The Dry Cleaner: First Impression On Your New Customers

Today, a story about my local dry cleaner.

(Yes, I know. Stay with me here.)

Not long after we moved to a new neighborhood about 8 months ago, we had a pile of clothes that needed to be dry cleaned.

The problem was that my previous dry cleaner was far enough away to make getting there and back on a regular basis a hassle.

And, to be honest, I was never that excited about going there anyway.

So I did a quick search on Yelp, and was a little bit surprised by what I found.

A local cleaner—only a few blocks from me—stood out from the rest of the list in a big way. Not only did they have 4.5 stars (something I’ve never seen for a business like dry cleaning… who gets that excited about pressed shirts?), but they had more than a few raving reviews!

Intrigued, I walked over there that very afternoon to drop off my clothes, and was hit with my first pleasant surprise as I walked through the front door.

“Good afternoon”, said the smiling man behind the counter. “How are you doing today?”

Not exactly the welcome I was used to.

I greeted him and put my clothes on the counter.

“I don’t recognize you,” he said, still smiling. “Is this your first time here?”

It was, I told him. I was new to the neighborhood.

“How exciting! Welcome. And thank you very much for coming by. I really appreciate it, and I’ll take good care of your clothes for you.”

Within a minute of entering the store, I was having a conversation with a guy who felt like an old friend, and who, more than simply wanting my business, wanted to make sure I was comfortably settling into my new home.

Soon after, he printed my receipt and handed it to me, pointing to a line toward the bottom showing a 10% discount.

“To thank you for being a new customer. See you soon.”

The Power Of A Magical First Impression

When I walked out of that dry cleaner that day, I was sold.

I was going to be a loyal, long-term customer.

Now, of course the work had to be good. And it was.

But I don’t have the knowledge or expertise to know if their dry cleaning is any better than the work done by the dozen other cleaners in my neighborhood.

And, I suspect, neither do most of their customers.

But the way that they made me feel on that first visit—like they genuinely cared about me and my clothes—is what is going to keep me coming back.

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Maya Angelou

I’ve since learned that these dry cleaners are not the cheapest in the area. Nor are they necessarily the most convenient for me (there’s another less than two blocks away from my house).

But I’m still a loyal and happy customer.

And a lot of it has to do with that first impression.

The Missing Goat

It all started one lazy Sunday afternoon in a small town near Toronto in Canada.

Two school-going friends had a crazy idea.

They rounded up three goats from the neighborhood and painted the number 1, 2 and 4 on their sides.

That night they let the goats loose inside their school building. 

The next morning, when the authorities entered the school, they could smell something was wrong.

They soon saw goat droppings on the stairs and near the entrance and realized that some goats had entered the building.

A search was immediately launched and very soon, the three goats were found.

But the authorities were worried, where was goat No. 3?

They spent the rest of the day looking for goat No.3.

Gradually there was panic and frustration.

The school declared classes off for the students for the rest of the day.

The teachers, helpers, guards, canteen staffs, boys were all busy looking for the goat No. 3, which, of course, was never found.

Simply because it did not exist.

Those among us who inspite of having a good life are always feeling a "lack of fulfilment" are actually looking for the elusive, missing, non-existent goat No.3.

Whatever the area of complaint or search or dissatisfaction may be - relationship, job-satisfaction, materialistic achievement...... 

An absence of something is always larger than  the presence of many other things.

Stop worrying about goat No.3 and have worry-free days.....

The Maid and Pizza

A lady to her husband: Avoid giving too many clothes for laundry.

Husband: What happened?Wife: The maid won’t be coming for work for a couple of days.

Husband: Why?
Wife: She’s going to see her granddaughter over to her daughters place over the holidays.

Husband: Alright, I’ll keep that in mind.
Wife: Before I forget, how about we offer her a festive bonus? Rs. 500?

Husband: But why? Diwali is around the corner, why don’t we just give her the money then?
Wife: Oh, no… She’s a poor lady, works as a domestic help. She’s going to see her daughter. With her meagre income, how would she be able to enjoy a good holiday? Poor thing!

Husband: There you go! Getting overly sentimental again!
Wife: Don’t worry about the money; let’s cancel our plan for pizza for dinner tonight. No point wasting money over eight slices of stale bread.

Husband: Great! So now we have to give up on our pizza night so the maid can get a bonus?!
Three days later, when the maid is back at work, the lady’s husband asked her.

Husband: So, how was your holiday?
Maid: It was wonderful, sir. Didi had given me 500 as a festive bonus that added to the joy.

Husband: I heard you went over to your daughters place. Met your granddaughter?
Maid: Yes, sir. I had such a great time. We spent 500, all of it in just two days.

Husband: What did you buy with that money?
Maid: I bought my granddaughter a shirt for Rs. 150 and a doll for Rs. 40, sweets for my daughter and to offer at the temple for Rs. 50, each, spent Rs. 60 on the rent, bought my daughter bangles for Rs. 25, and a nice belt for my son in law for Rs. 50. We spent the rest of the money buying notebooks and stationery for my granddaughter.

Husband: All that for Rs. 500?
In a shocked state he started thinking and seeing pizza in his head.
Each piece of the pizza started buzzing in his head. He started comparing the pizza’s price with the maid’s festive expenses over her family.
He started imagining each piece of the pizza as different things she bought for her family like kids dress, sweets, rent, the bangles she bought, the belt she bought for her son in law, the books and pencil she bought.
He had only imagined the delicious part of the pizza, he had never thought of the other plain and dry part of it and today because of his maid he could understand the other part of the coin or the pizza. A simple 8 pieced pizza taught some reality of life.

This incident made him realize the meaning of “Spending to live not live to spend”.