Commercial wash and fold clients often spend hundreds of dollars per order, they are consistent, and there is a single payer. Cold calling does not work. Direct mail does not work. We cracked the code on how to attract commercial business and have helped others grow their commercial laundry business too. Albert with Monterey Express Laundry talks about his first hand experience on how his business has grown by leaps and bounds and how he gets commercial clients to call him!
[Transcript]
Welcome to state of the laundry industry with laundry mat episode 16, how to get commercial wash and forward customers. So today we’ve got a super exciting podcast about how to get more commercial clients, cuz commercial clients spend way more money than the traditional residential customer, especially on pickup and delivery. Instead of spending about $70 on the average order, they’re spending over $200 on the average order and they’re consistent and it’s a single payer and it’s, they’re just beautiful things to get. So I just talked to somebody this morning who was so frustrated. He switched from another software company over to us. He’d just switched . He hasn’t gone live yet, but he was saying he was cold calling all these commercial clients. And he’ll talk about more, more about that during the episode, but it turns out cold calling just doesn’t work. And that’s why he got frustrated and we’ve tried direct mail in the past and that doesn’t work either. And it turns out the number one way of getting more commercial clients is your website. They need to find you, they need to find you. You can’t spend your time trying to find them cuz they could be anywhere. So when they’re looking for wash and fold services, they need to find you online. And that’s where the website comes in and we make fantastic websites at curbside laundries, unique and custom for each of our clients. So I don’t want you to , to just take our word for it. This is one of our clients who’s been with us since about 2017 and he’s gonna be talking about how much his website has helped him. Um, another way of getting commercial clients is Google AdWords. Um, we’d love to spend more money targeting commercial clients because commercial clients are so valuable. However, we could only spend about $50 a month because there’s not that high of frequency. There’s not that many commercial clients looking for washing fold every month, but when you get ’em oh man, could it change your business? I mean just two days ago we got a commercial count , 10,000 pounds. It’s insane. So we’ve got our own , um , excitement at the laundromat right now, as far as where to store it all. But that’s another story for now. Let’s go ahead and welcome Albert with Monterey express. I really think you’re gonna enjoy it. Today’s episode. Uh ,
Speaker 2: 2:13
First I’ll say hello to everybody I’m from Hawaii. So I have to throw a shock out there. We have a laundromat it’s 1400 square feet here in Monterey, California. So I think by a lot of laundromat standards, people would consider that to be a little smaller of a laundromat. We are busy. However, we have a very robust , uh , fluff and fold department as well as a Veed department inside our laundromat. How I’d probably like to start off with this is just by thanking you guys first at curbside. Uh, we are a couple years ago. We’re kind of in the throws of , um , trying to figure out how to expand, how to be better at what we’re doing. I think that’s every laundromats question, you know, how do you expand and get bigger? And , um, with that, we decided to start looking around and uh, you guys were the option that fit a bunch of the criteria that we had here before we had curbside. We basically had no web presence, nothing at all. Uh , once we got the website up and running through your guys’ help and getting this professional image out there, there was a big turnaround in our industry and our business like you , as you can say, in regards to commercial clients coming in, we service one of the largest , um, Airbnb companies in this town in a nice way to say it. It adds 25% revenue to our business in just one year. And then since then we’ve had a , um , two government contracts approach us from our website alone. The website has really helped us because it has brought in a lot of clientele that probably would’ve never even seen us before. I know you guys talk a lot about SEO optimization and everybody kind of wonders. What is this guy talking about? SEO search engine optimization. And what does that mean for my business? And I guess if I could kind of clarify for people, it would be, imagine people in town when they type up Monterey laundry, I’m at the top of the list. That means that tourists is gonna come to do laundry at my business. That also means commercial clients will possibly give me a call. It’s not only that business that comes in, but it’s the word of mouth that comes in after I secure
Speaker 1: 4:20
