POMPANO BEACH, Fla. — Affiliates and guests of America’s Best Cleaners™ (ABC) recently spent two days here for networking and skills-sharing. Theme of the national affiliate meeting was “Client Focus.”
Attendees from across the United States and Canada met to exchange professional knowledge and industry best practices, as well as listen to experts from outside the drycleaning industry on ways to improve client communications, ABC reports.
The meeting kicked off with a tour of local Affiliate Wooven’s production facility. The 8,000-square-foot facility constructed in 2013 won Grand Prize in the 54th Annual Plant Design Awards competition conducted by American Drycleaner. It features state-of-the-art European drycleaning, wetcleaning, and laundry capabilities.
Also at the meeting, awards were presented to ABC affiliates. Puritan Cleaners of Richmond, Va., was recognized Best of the Best for 2015 for consistently having the highest scores in all areas of review, notes ABC.
Other awards:
- Outstanding Client Focus, 2015, based on results of independent secret-shopper reports: Owl Cleaners, Pittsburgh; Puritan Cleaners; and The Cleanery, Albuquerque, N.M.
- Best Garment Quality: French Cleaners of West Hartford, Conn., and Door-to-Door Valet Cleaners of Los Angeles.
- Best Client Service: Ablitt’s Fine Cleaners of Santa Barbara, Calif.
All current Affiliates received rewards for recognition by ABC.
Chris White, ABC partner and executive director, introduced the organization’s new social media strategy, which is headed by popular social media speaker, trainer and author Peg Fitzpatrick. In line with the meeting’s focus on client communications, White outlined the new strategy and explained how Affiliates can use the ABC brand to boost their own online messaging.
Nick Chapleau and James Christman of Starchup presented their on-demand route app to offer further technology to reach clients.
Members of the ABC executive team presented several discussions on client focus, and White gave a well-received talk on client profiling.
ABC Partner and Director of Operations Catherine McCann followed with a highly informative discussion about the millennial client, covering both how they are impacting the drycleaning business and how they wish to receive marketing and service messages.
Katherine McGraw Patterson, ABC’s marketing strategist, presented how defining a company’s brand can enhance clients’ overall experience with a business as well as strengthen marketing messages.
America's Best Cleaners™ is an independent certification organization for the drycleaning industry.
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