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Survey: Most Pleased with Distributors but Admit Shopping Around

CHICAGO — More than 80% of managers and administrators polled in this month’s Wire survey are either “very satisfied” (22.2%) or “somewhat satisfied” (66.7%) with the distributor or distributors serving them.
Another 11% are “very dissatisfied.” No one responded that they were “neither satisfied nor dissatisfied” or “somewhat dissatisfied.”
Despite the fact that most survey respondents are pleased with the service they’re getting, two-thirds of them also admit they’ve “shopped” for a new distributor in the past year.
Nearly 90% of respondents say distributors are doing an “average” job or better of maintaining lines of communication with operators and keeping them informed about products and services. Results weren’t all rosy. Approximately 11% ranked distributors’ marketing efforts as “poor.”
The three most important distributor services to this month’s respondents are providing chemical and/or nonchemical supplies (88.9%), equipment maintenance and repairs (44.4%), and staff training (33.3%). Survey takers were invited to select as many choices as applied.
Other choices offered in the survey were equipment selection and installation; financing assistance; laundry sizing, design and layout; construction support and coordination; equipment rebuilding; environmental compliance counseling; marketing, advertising and promotional support; and “other.”
Among those whose distributor doesn’t offer additional services or they haven’t taken advantage of them, providing chemical and/or nonchemical supplies was the service that interested them most.
Subscribers to American Laundry News’ Wire e-mails — now distributed weekly — are invited to participate in an industry survey each month. The survey is conducted online via a partner website. Each survey is developed so it can be completed in 10 minutes or less. Readers are encouraged to participate, as a greater number of responses will help to better define operator opinions and industry trends.
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Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].