We take our panel this week of industry insiders and operators to talk about looking to the local competition with fresh eyes. How can we learn about being a better business and a better competitor? Great show this week – a MUST listen.

Featuring Ryan Carlson (Your Host), Curt Aton (Franklin Carwash), Kyle Doyle (CarwashTV.com and Blue Sky Media Group), Robert Greene (Carwash Express Inc.), Kate Carr (Editor, PC&D)

Show Sponsors: Modern Car Care, WashCard Systems

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This week we talk with our friends from Modern Car Care and the Western Carwash Association about their upcoming road show event and discuss labor issues and our industries future in 2010.

Featuring Ryan Carlson (Your Host), Kate Carr (Editor of Professional Carwash & Detailing),  Holly Macriss (Executive Director of the Western Carwash Association), and George Spelius (Editor, Modern Car Care)

Show Sponsors: Modern Car Care, WashCard Systems

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I’m afraid to say that business owners, especially carwash operators have seen the writing on the wall for some time now, it’s just been easier to look the other way. When times were ‘good’ it was hard to justify making potentially costly investments into the business with “things were already working”… Every business will change several times during their lifespan – the only difference is whether the decision to change was out of foresight or hindsight. The reason why big companies always seem to be reinventing themselves is because they have spent millions on research to identify that consumers change far more often than our businesses do. Did you know that big box retail and restaurants have “test markets” all over the country that try new business models, menu items, store layouts, and different promotional programs? They’ve done a LOT of the work for us and most small business owners have not realized this.

Here are some things we should learn from the big businesses that change with the times (aka. big box)

Customers time is valuable: Like we haven’t know this before right? But notice all of the stores with express check out lanes? Do you realize that you can buy just about anything without cash these days? Have you noticed that pharmacies are not even built without a drive-up window anymore?

Takeaway: Some businesses are finding creative ways to make the experience of a carwash quick and easy. They offer express lanes, express detail, cashless payment acceptance, extended hours of operation, express payment terminals, and many more.

Manufacturer and distributors partner with their customers: Walk into any Best Buy and you’ll quickly realize that it’s not just blue-shirt employees in the store. They have an Apple representative, a Verizon / AT&T / Sprint / T-Mobile representative, Sony Reps, etc. They are all their to support the staff with expert training and help the customers answer their specific questions about complex products. Even smaller stores receive monthly training from their manufacturer and distributor representatives on how to effectively market and understand the various product offerings.

Takeaway: You should be working with companies that can provide you with assistance, training, marketing advice, and consulting. Distributors and Manufacturers should be reaching out to their end users and finding out how they can help make them successful. Send them to trade shows, hold educational sessions, send somebody out for an onsite visit, help them put together a marketing plan.

Customers can pay any way they want: This will come across as a shameless plug but just realize that every fast food business, gas station, retail business, and oil change lube shop all accepts credit cards in addition to cash. Why is it that two-thirds of operators still are a cash-only business?

Takeaway: If your not taking credit cards everywhere on your location you’ve already missed the boat. Your playing catch-up with your competition and if the other car washes in your area are not yet taking credit card as a form of payment on all of your services your lucky. You have an opportunity to capitalize on this customer expectation and reap the benefits.

Other things ‘Big Box’ has done to survive;

Smart Hiring and Firing: This is the wakeup call that has businesses evaluating their staff and replacing underperforming staff with highly qualified individuals from the ranks of the unemployed. Do regular staff performance evaluations, document issues like time theft, showing up late, customer complaints, and have your ‘case’ built if you have an employee that you would like to replace. This keeps you safe from expensive unemployment claims.

Create financial transparency with the staff: Management never likes letting employees know how much money the business is really making. But it’s now proven that staff that knows the real financial stakes creates a greater sense of inclusivity. Employees work harder and feel that they are part of the solution, not just another problem. If employees know that your business is in trouble perhaps they will work harder to keep things afloat (and keep the jobs they all count on!).

Try new things: Big Box realizes that if what they are doing now isn’t working it’s time to shake things up and do something new. So for your wash business perhaps it’s time to investigate that unlimited wash program, that fleet marketing program, or courting the local fundraiser and charity groups. You never know what the ‘next big thing’ will be in your area until you’ve tried it.

