I have been to a lot of businesses over the last 30 years and I know the one thing that turns most people off is the cleanliness of the store.
The importance of a clean retail area, dining area, and even counter tops shows how important it is to make a good impression and keep your customers free from potential health issues.
Where this issue happens most is in the bathrooms. A Harris Interactive Study done in 2011 for Cintas Corporation showed that 94 percent of the 1,000 people surveyed said they would AVOID a business in the future if they encountered a dirty restroom.
“Dirty restrooms cost businesses lost sales, customers, referrals, and repeat business,” said Mike Thompson, Senior Vice President, Cintas Facility Services. “This study reaffirms that if customers are not satisfied with the state of the restroom, they will take their business elsewhere.” (Cintas, 2011)
According to CleanLink.com, an cleaning industry magazine, 86% of Adults equate the cleanliness of the bathroom with the cleanliness of the kitchen. 75% of those adults said that they would not return to a restaurant if the bathroom was dirty.
So Clean restrooms…not a big deal?
With online reviews almost a guaranteed read before a NEW customer tries your business, it’s important to make sure you can maintain a positive restroom experience for a good comment or at least no comment at all. With negative comments on the condition or even worse, a photo of a poorly maintained restroom, it can eliminate a lot of potential customers.
Let’s break it down just with some simple numbers.
You run a 18 hole public facility that charges $50 a round to play.
You have a golfer that plans to play golf 2 times a month at your facility over the course of the 9 month season. They play 2 times and both times they see problems with cleanliness in the restroom. They decide to try another place and have no issues with the restroom and were even IMPRESSED with it because of the disarray at your facility. They end up never coming back to your facility.
So, directly, you made $100 from the golfer. However, you lost $800 in green fees for the remainder of the season. Most likely, they were playing with friends, so multiply that by four ($3200). This doesn’t include food, tournament fees, merchandise, or potential membership fees.
Not only did you lose $4000+ from that one customer, they will most likely mention how much better the second course was were to anyone that mentions your course. If they are truly offended, they might even take a photo and post it on a review website (Golfadvisor, GolfReview, TravelGolf, or a Local Golf site). The reach on these can be large and painful to top line revenue. Twenty years ago, word of mouth was limited to the number of people in direct contact with someone. However, with online sites, many decisions are made based on reviews from strangers.
Unfortunately, this could all happen with just ONE customer feeling this way. Can you imagine if your restroom was bad enough to turn away 1 out of 20 golfers, or even 1 out of 10? At a minimum your restaurant and other food services will take a substantial hit. Can your business absorb a $4000 loss for every 10 golfers you have?
Take the time to see the business through your customers eyes, and you will be surprised how your business will grow.
If you need help finding these areas of improvement or need a fresh set of eyes, Rockhold and Associates can work with you to make your 2018 more profitable. Just email us at jason@rockholdandassociates.