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Ahh, March. My favorite
month. The beginning of this month signals the end
of the long, cold, dark winter days. It also means I
have finished all
those bookkeeping
chores of February. Namely my taxes, not so
disappointing this year, and
my DEQ paperwork and annual fees. February was a
pretty hectic month for
me. I worked on a lot of committee projects, two for
ODCA and one for
another group I'm involved with. While nothing was
completed, yet, a great
deal was accomplished.
One of the
highlights of last month was
participating in my first NCA Webinar. I'll be honest, I
wasn't really
thrilled with the idea of sitting through yet another
Customer Service seminar
and I really expected it to be a waste of time. But this
one was led by
our own Kathey Butters and I wanted to support her for
her first seminar.
So I sat down at my computer, Bluetooth headset on
my ear and logged on.
After clicking on the button to make sure my PC was
compatible with the website,
this is done automatically, I was directed to the main
seminar screen. I
then dialed the 800 number and entered the same
codes I did to get to the
website. All of a sudden it was as if I were in a room
full of
people. You could hear everyone. Some talking to
each other, some to
people obviously not in the seminar but in the room
with them. Nora
Nealis, the executive director of NCA and our
moderator, was helping a
gentleman who was having problems with his
computer.
At the
appointed time, Nora introduced herself and
explained how the seminar would
proceed. When the class begins, she would mute our
phones until the
discussion period at the end. If we had any
questions, there is an instant
message link at the top of the screen, we could ask a
question or make a
comment and she would interrupt for us at the
appropriate time. While
she was controlling this aspect of the seminar from
her office in New York,
Kathey would be controlling the power point
presentation from her office in
Salem while she spoke. You have to love technology!
The class was
excellent and had many new and useful tips I hadn't
heard before. Kathey
did an outstanding job and I have no doubt she will be
one of our premier
speakers in the not too distant future. When the
presentation ended, Nora
un-muted our phones and a rousing discussion
period began. I
think the fact that we were in our homes and not in a
room full of people, all
eyes glued on us, it empowered us to speak more
freely. For more than
thirty minutes that's exactly what we did. I wanted to
make a comment on
customers who insist on carrying on cell phone
conversations while I try to wait
on them but there just didn't seem to be a break in the
current topic. (I
didn't want to be rude and just change the subject)
Then I remembered the
instant message feature and fired off a request to
speak when there was an
appropriate time. Nora sent a message right back
and later called on
me. I'll talk about that next month. The Webinar
ended and we all
logged off. I think the one thing I would like to see
added is a web cam
so we can see our instructor. Other than that, I am so
glad I signed up to
participate. The upcoming Public Relations webinar
looks particularly
interesting and you really should consider
attending.
I had
barely hung up from the webinar when my phone
rang. It was Leslie, our
webmaster, who also participated. After teasing me
for being "teachers
pet" and some laughter we had a great little talk about
our experience. I
suggested we hang up and call Kathey to congratulate
her and Leslie said, "Too
bad we can't both talk to her". I said hold that thought
and pressed a few buttons on my phone and quickly
had Kathey on the
line with us. Again, you have to love technology! How
perfect. A great seminar, a great
discussion
period AND a wonderful social time afterwards!
That's it for me. Be
sure to check out all the content this month. I hope
you find it
useful. And remember, if you know someone who
might be interested in
receiving this newsletter, be sure to pass it on. Simply
use the link at
the bottom to be sure they receive it in its entirety.
We'll see you again
in April!
Brian Olson CED, Director, District 1 - Newsletter Editor
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A Message From President Scott McClure |
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Here it is the first of March
and we just got through
paying our DEQ fees and filing our reports. This
brings me to the subject
of the continuing attack on the dry cleaning industry
by environmental activists
and other special interest groups. They seem
determined that the only
thing that you should use to clean clothes is water.
In California, the
Air Resource Board passed new regulations
regarding
PERC. They are as
follows: No PERC machines sold after January 1st,
2008. Existing PERC
operators will have to verify the age of their machine
and, whichever comes
first, 15 years or July 1, 2010, it will have to be
replaced with a non-PERC
machine. By the year 2023, no PERC machines will
be allowed in the
state. The only safe alternatives that they
recognize for cleaning are
water and CO2. Attacks started on Hydrocarbon
solvents at these hearing as
it is believed that they harm ground-level ozone
levels. Yet, if I
remember right, just five years ago they were
encouraging cleaners to switch to
Hydrocarbon.
The point of all this is that all
of us are at risk no
matter what solvent we decide to use. The special
interest groups have an
agenda that all chemicals are bad no matter what.
The question is, what
can you as a dry cleaner and business owner do to
protect your right to use the
solvent of your choice in a safe and responsible way?
1. Become involved in your Dry
Cleaning
Associations.
2. Contact your elected
representative and let them know
your thoughts.
3. Take the time to educate
yourself and your customers
about the processes that you use to clean
clothes.
4. Join your local
Business Associations and Chambers.
In closing I would just urge all
of you reading this
newsletter to become involved and let your voice be
heard or it will be muffled
and the laws and rules will change. One way to do
that is join this
association because our strength is in our numbers.
Stand up and be
heard. Your business and livelihood depend on
it.
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DEQ Site Inspection at Continental Cleaners by Michael O'Connor |
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After having a DEQ
inspection this past month,
I thought it might be a good idea to update the
members on the things they are
looking for. I would like to preface this by saying
that overall plant
maintenance and good record keeping makes this
inspection go a whole lot easier
on all parties involved.
