“Who you gonna call?” – Ray Parker, Jr. (Ghostbusters)
The pandemic’s challenges have been well-documented within these pages. Given the Coin Laundry Association’s efforts to assure laundromats be deemed essential and open – along with your extraordinary work to modify daily operations for enhanced cleanliness and safety – our industry is poised to do more business than ever before in 2021 and beyond.
Those of you who know me see me as a devoted industry advocate and cheerleader for this business. However, let me share one of the few negative experiences to come out of COVID-19’s impact on laundromats. During this pandemic, I’ve been on the receiving end of dozens upon dozens of laundromat customer complaints!
Let me explain…
As we all worked together to convince local, state and national authorities to consider laundromats as essential for the invaluable services they provide, the CLA shared a news release making the case for laundromats as essential businesses. Wanting to make myself available to elected officials and the media, I listed my personal mobile number on that document.
As a result, my phone has continued to ring throughout the past year with inbound inquiries from unfamiliar area codes with the opening refrain “I’m at the laundromat, and…”
At first, the calls were surprising. But I soon pieced together why I was receiving these inquiries – and, since then, the experience has become a fascinating sort of focus group, offering insight into laundromat customers’ needs.
The actual customer concerns weren’t the real surprise here. For me, I was shocked that my cell number – buried at the bottom of a news release tacked to some bulletin board – was the only number posted for those needing help. The lesson is simple: when customers are having issues, they need a way to get those issues resolved quickly and to their satisfaction.
I did my best to offer long-distance customer service with a sympathetic ear. I heard them out, asked diagnostic questions and offered suggestions. On the whole, the callers were thankful I picked up and spoke to them, even though I was at home in Chicago and couldn’t really help them. Of course, many of these customers only heard that I wasn’t the owner.
By the way, here are my unofficial and completely unscientific “Top Three Customer Complaints” of the past year, based on dozens of calls:
1. “I put the correct amount of quarters in the machine, but it won’t start!”
2. “The washer is locked in cycle, and I can’t get my clothes out!”
3. “There’s water everywhere. Just thought you should know!”
Honorable mentions go to the person who scolded me for not shoveling the snow at the rear entrance to the laundromat and to the “engineer” who shared his revolutionary design ideas for building more efficient dryers.
Again, none of these complaints should surprise a veteran operator. But the fact that I was the only one reachable by phone is worth noting.
I have no doubt that I’m preaching to the choir here. I’m sure your attendants are well-trained and that your unattended stores feature clear signage and instructions on how to reach out when there’s a problem.
But, just in case, let’s all commit to a fresh “Top Three Commitments” to customer service:
1. My customers will have their problems addressed quickly and professionally.
2. My employees are trained and empowered to solve every common customer service issue.
3. If an employee is not available to help, I will post clear instructions for getting problems fixed quickly.
Need more ideas to sharpen your customer service skills? The CLA has several ways to learn from your peers – try our attendant training video series, and visit the CLA Connect Community to get advice from other owners – and use our AMP digital marketing service to get the word out about how responsive you are to your valued customers.
Let’s use this lesson from the pandemic to remind ourselves of the value of making sure our customers enjoy a frictionless experience. Although I’m always glad to take house calls, I’m ready for my phone to go silent.
