Should you tell customers you are the owner

[taters]

A friend of mine that owns 2 Laundrymats never tells his customers he is the owner. He says If customers know you are the owner they will try and take advantage of you. Most of my customers know I am the owner and while some people will try to take advantage of me, Most do not. What is your opinion on this subject?

[millenniumplus]

My wife and I never just come right out and tell the customer(s) we are the owners.
Other customers usually tell some who don't know that fact. Usually because of our
work ethic and customer caring ways, customers most always figure that out and tell
us so. As far as being taken advantage of, would say when we first opened the biz,
some people did try to take advantage of us (mostly for our lack of knowledge in
this field). After years of experience would say one gets taken advantage of it you
allow the customer to do so (whether you tell them you are the owner or not).
Most people have been coming for years. Some people will always try to hustle
you but for the most part many customers are honest. Our goal is to provide a
great service and treat people fair based on our knowledge and history of the
equipment.

[LuckyStella]

I took over my dad's mat after he died in April. While dad never made a point of "announcing" he was the owner, customers quickly got the point when he would give 'em a box of free soap, give 'em a free wash, or bark at them for misusing the equipment.

Whenever my husband and I are in the mat taking care of business, customers stop to say how much they liked my father, he was a good man, and tell stories about things that have happened over the years.

As a side note, because our customers know us, they are willing to point out problems, use the equipment respectfully, and let us know if anyone has been making mischief.

[Harv]

<font color="blue"> when we first opened the biz, some people did try to take advantage of us (mostly for our lack of knowledge in this field) </font color>

That's gonna be us the first of next year. What sort of things did the they try to pull on you?

[thelaundrydoctor]

I thinh as an owner I you are planing on spending any time in the store, even more so if you have attendts, you need to let as many of you regulars know who you are. If you let them know you care about them and their business they will become your eyes and ears when your not there. Make them feel at home and they will treat it like its their laundty. They will tell you what you employees are going good and what they are doing bad. Most importantly they will tell their friends. I think some times we forget this is customer service business, like the local bar or coffie shop we are regulars at and the owner knows us. We feel a level of commitment to them, get your customers to feel that way about you and you'll never have to adveritse again. The other side of that if you are an absentee store owner your customers may not beleve that you care about them and that your just there to collect the money.