Clerks or customer service reps?
ince my exit from
being an owner/operator of several drycleaning, laundry and
tailoring businesses to the field of consulting, teaching,
training and engineering, I have had many varied experiences
with counter operators who are usually referred to as clerks,
counter girls, counter men and last, but not least, customer
service representatives (CSRs).
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The first experience was with the
owner/manager of a franchise. Since I am a former GI and
Marine, I like my cotton shirts, pants and walking shorts
heavily starched. I admit that this is not the norm here in
southeast Florida as it is in other parts of the southern and
western United States. I told the counter “clerk”
that I wanted all my cotton garments with heavy starch and the
silk shirts pressed only (since I had hand washed them and
fluffed out any wrinkles in a warm dryer).
The “clerk” invoiced all the
garments on one document and did not indicate the heavy starch
that I requested. I did not notice this until I came home, so I
called the store and spoke to the “clerk” about my
request and reminded her to see that it was handled when marked
in. She said she would see to it.
When I called for the order I did not
check it at the counter, but I did check it when I got home.
Well, to my sorrow, none of the cotton
shorts were laundered, let alone starched, and the silk
shirt’s collar was rolled back to expose the inner
facing. The silk shirt had a beautiful, balled-up tissue
stuffed inside the collar area to make a nice presentation, but
the collar was not finished properly.
I took the shorts back with my invoice to
the store to remind them that my request for heavy starch was
not fulfilled.
The original “clerk” was not
there, but another “clerk” waited on me. She said
that there was no indication on the invoice that I asked for
“wet press,” and they did not starch pants at that
plant. As a customer, should I have known about “wet
press”?
I asked why that wasn’t told to me
when I put the clothes in, and I got no reply. The
owner/manager was also at the counter waiting on another
customer, and he must have overheard my conversation with the
“clerk.”
After his customer left the store, I
walked over to him and complained about the oversight and asked
him to put the shorts back for a “do over.” He was
insistent that I should have asked for “wet
press.”
I remarked that asking for heavy starch
certainly means “wet press” or laundry process
since I noticed that his plant had a hot head unit last year
when it was being installed. I told him who I was, but he was
not impressed. He remarked that he did not do that type of
work, but the next time I came in he would do what I asked. Is
that confusing? There will be no next time.
I now realize that his version of
“wet press” was to either dryclean or wet clean the
garment and then finish it on a hot head unit (polished head
with buck steam and vacuum).
My frustration is the fact that the
owner/manager did not offer to satisfy me right away with a
“do over” invoice at no charge since I had paid
full price upon the initial delivery. By the way, this is not
the first time that I have experienced an uncaring
owner/manager in southeast Florida.
The second experience a few weeks later
was just as frustrating. I walked into another cleaner that I
know had the equipment for finishing starched pants and
proceeded to deposit my cotton shorts for heavy starch.
Well, the “clerk” was engaging
in a humorous scuffle with an older gentlemen behind the
counter involving the transfer of money to her. I waited for a
few minutes for the scuffle to end, but it continued until I
said “hello, here I am.”
The “clerk” walked over to the
counter and asked for my phone number. After finding me on her
computer she asked what I had to put in. I called off the four
pairs of shorts and two shirts, and I then asked for heavy
starch. She invoiced the garments and then asked for the
payment in advance since that was the procedure for this
discount operation.
When I left the store with my receipted
invoice copy, and I started to get into my car, I happened to
look at the invoice to make sure that I was getting the shorts
starched.
To my dismay, I did not notice any
notation about the heavy starch, so I walked back into the
store and asked the “clerk” to confirm the
starching to me. She was waiting on another customer at the
time, but she remarked that the starching would be given.
When I got home I decided to call the
store since I was worried that the person marking in the orders
would not know about my request since my clothes were shoved
into a counter bag as soon as they were invoiced.
My call was answered by a man who said
that the “clerk” who waited on me was gone for the
day. I told him why I was calling, that I wanted to make sure
that the marker designated the order for heavy starch.
He said: “Don’t worry about
it.” He then hung up on me. By the way, my order will
take exactly one full week to process. I was not asked if that
time was all right; I was told that it was one week. That was
it. Is this customer service? I think not.
One week later, on my day promised (after
5 p.m.), I sent my wife in to pick up my order since I
didn’t want to ever go into that store again. When she
got home I checked the order and, to my dismay but certainly
expected, one shirt was lightly starched, the other shirt was
not starched at all, and the four shorts were drycleaned. Is
this customer service? I think not.
Why should I get the same treatment from a
full price cleaner as I get from a discount cleaner? The only
difference in the two was in the packaging.
I didn’t mention the name of the two
plants, but you know who you are, and I hope this is a wake up
call for better supervision of your CSRs and your attitude
toward customers. As my father always said: “It’s
the complaints you don’t get that are damaging to your
business.”
Doing it right
Now let me compare the
“clerks” with a “customer service
representative” (CSR) that I have had a pleasant
experience with.
In my recent consulting assignment I was
most impressed with the way this CSR handled her customers. A
big smile and pleasant greeting was given before any business
was conducted with the customer.
