National Clothesline

By Bill Bogus

Is the friendly hard-working Mom and Dad concept of drycleaning disappearing? No, it is not. Mom and Dad take good care of cleaning customers’ clothes, and customers take care of Mom and Dad by being loyal customers. It’s like a family built on appreciation and trust.

For Mom and Dad, it goes beyond cleaning, especially for Mom on finished garments. She is fussy on details; even a hanging loose thread bothers her. Mom wants the garments to be more pleasing, just like a mother feels when dressing up her little daughter in a beautiful party dress for the first time. She smiles, brushes away a tear and says, “Honey, you are beautiful.”

Mom and Dad provide a personalized service that giant-sized drycleaners cannot match. Although they both know the clothes they clean belong to somebody, Mom and Dad know who that somebody is. And, that makes a big difference.

Of course, we know that loyalty doesn’t last forever. There are reasons why we lose loyal customers. We can lose them for other reasons than drycleaning. The reasons could be job related, retirement or personal crisis. Loyalty is not forcible and there is no contractual agreement or promise. It is based on the willingness to provide unabated service to all customers.

It takes effort and determination to establish customer loyalty that can only be activated and acquired in a friendly manner. You cannot demand loyalty; it is more about giving than taking. Customers respond with appreciation and trust. Loyalty is what helps make the customers you have stay with you longer.

All regular customers should be treated and appreciated as loyal customers. Practicing loyalty begins at the counter, where customers are greeted and needed. Friendly counter personnel make friendly customers.

Now, loyalty in the workplace where cleaning and pressing is done begins with management that needs to have a caring commitment to the employees. Management must recognize workers’ capabilities and provide help for those who need it. Criticism is not helpful. Management must provide employees with the information they need to become better workers so that their skills will not produce shoddy work.

Loyal employees are your most important asset; they will make your business become more worthy and help attract loyal customers.

For those who are in management, when an employee makes a mistake, don’t bash him with anger and criticism. Say nothing. Start thinking why the mistake was made and how to correct it.

Better yet, accept the responsibility for the mistake so that both of you are wrong and then you both start apologizing to each other for the mistake. You may hear the employee say, “No, it is my fault.” Even when nothing is said, the employee knows that the mistake was his. And most important, a messy emotional situation was avoided and brought out a better management and employee relationship.

When employees ask questions, they want to learn. Management must have answers to these questions. Who do they ask? There is only one source. The International Fabricare Institute has been answering questions (and still is) for more than 90 years. Give your employee the right answer; call IFI.

The same goes for customer relations. Customers ask questions and want answers. The wrong answer can ignite an argument. When you win an argument, you lose a customer. Arguments provide no benefits; customers do.