What do you think our industry can learn about what Big Box Retail is doing? How can we apply it to our small businesses?

The reason you keep listening is to get new ideas on how to improve your business right? Well, this episode certainly will not disappoint.

This week I’m talking with Mike Perry, a carwash marketing cheerleader coach and author of a lot of recent editorials specific to in-bay operations and marketing – we talk about his experiences and his thoughts on what operators should be doing and COULD be doing to improve their wash business.

Featuring Ryan Carlson (Your Host), Mike Perry (email)

Show Sponsors: Modern Car Care, WashCard Systems

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On November 11th, Help Honor our Veterans by providing them with a Free Carwash.

It’s not too late to do your part! Please log on to the following website http://www.graceforvets.org/ or phone Jim directly at 717.629.5494 for details on how you can get involved.

There are FREE promotional materials that you can print off and post at your wash and also use in your local newspaper to help promote your event honoring our veterans. Many before you have paid for these promotional materials.

This week we discuss the value of marketing your carwash with Twitter and Facebook with several successful wash operators and a PR specialist.

Featuring Ryan Carlson (Your Host), Kevin Wood (Owner, Snappy Express Wash), Andrew Jaffa (Owner, Carbux Carwash), Martin Johncox (Consultant, Alexander and Associates Public Relations Marketing)

Show Sponsors: Modern Car Care, WashCard Systems

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In today’s episode of Wash Ideas Weekly, we discuss how we can better utilize our time at a trade show and follow through with plans, how media is forgetting about professional car washing as an alternative to driveway washing, and discuss new technology that makes marketing our business better.

Featuring Ryan Carlson (Your Host), Kate Carr (Editor, PD&D Magazine), Perry Powell (Wash Consultant), Holly Macriss (Executive Director, Western Carwash Association)

Show Sponsors: Modern Car Care

Thanks Again program: To learn more about offering reward miles for YOUR customers when they use your wash visit the Thanks Again ‘More Information’ page and be sure to mention where you heard about their company.

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In today’s episode of Wash Ideas Weekly, we are talking about customer loyalty, fundraiser carwash ammunition, and lessons we can learn from Jiffy Lube.

Featuring Ryan Carlson (Your Host), Kate Carr (Editor, PD&D Magazine), and Mike Perry (Wash Consultant).

Show Sponsors: Modern Car Care

Thanks Again program: To learn more about offering reward miles for YOUR customers when they use your wash visit the Thanks Again ‘More Information’ page and be sure to mention where you heard about their company.

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In today’s episode of Wash Ideas Weekly, we explore the new emerging advertising and marketing opportunities of Facebook and the use of Twitter by small businesses such as car washes. We are joined by Kate Carr of PC&D and Victor Macias of Car Wash Profits.

Featuring Ryan Carlson, Kate Carr, and Victor Macias.

Show Sponsors: Modern Car Care

Thanks Again program: To learn more about offering reward miles for YOUR customers when they use your wash visit the Thanks Again ‘More Information’ page and be sure to mention where you heard about their company.

[Click here to subscribe to this podcast via iTunes]

[Click here to download the episode to your computer]

Featuring Ryan Carlson and Holly Macriss of the Western Carwash Association

Show Sponsors: Modern Car Care

Thanks Again program: To learn more about offering reward miles for YOUR customers when they use your wash visit the Thanks Again ‘More Information’ page and be sure to mention where you heard about their company.

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This week we have Fred Grauer of Whistle Clean Carwash and the author of “25 Questions you should ask your equipment supplier“, Robert Greene of Carwash Express, and Bobby Willis of Cool Wave Carwash. We talk about equipment suppliers and their role in making or breaking your business, how to choose them, and what questions to ask them before giving them your business.

Featuring Ryan Carlson, Fred Grauer of Whistle Clean Carwash, Robert Greene of Carwash Express, and Bobby Willis of Cool Wave Carwash.

