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GreenEarth is sponsoring a contest. Win CASH!
2007 Summer
You can't lose if you enter our “September Stories” contest. That's because every Affiliate has a chance to win customers, and cash! The contest is centered on a new marketing tool - a button that tells customers to ask about the GreenEarth difference. It is a simple, fun conversation starter that helps you give customers a new reason to appreciate what makes you special. Most customers come in at least once every 4 weeks. If you wear the buttons for the month of September, that will give you and your counter staff an opportunity to connect with most all of your customers 1:1. Our goal is to help make a difference in your business by helping you make your difference more obvious to your customers. The contest isn't complicated. We just want you to tell us what happened when you wore your buttons. How did it make a difference for your store. Your customers? Your business? Anyone can enter - Affiliates and employees. All you have to do is email us your stories. You could win a $500 gift card, a $250 gift card or a $50 gift card!
GreenEarth
®
S O L U T I O N S
L O O K F O R YO U R G R E E N E A R T H B U T TO N S A N D C O N T E S T INSTRUCTIONS IN THE MAIL!
www.GreenEarthCleaning.com TollFree: 877-926-0895
H AV E A Q U E S T I O N ? J U S T C A L L K A R E N M A X W E L L T O L L - F R E E AT 877-926-0895 OR EMAIL KAREN@GREENEARTHCLEANING.COM
It's true; there is a mind boggling array of new technologies we can use to attract new and keep customers. Online marketing. Viral marketing. Web 2.0. Social networking. Search engine marketing. Text marketing. It's hard to keep up. The truth is you don't need to be a techno-geek or a marketing expert to grow your business. And you don't need to spend lots of money. Customers will happily give you all their business. Not only that - they might even be willing to pay more money for the privilege. How? With the oldest marketing tool there is. Word of mouth advertising. Technology may be changing, but people aren't. We love to “discover” great products. We want to be treated
now has all her dry cleaning done? Guess how many people Connie has told about her wonderful new dry cleaner? like we matter. With word of mouth, it's Every dry cleaning order has the not about the store. It's about the stories. customer's name on the ticket. So why The world is small and, more important, doesn't every counter person use the round. What stories are customer's name when your customers telling? they deliver the order? Let's take Customer Technology may be Maybe they don't have Connie. Dry Cleaner A changing... their heart in their work is close to Connie's But people aren’t! like the person at the house. She has been new store Connie visited. taking her clothes there Maybe they see dry for years. Every time Connie went in, cleaning pick-up as more of a transaction they asked her for her name and than a relationship building tool. Or address. Every single time. Like she maybe, they just didn't think of it. was a stranger. Then Dry Cleaner B Dry cleaning is very, very local. Most of opened up. They were a little further your customers live within a 3-5 mile away but Connie decided to give them a radius. So word-of-mouth can be very, try. Much to her surprise, after giving her very powerful. How do you generate it? name and address on her first visit, not Memorable moments are what turn a only did she not have to give it again transaction into an emotional connection. when she returned to pick up her The Sunday you open up for a customer clothes, she was also greeted by name going out of town. by the person who brought her clothes Continued on Page 2 to her. Guess where customer Connie
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What Stories Are Your Customers Telling? Affiliates ask, “What can I do to get a leg up on the competition; there's so much new media out there, what's the best way to advertise?”
We’re Moving! Sept 15th, 2007
51 WEST 135TH ST. KANSAS CITY, MO 64145
This newsletter is printed on recycled paper with soy inks.
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Continued from Page 1 The call to talk about the stain you are working on. The science behind your process that makes GreenEarth not just better for the earth, but for their clothes. The way you have their order waiting for them before they even get to the counter. The local charity drive you sponsor. The quirky collectables you display in the
Jim Barry
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store that spark conversations. The unique signature item you attach to each order. The personal note of thanks you send every year to customers. Make a difference, then continually reinforce it so people always have something to talk about. It's really quite simple. Look at things from the customer's side of the counter. Look at everything your store does,
every touch point you have with customers, from how the customer experiences it. Then remember the 105% Rule. Nobody is going to share an experience that is 5% better than the norm. People don't talk about experiences that they expected to have. They talk about the things that surprise and delight. It isn’t hard to generate a story. Just let your heart show.
