PEMBROKE, Mass. — Did you ever think about the question in the headline? In urban settings, customers often have three or four choices of where to do their laundry. A few are farther away than the others. But even in suburban or rural settings, there are choices.
A person could decide to do his laundry two towns over where he works rather than in the town where he lives. Or a customer could do his laundry several towns away when he visits his mother. The point is, there are choices.
Generally speaking, the customer will choose the most convenient location. The closest distance, the easiest to get to, and reasonable prices all go into the consideration.
But sometimes the customer will decide that this convenient Laundromat isn’t serving him well, and he will look for a less convenient, more out-of-the-way location. Or he will do his laundry a different way—possibly use his neighbor’s machines. Why would the individual do that?
People form habits of behavior as well as patterns of activity, so it takes something—dissonance—to break up those patterns. In other words, change is not easy. And it helps to envision the basis of this change. Let’s examine a few more scenarios:
A BETTER CHOICE
A customer does his laundry Saturday mornings. But it is often crowded, and he has to wait to use machines.
A co-worker tells him that she does her laundry at XYZ because they’re open until 11 p.m., and that it’s quiet in the late evenings.
Unfortunately, his Laundromat is not open late at night. He gets to thinking. Even though this XYZ Laundromat is a longer drive, it would be better if he could do his laundry in the evening. This would free up his Saturday mornings. Plus he has more choices, as any night would be fine. So, he switches.
Here, it’s annoyance at his regular laundry’s limited hours and crowdedness on weekends that get him to make a switch. The principle here is, you never know when someone will suggest an option that is a better choice.
PARKING PAINS
Every time Joe goes to the Laundromat, it’s a pain to park. There are only a few parking spots in front of the store, and no extra parking.
He speaks to the manager, but the manager says that nothing can be done. He doesn’t like the way the attendant brushes him off. It seems that they don’t value his business.
On his way to work every day, he passes a Laundromat with a large parking lot. He decides that he will switch to this Laundromat, stopping after work to do his laundry.
Here, the issue is lack of convenience as well as rude treatment. The combination of annoyance pushes him over the edge to make a change. If the attendant could have offered him some solution or been more pleasant, possibly this decision might have been avoided.
BAD BEHAVIOR
A customer is doing her laundry, when her child comes crying to her that the attendant was mean.
She goes to the attendant, who says that her child was pulling the knobs of the vending machines, which isn’t permitted.
When she suggests that he doesn’t have to scare children, the attendant tells her that she must keep an eye on her child and that she is responsible for the youngster’s bad behavior.
Her child is still inconsolable. Trying to comfort the child, she decides that she will switch to the other neighborhood Laundromat.
Lack of respect for motherhood is the culprit here. Suggesting that a mother or father isn’t doing their job is one surefire way to incur the wrath of the parent.
Certainly, children are not always perfect, but there are better ways to change their behavior than to say that the mother/father is a bad parent. A Laundromat must set up procedures for handling children with behavior problems.
Do these scenarios give you any insights into how you lose customers?
Missed Part 1 of this story? You can read it now HERE.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Bruce Beggs at [email protected].