You have your gi dry-cleaned?\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/em>Stop the madness!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/em><\/strong>Sorry, but I hate ironing.<\/p>\n Really. <\/em><\/p>\n Hate. <\/em><\/p>\n Ironing.<\/em><\/p>\n So when I discovered that I could have my gi dry-cleaned instead of \u00a0having to wrestle with it myself, it was a no-brainer.<\/p>\n So I made my way to the dry-cleaners, close by my dojo.<\/p>\n From the depths of his shop beyond the steaming iron, emerged a wiry 50-something Korean man with his name “Kim” embroidered into his pale blue shirt.<\/p>\n “Hello”<\/em>, I said.<\/p>\n He grunted, as if he was too afraid to smile in case his face might crack.<\/p>\n “Can you dry clean this for me please?”<\/em>, I asked as I passed my gi across the counter.<\/p>\n “Tuesday”<\/em>, he said.<\/p>\n “Today’s Thursday. Is there any chance I can get it earlier than that?”<\/em>, I asked.<\/p>\n “Tuesday”<\/em>, he repeated.<\/p>\n I took a breath and tried to forget that the sign out front read, “One hour dry cleaning”.<\/em><\/p>\n “How much will that be?”<\/em>, I asked.<\/p>\n Kim picked up my gi and then punched some keys on his computer.<\/p>\n “$12.50”<\/em><\/p>\n I took another deep breath, while thoughts of highway robbery crossed my mind.<\/p>\n “Okay…”<\/em><\/p>\n Kim passed me the ticket, and I walked out.<\/p>\n — Fast forward to the following Tuesday —<\/strong><\/p>\n As I pulled up to the dry-cleaners, disgruntled Kim put out his cigarette and walked in the side door to meet me at the counter.<\/p>\n “Hi, how are you?”<\/em>, I asked.<\/p>\n Kim walked by me and pushed a button. With an electric buzz, suddenly a rack of suits, dresses and shirts started revolving.<\/p>\n Kim pulled my gi from the rack and hung it on the bar at the front desk.<\/p>\n Holy smokes. Was that my gi?? Wow! Looked brand new. Bright white and beautifully pressed.<\/em><\/p>\n “$12.50”<\/em>, he grunted.<\/p>\n “Hey, you did a really nice job”<\/em>, I complimented him. “It looks great! Thank you so much!”<\/em><\/p>\n “$12.50”<\/em>, he said again.<\/p>\n As I paid Kim I said, “I have a lot of students and plenty of my own uniforms that require dry-cleaning. I can bring you a lot of business.”<\/em><\/p>\n “It har work!”<\/em>, he grunted in his thick Korean accent.<\/p>\n “Alright then… I guess I’ll see you later… Kimbo”<\/em>, \u00a0I thought to myself.<\/p>\n As I pulled my gi from the bar I notice the coat hanger slogan that read, “We love our customers”.<\/em><\/p>\n Really, Kimbo? You LOVE your customers? You sure have a funny way of showing it. In fact you remind me a little bit of the “Soup Nazi” from Seinfeld.<\/p>\n Anyhow, I took my gi to Kim for the next 12 months, and each time he’d scowl as he saw me coming. Then, he’d continually complain about the business I was giving him.<\/p>\n I couldn’t help but think, “Dude, if you don’t like what you do, stop doing it. Or if you don’t want my business that’s ok. I’ll go elsewhere”. <\/em><\/p>\n And that’s exactly what I did. I found another dry-cleaner right across the road who gives me next day service with a smile and charges one third of the price. I had three heavy-weight gis laundered and pressed for $17.50.<\/p>\n Now here’s the thing. If Kim had lived up to his coat-hanger slogan and given me better customer service, I would be happy overpaying him to dry-clean my gi and could have referred more business to him.<\/p>\n But he didn’t.<\/p>\n So what the heck has this got to do with teaching karate?<\/p>\n EVERYTHING.<\/strong><\/p>\n Look after your students. Greet them with a smile. Return their phone calls. Answer their emails. Praise them. Get to know them. Go the extra step. Give a little more. It’s not that difficult.<\/p>\n Don’t be a Soup Nazi. You’re not the only martial arts school in your town.<\/p>\n You see people would rather pay a little extra to feel special. But if you don’t back it up with quality customer service, you’ll be left wondering why your students voted with their feet.<\/p>\n![\"hanger\"](\"https:\/\/www.karateteaching.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/hanger.jpg\")
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