Lots of cleaners brag that they offer the best cleaning, the best pressing and the best stain removal – world’s best cleaning if you will. And, it cracks me up. Why? Because it reminds me of that scene from the movie ‘Elf’ where Buddy the Elf is walking around New York City, and he sees a sign in the window of a local coffee shop/café/restaurant/Diner: ‘WORLD’S BEST COFFEE’. Buddy is intrigued, goes into the shop, and yells loudly: ‘Congratulations, You did it! World’s Best Coffee!’ And nobody in the scene really cares.
How is it possible for EVERY cleaner in a competitive market to have the best cleaning; the best pressing; the best stain removal? Either somebody is delusional, or somebody is lying. Odds are, nobody really knows, because nobody has ever really put themselves and their competitors to the test.
Yeah, there really is a test, and it’s pretty simple. If you REALLY want to find out who is the best in your market, I’ll share the secret with you.
This is what you do…
Go to the local thrift shop, and buy some white dress shirts, and some tan wool pants. Buy a regular collar dress shirt, and a button down dress shirt, and buy enough so you can drop off a dress shirt of each type and a pair of pants for each of your competitors you are going to test, plus, a set for yourself.
Yes, you are going to be testing yourself too! Did you READ the title? How good are YOU relative to your competitors? If you don’t include yourself in the test, how will you ever know how good your product/service is compared to your competitors…..
On the way back from the thrift chop, I want you to stop into the grocery store and pick up a small bottle of ketchup, a small bottle of mustard, a bottle of Italian salad dressing (or anything with oil in it, Greek, raspberry vinaigrette, etc.), and a pack of facial tissue (Kleenex, whatever).
When you get back to your plant, I want you to prepare each garment according to the following:
Button down shirt:
– Cut off a button on the front of the shirt. Collar, cuff, neck, or anywhere on the front. Cut a button off on the button down collar.
– Take a pen, and swipe a little ink like you forgot to put the lid back on while putting the pen in your shirt pocket.
– Drop a little mustard and ketchup on the front of the shirt, like you dropped a hotdog on it.
– Stick a tissue in the shirt pocket
Dress shirt:
– Cut off a button on the front of the shirt, anywhere on the front, collar, or cuff, etc.
– Take a pen, and swipe a little ink on the shirt cuff.
– Drop a little of the oily salad dressing on the front of the shirt, like you dropped a piece of salad on it.
Pants:
– Take a dollar bill, and tuck it in a pocket.
– Shove a tissue in another pocket.
– Drop some salad dressing oil on the front of the leg.
– Drop a little mustard and ketchup on the other leg.
Now, bundle them up with two shirts and one pair of pants into individual orders. Have one of your employees, or one of your friends, take a bundle to each of your competitors. Take one bundle, put it in a bag with a name and phone number, and leave it on your front counter for your staff to mark in and process. Yes, you are playing customer on yourself!
Now, wait a few days, and have your staff or friend retrieve the orders from your competitors, and retrieve the order you sent through your plant. Assemble all the orders together, and get ready for the big reveal, WE ARE GOING TO FIND OUT WHO REALLY IS THE BEST!
Go along the line, and lift the plastic on each order.
Who noticed the missing button(s) on the shirts, and replaced them? Did they replace them at all?
Did they check the pockets and find the tissue, or did it go through the wash, maybe even left it in the shirt and pressed it still in the pocket?
Who got the ink out? Or, is it still there? Who got the mustard and ketchup out? How about the salad oil? What stains are removed, what stains are left, tells me a lot about levels of stain removal skills, attention to detail, care and consideration of staff, and your shirt laundry chemicals, water temperatures, wash cycle, and ultimately how well you run your laundry.
Now, let’s check out the pants.
Are there double creases in the pants, railroad tracks?
How about that tissue in the pocket? Is it still there? If it is, are they checking pockets? How about that dollar bill? Is it stapled to your order returning it to you, or in a ‘Lookee what we found’ bag? Maybe they took a dollar off your order total. Or, did someone just pocket the dollar – which in my opinion is basically theft…they took something that did not belong to them. Regardless, that dollar and whatever happens to it, tells me a lot about the morals, security and practice of caring for other people’s property.
How about the stain removal? Is the oil gone? It should be, because if the pants were drycleaned, it should be gone without any work. How about the mustard and ketchup, both of those are water soluble, and need to be removed on the spotting board. If I see a ‘Sorry But’ tag hanging on the order, HUGE RED FLAG because these are not difficult stains, more so because they are fresh, and frankly not that difficult to remove with proper stain removal skills and chemicals.
And, how about yourself, how did your plant do?
Same types of clothes, same fabrics, same stains…WHO DID IT BEST? Well, after conducting this test, now you’ll know.
My question to you now is, do you have the guts to try it?
