Marketing

[Thedep]

I am very new to the business. Two months and twelve days to be exact. I have read through most of this forum and have seen very little information with regards to marketing. Although I did notice that if you want a lot of responses just mention what you currently charge for your dryers, that seems to get the pot boiling. I have an unattended Mat. that is doing ok, I keep it clean and fix the machines when they break. We are paying the bills with a little left over at the end of the month. We are fairly busy on the weekends but very slow during the week. We are thinking of running specials once or twice during the week. I understand we may lose or break even then but we are just trying to get people in the habit of using our Mat. Like 1.00 top loads. (typically 1.75) or a dollar off the triple loads (3.50). I read in this forum somewhere that doing this may bring in the sort you dont want in your Mat. We are a small Mat 27 washers 21 dryers, nothing bigger than 35lbs. And I am the price leader in everything except my dryers. ( he is 6min/25cents.) Should I do Flyers, mailings, run a ad in the community paper? Any other ideas to drum up some more business would be helpful. Thanks.

[Adamski]

Thedep,

Speaking of the price on my dryers ... just kidding.

To address your marketing concerns: I think most formal advertising is a waste of money. You're already doing the important things like keeping the place clean and keeping everything in running order.

I recommend you evaluate your exterior signage and if it's inadequate; replace it with a large, extremely readable sign.

Next, make sure your ceiling, floor and walls are clean and appealing. Clean up the restroom if it needs it.

Finally, if you must run a mid week special, discount your toploaders by no more than a quarter or your 35 lb by no more than 50 cents on a couple of your slowest days. You won't gain anything with deeper discounts or by advertising your specials. Keep in mind that it is not easy to move customers from the weekend to a week day as people are creatures of habit.

Larry /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[Duane]

I would run a few ads in the local newspaper to indicate your store is under new management. If the old owner ran a lot of customers off, you might get some back. Believe it or not some owners just don't care for customers.

Before doing this, do as Larry suggested and make sure your store is in top notch so when people return they see a difference.

Try a Wednesday free soap day, just one or two and not every Wednesday. You can buy a large box of detergent and put a scoop in it and they can help themselves. Hire someone, or yourself, to be there most of that day to help customers.

At least you are paying your bills now, give it some time since a lot of mats have cycles and hopefully yours is just going through its low period.

You may want to start thinking about replacing some of the older equipment (tops) with higher efficiency machines. Give a better wash and save on utilities.

Duane.

[MGS]

I am a firm believer in Yellow Pages advertising. Your customers are renters, and turn over of rental properties is high. You want to be easy to locate to the new renters who are moving into town. Put yourself into the place of a new renter, looking for a place to do your laundry. My first action would be to check the Yellow Pages. Once they enter your store, they are likely to be loyal customer for as long as they are in town.

Regarding busy weekends and slow weekdays - get used to it! Every luandromat is the same. Cutting the price during the week is likely to cut your revenue for the week. I would not go beyond giving out free soap or some other small incentive to wash mid week.

[Thedep]

Thanks for the advice. I am not trying to move people from the weekend to the week. People do their laundry when they have time. I am just trying to drum up some new business during the week. Keeping it clean and in good repair is good for the customers who are already coming in, and retaining them, and word of mouth helps, but is slow. Im a greedy bastard who wants the business now. Human nature being what it is, I think customers are more likely to tell friends/family of bad Mats rather than good ones. Just a thought from someone with 12 weeks under his belt.

[DaveP]

With 12 weeks under your belt, I am curious to learn what has been the best surprise with the business and what has been th emost unpleasant surprise?

[Thedep]

The best suprise, if I can call it that, has been the monthly take has been what I was told, you can never be sure with an all cash business. The worst has been my bulkheads. They are over 20yrs old there has been some leaking, and I would like to get some larger machines, but the troughs I have cant handle any more machines that dump the water. I have lots of stand pipes for the smaller machines and I already have more than I would like.

[DaveP]

Thanks, I am in the process of negotiating a deal right now and the more positive feedback the better. Been resarching this business to death but don't want to jump at the first deal out of impatience.

