National Clothesline

They were beaming with pride at IFI as cleaners and trade They were beaming with pride at IFI as cleaners and trade association representatives assembled to see the association’s new headquarters last month, and well they should have. The new home was the fruit of months of vision, planning and, most of all, good old-fashioned hard work. It’s hard to believe, looking around the new headquarters, that the old place was actually larger in terms of square footage. The new place, although 75 percent the size of the old, feels more spacious since it was designed to fit the working requirements of IFI today, not those of 30 years ago, which was the vintage of the old place.

The feeling of openness is no more evident than in the training area where cleaning machines, presses and spotting boards await drycleaners of both the present and future who want to hone their skills to compete in an evermore demanding market. The mix of equipment, much of it donated by companies in the industry, offers a full range of current cleaning technologies in an environment that should be most conducive to learning. The only problem we could foresee might be that students, upon returning home after a week or two in the IFI environment, may feel their own workplace could use a makeover. But that would not really be a bad thing now, would it?

Full credit must go to IFI CEO Bill Fisher for the hundreds of hours of detail work that went into this transformation — from the sale of the old property to the purchase of the new, to the design and planning and, finally, getting everything in place. For Fisher, it was the second time around since he was involved in the last move, too, which took place 30 years ago. Experience, it appears, has been a good teacher. And not to be overlooked is the work put in by the IFI staff above and beyond their normal duties to get their new house in order. They have built something that they can be proud of, and all of the industry can share in that pride.

The recent presidential election may not have been as close as the one in 2000, but many experts still found it difficult to predict a winner. The reason for that was simple: the all-important “undecided” vote was a large x-factor. It was anyone’s guess how that cluster of the voting public would cast their ballots. For the most part, such voters found it difficult to like one candidate more than the other. All of the negative campaigning had shaken their confidence to the point where neither presidential hopeful seemed like the clear choice.

In a way, the world of politics is not that different than the world of business, especially when it comes to a service-oriented profession such as drycleaning. After all, there are a lot of consumers out there who have yet to cast their vote. Many are still searching for a cleaners who can earn their trust. Until that happens, they will simply settle for the a cleaner based on price or location and continue to keep looking for a long-term option that can provide them with the service they want.

With that in mind, every first-time customer that walks into your plant is, at the very least, undecided. Until you turn them into a loyal customer, your competition has an easy opportunity to steal them away. As Dennis McCrory writes this month (on page 16), “Each and every time your service is delivered can make the difference of whether it will be a one-time event or the beginning of a lifetime relationship with that particular customer.”

He also notes that what makes or breaks each customer transaction is a simple concept: value. You might think that your plant offers value, but it’s not really up to you to make that decision. Every customer has their own definition of what constitutes a valuable service experience and it’s your job is to discover what that is and then deliver it to them.

Of course, many factors can contribute toward a valuable experience: fast and friendly service, stellar spotting, convenient hours, and a professional appearance, for starters. Nowadays, customers expect — and want — more than that. As one of countless cleaners in the market, you must find a way to stand out in order to gain a loyal customer base. You must somehow prove to be the extraordinary option — offering the best possible service — so that your customers won’t really have a choice anymore. In their eyes, you will be the only candidate that matters.