The GreenEarth Booth...A Hit At The Clean Show!
Q. Jim, as the summer months drag on, my sales have really dropped. I was hoping that you could give me some tips to turn things around. -- Slow in Sacramento
Jim Barry
Congratulations and heartfelt thanks to our Affiliates celebrating 5 years with GreenEarth!
Email Us About 5 Things Call Karen toll-free at 877-926-0895 or email: karen@greenearthcleaning.com
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Your Email Address. If you haven't already received or responded to an email from us, please let us know how to reach you with new ideas and opportunities.
LEFT TO RIGHT: PAM ELLIS, KAREN MAXWELL, JIM DOUGLAS, JIM BARRY, RON BENJAMIN, TIM MAXWELL & STACY SOPCICH
Our booth at Clean '07 was the hit of the show! People loved watching our GreenEarth sand castle come to life during the show. We enjoyed meeting with friends old and new and talking about why “There's money in our sand”, our theme for this year’s show. Why a sand castle? What better way to demonstrate our difference?! Unlike most of our petroleum based competitors, liquid silicone is made from safe, natural sand. Why the theme “There Is Money In Our Sand”? Because beyond the labor and cost saving advantages of operating with GreenEarth, Affiliates who market their GreenEarth difference are seeing terrific increases in their sales. Each Affiliate who visited our booth received a GreenEarth coin commemorating this event. We have a few coins left, so if you would like one, contact karen@greenearthcleaning.com.
Interested in Green Poly? We have sourced a 100% degradable poly that we feel may be of interest to some of our Affiliates. We are in the process of selecting a provider who can supply GreenEarth Affiliates with this poly printed with the GreenEarth logo. In order to pursue this further, we need to know how many of you would be interested. The strength in the number of Affiliates should help us negotiate the best possible pricing. Currently, we estimate a 10-20% premium over plain poly prices. Interested? Email karen@greenearthcleaning.com or call: toll-free - 877-926-0895.
Would you use GreenEarth marketing materials that could be customized to your store? We are putting the 2008 marketing package together and want to know: would you like to be able to go online and create your own customized materials? GreenEarth would design various direct mail postcards, ads, door hangers, posters, brochures, banners, van wraps and other items that you could customize with your store name, logo and other individual information. This tool would allow you to view the final product, place orders and send direct mail pieces to customized lists. Sound like something you would definitely use? Let us know.
Got GREEN Tips? How have you made your workplace Greener? We use both sides of every sheet of paper before recycling it. This simple exercise reduces our paper consumption and saves trees. Let us know what tips we can pass on!
Interested in Green Poly? See article to the left.
Want a GreenEarth Sign? See article to the right
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All the best,
Where would we be without you?!
Are you interested in joining a GreenEarth Management Group? We are exploring the possibility of starting a group to exchange ideas and perspectives in all facets of your business from operations to management to marketing. We would love to hear if you would be interested in joining a group like this.
Ask Jim
A. No doubt about it. In dry cleaning, no season is harder to withstand than the “dog days” of summer. Business can be down 30-40% in July and August. I wish I could say there was a tried and true way to increase summer sales. But the truth is, in my experience, advertising and discounting just make the bottom line worse. Why? Because 30-40% of your customers are on vacation. It's like the old fishing story, you can't catch fish, no matter what kind of bait you are using, if the fish aren't there. The best way to manage the inevitable slow down of sales coming in the door is to manage how much cash you have going out the door. Since 40% of overhead is labor, the best way to maximize cash flow is to have your employees take their vacations the same time your customers are. My advice? Schedule vacations and reduce hours during July and August. Then take two aspirin and wake up in September.
We Want Mail!
