If we want to know the expectations of customers who demand textile services, it is evident that we need to talk:
• the quality of the laundry,
• of the delivery service,
• the performance of rented textiles
• so other aspects that according to the client’s business model will be valued more or less, and better or worse depending on the training, creativity and innovative capacity of its staff.
However, what exactly does the delivery service or the performance of rented textiles mean? From the qualitative and quantitative perspective of the clients, how are those expectations constructed?
Adjusting supply to demand through the commercial exchange is considered in our society as the basis for generating a welfare economy. If that mechanism works, individuals and businesses can buy, which they perceive as useful for their lives and their processes. Therefore, only those suppliers that match the wishes and expectations of the clients will be successful. In reality, it is not only about matching the expectations of customers, but about satisfying customers at least as well as competing suppliers.
From the perspective of the clients, the company, which meets its expectations better than the others, will be the winning horse. Customers will buy where their expectations are best met. Meeting the expectations of customers is the crucial factor of success in a market economy. That is the underlying reason why “the client is the king”. Also, meeting expectations as best as possible adds the maximum value available for the well-being of people and, therefore, for the welfare of communities, regions and countries.
Therefore, we believe that it is vital to shedding light on some of the difficulties that appear in the analysis of customer expectations, to develop a good understanding of what the customer expectation in textile services means.
Who contributes the most relevant expectations for a customer of textile services?
Typically, the textile services company are not the last element of the service in the value chain of a business, for example, a hotel. The previous items are usually companies, which have hired textile service companies to solve their textile needs problems. The idea seems a bit strange, but sometimes textile service providers think that what they know about customer expectations is enough. That can be dangerous.
Textile rental companies face mainly the expectations of buyers. However, most buyers rely heavily on some prescribers and end users. While prescribers often come from departments that deal with operational textiles, such as floor maids in hotels or factory safety engineers, users are often not taken into account as part of the companies, for example, clients, guests of hotels or patients in a hospital. However, even the company’s staff, the employees, our users and, on occasion, they are labelled as “internal clients.”
Especially in highly competitive environments, the expectations and evaluations of the final direct users, whether internal or external, play an essential role. For example, the performance of a hotel’s clothes can be fundamental to the guests’ experience during the night and can be a necessary element for them to decide to return. Alternatively, if we resort to work clothes, comfort and style of work clothes (uniforms), in many countries it is critical for employees who use textiles. The acceptance of the costume by the staff is often an essential contribution to the relationship between the employee and the employer. There are scientific studies on work uniforms, which indicate that comfort for the use and acceptance of work clothes increases safety and concentration.
From all this, it follows that knowing the expectations of all customers by textile service companies is not easy to identify and evaluate since, in general, the information to be collected does not include only one person. If we try to assess the expectations through interviews, we must see that the interviewee may have also incorporated the opinions of the prescribers and the clients. However, when or to what extent it is useful is questionable, and sometimes it is not essential either. For example, a temporary patient in a surgical setting is not concerned about the comfort of the bedding. The most important thing is the cleaning and disinfection of textiles, and in this sense, those who hire must have a firm vision.
Fuente: Matching Customer Expectations by Dr Geert Bottger. Volumen 6 – The World of PTC – Retail Textile Cleaning (RTC) – Industrial Textile Service (ITS) from CINET Professional Textile Care.
Lavandería Romeral focuses its textile services to lodging establishments, preferably hotels, if you need to improve your expectations on what textile services you need, from Lavandería Romeral we bring you our experience in laundry services and textile rental, backed by our experience of more than 30 years in the sector, and for the international awards and recognition that our excellent work has given us.
If your establishment needs to know better what your expectations are about what textile services you need, from LAVANDERÍA ROMERAL, we can advise you.