Customer Satisfaction is Paramount at UniFirst

“The Customer is King“ is an age-old business mantra that is usually associated with customer service. But in the uniform supply and service industry, it means much more. In fact, UniFirst takes customer satisfaction so seriously, it coined its own business mantra that employee Team Partners abide by on a daily basis— the customer is the focus of everything we do.

For example, UniFirst rewards route service representatives (RSRs) who embrace this business philosophy through its prestigious Aldo Croatti Awards program. Recipients of this honor represent a group of elite service professionals who exemplify customer service excellence and satisfaction while retaining 100% of their customers for an entire fiscal year. These RSRs are dedicated to servicing more than 760 UniFirst business customers on a weekly basis. That’s a whole lot of customers with a whole lot of satisfaction.

The company also recently revealed an impressive new-customer retention rate of 92.3% during fiscal year 2019. Customer retention is one of the most important measurements of service quality, reputation, and client satisfaction.

In today’s ultra-competitive business climate where customers have more buying options than ever before, it’s important for uniform supply and service providers to have complete focus on the customer.

According to data provided by hubspot.com, 89% of customer service professionals agree that the customer is more likely than ever to share about their positive and negative experiences; 88% of customer service professionals agree that customers have higher expectations than in the past; and 76% of customer service professionals agree that customers are smarter and more informed now than ever before.

How does your provider measure up? When comparing, it’s important to understand that not all uniform companies are created equally. Here’s how UniFirst’s people, products, and service can make all the difference.

Hire great people, empower and retain them. UniFirst is dedicated to hiring employee Team Partners who share the company’s “Core Values”— those who consistently conduct business with: Customer Focus, Respect for Others, and Commitment to Quality. By empowering Team Partners at all levels to solve customer issues, UniFirst can better satisfy customer needs and foster an atmosphere of employee contentment and pride. Empowering staff has led to longer service tenure, enhanced customer service levels, and helps drive the company's continuous success and prosperity.

Put the customer first. To say that UniFirst Team Partners are motivated to succeed is only part of the picture. UniFirst staff, individually and collectively, commit to following their “Essentials of Service,” which can be summed up in three main ideas:

1. Strive to understand each customer's unique needs in order to deliver service that exceeds their expectations.
2. Handle any customer issues or concerns quickly and resolve problems immediately.
3. Be responsible for improving customer satisfaction.

Know your customers and listen to what they really want. At UniFirst, employee Team Partners always measure service and satisfaction levels to ensure that everything lives up to the customer’s expectations (and the UniFirst guarantee). To accomplish that, Team Partners have face-to-face visits with customers; have performance report cards completed by customers, which currently stands at a 97% service satisfaction; and wearer satisfaction survey cards. All these programs are closely monitored for review and any required follow up. And, unlike other suppliers, UniFirst provides Triple Pro Service—three dedicated UniFirst service professionals working on an account at all times. This ensures customers consistently receive the quality products and services they need, with quick resolutions to any concerns they may have.

Provide great products. UniFirst provides an unmatched selection of workwear and ancillary items with more than 40,000 in-stock product SKUs and over 340,000 SKUs in total; customized garments to meet a customer’s specifications; and high-resolution garment personalization (emblems, embroidery, and screen printing).

Provide great customer service. The best uniforms and facility service products are of little use if they aren’t delivered on time, every time, and looking their very best. That’s why UniFirst invests so much time, effort, and resources into creating and maintaining a local service infrastructure at all 260 locations that’s second to none. It’s this emphasis on service systems, and the responsiveness of the support team, that sets UniFirst apart from competitors—and has earned the company an average customer relationship length in excess of 12 years.

If you’re not 100% totally satisfied with your uniform provider, it may be time for a change. Learn more about the UniFirst Difference and contact UniFirst for a free consultation. You, too, can be the focus of everything they do.