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.