Eastern Funding hosted a capacity crowd at its most recent Laundry Improvement Workshop in Melville, N.Y. This event, which was the fifth in the series, was attended by a cross section of the laundry industry – including owners, potential investors, local distributors and others. According to the company, laundry owners accounted for about two-thirds of the audience.
The workshop started off with Eastern Funding’s Executive Vice President Brian Grell taking attendees through a list of ways to upgrade their facilities. His main focus, however, was on customer service. The need to properly hire, train and compensate attendees was emphasized. Audience members shared their strategies for providing the best customer service to their laundromat customers.
One of the most in-depth portions of the workshop – how equipment upgrades affect store values – was conducted by Vice President of Sales and Marketing Tony Regan. In an eye-opening exercise, participants were shown how dramatic a store’s bottom line and valuation can change when old machines are replaced.
A discussion on laundromat leases touched on a hot topic among laundry business owners in the New York area. The issue of an ongoing moratorium to new business gas connections also generated a lot of discussion. Some audience members pointed to it being a potentially significant challenge for new investors, while others saw a silver lining in the fact that existing store values may increase as a result.
How to leverage social media for business growth once again proved to be the topic that workshop audiences pay closest attention to. EF’s Marketing Director Byron McIntyre highlighted several ways in which owners can build their brands, deepen customer relationships and increase business using social media.
“Eastern Funding hosts these workshops across the country, and the feedback we get is that laundry owners and other attendees always take away something new that they can incorporate into their businesses,” Regan said. “We will continue to add topics that are relevant to current and future laundry operators.”
Upcoming Eastern Funding Laundry Improvement Workshops are scheduled for October 3 in the San Francisco area, October 15 in Dallas, and October 16 in Houston.
