Most affective/effective in your advertising????

[vegibean32]

We do a lot of online business for our market, however we do have a little bit of service work locally. We are "feeling" out some of the best ways to market ourselves and are green at this.

We cater mainly to carwash, laundry and game centers.

What has worked well for you in the past?

Thanks in advance for any of your great advice. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[vegibean32]

Still hoping to see some response. How about things one would look for to attract them (you?).

TIA!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Adamski]

vegibean,

How do you service a laundromat "online"? I don't understand exactly what it is that you do.

[vegibean32]

We do a lot of business through our web site. We also do a lot of local work within a 200 mile radius AND we also do repairs through shipping.

Just trying to find out what the needs and wants are out there?? What would folks love to see offered? What do you think would help you with maintenance, upkeep? Helpful products to have if needed?

Thank you for your reply.

[Adamski]

vegibean32,

Since I do all my own maintenance, the most important thing that I am concerned about is being able to get replacement parts quickly and at a reasonable cost. I hate to have a machine down for more than a day or two.

[James2011]

but sometimes, you have to wait,
for example, if your computer board is bad, then you can't fix it maybe....then need to send it to repair shop and wait sometimes more than one week.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[Duane]

You should always have spare parts so you never need to wait for a new part or for one to get fixed.

[otaat]

my mat is in a lower income area, lots of larger apt complexes,, what successes is everyone having with door hangars and do you need to get apt managers permission to distribute them? perhaps taking a plant or box of chocolater to manager would be a nice idea? any suggestions?

[DEMCO]

You have absolutely no right to use such language, here.
- Danny D'Angelo

and you sir have no right to advertise your "insight" for sale here

[James2011]

You should always have spare parts so you never need to wait for a new part or for one to get fixed.

hmmm, that's just ideal theory...it's impossible to stock all spare parts...
no kidding...
I have around 95 stocks of spare parts, but sometimes, you will need to ORDER when you don't keep that part.:eek:

[Howard]

Sure its impossible to stock all spare parts, but key parts should be stocked. Things like belts, hoses, water valves, drain parts are must stock parts. If you have several of the same type of machines you should probably stock at least one contactor, timer, door lock (or parts). By doing this you will find that you have almost no down time.

I'm sure some others will hopefully chime in with key parts that are not popping into my head right now.

[James2011]

that's exactly what I said...
You steal it from right out of my mouth!
95% stock can't gurantee "No Down Time"...sometimes, it's down and you will need to order FOR those 5% part which you didn't have it...., therefore, you can say 95% uptime, 5% down-time...actually Happen...
"Not a reality, it's Actuality" LOL LOL :D:eek::rolleyes:

[Duane]

I have nearly every main part needed to keep my mat up and running 100%. Motors, control boards, pumps, switches, etc.

I only have two models of dryers and two models of washers so my spare part inventory is small, but complete.

Any machine down more than one day is very rare. Can't make money with an out of order machine.

[James2011]

IF SOMEONE SAYS 100% NO DOWN TIME, IT MUST BE A LIE, IN THE ACTUAL WORLD, THERE IS NO 100% THING UNLESS YOU ARE GOD, SOMETIMES, NOT OFTEN, YOU NEVER KNOW WHICH NEW PART OUT OF ORDER...YOU CAN NOT EXPECT SAME PARTS EVERY TIME WHEN YOUR MACHINE STOPS....I KNOW 95% OF BROKEN ARE DUE TO COMMON PARTS FAILURE, BUT SOMETIMES(5%) RARE PART POPPED UP AND YOU NEED TO BUY IT, IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO PREPARE ALL EVERY PARTS !!:o;)

[Howard]

Well that is true, you cannot stock every single part and cannot have 100% up time. But if you stock the key parts you will probably be able to take care of 99%+ of the problems and have very little down time. Sure most people won't stock a motor (I give Duane credit on that one) but it is very rare for a motor to go out in my experience.

You have to weigh the carrying cost of the parts versus the potential lost revenue of having the machine out of service. I am very comfortable stocking the parts I described earlier as they don't cost all that much and solve most of my problems.

[Duane]

What an attack..... Seems familiar.

I keep my equipment new, when I do buy a lot of new equipment I get free spare parts thrown in with the deal.

100% up time. No, but darn close and I do try hard to keep it as close to 100% as possible.

If something goes down this week when I am at the Clean show in New Orleans it will really hurt my up time percentage.

Duane.

[Bluestreak]

Well that is true, you cannot stock every single part and cannot have 100% up time. But if you stock the key parts you will probably be able to take care of 99%+ of the problems and have very little down time. Sure most people won't stock a motor (I give Duane credit on that one) but it is very rare for a motor to go out in my experience.

You have to weigh the carrying cost of the parts versus the potential lost revenue of having the machine out of service. I am very comfortable stocking the parts I described earlier as they don't cost all that much and solve most of my problems.

As an appliance repairman by day and a laundromat owner by spare time, I've got to agree with Howard here. I service six+ brands of domestic washers and dryers plus refrigerators and ranges and have parts on the truck 80% of the time. Of the remaining 20%, 2/3 of that is available next-day for ground shipping rates.

