insecurity.
Many customers have one foot on an economic banana peel and the other foot dangling over the edge of an abyss.
Personal bankruptcies have topped one million for several years now. Folks work much harder and longer just to stay afloat. Nearly 75 percent of all married couples have two full-time working spouses, up 33 percent from 30 years ago. It's difficult for customers to be concerned with loyalty when their financial security is in doubt.
And last, but not least, is a scarcity of time.
When it comes to time, no working adult has enough. There is too much to do and so little time in which to do it. What with busier schedules, longer work weeks, and longer commutes, customers are simultaneously juggling a growing number of obligations. So whose got time to worry about loyalty?
The flip side to this trend is the fact that many of our customers come to us because we're convenient. It's often easier and faster to continue doing business with the same drycleaner every week.
Reversing the trend
So how can drycleaners actively influence their customers' loyalty?
You have to understand who your customers are and then go about working to keep that customer. As Stan Golomb often says: "Keeping an existing customer costs less than finding a new one."
The key to creating and maintaining customer loyalty involves more than timely customer service and reward programs. You have to keep all communications to your customers not only personal, but fresh and very relevant. You can have customers that are totally satisfied, but there may not be the added motivation or connection to move them from satisfaction to loyalty.
Effective strategies include frequent buyer premiums, customer clubs that enhance the value of dollars spent, and cause-related marketing. These strategies work because they offer immediate or long-term benefits in exchange for continued patronage.
As long as they don't make the customer work too hard, that is. Some loyalty-building efforts have failed miserably because they were too complex and demanded too much from consumers.
Feet First has a loyalty program whereby customers receive their 13th pair of shoes "free." I consider programs like this to be frivolous. If a customer has to wait until they are purchasing their 13th pair of shoes, it could be years before they receive any benefit. That is an example of a poor promotion.
People have enough complexity to deal with in their personal lives. They don't want to work at their customer-to-business relationships, too.
Most important, as business owners we should remember: Customer loyalty begins to die when customer service stops growing.
Dennis McCrory offers several programs and products to assist drycleaners. For more information or to place an order (credit cards accepted), call (800) 646 5736, PIN 4615. Identify the package you are interested in as follows:
Package A: Pre-employment Screening Kit, $18.
Package B: "The Caplan Method of Stain Removal," video tape and handbook. Produced by Stan Caplan and Dennis McCrory, $174.
McCrory writes for several industry publications, both here and abroad. He also speaks and does consulting on marketing and management. In addition to the phone number above, he can be reached through The Successful Management Group, 3925 Lake Trail Dr., Kenner, LA 70065.</P>
Dennis McCrory will be in Ohio and California in August to present programs for the FabriCare Technology Center in Cleveland and the California Cleaners Association in San Diego, CA.
In his program for the technology center, he will give a workshop on hiring quality employees and pre-employment screening from 6 to 9:30 p.m. The workshop fee is $55 for small business owners and/or employees and $90 for other registrants.
For sign-up information, contact the center, (216) 987-3700 or (216) 987-3060.
McCrory will shift into his comic mode for a presentation at the CCA annual convention in San Jose Aug. 12-15. "What's so Funny About Drycleaning" is the title of his humorous look at the industry.
For information about the convention, call CCA, (916) 443-0986.
Every week I talk to several drycleaners who are questioning where they are and what they have accomplished with their businesses.
When they first entered this business they had so much confidence and so many great ideas that it was hard to keep from jumping out of their skin with enthusiasm.
It doesn't matter if they started a new business, bought an existing business or took over the family business. They had new ideas that were going to revolutionize the world of drycleaning.
Most important of all, they knew how to manage their employees. That knowledge was going to make the difference.
So what has happened since then and now? Have your employees let you down so many times that now you wish you didn't need any? Or have you decided that you will sit it out until it comes time to sell the business and retire?
If you have ever felt this way, it is time for you to take an inventory of your business life.
Taking this inventory doesn't mean wasting a lot of time worrying about what you should have or could have done. It means looking at the foundation that you've built and seeing the fantastic opportunities that will grow on that foundation.
A golden opportunity
The first thing that you must remember is that you are in an industry where 80 percent of your competitors are doing a less than stellar job in cleaning, pressing and customer service.
What a marvelous opportunity you have to shine!
The second thing that you must accept is the fact that these drycleaners, your competitors, will never be in a position to compete with your quality of work and service.
Why?
Because their prices are too low and they are afraid to do anything about it.
Instead of trying to compete with these businesses by lowering your prices, bury them with your quality. The next drycleaner that goes out of business because he or she raised prices will be the first.
You must make the decision to improve the quality of your work and the service you deliver to your customers. You must do this while improving productivity.
As things improve you must get over your fear of price increases.
Get everyone on board
Now think back to when you really knew how to manage people. Your philosophy back then was "I'll treat them exactly the way I want to be treated."
This was the gateway to your prosperity. I know... I've been there and done that.
Our assumption was that if we treated people the way we wanted to be treated, they would act the way we would act. That means that they would always take the initiative to do the job right the first time, would know what needed to be done next and wouldn't slack off and leave things undone.
What we didn't realize was that most people are not like us. People need direction and guidance. They require outside discipline. They need to know what is expected of them and they need to know that someone cares when their performance falls below the standard.
In other words, their under-performance must be more unpleasant to them than it is to you. If you think they don't care, you are wrong. Ten percent of your people may not care, but the other 90 percent do.
Before you start cracking the whip, you must get back to your vision of the future. What do you want your company to be in one year, three years, five years and 10 years? Now, what do the employees look like in your vision?
You must commit to upgrading all your employees so that they fit into your vision. The majority of people will come along. Unfortunately, some won't and they will have to be replaced. That is not your fault. It is theirs.
This takes mental toughness on your part. Being mentally tough does not mean being abusive or disrespectful to your people. It does mean setting realistic performance standards and making sure that everyone lives by them.
Rate your employees
To upgrade the quality of your work and service you must start with your employees.
Evaluate each employee according to the following criteria:
1. Attendance
2. Skill level
3. Ability to learn
4. Attitude
5. Productivity
6. Quality of work
7. Getting along with others (team work)
8. Appearance
Ratings should be as follows: Excellent; Good; or Needs Improvement.
Now, can you support these ratings with documentation, such as attendance records for every employee; production records; and verbal or written warnings, etc.?
Identify your lowest rated (overall) employee. Write down the steps and the time it will take to improve this individual's performance.
Your own performance
As a manager, your performance rating is equal to that of the lowest rated person reporting to you. Like a chain, your company is no stronger than the weakest link.
People have a tendency to let their performance gravitate downward without constant encouragement from the boss. Work with your lowest rated people to improve their performance and you will find the attitudes of your better employees will also improve.
Imagine for a moment that I'm your boss (Oh horrors!). Also, imagine that I know all about your company and how it is operating today.
Now imagine that I will be in to see you three months from today to ask you what you have done to make the business better. Imagine that your performance over these three months is going to dictate how much money you will make this year.
Guess what... your performance will dictate how much money you make, whether I come to your door or not. But maybe the thought of me appearing on the scene will inspire a little more effort. John D. Rockefeller said, "Good management consists in showing average people how to do the work of superior people."
Remember, in the game of business the more you know the better you can play the game.
Alan Robson is a private consultant dealing with the specialized needs of the drycleaning industry. Readers are encouraged to contact him with questions or comments by telephone at (508) 753-6619 or e-mail at: agrobson@ma.ultranet.com
Date created: July 2, 1999 Last modified: July 2, 1999 Copyright © 1999 National Clothesline Maintained by: Hal Horning Hal Horning