Recently, I overheard a discussion between two laundromat owners arguing about how to make their businesses attract more clients.
The discussion went back and forth for some time and even got heated with one calling the other a fool, simply because they disagreed.
Three things came up repeatedly in this discussion which they completely overlooked as each was hell-bent on his viewpoint instead of learning and growing from each other.
What they uncovered were three ways to make your laundromat stand out to clients:
- Be Better
- Have the Best Prices
- Be Different
Not going to lie, one of those stood out to me like an underwire from a bra in a washer’s drain valve 😉 (if you ever cleared one you know what I mean):
Be different.
Let’s look at each of them in turn:
1. Be Better than the Competition
When striving to be better than the competition, it’s natural to compare your services with those of your rivals and try to speak to how yours is better than theirs.
“We are bigger.” “We have better machines.” “Our dryers are the hottest.” “We have wifi.” “We have AC.” And on and on.
However, this approach can backfire. Your competitors will and are saying the same thing about their laundromat.
Customers now have to narrow their focus on the only thing left to compare: prices.
In such a scenario, laundromat owners often find themselves trapped in a price war, which can erode profit margins and hinder long-term growth. Nothing but a race to the bottom.
Let’s listen in on the example one of the owners shared in their discussion:
