Z Cleaners of Scottsdale, Arizona, has nothing to hide. That is why plant owners Geralyn
and Steve Phillips opted for certain changes to their front lobby four years
ago. They added see-through glass behind the front counter so customers can
witness a variety of expensive outfits being cleaned whenever they come inside.
It takes the mystery out of the drycleaning process, and, naturally, all of the
customers love it. In fact, if anybody has any questions about drycleaning,
Geralyn will immediately offer them a personal tour of the production area.
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The tour itself is an impressive sight, as Z Cleaners uses every inch of its
2,500 sq. ft facility. Garments hang on sorting conveyors that run mostly a
little over eye level, while others run much higher towards the elevated
ceilings. It’s like walking through a maze of multi-colored clothes.
According to Geralyn, most customers prefer to come into the store during
business hours for the interesting view and conversation, despite the fact that
Z Cleaners was the first cleaners in the country to install a MetalProgetti
automated conveyor and 24-hour kiosk back when it first opened in 1993.
At that time, Geralyn was not an active owner in the business, although her
husband was heavily recruiting her to come aboard.
Geralyn is a “virtual native” of Arizona, having moved from New Jersey at a young age. She grew up in a large
family with two parents and five other siblings and had to eventually work her
way through college and pay her own tuition.
“Anything I’ve ever gotten in my life is because I worked for it,” she said.
She graduated from Arizona State University with a B.S. degree in Business
Marketing in 1993, the same year she married Steve, who she met on campus
during her freshman year.
After graduation, the young couple began a nomadic chapter in their lives as
Steve became commissioned as a Naval officer.
While he flew SH-60 helicopters on bases in places like Key West and San Diego,
she raised their two children and worked various jobs for a marketing firm and
the federal government. Eventually, the Phillips family returned to Arizona in
1993.
“That year, I actually worked for a former governor, Fife Symington,” she recalled. “I worked there for three years out of the governor’s office.”
Geralyn was active in an Office of Excellence spin-off project known as “SLIM” (State Long-Term Improved Management), the governor’s Total Quality Movement approach toward cutting costs and making government
more efficient.
Her efforts soon caught the eye of the University of Phoenix, who recruited her
to be the director of their Center for Professional Development in 1996. She
worked there for the next four years.
“During that time, I doubled the university’s income derived from the delivery of non-degree, professional certification
programs and consulting contracts to local businesses,” she said. “I worked very long hours (upwards to 80 hours per week) to do that.”
Meanwhile, Steve had started a drycleaning plant in Scottsdale in 1993. Five
years later, he began recruiting his wife to work alongside him at a brand new
drycleaning company he just opened called Z Cleaners. In truth, he hoped she
could double its sales as she did for the University of Phoenix.
“It took him two years to finally convince me by satisfying some very important
demands that I gave him,” Geralyn noted. “1) the business had to be sustainable enough to afford our current lifestyle;
and 2) the business had to also be able to afford the purchase of our own
healthcare benefits for our family.”
The demands were strict, but important. After all, Geralyn was concerned with
the welfare of her family, and she also knew changing positions would bring
about a big sacrifice. If she started working in a hot drycleaning plant
atmosphere, she would have to give up the thrill of wearing business suits on a
daily basis.
In 2000, she decided the time was right. She started full-time at Z Cleaners in
an attempt to work her sales-doubling magic. She certainly had the drive to
accomplish her goal.
“I’m a very detail-oriented analytical type and I’m very competitive,” she admitted. “If I’m going to be in the drycleaning business, I want it to be the best drycleaning
business. I don’t want to be a $1.50 cleaners and I certainly do not want to be competing with
95 percent of the other cleaners who are sandwiched in between the high-end
cleaners and the $1.50 cleaners.”
It took a while for Z Cleaners to reach a new level in profits and status. As
Geralyn saw it, becoming the best meant subscribing to a belief that everything
across the board had to be stellar. She calls it “extreme drycleaning.”
“Extreme drycleaning really requires a whole blend of high technology, the
services, looking for new things on a daily basis to enhance your business — so it’s that constant frame of mind,” she said.
In 2004, the Phillips added the finishing touches of their business’s extreme facelift. They completely redesigned and rebuilt the front lobby,
adding sleek wood and black granite counters and opting for the fishbowl-view
of the production area.
Other important changes included redesigning their logo, adding a new website,
and improving their packaging offering such luxuries as wooden and chromed
hangers and various-sized logoed poly bags.
Perhaps the most important change from a few years back came in the form of
raising prices. Geralyn did not want the company to charge more until it was
clear that the value of their service was, well, invaluable.
“Running a high-end drycleaning business is a lot more difficult,” Geralyn emphasized. “It requires more participation from the owners of the business than all of the
other drycleaning businesses out there because employees have to be constantly
reinforced on what the mission values of the company are, and, even though they
are getting hot from pressing, tired from inspecting because they are on their
feet, answering the phone a lot — they have to be encouraged.”
Once the quality was achieved on a daily basis, it was time to take the plunge
and raise prices across the board. The result wa surprising.
“We took the chance and went over the $2 mark [on laundered business shirts] and
our volume actually increased,” she said. “It was the strangest thing.”
Now, many of Z Cleaners’ prices are twice what they were less than a handful of years ago. Yet, despite
that fact, Geralyn says sales have easily doubled, and almost tripled, since
she joined the company in 2000.
Oddly enough, many of Z’s wealthy customers consider the high prices as an enticement for them to come
in.
“It’s people’s definition of value,” she explained. “When people buy a very expensive item, whether it’s an expensive car or it’s an expensive garment, paying $1.99 to service that garment or $10 to service
it brings up a notion of what happened behind the scenes while servicing the
garment.”
Of course, Geralyn added, the worst thing you can do is raise your prices
without adjusting your final quality to the same level. For that reason, the
Phillips survey their customers often to see how they measure up.
“You have to have that affirmation from your customers that you are doing a good
job,” she noted. “Otherwise, you get too cocky.”
Customer happiness isn’t the only thing necessary to track. Geralyn notes that it’s no accident that her staff all feel like “little owners.” One of her main goals is to keep them happy.
“You should go home feeling good at the end of the day,” she said. “We’ve got wonderful customers that come here and fabulous gowns that come in here
all the time. Our people really take pride in what they do because they’re not trying to do 40 pants an hour. They all take ownership of everything.”
The key to a strong marriage is balance. The same formula seems to work wonders
for the business, as well.
While Steve’s strengths lie in being a technical expert and overseeing production, Geralyn
focuses on customer service and generating sales. The results have proved to be
extremely successful.
Z Cleaners was cited as the “Best Drycleaner” in the Valley by the Arizona Republic. This year, the company received the
impressive distinction of being ranked as the #2 affiliate cleaner in the
country for America’s Best Cleaners.
According to Geralyn, the rankings are determined by “collective scores from annual on-site inspections, mystery shopping results to
evaluate our customer service, and results from monthly solvent test swatches
sent for evaluation to the Hohenstein Institute in Germany.”
Z Cleaners was beat by only one point, so Geralyn is already eyeing the prospect
of improving for next year. She is fully aware that it would be all too easy
for her plant to tailspin in the other direction.
“You can get overly confident and think that you are doing everything right, but
you have to watch out,” she said. “The moment you step back, you step light years back.”
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