Rising with the tide or washing away?
Will the tide be rising soon in the drycleaning industry? Recently, Procter & Gamble announced plans to open one new cleaning plant and rebrand two existing
ones in the Kansas City area. The three stores will open under the Tide name
(see page 50), which has been synonymous with clean laundry for over six
decades. P&G originally tried to break into the drycleaning market with the home-based
product Dryel over a decade ago. The sales were disappointing, especially since
P&G had researched the industry and viewed it as a $9 billion market with plenty
of dissatisfied customers. In fact, that is precisely why the giant corporation
decided to launch the three Tide Dry Cleaners locations now. Its own research
indicated that 40 percent of consumers were dissatisfied with their
drycleaners. If that figure is accurate, then cleaners must ask themselves why.
According to DLI Garment Analyst Chris Allsbrooks, during her seminar at
Fabricare 2008 in August, the breakdown of why customers quit their cleaners is
as follows: 1 percent die; 3 percent move away; 5 percent leave because a
friend recommended some other place; 9 percent leave for competitive reasons
(such as a cheaper cleaners or a coupon); and 14 percent leave for chronic
dissatisfaction, which probably has plenty to do with the overall finished
quality (or lack thereof) on their clothes. That leaves a remainder of 68
percent of customers who leave because of an attitude indifference at the
counter.
Customers want their needs and expectations to be met by their cleaners and that
includes feeling wanted. People want their patronage appreciated, and if it is
not, then they will go to some place where it is. Allsbrooks offered many smart
tips that every cleaners should follow: CSRs should smile and greet customers
with a pleasant greeting (by name if possible) and with eye contact. Compliment
customers and remember their personal details. Know how they like their clothes
and then make sure they are ready on time when they return. Did the final
product pass a rigorous inspection? These things matter.
So, getting back to the Tide plants in Kansas City, you can bet that they will
be clean, efficient and detail-oriented when it comes to customer service. In
other words, they will be professional cleaners — something that customers have come to expect, but have failed to experience 40
percent of the time. The tide will indeed rise soon for the industry, and only
the 60 percent who can keep their customers happy, and thus loyal, will be kept
from being washed away.
Want a bail out? Here’s a bucket
Watching the sinking titans of Wall Street get bailed out by the federal
government leaves the rest of us wondering, “Hey, where’s my bailout?”
But anyone seriously entertaining the possibility that the government might step
in to help struggling small businesses has not been paying attention. If
anything, the government is making it harder for drycleaners to operate, adding
new layers of costly regulations into a mix that already includes declining
piece counts and rising prices for supplies and utilities. If anything,
cash-strapped local and state governments will be eyeing small businesses as a
source of revenue, never minding that those revenue-enhancing tax increases sap
the strength of the very businesses they rely on not only to contribute to
their coffers, but also to keep people employed and commercial retail districts
viable.
Forget about a government bailout. We’d settle for a government back-off.
So we’re on our own, and if you have that sinking feeling, you’d better grab a bucket and start bailing. If you look around, however, you’ll find that others are in the same boat. This is a job that can best be done by
working together. Whether it’s through trade associations, management groups, internet forums or informal
gatherings, cleaners can get together to compare buckets, bailing techniques
and help each other out.
Will Rogers once said, “Everybody is ignorant, just on different subjects.” The meaning, of course, is that we all have holes in our knowledge — or buckets, if you will. When cleaners pool their collective knowledge, the
holes will be plugged and the bailing out will go much faster.