It's so easy to stock common repair parts and it costs so little. For a store that has only 2 brands of equipment, a $500 investment in common repair parts is a no-brainer. The trick is to know what to stock, and I go by an axiom I heard years ago in my industry. "If you can sell at least 2/year of it, stock it". I'm a real newbie in the laundromat biz but if I saw something fail on one of my machines and I thought I might see it again, I just ordered two of the thing that just failed. Shipping was the same and I had an extra part, in case my intuition was correct.

Now this is all coming from a guy with a lot of ten-year-old equipment in his mat. It obviously wouldn't apply across the board.

[merlin3]

What an attack..... Seems familiar.

;) - I bet if they looked at the IP, we could guess who it is.

[DEMCO]

Is he back under a new name?

[epic02]

Hithere, I mean stronglaundroman there onto you..

When distributors have specials I usually stock up on the most common parts. I just spent over a grand on parts last week. I love going to my parts department and grabbing the part I need, so there is no down time. Well maybe only 10 minutes if it's a water valve so that would make it 99.9% down time.

[AlanR]

my mat is in a lower income area, lots of larger apt complexes,, what successes is everyone having with door hangars and do you need to get apt managers permission to distribute them? perhaps taking a plant or box of chocolater to manager would be a nice idea? any suggestions?

You don't need the manager's consent to distribute door hangers in an apartment building. Oftentimes the problem is getting through the locked lobby unless you get there at the same time as the mailman and follow him in.

Like you, I have a mat in a low income area with apartment buildings in every direction. I'm trying something different but it's too soon to offer results. I printed a stack of flyers which are being placed in customers' grocery bags by a neighboring convenience store operator. I think it's gonna work.

[James2011]

As an appliance repairman by day and a laundromat owner by spare time, I've got to agree with Howard here. I service six+ brands of domestic washers and dryers plus refrigerators and ranges and have parts on the truck 80% of the time. Of the remaining 20%, 2/3 of that is available next-day for ground shipping rates.

It's so easy to stock common repair parts and it costs so little. For a store that has only 2 brands of equipment, a $500 investment in common repair parts is a no-brainer. The trick is to know what to stock, and I go by an axiom I heard years ago in my industry. "If you can sell at least 2/year of it, stock it". I'm a real newbie in the laundromat biz but if I saw something fail on one of my machines and I thought I might see it again, I just ordered two of the thing that just failed. Shipping was the same and I had an extra part, in case my intuition was correct.

Now this is all coming from a guy with a lot of ten-year-old equipment in his mat. It obviously wouldn't apply across the board.

I agree it's 99%...up time, but my point is not 100% uptime all 365 days!
I also have 99% stocks of spare parts and my all machines are 99% uptime...but sometimes it would take a couple of days to fix since new part is needed...
it all depends on how old your machines, for example: your machinea are within 3 years, then not much broken, and most common parts failure...but if your machines are over 15 years, then you don't know sometimes it broken very new part which you have not experienced before....not often, but it's huddle to your ideal 100% theory of up-time...which I don't think so...:p

[otaat]

Like you, I have a mat in a low income area with apartment buildings in every direction. I'm trying something different but it's too soon to offer results. I printed a stack of flyers which are being placed in customers' grocery bags by a neighboring convenience store operator. I think it's gonna work.

I have a small food market in the same center as I am and my broker also suggested the same idea. How did you approach the owner/manager of the market ? I hope your idea works!

[AlanR]

I have a small food market in the same center as I am and my broker also suggested the same idea. How did you approach the owner/manager of the market ? I hope your idea works!


The truth is that he offered to stuff his customers' grocery bags. I was talking to the owner about how slow business has been recently and that I considered hiring some kids to deliver door hangers in the area. I went on to say that, in that low income area, it's hard to find dependable kids and that the flyers would probably end up in a dumpster. That's when he made the offer.

You might consider a similar conversation and tell him that you know someone who did that and you wonder what he'd charge you for the same service. If he charged anything, it would surely be less than the cost to hire reliable kids to deliver them though fewer people would see the flyers.

[otaat]

thanks for the info Alan. will do just that.... are you at the clean show? maybe i can thank you in person?

[AlanR]

.... are you at the clean show? maybe i can thank you in person?

Sadly, no. A family matter came up that required me to be at home. Wish me luck in getting my air fare refunded.

[otaat]

Here's to wishing you luck in getting your airfare refunded! maybe they will offer you a credit towards future travel?

[vegibean32]

vegibean,

How do you service a laundromat "online"? I don't understand exactly what it is that you do.

We get a lot of calls for repairs on validators and hoppers. We are based in the SE USA and get customers from all the way in California.

We do sell a lot of parts, maintenance type items, machines, hoppers, validators, etc. online. We do a lot of shipping and local work. :)

[brucehwalker]

I have placed 15,000 door hangers this year and about 100 have been turned in. My second order of 15,000 more came in today. Many come in because they heard about us from the door hanger and don't use the coupon. Full color is .12 cents each from gotprint.com. I have two employees who do nothing but hang. I'm up 13% ytd so I'm doing something right.

I have another employee who calls every wdf customer and gets feedback and checks to see if they were completely satisfied, asks about any issues and then gets their email address for a future marketing blast.