In this article, we will be reviewing the most effective ways in which you can manage multiple stores using CleanCloud. However, not only will you see how some of our features can help you run your different locations, but you will also get some insight into how best to manage your team to ensure everything is running smoothly.
How CleanCloud’s features can help you
1) Payment Processing (in-store & online)
We recommend using an in-store & online payment processor integrated with our software at each of your locations. Why?
In-store: If you want to ensure that your employees are inputting the right amount on the card terminals for each order, then there is no safer way than to have an integrated in-store payment processor. The reason for this is because your employees will never have to input the amount on to the terminals themselves. The total will appear on the card terminal automatically which means a lot more safety and fewer mistakes which can be costly.
Online: Using an integrated online payment processor allows you to save the card details of your customers. This is especially useful to bill your customers for monthly invoices and for orders that come in from the CleanCloud smartphone App or your website. Having their card details saved means you can charge them when you need to without having your customers come in store to pay or have your driver carry a card terminal with them.
2) Synchronised Customer Database & Price List
Synchronising your customer database is very useful if you have the same customers coming into your multiple locations. This saves a lot of time for your employees, as they will not have to then re-enter that customer’s information when they go to any of the other stores you own.
Synchronising your price list, on the other hand, can be very useful if you want a consistent price structure for each of your stores. if you also want to save time importing your price list into each individual store and if you want changes applied to the price structure in any of the stores, to also be applied to your other locations.
3) Overview button
Having multiple stores with CleanCloud also means that from one page you get to have an overview of the Metrics of each business of yours, rather than accessing the account of each individual store and going to the Metrics section. This allows you to get immediate visibility of how each of your stores is performing. You can even filter by any date range of your preference so that you can see how each business is performing daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, etc.
4) Having the Same Admin Email & Password for Each Store
We also recommend the owner to set up the same admin email & password for each store of their property. The reason for this is so that the owner can then see a drop-down menu every time they log in to CleanCloud allowing them to access each individual store’s account in a fast and effective manner.
5) Staff Management
In the Users section of our software, you are able to grant permissions to employees which means that certain staff members will have more or less responsibility than others which means that you can delegate authority to your staff effectively.
You also have the ability to quickly do payroll for all of your staff. In fact, you can see how many hours each employee worked during the date range of your preference and you can then quickly figure out how much you will pay each member of staff.
6) Connecting your stores to your Plant(s)
If you have a Plant(s), our Support team can help you connect those stores to the relevant Plant(s). We have a specific interface for the Plant Mode which allows your staff at the Plant to see from which store the orders are coming through from. They are then able to mark orders as cleaned and easily track their own workflow and send those orders back to the relevant store so the customer can then pick up their order(s)
Managing your Team and Boosting Productivity
Having multiple locations means having a bigger team, and a bigger team means more responsibility. There are, however, multiple ways you can deal with this:
1) Delegating Authority/Establishing Responsibilities
Businesses can go wrong when not enough trust is put into their team by the owner. Whoever is managing a store will be there day in, day out and they are the ones who are aware of all that is happening in your store on a daily basis. Therefore, it is crucial to keep the manager happy as they will be dealing with your staff & your customers who keep your business running effectively. The manager needs to have a clear idea of their role and they need to establish clearly what the role of the other staff members will be too. The less confusion, the more productive!
2) Effective Communication
Although this might seem obvious, it really isn’t. Communication is absolutely vital for your business to run smoothly and for it to grow. We recommend having regular meetings (every fortnight, every month, or every quarter) so that you are aware of exactly how the multiple locations are performing and what things could be done better. It can be a good idea to brainstorm with your team about how you can deal with problems effectively when they arise so that your employees come prepared for any uncomfortable situation they might be put in.
3) Quality over Quantity
It isn’t uncommon for Dry Cleaning & Laundry Businesses to try to focus mainly on output (pieces produced in a day) rather than quality. The most successful businesses we have seen using our software are all ones that tend to focus on quality and customer service. Quality of service will ultimately lead to customer satisfaction, which will keep them coming back. Unless you are in a tourist area, it is more likely that you will have customers from your local area coming into your store, which means that it is very important to retain those customers. They are your stable source of income, which is why their satisfaction with your service is so important.
4) Fun days off!
The happier the employees, the more likely they are to be productive! Once in a while, it is a good idea to take your employees out whether that be to a restaurant or bar or games room or quiz, etc. Getting a chance for your staff to be in a different environment allows your team to develop closer bonds which will ultimately make them happier whilst working, which in turn will lead to greater output.
As you can see in this article, using our software effectively and knowing how to manage your team will ensure your operations run smoothly which will mean that your customers are happy, your staff are happy and your business continues to grow!