The Laundry List Blog

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...

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 dry cleaning company. I want to share with you the 12 questions I ask myself. And I hope that regardless of where you are on your journey and regardless of your company's...

We have talked before about defining the ideal target neighborhoods where your prospects live. And the easiest way to do this is to plot your existing Top 20% on a map and see where most of them live. Most of your competitors are not armed with this information.  You can get a list of these clien...

The best time to ask for a testimonial is after your client just had a great experience with your company. And the most meaningful testimonials come from your best clients – usually from your top 20% of clients that give you 80% of your revenue.

The challenge is that most dry cleaners do not giv...

It is important to have the right ingredients to produce the taste and experience you want when you are cooking. Likewise, there are a set of ingredients needed for you to be successful and gain market share in the dry cleaning business. And here they are:

1. Define your ideal client. Choose a ni...

The purpose of marketing is to create and build relationships with our clients, ultimately leading to more sales. We make more money. We keep our expenses in line so that we can keep more money. And the money we keep can be used to pay down debt, reinvest in the business, fund our lifestyle, or i...

We all love a good story. For generations, traditions and folklore have been passed down with stories. We are programmed to relate to stories that we like and find fascinating. In fact, marketing that incorporates relatable stories can help the recipient progress through the client's journey much mo...