In this time of economic instability, each dry cleaning store needs to stand out from the competition. There are key steps that must be in place to ensure that you are the best. One of the most cost effective ways to improve your business is through positive and engaging attitudes from owners to employees, ensuring this starts from the top. Treating your employees with respect makes them feel they are valued as a person and as an employee. Each employee should emulate this positive and engaging attitude. Have your employees look smart in front of customers, well dressed or maybe in uniforms; let them vote on a couple of choices, again letting them know that you value their input. This fosters a positive attitude and when they take a personal interest in the store, they become an engaged part of your team. By making them a team member, you are giving them a voice. By giving them a voice, they ultimately become your extended eyes, ears, ensuring your customers’ needs are met to their satisfaction, and the business grows. To show you appreciate them for their professionalism, provide them with occasional employee rewards I.e. (drinks or lunch) and solicit their input in the future.

If there is a bad apple, get rid of it. It only takes one person to bring down an entire team. Get rid of dead weight. Make sure that those valued employees who are left are properly skilled and are aware of the team that holds the store together. Employees that feel respected and part of a team are more likely to show up every day, give 110% while they are there, and do not feel the need to pad their hours. They are happy with their employment and know they are fortunate to have a “good job” in a respectful work environment.

 Are you doing your best to make sure that your employees are properly skilled in customer care? Their training not only needs to be in the technical areas but also in how to take care of your customers. Your employees should know who their customers are, I.e. about their families, about their personal lives and about their garments. You should have an express drop off; have a checklist of your customer’s likes and dislikes for their garments right in front of you. Your customers have already invested in their wardrobe and want to know that your business cares about it just as much as they do. A great example of this is at a local coffee shop where my coffee is waiting for me when I walk in the door, they see me pull up and know what I want and how I want it. That is real quality personal care service. A customer who feels that the reason your business opened today was to take care of them will be loyal. That customer will then become your biggest publicity billboard and word of mouth advertising; this is the best and least expensive form. Any business who can offer quality personal care to their customers will grow their business.       
  
 “Excel in this area of service and you will succeed.”  

Another point to consider is those who do handle customers at the counter need to be at their top of the game. If they are having a noticeably bad day then they do not belong in the front helping your customers; this is a recipe for disaster. You cannot always be “the nice guy”; but you can control this in a way you will feel comfortable. After all, you should know your employees. 

Smile: Greet every customer this way! It conveys a sense of comfort to those who come through your door and sets you apart from the competition. Trust me on this one.

Ask Caring Questions: How are you today? How was your weekend? How is your family? Are there any details you want to bring to our attention?

Pay Attention to the Customer: When the customer is walking into the cleaners, they should get your most complete attention. The idle talk should stop between employees; the customer is number one. It is all about him or her now, and if you are currently working with customers, quickly acknowledge him or her and say you will be right with them.  

When times are slow cross training is another task to consider. Make sure you have two or three employees that are capable enough to move into any position when you have someone who is out. This keeps any one employee from feeling as if they are irreplaceable. It also fosters team spirit.  

This is also the time to look at all aspects of your business and evaluate if they are running at their best productivity. Although most owners look at a slow period and think it’s time to tighten down, a true business owner looks at this time to expand and then repair those issues that have gotten out of hand during the busy times and were not able to be dealt with properly.  

Some owners of well-established cleaners put the emphasis on money, which is a necessary thing, after all that is why you are running a store, to make a profit and have a positive cash flow. However, the owner who neglects his or her store in these economic times will be out of business. To avoid this from happening, keep your cleaners in a respectable state at all times, from the front to the back, always maintain your equipment that processes the garments, take pride in the appearance of your delivery vehicles, and lastly, avoid skimping on the repairs that you need to keep you in good shape. At some point, you will get to where skimping will not do it anymore and that turns into thousands of dollars to fix a problem. Then you are just fighting just to keep the doors open. It does not have to cost a tremendous amount of money to address the small changes that are necessary to produce maximum results. You need to make some changes if you really want to make it through the next couple of years.      

The owner must be able to invest the time to correctly train all employees and maintain a presentable store at all times. If you are not able to, bring someone in who can assist you by doing an analysis of your store to help. Bringing in a consultant should not be viewed as an expense, but as an investment in your dry cleaners! In these slow times, here are some ideas to consider looking into:

  • observation survey 
  • employee analysis 
  • customer referral analysis 
  • marketing ideas 




 


Personal Care for Dry Cleaners Paramount 
The Cleaners Consultants Published June 2009
Written by James Smith
Article Published 
By 
"American DryCleaner"
James Smith is founding partner of The Cleaners Consultants (TCC), based in Palm Coast, FL he has held positions with several operators in the New York metro area, and has experience in all aspects of plant operations: spotting, cleaning and pressing; production and quality control; sales and inventory; and regulatory compliance.
Contact James Smith by telephone at 386.449.9618
or e-mail tcc@thecleanersconsultants.com.