Show Sponsors: Modern Car Care and Carwash Profits

New Sponsor: To learn more about offering reward miles for YOUR customers when they use your wash visit the Thanks Again ‘More Information’ page and be sure to mention where you heard about their company.

[Click here to subscribe to this podcast via iTunes]

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I guess I’m a bit tired of hearing wash owners say, “I know I need to do something but…” which is followed by some excuse that is used to justify not making a change.

The changes in consumer buying trends has not only effected carwash businesses, it’s just that other industries have more successfully adapted to the current market environment. As stated earlier, consumers are becoming immune to the old way of doing business. We are now fighting for discretionary income against some of the biggest marketing machines in history. McDonalds, Walmart, Starbucks, iTunes, Amazon.com, and eBay see that people don’t have as much money in their pockets as they used to.

Here are some of the common places carwash businesses are losing touch with their customers and could look to reinvent or retool aspects of their business to be more relevant with today’s consumer. We will use the above businesses as examples of what to do right.

Be known for something, stay relevant! - You can no longer just be a ‘CAR WASH’ in your community, you need to be known for something. Whether you are the charity carwash, the eco-friendly carwash, the fastest carwash, or the carwash with the convenient club program… You fall from the publics eye when you fail to stand out.

Failure to offer payment options – I feel like a complete broken record here, but look at how consumers purchase goods and services these days. Customers do not want to be held hostage by changers, tokens, or trips to the ATM. They buy value meal hamburgers, rent .99 cent DVD’s from Redbox, order a $2.00 coffee, and purchase songs for .99 cents each with (drumroll) their bank card or credit card every day, all day, all the time. If you do not have a credit card acceptance device next to every coin slot or bill validator you can’t see the giant neon sign in the sky proclaiming that they purchase their everyday services with a credit card – this is an easy issue to tackle, it only takes money.

Ask for repeat business – Customer Data Collection – Have you ever purchased something from Amazon, Apple, Best Buy, or signed up for a ‘Customer Rewards Program’? I’m certain you or somebody close to you has – all of the businesses that are thriving and are not pointing fingers at anybody right now are those that realize it’s FAR less expensive to market to the customers they already have. If you do not have a way to capture your customers contact information (name, email address, mailing address, etc) you are missing out on perhaps the most effective and least expensive way to increase your bottom line. Just don’t go out and build a website with a “give me your information” page without having a plan… You need to create incentives, promotions, or build programs around gathering this information as an end goal. If your collecting the data from your customers good for you! If you are not doing anything with that data shame on you.

I’ve only scratched the surface… So if you feel overwhelmed and know you need to do something perhaps it’s time to find somebody you know that can help, attend an association education event, or seek the assistance of a professional.

Exploring how businesses (especially car washes) could utilize new media outlines like Facebook to grow their business. Jonathan Wold joins us again to share some of his expertise with creating and maintaining an online presence. This may not be your cup of tea, but perhaps a family member or one of your staff could spearhead this growing opportunity to build your business beyond the four walls of your wash.

Featuring Ryan Carlson and Jonathan Wold of sabramedia,

Show Sponsors: Modern Car Care and Carwash Profits

New Sponsor: To learn more about offering reward miles for YOUR customers when they use your wash visit the Thanks Again ‘More Information’ page and be sure to mention where you heard about their company.

[Click here to subscribe to this podcast via iTunes]

[Click here to download the episode to your computer]

Lisa provides wise words about hard work and innovation. It’s time that our industry brings a new level of professionalism to this industry and starts making the changes needed to meet the needs of consumers that are changing.

An example of a Google Maps search result looking for nearby carwashes using a GPS-enabled smart phone.

A common roadblock many carwash owners encounter is that they rush out and build a Web site for their company and then are shocked that their business does not increase as a result. This common misunderstanding in Internet marketing is shared by many businesses worldwide, not just carwashes. There are a number of factors that play into the success and profitability of Internet marketing beyond just having a Web site.

