Old World Solutions for the New World Order.
An award-winning laundry distributor shares the not-so-secret secrets of his success.
An award-winning laundry distributor shares the not-so-secret secrets of his success.
This feature article was written for industry trade publications, highlighting a distributor that recently received an award of excellence. While not the highest volume distributor, it is rated as one of the most sustainable and successful due to its commitment to customer service. This article is intended as inspiration for other industry professionals to improve their own business practices.
Distributor Continues to Achieve Success with IPSO Line
Steve Clark – Laundry Equipment Services, Berkeley Springs, WV
Steve Clark has been repairing washing machines since he was 12 years old. Accompanying his father on laundry chemical service calls, Steve was often simply handed a toolbox and told to go to work. These were not the first or last lessons that his dad would teach him, but they stuck with him. To succeed, you must work for yourself. Learn from your mistakes. Take as much from the negative as the positive.
And over the last 25 years, those same principles have guided Steve as he’s built Laundry Equipment Services, Inc. (LES) into a uniquely successful IPSO distributor and service provider, serving Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Washington D.C. They were recently recognized with the 2010 IPSO Award of Excellence.
Steve credits the lasting success of LES to his long-term dedication to customer service, rather than focusing on simply making sales. “We have established an excellent repeat business by delivering what we promise and what is expected from our customers.” Even through a tough recession, LES continued to thrive, based on the size of their territory, the strength of their established customer relationships, and their commitment to prompt, courteous, and professional service and maintenance.
That’s why LES employs twice as many service technicians as salespeople, and it’s why Steve values clear, transparent communication in every aspect of the business. “When I call a company, I expect a human being to pick up the phone,” Steve says, demonstrating the personal touch that keeps his customers coming back. He considered his own experience as a customer of other businesses and used it as a guideline to improve his own company’s customer service. He even prefers to work without contracts, confident that LES’s top-notch service and performance will not only stand up to constant reevaluation, but will be all the better for it.
Structured for Customer Service
But it’s not all human voices on the phone and a personal touch. That’s just the start. LES keeps detailed customer computer records, stays in constant contact with service technicians on the road and leaves detailed summaries of their work for customers at the point of service. This communication structure allows LES to respond quickly to urgent service calls at hospitals or restaurants, and get work done even when clients are otherwise engaged.
This approach to customer service has gone a long way to establish a base of brand advocates for LES, and it’s what makes Alliance Laundry Systems, IPSO’s parent company, such a natural fit. The Alliance Customer One initiative shares Steve’s customer service philosophy, and provides the global support network required to deliver their laundry expertise in the most effective possible manner.
The Value of Marketing
A large portion of laundry distributors tend to neglect their marketing budgets, relying on contracts, repeat business, and corporate sales leads to grow their business. That’s not good enough for Steve and his son Cameron, who have developed a robust set of marketing capabilities to help promote their brand. LES has a strong Web presence that includes an official website, which has been optimized for Google and SuperPages. They place advertisements on most major search engines, and are engaged in social media through Facebook and Twitter pages.
As part of their door-to-door customer service strategy, LES has invested in an in-house printing facility with the ability to quickly and cheaply produce coupons, targeted ads, and discount offers tailored for specific customers or markets. These custom communications provide the personal touch that has become the LES customer service standard.
Why IPSO?
“They make me look good!” says Steve, whose extensive service and repair experience gives him the uniquely qualified perspective of a man who has seen the inside of every machine and isn’t afraid to get down to the dirty details. He chooses IPSO machines because “they’re built like a tank” and their rugged construction and durable machinery provide reliable performance that requires less service. In fact, in a recent year LES sold a record number of IPSO machines, and watched their service calls dry up as a result. Today, Steve estimates that nearly 70 percent of the parts on their trucks are for other brands, despite the large volume of IPSO machines they sell each year.
But most importantly, IPSO’s customer service meets even Steve’s exacting standards. “They treat you with respect, and they listen. If it fails, they fix it, and fast.” When Steve encountered an IPSO machine that his service technicians couldn’t fix, IPSO sent out a qualified repair team. Once they had determined the machine couldn’t be fixed, they not only rushed over a replacement machine, but they used the experience to redesign the components and correct the problem in future models.