Client. That’s great. You know, just this morning I was talking to somebody who he went with a different software and website solution. The person’s business had not taken off with other solution. And then he goes, you know what? I I’m ready to make the change because he wants to get his , uh , washing polo business growing and his pickup and delivery growing. And he asked me a question like how do I get these residential own commercial accounts? I spent all day calling and calling and calling out and they’re they’re like, who are you? Why, why would I need the service? And I told ’em , it’s kind of referencing what you’re saying, which is it’s better when they reach out to you versus you reaching out to them. Correct. And see, I think we have a mindset as laundry owners that were used to like a dense customer population and they just happen to be nearby the laundromat and with wash and fold or , and pick and delivery too. You may have to drive a little bit or they may be a little bit farther apart from each other, but they’re out there. But the key is, is when they’re looking for the service that they find you, that’s what it , that’s what it’s all about. One of the
Speaker 2: 5:17
Main reasons why we chose you guys, curbside is offering us now is the chance to do pickup and drop off laundry , which we’re gonna be doing here. It allowed us to dabble into commercial accounts and it’s taking just two revenue streams that we used to have in a limited area. And now expand it into multiple revenue streams that reach a wider base as a business owner. It gives me a little peace of mind, you know, not just having all my eggs in just one little basket and
Speaker 1: 5:46
Yeah, that’s a , that’s a great point. I , I know of like three different of our clients who it was because they diversified the revenue stream that they were able to when they had the shutdown and their laundromat was empty as could be, people were just scared to go out. They were still being able to do pick up and delivery and wash and fold and different things that helped them get through some very difficult times. So it’s always good to diversify.
Speaker 2: 6:09
Another reason why we went with you guys is I’m a small business owner and the whole point of having Monterey express, wash it, to build my business and to have my customers, basically our customers, my employees, and I, and to build it into a place that it reflects who I am. And as I build my business and we are gonna turn on, pick up and drop off the value to those customers will be tied to my business, not to another entity. Every customer that I get that comes into the business will increase my gross profit will increase my net profit. And then in return will increase the value of my store in the
Speaker 1: 6:45
Long run. Exactly. It’s your customers, it’s your brand.
Speaker 2: 6:48
It’s been great for us. I mean, growth has been phenomenal and I truly have to attribute it to curbside because our reach was very limited before we actually had curbside. And now I have people coming to me from all aspects from all industries asking me, can I do this? Can I do that? And it’s nice to know that they’re knocking on my door now that I’m not having to go out and hunt for the business. It’s kinda
Speaker 1: 7:12
Like, yeah . Somebody help bring you leads in a sense. And then you could just focus on that instead of drumming up
Speaker 2: 7:17
Leads. Yeah . Correct. You know, it’s nice when somebody calls me up and says, Hey, do you do this? And I say, yeah, let me come to your store in the next two days and pick up a load of laundry. You know, I can go out there, I can grab the laundry as opposed to me having to go out and cold called and you know, 99 people and maybe get one to show ’em what we can
Speaker 1: 7:33
Do. So, yeah. And it’s a road of difference in a sense where if a customer calls you, there’s like a parent child relationship in a sense. So they’re calling you, you’re the expert and they’re asking you the questions versus if you’re calling them, you’re trying to, it’s on like not be for their business, but it’s a different role. It , well, Albert, I just wanna thank you for being on the podcast. I think people have learned a ton as far as how to get commercial clients, because that’s really the whole, they give you big orders and, and it’s great to see having so much success attracting these clients. And I don’t think anybody is doing as much business as you out of 1400 square feet at your laundromat. And it all comes down to marketing and you doing just a fantastic
Speaker 2: 8:14
Job, super appreciative of, you know, the help that you’ve guys have provided us. The resource. There have been phenomenal as a laundromat operator. I’m not just having to reinvent the wheel every single day, that there are resources and tools that you guys give me. That allows me to kind of learn what I need to learn and kind of move forward with what I need to move forward with.
Speaker 1: 8:35
Thanks for tuning in to this week’s episode, don’t forget to like, or subscribe to if you’d like to learn more about the curbside laundries wash and fold point of sale , pick up and delivery and website solution, go to curbside laundries.com . If you’d like to learn more about how to get commercial clients, I have a whole webinar, one hour webinar about commercial clients. So go to youtube.com for slash curbside laundries. So anyways, thanks again for tuning in and see you next time. All .
TAGS: WASH AND FOLD
