The Laundry List Blog

Do you need more money?

The best people to get money from are people that have already given you money in the past.

Just like the very best place to get water is a well where there is already water. Keep going back to the same well, and keep pulling up water.

Or like oil wells. In the Midwe...

You could have the very best marketing ideas.

The very best offers. The most exciting company news.

But if you don't have your clients' data points, you will not be able to communicate the offers and information to your clients.

I am a firm believer in delivering a similar message across many mar...

Your top 20% of clients give you 80% of your sales. They trust you the most, and they want a relationship with you.

Your bottom 80% of clients only give you 20% of your sales. They are not as interested in having a relationship with you, and they see you as a transaction.

Build your business aroun...

Your success is dependent on your ability to solve problems that your target client cannot or will not solve on their own. And your growth is dependent on spreading the word about the problems you can solve and then coming up with new solutions to new problems.

For example, as dry cleaning an...

Do you have a Business That Works?
How about a Business That Works For You?
There’s a big difference between these two statements.

If you remember the old TV show, The Flintstones (I know this ages me a bit)..... you will remember that all of the cars had heavy concrete wheels and were propelled forw...

One of our Maverick Mastermind Groups met last week here in Wichita, Kansas, and a subject that gained a lot of interest was standardizing the smells and sounds that a client experiences when walking into our retail stores. Probably because we know that there is a wide variety of potentially nega...

One of the best ways to differentiate yourself from your competition is to become known as a specialist. Here are a few services that you could specialize in – wedding dress cleaning and/or preservation, alterations, wash and fold laundry, shirt laundry, bedding/comforters, high-end down outerwear, ...

Twenty-four months ago..... the bottom dropped out.

9/11 was bad. 

The crash of 2008 was bad.

But none of those events remotely holds a candle to Covid-19 when it comes to what hurt revenue the most in our industry.

Most cleaners in the United States experienced sales drops of 70-80%.

I am n...

One question I get a lot is, “I’m not doing any marketing right now. What is the very first thing I need to implement?”

Luckily, that’s a question with a very straightforward answer!

If you’re just getting started with marketing, and you want to start with something quick and effective that will i...

Do you send your spouse flowers “just because?”

Or whatever the equivalent is for a guy – maybe a foot rub?
Ha! I say that in case there is a remote chance my wife might read my post!

At In The Bag, we decided to shake things up a bit this Spring.
And make sure that we really show appreciation for o...

I sent out an email to all of the Mavericks on our email list this past week, and simply asked what they are struggling with right now. 

The number of responses I received was amazing, and I wanted to share those struggles with you here, in order of the most replies on each subject:

1. Staff Shorta...

You can increase your revenue by having your Client Care Advisors recommend services to your existing clients. Many new clients will test you out by bringing a shirt or pair of pants in to be cleaned. I have even had someone intentionally cut off a button (he would later admit to this) to see if we ...

For the last couple of weeks, my articles have been focused on achieving exponential results faster by avoiding perfectionism and getting in your own way. Many of us suffer from this common phenomenon. We never get started because we want a new project to be perfect with guaranteed results before ev...

You have a great marketing idea. The only problem is that you’ve had it for a while. Does this sound familiar? As entrepreneurs, we are curious about ideas that can take us to the next level. I have a handwritten note on my desk that was written by a robot. The envelope and note have been sitting th...

For the first half of my career as a dry cleaning owner, my focus was on growing my company 10-20% per year in top-line sales. That seemed pretty aggressive to me, and I hit that target most years. And I felt satisfied—strong, linear growth.

But then I stumbled across Jay Abraham’s teachings on exp...

A lot of business owners make a crucial mistake with their marketing. They use their marketing to try and sell their clients or prospects on what the owner thinks the clients need. And this strategy turns a lot of clients and prospects off.

Plain and simple, people buy what they want. Which is very...

Our Maverick Drycleaners members almost always see a decrease in sales of 15-20% each January (from the months before), but we often don’t understand why exactly it happens.

I want to offer an idea of why this drop in sales happens so we can learn about it, and can plan for the drop, and decide if ...

The old saying “you can only make a first impression once” is definitely true. More importantly, is to realize that a first impression is not about you at all. The goal is all about helping your new client to feel appreciated and important. The best companies give an initial experience that is much ...

Marketing is the act of relationship building. And to build relationships with your clients, you must focus on their client journey. As we have discussed… you attract, acquire, appreciate, ascend, retain, and then ask for referrals from your clients. This is their journey as it relates to their r...

 When you make decisions about your business, who are you thinking of? Most business owners are looking out for themselves. And this is only natural. As we’ve discussed before, 80% of the businesses in any industry are barely making it. They split amongst themselves only 20% of a given industry’s re...