The Laundry List Blog

Last week, our Warriors Group met in Wichita for our quarterly meeting.

We talked about a lot.

Marketing tactics that are working.

Team Development to increase our freedom from the business.

Growing our routes.

Completing acquisitions.

But one of the most profound and simple concepts was:

Be ...

A company without a secret sauce will be commoditized in the eyes of the consumer. 
 
A company with a secret sauce will become exponentially more valuable, in the eyes of the consumer, and in the valuation done by prospective buyers of the company.
 
In marketing terms, we call this differentiation. 
 
H...

As we reach the end of the school year, now is the perfect time to reach out to schools to secure the cleaning of their band uniforms, choir outfits, and the costumes they use for theatrical performances.
 
Most school districts like to have this work arranged well before the end of the school year, a...

As an entrepreneur, you will always be looking to go to the next level. Regardless of the success you have achieved. 
 
Most of us have worked our way up from the bottom, learning the technical parts of our business. Customer service, cleaning, pressing, inspection, assembly, bagging, and maintenance....

Social media is crucial for drycleaning companies to build brand awareness, engage with clients, and attract new clients through targeted content, create interactive campaigns, and showcasing expertise. 

While many of our prospects and clients go to social media for entertainment and not for making a...

A couple of times per year, I like to post my Direct Response Checklist. I keep a copy of this laminated and in front of me whenever I am creating, optimizing, or reviewing any type of marketing.

There are essentially two types of marketing – 

1. Brand / image based marketing where the goal is to cre...

Most of your contributions to your company should be leveraged, meaning your work should create tremendous value without a lot of time spent.
 
Once you have your daily operations running well, you will focus your time on three primary activities:

1. Increasing Top Line Revenue
2. Increasing Profitabili...

Are you building a company that focuses on providing you an income?
 
Or are you building a company that is an asset?
 
The majority of businesses (roughly 80%) are built with the purpose of providing an income to the owner.
 
To stay out of financial survival mode, the owner has setup the company to prov...

Going into the Spring change of seasons is the perfect time to re-engage out of pattern and lost clients. You can have a little fun, and show some personality, if you send existing clients this letter (either as a mailed letter and/or as an email). Create the surge of business that you are looking f...

 In most parts of the U.S., the changes of seasons that occur in both the spring and the fall account for the largest spikes in sales for our drycleaning companies.
 
Now is the time to start planning to optimize your marketing in a way that will make that spike in sales this spring be as great as pos...

I learned about the power of a good story from my mentor, Dan Kennedy. But each of us don’t have just one story. We have many stories. 
 
If you’re selling based on logic, features, or price… you’re losing.
 
Because people don’t buy facts. They buy stories.
 
Your business—big or small—needs 10 key stori...

Last week, I shared with you six of the twelve questions I ask myself at least once per year about the marketing systems we have in place. Today, I want to share with you the other six questions. My hope is that regardless of where you are on your journey and regardless of the size of your company, ...

At least once per year, usually, when I am doing my annual planning, I like to remind myself of the key marketing systems for our drycleaning company. I want to share with you the 12 questions I ask myself. I hope, regardless of where you are on your journey and regardless of your company's size, th...

Amazon, along with other big retailers, have leveled the playing field by commoditizing prices for products (and some services). If you want to buy a pocket calendar for next year, you get on Amazon, and it spits out all the options, delivery timeframes, and prices for what you are looking for. The ...

Your ability to create relationship equity is the number one way to make your life easier and make yourself more successful. 

Let me explain:

I like to think of Relationship Equity like a bank account. Deposits increase the balance of the account and withdrawals decrease the balance of the account. To...

Lesson #1 – Share Your Vision
You must have a vision that you believe in and are excited to share with others. This includes sharing your ideas and goals with your friends, family, team, clients, and community. Martin Luther King Jr. had a bold vision that allowed others to become magnetically attrac...

Almost every week, I talk to at least one drycleaner who refuses to discount their price as an incentive for their prospects and clients to take action. This drycleaner is worried that discounting their services is unnecessary and would degrade their brand.
 
I get it. The word “discounting” has negat...

While personal New Year's resolutions rarely come to fruition (as it usually takes changes in habits and in how you see yourself to make meaningful change), January IS a time where you can begin working on having a strong year in your business – and that can create huge results! 
 
Instead of shooting...

The majority of drycleaners I talk to do not focus on leads at all. They see people either as a client or a non-client. A client has come in and spent money on services, and a non-client has not. However, recently there has been more of a focus on warming up non-clients so they will become paying cl...

As we finish up 2024, and get excited to have our best year ever in 2025, I wanted to host a casual online meetup this Thursday at 1pm CST. Last time we did this, we blocked 90 minutes on the calendar and it went for over two hours! 
 
You see, when there is something wrong in your business, it almost...