This past weekend I had the chance to visit Nashville TN for the first time. The Southeast Carwash Association put on a GREAT little Road Show event that provided operators and distributors a chance for networking and an exchange of ideas. The board hosting the event had a highly successful roundtable discussion on the first night. The “buzz” going around the show by both operators new and old was the introduction of a monthly wash pass, or commonly called “unlimited washing for a monthly fee”. It seems that anybody with in-bay automatics or tunnels are prime candidates for a program like this and there were operators giving their testimonials to their success with the program. Robert Greene of Carwash Express hosted a round table discussion on Customer Loyalty jointly with WashCard Systems. Robert walked through his plans, how he is currently selling wash passes, and his excitement over the success of the program was infectious.

The second day had us visiting six Nashville wash sites and some of those that we saw included 2 locations owned by Tim Jones. The charter bus was full of conversations that included new ideas sparked by the visits and an equal number of “what not to do” discussions. I learned a lot from some of the veteran operators on the trip and in-turn shared my marketing ideas for those that asked.

If your ever asked to go on a ‘Honkeytonk Tour’ by a native of Nashville you need to say “yes”, just don’t plan on getting back to your hotel until it is very late.

They did such a fine job with this Roadshow that I’m already planning on going in May to their Tampa show.