Ugh! I don’t want to go in THERE!

Over the weekend, I went out to eat with my husband. Even though we love the place and the food and staff are wonderful, their restroom has a lot to be desired! The toilet partitions were rusted and filthy. I know we all have seen this before in many places. It makes me think-if their restrooms look like this, what does their kitchen look like??  I know most of us do not pay attention to the restroom partitions; we get in and get out, but to some of us who deal with these products every day notice every scratch, rust spot, and dent.

TRUE STORY

A few years ago I was at a business convention and there was a round table from many types of businesses talking about marketing.  A boat dealer in Naples, Florida had a great story we all can learn from.  He had just finished remodeling his entire showroom.  Really fancy upgrades with glass walled offices, new flooring, new men’s room, etc.  One day he’s in his office over-looking the showroom when he notices a lady get up from the sales desk and walk towards the restroom, only to come back a few minutes later, whisper in her husband’s ear and they DARTED out of the showroom. Concerned with what he was seeing, he hurried to the parking lot and asked them what happened.  He said it looked like 1 minute they were getting ready to buy a boat and the next they were gone.  She mentioned how when she went into the ladies room it was a disaster.  Old, dirty and dark.  She thought that if you could spend this much money to re-do the showroom and ignore the ladies room then you didn’t want her business.

The owner thanked her for the feedback, apologized for the issues and acknowledged something needed to be done.  Confused (since he had never been in the ladies room) he went back in and checked it out.  She was right, it was bad.  He thought how could this happened.  It turns out that he had only a few female employees who used another restroom and that no one had really every paid the ladies room that customers use much attention. He spent that week getting it completely remodeled.  He then called this customer and asked for her to come back and give the new ladies room her stamp of approval.  He explained this was not done to sell her a boat, but to address her concern.  She came back and loved it and they bought a boat.

Moral of the story is most companies spend all their marketing dollars on radio, tv, print, websites, etc.  They ignore some of best marketing opportunities they get, in their stores.

The majority of businesses have metal partitions and these tend to rust overtime or the use a melamine partition that warps due to moisture.  A good solution for the highly used rooms is a solid plastic partition.  By using a HDPE (high density polyethylene) partition, you can prevent mildew, rusting, and odors.  Even graffiti can be wiped away with ordinary cleaners.

The plastic partitions are more expensive, but in the long run, you actually will save money in maintenance and future replacement cost.

So I will end this blog now that I have made all of you aware of your surroundings next time you are in a public restroom!

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