Here’s a Look at a Day in the Life of a Laundry Owner – And at All of the Many Business and Life Lessons It Can Teach Us
There are so many different opportunities to learn. One method is to enroll in formal classes at a school or university. Another way is to attend a lecture or a speech. You also can search the internet for valuable insight on any topic you choose. And, of course, another approach is to simply read technical or informational reference books.
However, there is still yet another effective method of learning – to read stories containing lessons within the narrative. We commonly educate young children with this method, using such vehicles as bedtime stories. But, in fact, people of all ages love stories. After all, adults spend countless hours watching television programs, reading novels, and going to movie theaters or renting films.
Recently, I was considering how, essentially, all of my past columns have been informational in nature – which is, of course, the traditional form that most magazine articles typically take.
As a result, I thought it would be an intriguing idea to convey my messages this month by means of a fictitious short story. I hope you find it enjoyable and thought-provoking – while, at the same time, educational and containing actionable takeaway points you can use to improve your self-service laundry business on a regular basis.
Let’s begin…
Once upon a time, there was a self-service laundry owner by the name of Ed. He was a former retail store manager, whose laundry business is located in a major metropolitan city in the Midwest. The name of the laundry is, appropriately enough, Uncle Ed’s Coin Laundry. It’s about 4,000 square feet in size, purchased by Ed five years prior and situated within a medium-sized strip center in an area containing a diversity of people and cultures.
The laundromat is open for business 24 hours a day, seven days per week. It is always attended, accepts wash-dry-fold business, has some diversified commercial accounts and acts as a drop-off store for a drycleaner located about 10 miles away.
Ed is in his early 50s, married to Lucy, and they have two children – Jessica, who is 10, and Matt, 13. They reside in a suburb located about 10 miles from the laundry. Ed is a diligent and intellectually curious hands-on operator and can be found at the laundry every day, with the general exception of Sundays.
This particular fall Monday was somewhat cool and heavy rain was expected later that afternoon. After breakfast with Lucy and the kids, Ed is off to the laundry to begin his normal work week.
He arrived at the store at about 8:30 a.m., and there were already about 10 customers in the laundry. He cheerfully greeted most of them by name, since he made it his business to get to know as many customers as he possibly could. He introduced himself to those he didn’t immediately recognize and thanked them for their patronage. He also had a brief but pleasant conversation with Brooklyn, the daytime attendant (whom he loved to call “New York”in a friendly, joking kind of way), and asked how her elderly mother was doing in light of the older woman’s recent appendix surgery. Brooklyn replied that her mom was doing great and thanked Ed on behalf of her mother for sending a get-well card.
Ed then proceeded to his office to review the mail, make sure the bill changer was full of quarters and working properly, and pay some invoices so that the payments would arrive on time. The next step was to fill his snack and beverage vending machines to the top after a busy Sunday – to guarantee that his store’s customers would never be disappointed by finding their favorite items unavailable.
As Ed filled the snack and drink machines, a smile came to his face while recalling how he circulated a questionnaire when he first acquired the laundry, asking customers to vote for the exact snacks and drinks they preferred. He loved how appreciative they were to have a say in which vended items would be available to them.
Next, he had a chat with Brooklyn, regarding an idea for a television commercial promoting the laundry business that he was planning. He has made a habit of talking with his attendants and soliciting their opinions on all of his ideas for promotional programs. As he always told them, “Heck, you have more customer contact than I do, so your opinions are highly valuable and welcomed.”
As he has often mentioned to his wife, “When my team members [he doesn’t like to refer to them as employees, out of respect for them] come to me and tell me they feel so honored and valued to be included in my marketing programs, it warms my heart.”
The next to-do item on Ed’s agenda was to call a customer who had asked him to let her know when her comforters would be available for pick up. She indicated that she has been experiencing memory issues and would likely forget to stop in to get them. He called the woman as he promised. She was extremely appreciative to hear from him and indicated she would stop by to pick up her laundered items within the hour.