Each garment was quickly
“eyeballed” for stains and damages, and the stains
were taped with a descriptive spot tag attached after
questioning the customer. Garments were quickly placed into
groups of five (maximum) for separate invoicing.
The CSR asked the customer which type of
service he/she preferred (regular, special, etc.). If the
customer was new, the CSR explained the types of service
offered.
Before invoicing the order, the CSR
offered the customer a “quick receipt” in lieu of a
detailed and priced invoice to save time.
The marker would then prepare the detailed
and priced invoice if the CSR did not have the opportunity to
prepare it.
As a final gesture of gratitude the CSR
gave the customer a big, warm smile and said: “Thank you
very much.” This store was very busy, but the CSR showed
both patience and professionalism toward her customers. Good
training paid off.
The owners/managers took great pains and
effort in training their CSRs in not only the mechanics of
operating the counter operations and handling cash, checks and
credit cards, but, most important of all, the art of projecting
themselves onto the customer with all the pleasantness and
charisma possible. The customers are “king and
queen,” and the CSRs knew it.
The selection of the candidate is the
critical beginning of the training program. Through
conversation with the candidate, the interviewer can foresee
the inborn traits that the candidate must possess to make
her/him personable, warm and charming.
How do you find this person, you ask?
He/she is out there, but you have to offer the same rate of pay
that you would give the spotter or presser. Remember, if you
pay peanuts, you get monkeys. My CSRs were mature, well-paid
and motivated men and women who were dressed like salespersons
rather than factory workers. In this regard, having a nice
shirt with your plant’s name embroidered on it and a name
tag to identify the CSR would suffice.
I remember that a plant in western Canada,
“Paige, The Cleaner,” had his CSRs dressed in a
fitted, length slightly above the knee, gray skirts with a
white blouse with his company name embroidered on one side and
the CSR’s name on the other side, with flesh-colored hose
and short-heeled slippers. These women were not only
attractive, they had all the necessary attributes to make for a
perfect example of customer service. They drew male customers
like a magnet.
Just like children who follow the ways of
their parents, if the owner/manager does not care about
customer service, then the employees will also not care.
Only through constant training and
reminding will the candidate become a successful and productive
CSR. There must be role playing to review all types of
situations at the counter, and this training must be repeated
time and again for reinforcement. As they say in the military:
“Training never stops; it’s a continuous
process.”
I have repeated, many times, the fact that
a boss must be present at all times. That is the big reason for
the success of my client who hired me recently to fine tune the
parts of his business that were not quite as familiar to him
since his tenure has been short lived. However, he already
knows about customer service, personnel management and the
acquisition of the highest quality workmanship. These qualities
enabled him to build a high volume of dedicated customers.
Who meets the customer and is looked to
for answers to everything, the cleaner/spotter, the presser,
the assembly person? It’s the CSR, not the
“clerk.”
Note: My spotting video, “The
Caplan Method of Stain Removal,” which includes my
comprehensive text and handy spotting board reference available
in English, Spanish and Korean (video only in Korean) from the
Golomb Group, c/o Dennis McCrory, 7664 Plaza Court,
Willowbrook, IL 60521, phone (800) 679-5856. A lecture and
demonstration are presented similar to my classes over the
years at IFI and SDA. This video and text are ideal for
training inexperienced spotters as well as a good review for
experienced spotters. Digesting with enzymes, bleaching,
oxidized oil stains and caramelized sugar stains are discussed
and demonstrated. An article on “Removing Spots in the
Cleaning Machine” and an article on “How to
Increase Production in the Spotting Department” are
included in the comprehensive text book.
Also available from the Golomb Group, in
English and Spanish, is my video on step-by-step shirt
finishing which includes my comprehensive text in loose-leaf
form outlining each procedure for single-operator and
two-operator cabinet shirt unit using a cabinet sleeve press.
Proper forming of the collar using heated collar formers is
demonstrated. Each lay is demonstrated for top quality with
very little effort by the operators. Attractive detailing and
packaging of the hangered shirt, padding, steam pressures and
timing are all discussed. A unique wash formula for whiter
whites and brighter colors and removal of grease and body oils
is included in the loose-leaf text book.
My experience with shirts spans over 55
years with US Army as a principal laundry and dry-cleaning
concessionaire at Ft. Meade, MD, where average shirt volume was
approximately 10,000 per day. We were constantly
“sampled” for excellent quality in both finishing
and washing in laundry and drycleaning and in tailoring. We
operated our own 40,000-sq.-ft. plant for over 35 years.
Stan Caplan has over 35 years experience
in his own high volume dry-cleaning, laundry and tailoring
plant and two package plants with adjoining coin-operated
laundry and drycleaning. Stan is the former chief instructor at
the International Fabricare Institute, the Southwest
Drycleaners Association and various other trade
association-sponsored schools throughout the US and courses in
Canada, Mexico, South Africa, Singapore and Hong Kong. Stan
offers consulting, training and engineering services in all
areas from customer service area to the boiler room since 1981.
His complete system withtotal quality management will produce
maximum efficiency, economy and product excellent quality. Stan can be reached at 3601 Clarks Lane, Suite
307, Baltimore, MD 21215-2731, phone/fax (410) 358-0870. His e-mail address is stancap100@aol.com.
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