National Clothesline

It seems like the news of our “troubled” times is our number-one news story and it obviously affects our business.

I was recently on a project in which I was reminded that we are not only in competition with other drycleaners, but also restaurants, movie theaters and other places that are classified as disposable income.

I continue to hear operators accept the fact that the industry is going through a down time and that we cannot do anything about it.

True, we cannot do anything about those who lose their jobs, move, get divorced, retire or even die.

Sure, we are going to have customers who spend less money or don’t do drycleaning at all, but we can strive to improve our services and continue to market ourselves in order to control our future.

Drycleaning is composed of so many small steps and processes in which if you lower your standards, eliminate key elements or fail to strive for perfection, your business will suffer even more.

I feel that you can control your destiny now more than ever. Marketing is of course one way.

Quite often business owners decrease their marketing efforts in tough times.

What is the reason for this? Seriously, this is the time to strive for more customers and to separate yourself from your competitors more than ever. They are in the same boat as you. Don’t admit defeat. Make it your goal to add more customers in 2009.

However, the biggest source of control you have is to raise the level of customer service. This is a biggie.

In all my travelling in 2008, I witnessed some of the worst customer service moments ever — from terrible service on the airlines to a recent three-day vacation I took on a cruise line that absolutely confirmed that our standards of customer service are affected by the slow economy, especially when we are cutting staff to save money.

Do yourself a favor — don’t give in to this philosophy. Raise your standards of customer service and don’t skimp on this. It will affect your business.

As I stated, my wife and I recently went on a cruise and experienced the worst time of our lives.

Sure, the shows were great, the food was outstanding, we enjoyed the ports of call, and the entertainment brought laughter to our three-day trip.

However, we were located right under the kitchen and were kept awake all night every night. When we called the service desk, we were told that this is not true. We also were told that they stop working at 10 p.m.

We even had a drycleaning situation in which they didn’t press my jacket and, when I called that evening, they said that they would have someone come right up. Not only did they not come back that night, they woke us up at 6:40 a.m. to pick it up.

Dinner took two hours and, when we asked our deck supervisor for help, he stated that we are humans. Well, what the heck were we?

On a recent flight, I was detoured and stuck on a runway for 4 1⁄2 hours, waiting for some sort of movement.

After about the third hour, I asked the attendant if I could have a coke and some peanuts or pretzels. She responded by saying that if I do it for you, I have to do it for everybody and then proceeded to ask me who else would do that. I told her that Southwest would and she laughed as if this weren’t true.

Restaurant stories would end up filling this whole newspaper, but I think you get my point. Consumers are just as frustrated with the economy as we are, but this doesn’t give us the right to cut back in order to stay alive. Other industries continue to do this and it is like they are admitting defeat. Also, we all think that this is just a passing storm if we simply ride it out, we will be OK in the end.

Many of you know that I do not own a drycleaning operation, so easy for me to sit in my luxurious Comfort Inn Hotel bed, eat a bowl of Cheerios and simply rant about how easy this is.

OK, I can admit that I make it sound so simple; however, I look at your business with the eyes of a customer. I just feel that there is no excuse — none — for poor customer relations.

I quite often fight with operators in this area. Labor is the easiest to manage I am told. But labor percentages do not reflect the affect on the customer. I know you have to monitor your costs. But at what cost to the business?

I visited a drycleaner recently where the counter person was also the bagger in back. Every time a customer came in to the store, I would have to go back and alert the employee.

One time, a customer told me that she waited four minutes just to get someone’s attention. No matter how good your product is, poor service will dilute the overall value of your company.

Here are some simple ways to increase your levels of service:

1. Get to know your customers by name.

2. Greet all customers, even when you are busy.

3. Ask your customers how you can service them better.

4. When you screw up, make it right and fix it right away.

5. Take care of those who take care of your customers.

6. Strive for perfection.

7. Educate and train your staff.

8. Communicate more with your customer with retention in mind.

9. Welcome all new customers.

10. Don’t do what your competition does.

Don’t lower your standards of servicing clients; in fact, raise them as well as your marketing effort. Make it apparent to your customers and to your competition that you are rising above the flood waters on your way to a successful 2009 and beyond.