Ed then called his service company to arrange for a technician to stop by to check one of his large, single-pocket dryers, as he had been noticing that it had not been functioning quite normally. He would never permit a machine to be placed “out of order”if he could prevent it ahead of time through close daily monitoring of his equipment.
Around 2:00 in the afternoon, sure enough as predicted, the heavy rain began to fall. As a result, Ed kept a close eye on his parking lot for arriving customers so that he could go out with an umbrella to cover them as they exited their cars. He also escorted a number of individuals to their vehicles, shielded from the rain by his umbrella as they were departing the laundry with their clean clothes. Needless to say, this gesture made a strong impression on the customers he helped to keep dry.
At about 3:30 p.m., a customer approached Ed and indicated that, although she had “put the normal amount of quarters into the dryer,” her clothes for some reason did not get completely dry as usual. He immediately noticed that she was incredibly embarrassed when she admitted that she had no more money in her purse.
Ed knew the lady, as well as the fact that she lived on a tight budget, so he patiently explained that – because she was drying some unusually heavy garments – perhaps more dry time was necessary for this particular load. Then, without hesitation, he reached in his pocket for some extra quarters, which he gladly inserted in the dryer’s coin acceptor. The grateful smile on the woman’s face was all the thanks he needed.
Ed made it a practice to always send birthday greetings to his customers, who are asked to provide their birth dates the first time they patronize the laundry. In addition to the card signed by Ed and his staff, the customer celebrating his or her birthday receives a few gifts, including a free wash in any sized machine, as well as a free soft drink and snack. On this particular day, Ed signed a number of cards and made a mental note to be sure to mail them on his way home.
Since Ed offered numerous loyalty programs for his patrons, he checked through his records for these various programs to ensure they all were up to date and being managed properly.
At 4:45 p.m., he left the laundry so that he would arrive home in plenty of time to have dinner with his family. Since he was taking courses in retail marketing techniques and consumer psychology at the local community college on Monday evenings, he wanted to be home with plenty of time to spare to have dinner with Lucy and the kids before departing for school at 6:45.
Upon arriving home from class, Ed was exhausted from all of his many daily activities but, all in all, he felt he had a rather productive and satisfying day. His laundry business was functioning well, his customers were happy and well-served, the morale of his staff was high, his family was thriving and properly cared for and, while preparing for bed and gazing into the bathroom mirror, Ed very much liked and approved of the person he saw looking back at him.
I hope you can identify with the adventures of Ed. Contained within the story above are a number of critical and actionable takeaway lessons for all vended laundry owners.
Let’s examine them.
Believe it or not, there are 22 business and life lessons embedded within the above narrative. Did you find them?
I will list them for you, with the suggestion you re-read the short story to locate each lesson. Doing so will reinforce the list in your mind.
Here we go:
1. Diversify your income streams.
2. Remain intellectually curious.
3. Spend as much time at your laundry as possible.
4. Value your home life as greatly as you value your business.
5. Know your customers and show a sincere interest in them.
6. Take an interest in your team members and their lives.
7. Keep your bill changers, as well as your snack and beverage vending machines fully stocked.
8. Solicit opinions of customers on various aspects of your laundry business.
9. Use visually creative advertising, such as television commercials.
10. Involve team members in your marketing plans.
11. Connect intellectually with your team.
12. Always do what you say you will do.
13. Prevent minor machine problems from becoming major headaches.
14. Treat your customers like “clients,” by being sure you look after them.
15. Demonstrate empathy toward your staff and customers.
16. Indicate to customers how much you value them.
17. Develop several reasons for customers to want to return to your store.
18. Show your customers you are loyal to them.
19. Constantly educate yourself.
20. Care deeply about everything that impacts your business.
21. Make your laundry environment a judgement-free zone.
22. Don’t trip over pennies on your way to dollars.
Lastly, if you want to become the next Uncle Ed, all you really have to do is understand and accept that the difference between being good and great is simply a little extra effort.
I promise that the many lessons taught by Ed will enable you to complete your mission of becoming a five-star general in the ongoing battle for market share within the laundry industry.