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Jack Alquist, Guild Cleaners, Inc, Lodi, CA Amin Amersi, Hollyway Cleaners, West Hollywood, CA Mike Aramian, Fashion Cleaners, South Pasadena, CA Paul Bagley, Ship Shape Cleaners, Brookfield, CT Mark Barron, Blue Spruce Cleaners, Jackson Hole, WY Doug Berry, Martinizing Dry Cleaning, Racine WI Stu Bloom, Rave Fabricare Master Cleaners, Scottsdale, AZ Connie Burnley, Parliament Cleaenrs, Annandale, VA Soo Chang, Colonial Cleaners,Minneapolis, MN Albert Chen, Atlantic Cleaners, Monterey Park, CA Bong Cho, MY Cleaners, Laguna Niguel, CA Jim Choi,Aloha Cleaners,Bellevue,WA Michael Choi, Premier Cleaners, Huntersville, NC Mack Davis, Medlin-Davis Cleaners, Raleigh, NC George DeFazio, Martinizing Dry Cleaning,McMurray, PA Thomas Etcheverry, Meadowview Cleaners, Longmont, CO Jim Dunn, Tuchman Cleaners,Indianapolis,IN David Feingold, Jett Ferry Cleaners, Dunwoody, GA Bob Fogelsanger, Balfurd Cleaners, Tipton, PA Wallace Francis, Walrus Cleaners Inc., Lynn, MA Ed Fuller, Fuller’s Dry Cleaning & Laundromat, Rochester, NH Patrick Geraty, Apollo Cleaners, Tempe,AZ Buddy Gritz, Presto Valet of Virginia, Inc, Alexandria, VA Soon Hyun, Business Park Plaza Cleaners,Vista, CA Brenda & Dan Honeycutt, Plaza Dry Cleaners Inc. , Chapel Hill, NC Tomonobu Igarashi, Clean Living Hawaii, Honolulu, Hi Surendra and Carolyn Kumar, Oakwood The Greener Cleaners,Hermitage, TN
Rod and Maria LaFuente, Thornwood Cleaners, Pleasantville, NY Jay Lee, Cupid Cleaners, Arlington, VA Jae Lim, De Vries Cleaners, Wheaton, IL Kyehung Lee, Four Corners Cleaners, Woburn, MA Samuel Lee, Sparklizing Cleaners, Fremont, Ca Raymond Margel, Executive Cleaners, Lakeland, FL Shawn McCann, Best Cleaners, Middletown, CT Jeff Newman, Todays Cleaners, Bakersfield,CA Charles Patel, C & S One Hour Martinizing,Stockton, CA Mike Patel, Quality Cleaners, Palmdale, CA Prashant Patel, Green Cleaners, Bakersfield, CA Arthur Patterson,Vamco Cleaners, Los Angeles,CA John Patterson, Complete Cleaners,Trussville, AL Jim Parvaresh, Debonair Cleaners, Manhatten Beach, CA Joe Peterson, Prestige Cleaning Center, Minneapolis, MN Duke Quinones,Vapor Sudden Service Cleaners, Monterey, CA Steve Ritt, Prestige Cleaners, Seattle, WA Jose and Celina Santana, El Dorado Cleaners, National City, CA William Schaffer, Rhode Island Cleaners,Arlington , VA Roger Schertzer, USNA Laundry & Dry Cleaning Facility, Annapolis, MD Thomas Shinn, Quality Cleaners, Union City, CA David Shunnarah, Flamingo Dry Cleaners,Birmingham, AL Afzal Tower, Swiss Cleaners, Dallas, TX Todd Watkins, Watkins Managerment, Roseville, MI Brent Wyant, Classic Cleaners, Huntsville, AL Steve Young, Plaza Cleaners, Portland, OR
New
Sign
Are you interested in attracting more customers to your store? We have created a GreenEarth Cleaning indoor window sign that will increase your store's visibility day and night. The dimensions are: 28” wide by 15” high. The price for each sign is $129.00 including shipping. To place your order, call toll free at 877-926-0895 or email: karen@greenearthcleaning.com
DAY TIME VIEW s t
NIGHT TIME VIEW