A site that provides only basic information, such as address, phone, hours of operation and location information, is nothing more than a glorified Internet Yellow Pages ad. Instead, your Web site should…

[Continue reading this article at moderncarcare.com]

Adding credit card acceptance to a car wash location is one of the upgrades every business owner must consider if they want to maximize their earning potential in 2009 and beyond. Every year that passes a new generation of car owners hit the street and they do not carry any cash. The next generation of consumers relies heavily on the ability to use their check cards and credit cards to make every day purchases. Adding credit card acceptance to your wash services is the key to getting more business from current customers and gaining the business of new customers.

What is the cost of doing nothing?

• Wash owners that are not currently accepting credit cards at their wash services are missing out gaining the business of a younger (and successful) demographic of consumers.

• Businesses that are cash-only are susceptible to theft and silent partners – at least with merchant processors they send you a statement at the end of each month that details how much they cost you. Vandalism and employee theft leaves you in the dark and no longer in control of the fate of your own business.

• Carwash owners need to make more money per car and conclusive studies have proven that the psychology of paying with plastic will increase customer conversion to more expensive wash packages.

• Cashless card payment systems eliminate the ‘beat the clock’ mentality that is the primary reason for customers to wash faster and spend less in the self service bay.

What are the real reasons for resisting change?

Over the years wash operators that have been resistant to adding credit card acceptance at their wash have a few reasons and none of them have anything to do with their business becoming less profitable. Some businesses can’t get the financing and others are resistant to change.

Those business owners that are resistant to change usually say things like, “The government doesn’t need to know how much money I’m making” which is quickly followed up with, “I don’t want those credit card companies taking a percentage of my money, they are just a bunch of thieves.”

Oh really? Funny that they say that.

• Can you imagine if your existing customers spent more time washing in the self service bay and were happy about spending more money?

• Can you imagine spending less time counting coins and making fewer bank runs?

• What would happen to your business if you could attract more business vehicles and younger consumers?

Buying new washing equipment will not impact the profitability of your carwash in the same way adding card acceptance hardware and software will. Testimonials of successful car wash owners commonly recommend that credit card acceptance works best when added in conjunction with a customer loyalty and fleet management program. These options commonly bundled with the advanced credit card retrofit systems.

The decision to add credit card acceptance on site and bring in additional business is best illustrated by reading the story of a midwest couple that purchased their first car wash several years ago. They learned a lot and made some smart choices to bring additional value to their customers by retrofitting the wash they purchased with card acceptance hardware and software.

David and Miriam purchased an eight bay self service wash from Ron, an older gentleman that had owned the wash for close to 15 years. They had requested to look over Ron’s books to evaluate the kind of investment they could have and make sure the bank would finance the purchase of the wash. When Ron handed over the bankers box filled with file folders and an assortment of black 3-ring binders with fading tape on the spine. It took the better part of an evening to go through the books for the wash and a full pot of extra strong coffee. It was rather apparent that the business was not as profitable as the owner had claimed and it certainly did not justify his asking price. The next day when they met with Ron he assured them it was a solid business and with that gave them a wink and implied that the actual numbers were  close to 30% higher than the most recent years reported. This made David and Miriam a bit nervous and they asked Ron for a few days to think about it. They went out for a lunch at the local cafe to go over their options and knew that the bank would never approve the financing based on the numbers that Ron provided.

After taking the reported numbers they copied down from Ron’s books to the bank they were able to get a better idea of what a realistic offer would be based on the ‘reported’ income of the wash. Miriam said that she thought Ron was going to punch her husband after hearing their new offer which was over twenty-percent lower than the asking price. Ron excused himself and said he would be in touch with them.

Months went by before they heard back from Ron and he called to accept their offer. According to David’s friend who was a commercial realtor, Ron had three other interestearties since the first offer was made and they all had backed out because they had all decided it was too risky dealing with a business with off the books income, what else could they be hiding? Since David and Miriam felt the risk was acceptable with the lowered offer they were thrown into the car wash business before they knew it.

Within the first year of operating the car wash Miriam was able to verify that the previous owner had not been reporting all of his earnings, although not the full 30% that he was claiming. It’s a good thing that they were cautious during the negotiation process for the wash.