Steve says he has been approached by every major manufacturer of laundry equipment, asking him to begin stocking his warehouse with their equipment. Steve has stuck with IPSO, not only for their performance and construction, but because they’ve demonstrated their commitment to customer service. “The factory stands behind their machines, and when I can’t fix it, they go the extra mile to make it right.”
Steve Clark – Laundry Equipment Services, Berkeley Springs, WV
Steve Clark has been repairing washing machines since he was 12 years old. Accompanying his father on laundry chemical service calls, Steve was often simply handed a toolbox and told to go to work. These were not the first or last lessons that his dad would teach him, but they stuck with him. To succeed, you must work for yourself. Learn from your mistakes. Take as much from the negative as the positive.
And over the last 25 years, those same principles have guided Steve as he’s built Laundry Equipment Services, Inc. (LES) into a uniquely successful IPSO distributor and service provider, serving Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Washington D.C. They were recently recognized with the 2010 IPSO Award of Excellence.
Steve credits the lasting success of LES to his long-term dedication to customer service, rather than focusing on simply making sales. “We have established an excellent repeat business by delivering what we promise and what is expected from our customers.” Even through a tough recession, LES continued to thrive, based on the size of their territory, the strength of their established customer relationships, and their commitment to prompt, courteous, and professional service and maintenance.
That’s why LES employs twice as many service technicians as salespeople, and it’s why Steve values clear, transparent communication in every aspect of the business. “When I call a company, I expect a human being to pick up the phone,” Steve says, demonstrating the personal touch that keeps his customers coming back. He considered his own experience as a customer of other businesses and used it as a guideline to improve his own company’s customer service. He even prefers to work without contracts, confident that LES’s top-notch service and performance will not only stand up to constant reevaluation, but will be all the better for it.
Structured for Customer Service
But it’s not all human voices on the phone and a personal touch. That’s just the start. LES keeps detailed customer computer records, stays in constant contact with service technicians on the road and leaves detailed summaries of their work for customers at the point of service. This communication structure allows LES to respond quickly to urgent service calls at hospitals or restaurants, and get work done even when clients are otherwise engaged.
This approach to customer service has gone a long way to establish a base of brand advocates for LES, and it’s what makes Alliance Laundry Systems, IPSO’s parent company, such a natural fit. The Alliance Customer One initiative shares Steve’s customer service philosophy, and provides the global support network required to deliver their laundry expertise in the most effective possible manner.
The Value of Marketing
A large portion of laundry distributors tend to neglect their marketing budgets, relying on contracts, repeat business, and corporate sales leads to grow their business. That’s not good enough for Steve and his son Cameron, who have developed a robust set of marketing capabilities to help promote their brand. LES has a strong Web presence that includes an official website, which has been optimized for Google and SuperPages. They place advertisements on most major search engines, and are engaged in social media through Facebook and Twitter pages.
As part of their door-to-door customer service strategy, LES has invested in an in-house printing facility with the ability to quickly and cheaply produce coupons, targeted ads, and discount offers tailored for specific customers or markets. These custom communications provide the personal touch that has become the LES customer service standard.
Why IPSO?
“They make me look good!” says Steve, whose extensive service and repair experience gives him the uniquely qualified perspective of a man who has seen the inside of every machine and isn’t afraid to get down to the dirty details. He chooses IPSO machines because “they’re built like a tank” and their rugged construction and durable machinery provide reliable performance that requires less service. In fact, in a recent year LES sold a record number of IPSO machines, and watched their service calls dry up as a result. Today, Steve estimates that nearly 70 percent of the parts on their trucks are for other brands, despite the large volume of IPSO machines they sell each year.
But most importantly, IPSO’s customer service meets even Steve’s exacting standards. “They treat you with respect, and they listen. If it fails, they fix it, and fast.” When Steve encountered an IPSO machine that his service technicians couldn’t fix, IPSO sent out a qualified repair team. Once they had determined the machine couldn’t be fixed, they not only rushed over a replacement machine, but they used the experience to redesign the components and correct the problem in future models.
Steve says he has been approached by every major manufacturer of laundry equipment, asking him to begin stocking his warehouse with their equipment. Steve has stuck with IPSO, not only for their performance and construction, but because they’ve demonstrated their commitment to customer service. “The factory stands behind their machines, and when I can’t fix it, they go the extra mile to make it right.”
