There are very few things I like better than listening to someone weave a tale about the past. I had that enjoyment recently in talking to Ron Klinger, a veteran of our industry for over 37 years. Mr. Klinger works for FCGI as a salesmen, also taking care of credit issues, going to shows and general problem solver where needed. As with all of us, his life has changed greatly over the years. But, even with the great challenges he faces daily he continues to be an inspiration to the industry as a whole. He has always had an easy laugh and approachable manner and it made it simple to get a feel for where he has been and where he thinks we may be headed.

Ron and his wife Jackie of 38 years live in Santa Rosa California which is about an hour north of San Francisco in wine country. They have 2 sons and now are the proud grandparents of 5 grandchildren. Ron finds much of his off time filled with shuttling the grandkids ages 3 months to 13 yrs to ice hockey, football, cheerleading and even ballet. His voice radiates his delight at these tasks! Many grandparents have these same duties, but may not be aware life should not be taken for granted. Ron is confined to a wheelchair as a result of a blood clot which originated from an infection in one of the valves in his heart. He had no symptoms, only a back ache and they were also treating him for the possible onset of diabetes. He walked in to the hospital never to walk out one day. He was at the doctor’s office to get test results when a piece of a clot broke off and traveled to the main artery to the spine paralyzing him indefinitely. The one in a million odds of it going to the spine instead of the brain saved him from what surely would have been a lethal stroke. He has worked through this tragedy in the last few years to overcome instead of succumb to his life challenge.

 

Ron’s first job in the industry was with After Six. He joined them in 1970 after leaving Lady VanHusen shirt division when it closed. That job ended on Friday and Monday he started in with After Six. He worked in the Norristown PA plant which was the accessory branch of After Six Formalwear in charge of customer service and warehousing. Ron credits Aleck Gingiss as his mentor. Aleck and Ben Gingiss brothers from the Chicago region had formed the beginnings of what became the Gingiss era. A parting of the ways between brothers left Ben in Chicago and Aleck off to work for After Six. Ron got along well with Aleck and acknowledges him as the person who taught him the most about selling formal wear. Mr. Gingiss would set up for a month in a hotel in his territory and the customers would come to see him. In those days companies like After Six held exclusives on markets unlike today’s choices of vendors. Mr. Gingiss requested Ron‘s assistance with the shirt sales during these stays, and this helped form much of his future. Ron feels to this day Aleck Gingiss, an excellent teacher, mentor and just a natural with his product and the industry as a whole, provided him with the base for his selling style. When he eventually moved to sales full-time, his first big sale was to Bill Walkind of Buffalo, NY. Mr. Walkind was another pioneer and started the first national wholesale business with many later to follow his example. Ron sold him 2,000 colored ruffled shirts! Funny but sad they were much more expensive than today’s shirts. The cost was between $12-$15. Ron stayed in Norristown until 1976 when he moved to California as a sales rep for Northern CA, Oregon, Washington and Alaska. This was an immense territory. At that time Portland for example had 20+ accounts to visit where today there are 2 or 3. During those years many of companies had as many as 30-40 sales reps. These days the industry as a whole probably only have that many with all the companies combined.

In 1992, Ron left After Six to work for the Greif Co. Formal Division with Ken Hall and Jerry Mashman. He covered the western states. We all can remember Greif for its top quality garments, ground-breaking photography, and cutting edge fashion. How many of you still have a Houndstooth or Plaid coat hidden away somewhere? These years were the heyday of the industry, according to Ron. Companies paid $15+ for a shirt and between $110-$125 for a basic coat and everyone profited. A new CEO in 1994 brought down Grief, even though the formal wear division was thriving. Ron left there and began with his present employer FCGI.

In hindsight Ron now sees that time period as the beginning of one of the main problems in our trade when cheap knocks offs started to permeate the industry as a whole. Companies spent a lot of money developing a product only to have it knocked off by a competitor and purchased by store owners driven strictly by price point alone. This is also what he feels led to industry price cutting that acts as a “shoot yourself in the foot” problem nationwide. Ron states: “I feel one of the biggest problems in the industry is not keeping pace with price of the rental to the consumer. We are paying $3.00 for gas, yet the price of rentals is the same or less than it was 15 years ago. In comparison we should be renting tuxedos for $250-$300.” At the biggest peak demand time of our seasons being prom and weddings we lower prices and offer other discounts! Our future lies with young people. We have so many veterans on both sides of the industry that we need new blood and new ideas to make it grow again.”