First of all you
have
NO WARNING they will be arriving. You need to have
your ducks in a row at
all times because you won’t have time to scramble
and make any last second
preparations.
PERC Monitor - the first thing
that was done was to use one
of the perc monitors on the dry cleaning machines.
This is the same device
that we all have and are using weekly to check for
leaks and general
maintenance.
Secondary Containment – by
now I would hope we all have
secondary containment under the DC Machines, our
hazardous waste drums, and our
water separator unit (Zero Waste or whatever
machine you use). How your
separator water is plumbed to the machine and its
disposal is also
addressed.
Eyewash Station – test to see
if it is working properly and
accessible to employees.
Safety Procedures – a map of
the plant with exits, first aid
equipment, hazardous waste or chemicals and fire
extinguishers clearly marked in
an area where all have access.
- Local
emergency numbers posted near
the phone (hospital, police, etc).
- Material
Safety Data Sheets
updated and accessible.
Paperwork – the last 3 years
of hazardous waste disposal
forms (Safety Kleen or whomever you use).
-
Updated and accurate weekly
inspection logs. The calendar sent to us by DEQ
works well for
this.
- And for Small Quantity Generators, a copy
of the letter that is supposed to
be sent yearly to
the fire marshal, local police department, and local
hospital
stating that you have on-site substances that are
deemed
hazardous so that
they might have this information in their database.
Proper disposal of aerosol cans
and fluorescent light bulbs
are also examined.
All in all, the inspection
went well for
me. The inspector had a good working knowledge of
the Dry Cleaning plant
which made things much easier. My only setback
was that I had not notified
the local police and hospital of the chemicals in the
plant with a letter.
This was rectified the next day when I sent the
letters and a copy of them to
the inspector.
These inspections are
random and you do
not know when it is your turn. Have your plant well
maintained and your
paper work up to date to ensure a smooth visit.
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Brainstorming With The Best Continued by Kathey Butters |
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We left off Thursday evening at the NCA welcoming
reception where
we had the opportunity to connect with old friends,
make new ones, and in general
network! That continued
Friday morning, NCA planned breakfast to
again have time to network, enjoy great food, and
catch up with those that did
not have the opportunity or did not see the night
before. The breakfast
was scrumptious and the time allotted for catching up
was just enough.
I was
really looking forward to Friday’s speaker as I heard
John DeJulius last
year in Las Vegas and he turned out to be my favorite
speaker. He did not
disappoint me this year either! John DeJulius is the
author of “Secret Service,
Hidden systems that deliver unforgettable customer
service”. If you have
not read his book you should. It is the best book on
customer service and
applicable to the dry cleaning industry. This time he
shared about
“Marketing Madness”, his plans, strategies,
techniques and tactics that put the
emphasis on partnerships, referrals and retention
programs as well as public
relations efforts. John showed us how to increase our
marketing
effectiveness by promoting our business in creative,
non-traditional ways, as
opposed to just throwing advertising dollars at
the “how to attract more
business” challenge.
Starting with a calendar for the
year of which we were given
a copy, marking the slow times for your business, as
these are the times that
you want to focus on. Then he explained working 90
to 120 days out. In
other words you do not want to realize that things have
slowed down and you
panic and send out a coupon which ends up coming
in when things have picked
up. You want to identify your slow times, send out the
coupon (or whatever
advertising you might do) so that it is actually coming
out during the slow
times! John also shared several different marketing
programs that he
uses. We received copies of letters he sends out
announcing the
promotions, advertising samples, etc. What about
getting media
attention? John shared how to find out who it is you
contact and how you
go about contacting them but that is not enough. He
expounded on how you
go about getting their attention. All in all it was a great
presentation and I
learned a lot of great information.
 The best thing about NCA’s
Brainstorming conferences
is that they allow time to relax; network, play, or maybe
you just want to
nap. Sessions end right around noon, giving you the
rest of the day for
whatever of the above you want to do. In my case it
was either swimming or
playing on the beach, what ever “the kid”
chooses.
Stay tuned
for next months article, the speaker was from the Ritz-
Carlton Leadership
Training center and he was dynamic!
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Tax Help Webinar by Kari Gilje, Senior Stakeholder Liaison |
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Last Month we conducted a local webinar with
Small Business Administration entitled "Making Taxes
Easier for Small Business". If you missed the
webinar, you can access the hyperlink to a recorded
version of the webinar. You may access it
at anytime to review all or part of the presentation.
Click on the link to play the recording:
IRS Small Business Webinar
In addition to the webinar, there will also be a
National Phone Forum on March 21 covering similar
topics, titled: "Its Tax Time! What a Small Business
Needs to Know".
The Forum is free, and open to all small business
owners. The forum will be presented at four different
times during the day, to cover the time zones from
east to west.
Why should you attend this forum? The number of
electronic options available is increasing every year
and can be overwhelming. We will take a tour of
IRS.gov to learn just how much information is
available for business and industry. We'll show you
where to look and how to search for all the latest
electronic products and services, using Electronic
IRS.gov the main source that can make taxes less
taxing. We will show you small business news and
information, employment tax and other information
business owners need, save valuable time and
increase accuracy even if you have a tax professional
complete your return.
Here is the link on the IRS web site to find out more
information about registering for the March 21st phone
forum:
IRS Small Business Phone
Forum
Please register by March 15, 2007 (Thursday), This is
important as we will be sending out the materials for
the class by e-mail on March 16.
Let me know if you have any questions about the
webinar or the upcoming phone forum.
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Don't Forget to Change Your Clocks! |
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