[Thedep]

This forum has been helpful. But I have noticed a lot of people post the numbers (expenses vs. revenue) in here for Mats they are considering investing in, looking for advice, I dont see too many that have positive feedback. You of course have to be careful and do your own research, if the numbers look good, take a shot and just do it. If you wait for someone to give you the thumbs up here you will never purchase one. If I can stay in business, I figure it will take me five years to pay off and do some upgrading, before I start making some real money.

[soapopera]

Even tho I have been involved with the biz for many years, I am a newbie in my market area. It is aprox 10 miles from my home.
One of the surprises for me is the vast difference in neighborhoods and markets.
Having lived in the town a few years ago, I thought I knew the customer base very well, but in fact I did not from a marketing view. I only used the store on rare occasions having my own equipment at home.
The store is over 30 yrs old, and was in bad condition, so my first efforts were to upgrade, fix, and clean. New paint does wonders, especially showing the area you are serious. ( it was an awful teal color! )
Getting the phone company to transfer the phone account to my company was a hassle, but very necessary to keep the store name in the yellow pages with the old number.
I have run some newspaper ads touting new management and also some flyers, but as this group says it is more word of mouth than anything. Which takes time.
I too wish there was a way to spread the volumn of customers out during the week so as not to have people waiting for machines on the weekends. But that is the nature of the beast.
I think the three golden rules really do apply:
Keep it clean.
Keep everything working.
Keep it well-lit and safe. (as possible)

Stephen / Kentucky

[Thedep]

I think that is the route I have decided to take. I am starting from the top down, replacing ceiling tiles, a little paint and removing some ugly carpeting on the walls and adding some tile work. Floor isnt too bad right now. As far as machines go I am going to replace as needed, and update the bulkheads, heavy advertising after the tile work. We are doing pretty well now but I think it can be better. I will also replace the vending machines. I have a 80s vintage Pepsi machine that makes the place look old.. I have a lease on the machine now, 22.00 a month, fill it myself and keep the take. I have to decide if I should buy my own or get a new one. Lots of decisions coming up.

[BCW]

[ QUOTE ]
I think that is the route I have decided to take. I am starting from the top down, replacing ceiling tiles, a little paint and removing some ugly carpeting on the walls and adding some tile work. Floor isnt too bad right now. As far as machines go I am going to replace as needed, and update the bulkheads, heavy advertising after the tile work. We are doing pretty well now but I think it can be better. I will also replace the vending machines. I have a 80s vintage Pepsi machine that makes the place look old.. I have a lease on the machine now, 22.00 a month, fill it myself and keep the take. I have to decide if I should buy my own or get a new one. Lots of decisions coming up.

[/ QUOTE ]


Thedep, I think a little sprucing up is about the best thing that you could do, for the business. As far as the pop machine, I just had Pepsi put in a brand new one. Our deal is that they provide the machine and repair it free, and we buy pop from them, period. If you want a good marketing idea, I just purchased an ad on the side of coffee cups at the local cafe, for 1 year. It's the first time any advertising has ever been done in the mat history, except initially when we first opened. Your idea of updating your bulkheads is a good one. Funny thing is I am currently doing the same thing! A good looking, inexpensive material to use is that milk house wall board. It comes in white or beige. I have a little bit up, and it looks terrific. Check Menards for it, if it interests you. Good luck, Tom

[Thedep]

I will have to look into that material, thanks. But I have to change everything, all the plumbing some of the electrical and add troughs, just to get 4 larger machines. I am not even sure if the ROI would make it worth it. I will have to figure out how long it will take me to get my money back on the upgrades and the cost of new machines. I not sure if I should pay for the store first and then do it, or take on the addtl. debt and do it now. I think that is how some Mats go under, they either pay too much up front or add more than they can ever pay for. I really dont want to put myself in that situation.

[Duane]

Depending on how long you have owned the store, in time you will see what kind of cash flow you are getting. Improving the store will almost always generate more income just because the newer machines use less utilities, have a parts warranty and you can raise prices when you put them in new. As long as you keep a positive cash flow you will be good. It may be a while before you are making real good money, but at least you won't be losing money.

Duane.