Reviewing experience with a life veteran of any era, any walk of life provides information. The knowledge that can be gained by that experience is immeasurable in all avenues of life. Ron’s quote about himself was “All I am is me! What you see is what you get!” I know the industry counts Ron Klinger as one of its finest and offers their encouragement and says thanks in return. We’ll take it!!

Update on one of our favorite sales people in the industry. Tim Moore, of After Six had a health scare recently and sets the record straight on how it is going….
Hello, this is Tim Moore. I am very much alive and well and want to clarify any questions and rumors that are out there. I had a “mini-stroke” but everything appears fine with a little more testing to undergo. No motor function problems, no blockages, so far. In fact, my blood pressure is excellent and my cholesterol numbers are very good, especially for a guy my size! The doctors want me to quit smoking, which I did do immediately. They also want me to lose weight and exercise, which I have also begun doing. I had hoped to be back “on the road” this week but the neurologist suggests I limit that activity for at least another week. So, I’ll be back out there on the 22nd, barring any surprises.
I was at my wife’s soon-to-open new store early the morning of September 26th and had a sharp burning pain in my left arm and my left hand essentially went numb. I feared I was on the verge of a heart attack. Fortunately, one of my wife’s friends was at the shop with me and insisted we go to urgent care. Once arriving there, and after a quick EKG, they very quickly put me in an ambulance to the medical center emergency room. After all the CAT scan, MRI, blood tests, etc, they determined I had had a small stroke, not a heart attack, but nothing debilitating. I was released the evening of the 28th.
I want to thank everyone out there for their prayers, cards, flowers and concerns about me. I am very fortunate and blessed to have friends like all of you who have expressed your concern. My colleagues at After Six have offered to finish up my seasonal travels, but I’ll be back in the saddle very soon. Elle has limited my activities and is monitoring my walking and eating and I’ve steered clear of the smoking.
On an upside, Elle’s new store, Fezziwig’s Marketplace & Wine Merchants, opened as planned to a private grand opening on Thursday, October 4th. This was only accomplished by as many as nearly twenty of our closest friends jumping in and volunteering their efforts to bring the store to life in my absence. The shop was packed elbow to elbow for the private opening and our first weekend of business was a resounding success…way beyond our expectations! Our initial wine tasting event was a huge hit and we’re getting lots of publicity in the media.

I’m fine…just a minor setback, thank God!

Tim Moore, Regional Representative
After Six Formalwear for Men

Last issue we passed along information from the excellent Bob Barry seminar in Nashville. This issue we are talking about bridal show promotion ideas. At a time when price cutting is detrimental to the industry as a whole what can you do to compete against those who do? What other options do you have available? How can you stand out and impress the brides and grooms? Here are a few of the top ideas:

1. Take only your top salespeople to the show. Pay an incentive bridal show wage. An unmotivated minimum wage employee can cost you $1000’s of lost revenue if even one wedding is lost due to lack of enthusiasm on their part. The return on the 5-8 hours of extra salary you pay is incalculable. A motivated veteran with long standing experience in the industry can easily answer questions by familiarity, putting the bride at ease and in turn selling your business for you. One company explained at the seminar they have employees try out to work the shows. Who are your top salespeople?
2. When you offer a show special that the bride and groom must put down a $20 deposit to hold, offer to split the pot with the employees who work the show. A $20 deposit put down by 20 brides at a show equals $400 the store keeps $200 the employees split the other half. A nice incentive for them to work harder to showcase your business.
3. One store owner gives weddings registered at the show The Newlywed Game. This owner buys the games in large numbers and spends as little as $5 to purchase it. We all know a bride loves a tangible item they can walk home with in their hands. This is a fun inexpensive incentive to lock them in.
4. Another owner gives each registered wedding a bottle of champagne. Prices and quality varies you can spend as little as $5, yet the couple is made to feel noticed and appreciated.
5. Toasting glasses. Every couple needs them and they have a varied price range. One set sold by Beverly Clark is as little as $10.
6. Matching ringbearer pillow and flower girl baskets also attract great attention.
7. Guest book and pen. All of these last 3 ideas can be purchased from Beverly Clark or Carlson Craft. Beverly Clark has a great “value” line which offers nicely packaged items at very reasonable pricing starting in the $8 range.
8. Program paper. Many companies offer paper styles to fit any theme in packages of 100 sheets for them to make programs on their own computer
9. Napkins in generic wedding styles can also be procured from a variety of companies and are easy and light weight to hand out in packages, which of course would have information on them as to where they could purchase more!
10. Thank you notes. This is something every single bride will need for showers and the wedding. Carlson Craft offers a package of 25 generic shower thank you notes for a $1.25 with each invitation order.
11. Incentive certificates: One company at the convention in Nashville offers certificates for items like digital cameras, camcorders and I pods for as little as $10 to $15. The certificates allow you to set the ground rules for redemption and have a greater perceived value to the consumer. They offer more information on this program and how easy it can be tailored to your market. We already have industry members using them with great success.
Certificates with Purchase
Our Certificate-with-Purchase incentive programs enable you to cut your costs by 50-75% over traditional gift-with-purchase programs. In effect, this allows you to leverage your marketing dollars by either offering gifts with value that is 2 -3x your actual cost or by reducing your costs substantially with the same coverage.
One substantial challenge faced by gift with purchase programs is the cost and effort to manage a high perceived value gift program – procurement, inventory, shipping and customer service. Consequently, most gift-with-purchase programs are relegated to trinket-with-purchase programs, or not pursued. Certificates resolve these problems because you only need to manage certificates – paper or electronic – not the actual product.
Another tough challenge faced by every incentive program is targeting the promotion to those customers that value it. The truth is many customers are not motivated by promotions. So how do you target the promotion to the right customers? Using certificates, instead of gifts, virtually solves this problem. In a certificate-with-purchase program, only customers that really care about the promotion take the effort to redeem the certificate for their gift. In other words, the incentive self-targets to those that value the offer.

Our Certificate-with-Purchase incentive programs enable you to cut your costs by 50-75% over traditional gift-with-purchase programs. In effect, this allows you to leverage your marketing dollars by either offering gifts with value that is 2 -3x your actual cost or by reducing your costs substantially with the same coverage.
One substantial challenge faced by gift with purchase programs is the cost and effort to manage a high perceived value gift program – procurement, inventory, shipping and customer service. Consequently, most gift-with-purchase programs are relegated to trinket-with-purchase programs, or not pursued. Certificates resolve these problems because you only need to manage certificates – paper or electronic – not the actual product.
Another tough challenge faced by every incentive program is targeting the promotion to those customers that value it. The truth is many customers are not motivated by promotions. So how do you target the promotion to the right customers? Using certificates, instead of gifts, virtually solves this problem. In a certificate-with-purchase program, only customers that really care about the promotion take the effort to redeem the certificate for their gift. In other words, the incentive self-targets to those that value the offer.

Contact Us
For Sales Support:
760.727.9600 x225
 
Whatever option is right for you, try something besides price cutting this year and track the results. Always make sure to give some small item away in the booth to collect the names for future contact. Please pass along any ideas you may have that I have left out. Rebeccamc522@aol.com

 
Sir Richard Branson, billionaire of Virgin Air, chose a tuxedo as his clothing of choice to repel 480 feet at the Palms Hotel in Vegas. He was drawing attention to a new connecting flight from Vegas to San Francisco. The stunt did not go so well, but he certainly looked sharp!

We want to hear your tuxedo HORROR stories! What FUNNY, SCARY, Ridiculous stories can you share that have happened in your stores? What has a customer tried to convince you of when he returned his tuxedo? What hoops have you had to jump through to finish an order? Late night hours? Share with everyone the things we are all doing in this business to keep things going!! Rebeccamc522@aol.com  

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover!”

~Mark Twain~

The opinions expressed by the authors do not reflect necessarily of the Association of  International Formalwear, its officials, directors or personnel. Each author is the unique person in charge of her or his content.

The opinions expressed by the authors do not reflect necessarily of the Association of  International Formalwear, its officials, directors or personnel. Each author is the unique person in charge of her or his content.