Uniforms/Workwear Manufacturing: Steve Berg, Encompass Group LLC, Pelican Rapids, Minn.
Regaining trust with a customer after a service interruption is crucial for providing a positive relationship and maintaining customer loyalty.
Be Transparent and Honest — Acknowledge the problem as soon as you become aware there is an interruption. Reach out to the customer(s) and clearly communicate what caused the interruption.
Apologize and Take Ownership — Be humble. Offer a sincere apology for any inconvenience with empathy and honesty. Make sure the customer knows that you understand their frustrations and inconveniences.
Discuss Solutions — Customers will appreciate knowing that their concerns are being addressed. It’s best to offer next steps in a clear manner outlining what your plan is to resolve the issue and prevent future interruptions.
If appropriate, offer compensation or an incentive that is relative to the customer’s needs as a goodwill gesture.
Communication — Express your commitment to customer service by communicating frequently with updates. Inform your customers about the status of the service restoration and any improvements or resolutions that have been made.
Check in with your customers and follow up with them to ensure that they are satisfied with the resolution.
Listen. Request feedback by encouraging your customers to share their suggestions for improvement. By involving your customers in the solution, they will not only help you to improve but it will also help them to feel valued.
Communicate your values and commitment to quality and service.
Personalize your communication. Try not to send a generic response.
Offer direct access to customer service support or personal contact information for dedicated support.
Evaluate — Monitor the outcomes of the changes made. You can use surveys or feedback forms to evaluate and make additional changes or guide future improvements.
When attempting to rebuild trust, enhance the overall customer experience and strengthen your relationship with your customer, priority should be given to transparency, communication and a proactive approach moving forward.
Linen Supply: Dyan Troxel, HandCraft Linen Services, Richmond, Va.
Trust is the foundation of a successful relationship, and building trust starts at the beginning. Getting to know your customers as individuals opens a connection. Know what drives them. Is it friendly, casual conversations? Data? Food? This information is helpful to form relationships and build trust.
Once you have established the groundwork of trust, continue to do what you say you are going to do. Then, customers know you have their back and when something goes wrong, they have confidence that you will work to fix it. If you have not had time to develop trust with your customers, there is still hope. Managing an incident is your chance to build that trust stronger than ever and it all starts with listening.
When you hear a customer complain, resist the urge to explain what happened, make excuses or blame someone else. Simply listen. Learn from the customer how the incident affected them. This will not only teach you about this customer, but it can also inform you about process improvements that can positively impact all your customers.
After they feel heard, the next step is to apologize to the customer. Take full accountability for what occurred. They do not care where the breakdown happened within your organization. They only care that you see their point of view and you will collaborate on any future issues that arise.
In the next few months, it is important to touch base often to ensure the customer is satisfied with the service. Communicate any issues proactively instead of waiting for the customer to complain. Additionally, make sure you follow up in a timely manner with any action items you say you will do.
Rebuilding trust can take a long time. Customers may continue to remember the previous incident and be cautious about it happening again. This is where open and honest communication and showing care for your customers comes in.
Refer to what drives them. If it is casual conversation, ask them about their weekend plans. If it is data, show them a six-month trend line to reassure them that they are moving in the right direction. If it is food, pop in with a box of donuts to say thank you.
Trust is more than being dependable. Trust is building a bond that creates lasting relationships.
Equipment Manufacturing: Brennan Pollnow, Girbau Industrial, Oshkosh, Wis.
Service interruptions are tough, and when they affect customer relationships, it can feel like you’re climbing uphill to regain trust. But the good news is, it can be done — and sometimes, the recovery process can lead to stronger partnerships than before.
Here’s what I’ve seen work, both from laundry operators and from the support side.
1. Be Proactive and Transparent — The first step is honest, proactive communication. If you haven’t already, reach out directly to the affected customers, own the issue and explain what happened in plain terms. More importantly, share what’s being done to prevent it from happening again. People don’t expect perfection — but they do expect accountability and a plan.
2. Use the Downtime to Upgrade the Uptime — If the service interruptions were equipment-related — such as unplanned downtime, bottlenecks or capacity issues — it might be time to revisit your equipment strategy. Sometimes the fix isn’t just repair; it’s rethinking the layout, updating key components or adding automation in places where human error or fatigue has been causing problems.
As a supplier, this is where we can come in and help with on-site workflow evaluations to find weak links or process gaps. Preventive maintenance plans tailored to your operation help make downtime become predictable — and avoidable. Modular upgrades (like adding conveyors, shuttle systems or RFID integration) can boost capacity without having to rebuild from scratch.
3. Lean on Technology to Build Back Confidence — This is where tools like RFID come into play. If customers are worried about missed items or inconsistent service, being able to say, “Here’s a digital record of what came in and what went out,” is a powerful trust-builder. It’s not just about fixing the issue — it’s about proving it’s fixed with data.
Even if you’re not ready for full-scale RFID, there are scalable options, and we can help align the physical equipment with whatever tech path you’re pursuing. That kind of coordination matters.
4. Offer Added Value While You Rebuild — Think about ways to go beyond just saying “we’re back.” Could you offer a free on-site inventory scan to double-check their stock levels? Or help them label garments for better tracking? Those small, unexpected gestures remind your customers that you’re invested in their success, not just in getting the trucks back on schedule.
At the end of the day, trust is built (and rebuilt) through consistency, communication and follow-through. The right equipment — and the right support team — can help you deliver on all three. You don’t have to go it alone; we’re here to help you build systems that don’t just recover from problems but prevent them.
Let’s make sure the next chapter of your customer relationships is your strongest yet.
Click HERE to read part 1 with advice from experts in chemicals supply, equipment/supply distribution, commercial laundry and consulting services.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].
