The State of the Laundry Industry

Secret Ingredient to Laundry Service Success

November 08, 2023 Laundry 'Matt' Season 1 Episode 65
The State of the Laundry Industry
Secret Ingredient to Laundry Service Success
Show Notes Transcript

How do you attract new wash and fold customers, keep the customers you have, build your online reputation, increase word of mouth, and maintain stellar quality? You need a tank full of GAS!

Featuring:
Bubbles & Bleach Laundry Service in Visalia California
Columbus Express Laundry Service in Ohio

Show Notes

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Speaker 1:

The secret ingredient to successful companies is gas, which stands for giving a crap. We have hundreds of clients across the country, and the ones that rise to the top are the ones with gas. And you could tell when we interview different laundry owners that they have gas, they care about their customer, and we are in a service industry. When there's a problem, do you try and make it right or do you have the mindset of, well, if they're not happy, don't worry. There'll be another customer coming in through the door. Well, it turns out with your online reputation with providing a good service for word of mouth, for customer retention, which are all essential components of laundry service, laundry, pickup , and delivery, you need gas, you need a care. And then not only do you need a care, but you need to look at your team. Do your employees care? Do they have gas? If there's a lint sheet on the ground or dryer sheet on the ground, are they gonna pick it up or do they walk right past it? Do they see their problems? When a customer has a problem, do they see that as their problem? So it's really important to look around your organization and make sure that everybody cares, because ultimately that's what's gonna determine your long-term success. In a previous interview with Randy Roberts from Columbus Express, he said, I don't just look for vendors, I look for partners.

Speaker 2:

We think we're with the right partner. Again, I use the word partner, not vendor.

Speaker 1:

And really, I think what he's saying is he's looking for vendors or partners that care about him that want him to achieve success. And at curbside laundries, that's what we're all about. The more success our clients have, the better we do, the better they do, the better everybody does. You wanna work with vendors or partners who are looking out for your success. Just last month, I was at the Teeters Products Show over in Ohio, and you could tell when you hear the speeches from the founders and from the CEO , they love their customers. They're looking out for their customer success. You look at full text , the folding machines, it's a great, great product, but one of the reasons why it's getting so much traction in the wash and fold business and industry is because that company stands behind their products and they want their customers to be successful with their product. They're not just looking to sell it. They also support it. And the same goes with software. At Curbside Laundry , it's not only do we provide software, but we also help our clients rank well on Google so they could get business that way. We have office hours. Our phone lines are always open, so they could ask about how do , how do you price a commercial quote, how do I expand my pickup and delivery route into new areas? We're constantly helping our clients to be as successful as possible. On the flip side, one of our competitors has an app where when the laundry customer downloads it, the first question says, enter the name of the laundromat that you wish to use the laundry service from, or be tap here to find the closest laundromat to you. Think about that from the laundry owner's point of view. You got that customer to your website that is hard to do, and they download your app and then your app is referring your competitor to your customer. And now you didn't even know that customer went to your website and now they're placing orders through your competition. That's crazy. Talking about gas, do you give a you know blank about your customers? Well, that is not having gas. If you're setting your clients up for failure, their app is referring the competitors that is not caring about your customer. So there's another software company out there, and we just got a demo request from somebody using it. Said, I'm currently using blank software and I hate it. Their programming is not streamlined and it feels patchwork together. I reach out to my rep on a regular basis with issues. They're always having to do some weird programming because there's a hidden menu that I didn't realize that was there. As the admin, I don't have full access to my account and I frequently need my rep to make changes for me, because I don't have access, I just don't feel like I should have this many issues with something I'm paying so much for. I have a colleague in New York who highly recommends curbside laund software. Reason why I'm sharing that is to really care about your customer, you need to drink your own Kool-Aid. You need to be in the business and use your own product. If you're just creating a product and you're not using it, and also for wash and fold , that goes for it as well. If you're providing wash and fold pickup and delivery, you should try your own service. See how it works, make sure the quality is good. And the same goes with software. There's so many details in wash and fold and pick up and delivery. If you're not in it and you're not in the business, good luck making software that reflects the needs of laundry owners. To learn more about the curbside, laundries, wash and fold and pick up and delivery solution, go to curbside laundries.com. And don't forget to click, like subscribe, and please share this episode with your friends. See you next time.