Tips On Marketing A Laundry Service

Q:I will soon expand on my laundromat to include pickup and delivery. The P&D will be free and have same-day service. A 20% discount as a "grabber" may also be offered.

A:The saddest things about wannabe entrepreneurs are their egotism and paranoia. They think for egotistical reasons that no one has ever thought of their business idea and that people are just anxiously waiting to steal their idea. We get this problem in these business newsgroups a lot. The truth is that no one really cares. Everyone has their own "brilliant" business ideas (I myself have tons!) and/or are so busy working on their own business ideas that it is amazing they take the time to participate in these newsgroups. And the more posters tell of their business ideas and plans, the better the advice they will receive from the professionals that frequent these business newsgroups. That's been proven time and time again. Now a word of caution. Be careful who you listen to in these business newsgroups. Not everyone knows what they're talking about and some of the advice given by the "less"-than-knowledgeable posters is absolutely horrible. Read not only what they post elsewhere but how other posters respond to their advice and who those responders are. An idiot endorsed by another idiot is still a idiot. And since we're talking about business decisions here in these business newsgroups and not some meaningless theoretical debate in some Star Trek fanboy newsgroup, it is very important you know who you're receiving advice from. In other words, buyer beware. The negative feedback is usually more important. These business owners are letting you know NOT to go down a path you were thinking of going. They will have then just SAVED you a TON of money. Possibly even your entire business! If the wannabe entrepreneurs truly understood how much of a big favor these nay-saying business owners just did them, they wouldn't be getting depress that their pet idea was torpedoed but would be naming their next child after that helpful business owner. On the other hand, only listen to the negative feedback IF they can back it up with facts and/or experience and NOT just opinion. I'm not saying their opinions don't matter. They almost always do, but am merely pointing out that change is commonly resisted for sometimes only being change. Do take their opinion into consideration but use your own judgment on how much to weigh that opinion against your brilliant new idea/innovation. Never give up on an idea simply because one person ... no matter who that person is ... has an unsubstantiated opinion that it isn't a good one. 1) Your "Executive Summary" should be written LAST after you've completed the first rough draft. The ES sums up the entire business plan and pitches the business in only one to two pages. I always try to keep it to just one page. The goal of the ES is to inform and excite the reader enough to want to read the rest of the business plan. Here you lay out the key gem of your business concept. 2) "Management Team" section is about coverage. Businesses involve a lot of things being done correctly. Who is going to do all those things for your business and what qualifications do they have in doing those things. Even if the "team" is just you, you need to address how you're going to cover all the tasks, what qualifications you possess to do so, and where you'll be bringing in outside help (i.e., a CPA) to assist where you're weak. 3) "Market & Competition" section should ALWAYS be longer than "The Products" section. What you sell isn't as important as how you're going to sell it. If "The Products" is longer than "Market & Competition" that reeks of an inventor that is too in love with her/his invention or unique spin on a service. Bad. Very bad. Avoid at all costs. As a rule of thumb, try to insure "Market & Competition" is at least twice as long as "The Products". If you just "must" include a lot of information on your product(s) and/or service(s), throw all anal details into the Appendix under the title of "Additional Product Information". 4) The most important sub-section of "Market & Competition" is "Competition". List all your competition. ALL! Not just ones that you'll go head-to-head with but ones that might compete with you on only one sector or are just outside your sales territory. Be BRUTALLY honest about how your business will stack up against them. Do NOT lie to your reader OR yourself. Give your competition's strengths and weaknesses and tell how your business will do up against each. What is the likelihood they'll expand into your territory? How have they responded to new competition in the past? How will you respond to their responce? All this information is out there. Go find it. 5) The second most important sub-section of "Market & Competition" is "User Benefit". In other words, why will the customer pick your service/product over the competition. Note that the section title isn't plural. It's singular. What is the ONE key benefit that makes you better than the competition? Location? Price? Quality? Variety? What? This is your key selling point. Think about this a great deal and then think about it still more. And after you thought about it that much, square that time and think about it that much more. Toss all other user benefits into "Other Customer Benefits" and present them in their ranked importance ... stating where they ranked in importance and explaining why you rank them that way.