CHICAGO — Nothing stands still in the drycleaning industry. New technology, equipment and changing demographics can keep cleaners constantly on their toes, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t lessons to be carried forward from the past.
In Part 1 of this series, we explored the importance of maintaining the personal touch when interacting with customers, and today, we’ll continue by exploring the role of trust in the cleaner/customer relationship, and the impact company culture can have on those efforts.
Trust is the Product
Customer loyalty in dry cleaning is built on a simple transaction: a person hands over something they care about and trusts that it will come back cleaned to their expectations. When it doesn’t, the operator’s response matters as much as the mistake itself.
“Building and maintaining the trust with the client, managing expectations and keeping the communication open is critical,” says Andre Lobato, vice president of La Nouvelle Fine Cleaners in Denver, Colorado. “They know that we stand behind everything we do. We’re not going to make excuses. If something goes awry, we’re going to take care of it.”
That trust is what keeps La Nouvelle’s customers coming back, even as their wardrobes change.
“It’s because they know we do it right,” he says. “There’s a cost associated with that, but our client base understands that good things cost money. They’re protecting their investment just like we are.”
Gary Maloney, president and owner of Nu-Yale Cleaners in Jeffersonville, Indiana, sees the same pattern. Customers will leave, try his competitors and then come back.
“Your day-to-day stuff, you probably don’t get credit for it,” he says. “But when people have something they care about, that’s when they know we know what we’re doing.”
It’s hard to reduce that loyalty to a formula, Maloney says.
“I don’t think you can say here’s one, two and three,” he says. “It’s all those little things that add up and make a difference.”
That accumulation of small things, Maloney believes, is also what makes a good independent operator so hard to compete against.
“If you’re competing against a one-shop operator who’s at the front counter themselves, they don’t even have to be that good,” he says. “They care, and they talk to people, and people think they’re good. Their perception is that they’re being taken care of.”
Passing It Down
Foundational standards only survive if they are transmitted to the next generation of employees.
Lobato credits La Nouvelle’s culture, which operates like a family because, in many cases, it literally is one. His father, a current dry cleaner, retires this year. Sisters, parents and children of longtime employees work alongside each other.
“The glue is our culture,” he says. “We have lots of generations working here. It helps everyone hold each other accountable. That standard can be passed down and then nurtured. It really boils down to the culture and having a good, well-rounded crew.”
That culture shows up in how garments move through the plant. When a piece needs special attention, the team member who took it in takes full responsibility.
“That initial person who had the contact is going to follow it through all the stages to make sure everything gets done,” Lobato says. “They go above and beyond their actual job to care for that piece.”
Maloney sees industry education, particularly online courses offered by organizations such as the Drycleaning & Laundry Institute (DLI), as a tool for reinforcing fundamentals.
“I couldn’t hardly beg somebody to go to New Jersey for the in-person classes,” he says. “But these online courses, they’ve come out, and I’ve been impressed. They are as good as the ones I sent to New Jersey.”
For Maloney, maintaining quality is part of every team member’s job description.
Recently, a driver picked up garments that had been pressed by mistake, drove them back and had them folded again, all at no charge, when the simpler solution was to leave them with the customer and explain the error.
“This guy’s been here 20 years,” Maloney says. “You keep teaching it every week.”
Maloney sees the same principle at work on the production floor. Quality, to him, is less about any single technique and more about managing the chain of hands that touches every garment.
“We don’t put rockets on the moon,” he says. “But all these little details make a difference. There are a lot of people who touch a garment from the time you pick it up, mark it in, clean it, put it back together and take it back to the stores. If anybody in that chain does something wrong, it’s a failure.”
Come back Thursday for the conclusion of this series, where we’ll look at how to maintain classic client service in a world of automation and evolving customer demands. For Part 1 of this series, click HERE.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Dave Davis at [email protected].
