Become Someone with Whom Others Want to Do Business
As an equipment distributor, I have met and interviewed quite a few laundry owners in my 30 years or so in the industry. Some of them are what I would describe as interesting people, while others… not so much.
What’s my definition of “interesting?” For me, this means individuals who are friendly, knowledgeable on several subjects, have superior listening skills – and, in general, are enthusiastic and curious about their industry, their customers, their employees, their marketing techniques and just the world in general.
The store owners I would place in the less-than-interesting category seem to have limited amounts of the previously mentioned qualities, but also demonstrate a lack of enthusiasm toward their laundry business. In general terms, these people view their businesses as dull and repetitive, and their attendants (and often their customers as well) as necessary evils. They’re often unimaginative, not extremely creative or curious, and lack enthusiasm about their occupation and the world around them.
If my premise is correct, which I strongly believe it to be, the logical conclusion is – to make more money and run a more successful laundry – make yourself more interesting. If you do, customers will naturally gravitate to you and your business – that’s how humans work; they follow the path of least resistance.
Interesting laundry owners seem to be more successful largely because they attract more customers and boast more income streams than those operators I would label as not very interesting.
Here’s a tip: Become a master of self-promotion (but in a socially acceptable manner, of course). Over the years, I’ve discovered that most people – children and adults alike – love magic tricks. Therefore, if you spend some time mastering a few simple but amazing magic tricks to perform for your customers, you likely will get more of them to patronize your laundry. Remember, kids will always be your best advocates, asking their mom or dad to take them specifically to your store because of the cool magic tricks you can do (or whatever other fun activities you can incorporate to set your business apart from the competition). Yes, it sounds simple and a little bit out of the box, but it works.
Have you ever heard of the term “Kaizen?” It’s the Chinese and Japanese term for continuous improvement. It was originally introduced to the Western world in 1986 by Masaaki Imai in his book entitled, “Kaizen: The Key to Japan’s Competitive Success.”
Today, Kaizen is accepted throughout the world as a pillar of an organization’s long-term competitive strategy. When used in a business sense, it pertains to employing specific activities that are designed to continually improve all functions of top management, as well as other members of the company.
Here’s another tip: Start your own Kaizen program, focused on making yourself more interesting. It should consist of many small, positive changes over time.
Here are six Kaizen goals to shoot for:
• Develop a chronic positive attitude that is obvious by your communication style.
• Utilize a “Glad to See You” greeting on a regular basis when customers visit your store.
• When talking with customers, always search for areas of agreement and not contradiction.
• Get great at remembering names. But don’t name drop, no matter how many important or famous people you might know.
• Say less – and let customers say more.
• Develop a genuine interest in the lives of your customers.
If you can improve in just those six areas mentioned above, you will create a charming new you, which your customers will find refreshing.
Unfortunately, many laundry owners suffer from what I call “demographic reliance syndrome.” In other words, they take their customers for granted simply because these customers live in close geographic proximity to their stores. Don’t be one of these operators. After all, customers are mobile, and if your laundry is unappealing to them, they will simply drive to your competitor.
Moments spent with customers are valuable and offer great opportunities for you to become their favorite laundry owner. Look for ways to create more of those moments.
And make every moment a monument.
#BusinessManagement #PlanetLaundry #Article #TheBusinessMind #Public
