Yellowing, it’s causes…Small ball and…

Yellowing, it’s causes…and corrections

Tracking down the cause of that yellowing condition in your customer’s laundry can be a challenge. On the flip side knowing how to track it down and correct it can be a real door opener when it comes to gaining a new business.

First, let’s define the problem and what distinguishes yellowing from greying. That second one is generally the result of water hardness either not being removed in the water softener, or that it is not being sequestered by the detergent. On the other hand, yellowing is the result of unremoved soil accumulating in the fiber’s weave. But while that is simple enough to explain, the root causes of yellowing can be hide in a number of places.

The one most frequently overlooked is an overloaded wash wheel. Cramming it can reduce (or even eliminate) the mechanical action needed to get fabrics clean. Once the load is fully wet one look at the window will tell the tale. If it’s properly loaded, there will be a visible gap above the load as it stops between rotations. If not it’s overloaded.

Another yellowing source is a formula with too few rinse cycles. That results in soils that may well have been loosened in the suds cycle, but aren’t being rinsed out, thus allowing them to redeposit. And even if the rinse cycles in that formula appear adequate, if the rinse water levels are too low, the result will be the same as too few rinses.

In the end yellowing is totally preventable and therefore correctable. Those two facts auger well for us both in getting great results for our customers as well as gaining new ones!

Next up: The role of temperatures in formulas.

Small ball and adding it all up

It’s not always the big deals that result in our success. That’s true in things on a personal level like saying thanks even when it’s not totally necessary. Or being nice to someone who’s not in a position to benefit us later – (or at least as we know it!). In business it’s more of those, but it also has a lot to do with new sales.

There we’d readily agree that we’d rather open one large account than several smaller ones. But if all we target are mega prospects, chances are that our successes – while big when they occur, will also likely be far and few between. Mixing in small gains can be just the leavening in the “bread dough” of sales that the doctor (or baker) ordered.

And those smaller gains don’t need to be new accounts. Selling ten customers a pail of degreaser that will repeat every month is likely equal to a very nice new customer and comes without the need do an install or add the worry of another unknown receivable to collect – or even risk losing.

Small gains may lack the luster of landing that big sale, but in the end the dollars are the same. Indeed, maybe those new sales from current customers might be even more profitable.