Howdy Neighbor What can We do to Help One Another

When coin laundry publications such as the News cover the subject of maintaining good relations with business neighbors, it''s most often about getting along with other nearby coin laundry owners. That''s important, but it''s just as important to enjoy a good relationship with neighboring business owners who are not your competitors. It''s particularly true for anyone who operates unattended laundries. Why bother? He''s probably as busy as I am, and we''ll have little in common. Besides, why doesn''t he come to meet me? The new business owner of an unattended laundry could only be at his business before and after hours at his regular work. He made it a point to meet the owners of a convenience store and donut-coffee shop store, who were two of his business neighbors in the strip center. He worked at becoming both a customer and friend to both. Whenever the change machine acted up, customers learned they could get change from the convenience store. Once vandals destroyed the laundry''s soap machine. The convenience store owner offered to sell the laundry''s vend items till the vendor was fixed. He kept the sales separately and gave it all to the laundry owner. Most customers bought something else too, so it turned out to be a win, win situation for both businesses. Twice, the coffee shop owner called police when vandals were seen prying the coin boxes in the laundry. Once, when a hose broke, a customer ran to the coffee shop and told them about it. Because they knew how to contact the owner, they called him right away. Finding out almost as soon as it happened saved lots of damage, especially as it could have flooded the furniture & carpet store next door to the laundry. When young punks began to hang out at the laundry after school, it was driving away -clientele. The donut shop owner told the laundry owner who arranged that he or his wife would be there after school to prevent a further loss of business. When the owner decided to sell in order to buy a larger laundry, he explained it to his friends. Details of his business were so well known to the donut shop guy that he bought it and paid all cash. This not only saved the seller brokers commission, but it simplified the sale because the buyer already knew all of the details of how the laundry worked. This true example may sound a little idealistic, but for just over 4 years this laundry owner benefited greatly from having good business neighbors. He worked hard at establishing those good relationships and these friends saved him lots of money, trouble and headaches. Though now at some distance, the three are still friends. When was the last time you spoke with your business neighbors? Wouldn''t it be a good idea to meet them if you haven''t met them already? Who knows, one of them may buy your business someday. The consequences of not being neighborly with those who are in business around you can be disastrous. At another laundry in a different part of the state, the owner noticed that his day time business was way off. He''d been open for two years, the traffic at his center was good, but he had this problem. He went to the liquor store next door to inquire if they''d had a similar problem. They hadn''t met him, didn''t know who he was or how to contact him about the problem. And there was a problem. It seems that a group of street people types had adopted the laundry as a late morning and afternoon drinking place. They''d come in and buy some booze and then go next door to the laundry and swill it down. They were there for hours at a time. The customers who came in left the place in a hurry, mostly never to return. The solution was simple, but took several months to get it done. The laundry owner went to the local police to discuss the problem. He was told that if he would post a no drinking sign, they''d drop in and roust those who were there drinking. They made it a point to do that almost every day until finally the drinkers got the message. The laundry operator got the message too. He stopped in the liquor store every time he came to his laundry. He bought something each time and chatted. He left his telephone numbers and asked if they would call if they ever saw anything amiss next door. They didn''t become friends, but they were his loyal allies and nothing like that ever happened again. When the fire broke out at the laundry on the other side of the shopping center, the people there assumed that someone had already called the fire department. No one even knew who the owner was, nor did they know how to call him. Finally someone asked the question, ''Who called the fire department?'' It seems that no one was interested in the laundry fire and it burned for about twenty minutes before the firemen arrived on scene. By then it was too late to save anything. The eatery and the laundry were the only two places open at night and the owners of those two business didn''t know each other. Too bad the laundry owner hadn''t made the effort to meet them, maybe most of his laundry might have been saved. Since that particular owner had been very frugal when he bought insurance coverage, he was unable to reopen. He took what they paid him and got a local distributor to take over his space and they built a new laundry for someone else to operate. The whole point of this writing is to alert laundry owners and operators about the need to become good business neighbors because it really can pay off. Not only is it the right thing to do, it could save you a lot of grief, down time and money.