CHICAGO — Texting and POS seem to almost be symbiotic — they help each other and work together.
Many drycleaning owners across the country have POS and texting ability but some don’t. Some are still learning the game. Trying to understand how it all works together. Mike Bleier, owner of the Greener Cleaner in Chicago, can’t seem to separate his texting service from his POS.
“My thoughts on text messaging? Sorry for the head-to-head comparisons but I really can’t separate my text messaging experience from my POS experience.
“Your POS system can make text messaging incredibly powerful and simple, or just another hassle to have to deal with,” he says, and gives his own example of software he uses: “SMRT has made text messaging a huge part of our customer communication strategy.”
Text messages, he relates, get immediate and positive responses.
“Texts get read,” he says, “e-mails simply get ignored. In an age where customers’ inboxes are filled with dozens or hundreds of e-mail messages per day, the ability to send a message directly to someone’s phone is unbelievably powerful.”
But one thing to note, he advises, “We do not use text messaging for marketing. I’ve found that is one way to get your number banned. We use text messaging to send business-related notifications.”
That’s a word to the wise from a drycleaning owner who is using texting full-time, all day, everyday, to connect with his drycleaning clients. But he’s not telling you the only lesson to be learned here.
As far as another “lesson learned” about texting at your drycleaning business, Tonny Walden, CEO of Norman, Okla.-based Walden Cleaners, reminds you to: “Watch what your employees are texting and set some strict guidelines about what they send to your customers.
“There is such a thing as text etiquette! What one might think is funny, another might not, and through a text there is no emotion, no human voice like on a phone call, so your customers might not take it as joking,” he notes.
For his Walden’s drycleaning operation in Oklahoma, today, texting with customers has made a real difference.
“Texting has been a complete game-changer for running our day-to-day operations! Just the basics alone, like texting customers that their orders are ready for pickup, and asking simple questions, has streamlined our process!”
For our other drycleaning owner weighing in on the text takeover who answered questions for this article by e-mail, he adds this amusing aside: “Just in the typing of this, I’ve quickly stopped and texted with at least five customers — one about a special pickup request for an office; another had a question about a fur item for storage; and yet another customer has moved and wants service at her new address. And this was all in the last 10 minutes!”
Message received!
The words in this article’s headline: I ♥ Texting mean simply that owners today have found another way to conveniently serve their clients.
Text messaging is taking over mostly because it provides the following bennies: Ease of use for you and your team; it’s right at your clients’ fingertips on their cell phone; it allows for speedy interaction; and, there’s no more standing in line at the counter, because by texting ahead, lines become empty.
How many of your clients, and you, would love no more lines? Probably everyone!
Walden passes along this concluding thought for those of you who are considering adding texting service at your drycleaning operation: “If you are afraid of texting don’t be. It is the way of the future for communicating and I promise you, your customers will love it!”
To read Part 1, go HERE.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Dave Davis at [email protected].