In their second year of owning the wash Miriam and David attended a seminar at the Western Carwash Association on customer loyalty programs and credit card acceptance. They had the chance to meet a lot of other car wash operators during the education sessions that had taken the plunge with credit cards and decided that they would retrofit half of their self service bays with credit card acceptance. With the additional revenue that was previously “off the books” under the old management they were able to get approved for financing the they needed.

Their decision to start with half of the bays was because David has always been a “cash guy” and was skeptical about adding card readers on every service. They compromised on four bays and four vacuums on the west side of their property. Miriam had been the one to do most of the research at the trade show and felt that they would take the recommendation of veteran operators they had talked with at the show and purchased a system that cost a little bit more than they had planned. The extra money got them a flexible fleet management program and a customer loyalty card program out of the deal. Her decision was in large part because of the QuickBooks accounting integration and cash-counting features hat would save her close to four full days of administrative busy-work every month. Several of the operators that had been running card systems for the past few years suggested that Miriam and David strongly consider leveraging business-to-business accounts (fleet) since very few car washes ever seem to do a good job meeting the needs of local businesses. Buying the right card system could allow them to not only build their business through credit card acceptance but build an entirely new side of their business up in their community that was under-represented.

David had the new credit card system installed in his four bays and four vacuums seven weeks after returning from the WCA show. While David worked out all of the installation logistics Miriam had been out in their community approaching businesses that might be interested in phasing out the use of tokens or handing out cash to employees in exchange for a fleet card for washing their business vehicles. Miriam worked closely with the marketing support department of her card system provider and put together brochures that outlined her talking points and value statements. Within the first three weeks Miriam had over 85 business vehicles committed to washing at their facility once their card system was in place. Miriam said that the business owners she spoke to looked visibly relieved when she talked about never having to hand out untraceable tokens or cash out to their employees anymore.

Two months after turning their card system on it was clear to David that he was in the minority as a “cash guy” based on the numbers they were seeing. The couple made a few other big investments at the wash including updating their sign and putting the “we accept all major credit cards” to where it was visible to all of the drive-by traffic. Within days of making the sign changes over 40% of their customers started using their credit card in the four self service bays outfitted with readers. Weekends had lines two and three deep waiting to use those bays with the card readers. 70% of the revenue generated during busy weekends was from the bays and vacuums with card acceptance. Whereas the cash bays had an average dollar per ticket of $3.50, the bays with card acceptance was averaging $6.00! Customers buying time with a card spent more time washing and purchased a vacuum roughly 80% of the time. The vacuums which had a .75 cent cash start for 4 minutes had a $1.50 minimum for card users (committing them to 8 minutes per card swipe), this pushed the average dollar per ticket to $7.50 for eight out of ten customers which is $3.25 higher than the average cash customer in favorable conditions. After they had the chance to monitor their success and David and Miriam had no trouble going back to the bank for the financing to add card acceptance to their four other bays and vacuums at the wash. Miriam jokes that David agreed to make the additional updates because he was just sick of putting up with the complaints from card carrying customers that didn’t want to wait in line all the time for the bays or vacuums with card readers.

Self Service (Cash-only bays)
Minimum Purchase            $2.00 / 4 minutes
Average Time Purchased        7 minutes
Average Cash Ticket        $3.50
Vacuum Add-on rate        5/10 customers
Minimum Purchase            $0.75 / 4 minutes
Average Time Purchased        4 minutes
Additional Revenue            $0.75 cents

Conclusion: 50% of the time the average cash transaction is $4.25

Self Service (Credit Card Customers)
Minimum Purchase                $3.00 / 6 minutes
Average Time Purchased        12 minutes
Average Credit Card Ticket     $6.00
Vacuum Add-on rate              8/10 customers
Minimum Purchase                $1.50 / 8 minutes
Average Time Purchased        8 minutes
Additional Revenue                $1.50 cents

Conclusion: 80% of the time the average credit card transaction is $7.50

David and Miriam’s story is not all that unusual in many regards – they made smart informed decisions and made sure they properly advertised to the public that they now accepted credit cards.  Their runaway success with credit card acceptance in their bays and vacuums could also be attributed to their being the first in their town to offer this service. Consumers had been asking the previous owner for years for card acceptance and fleet accounts. He was both unwilling to make the capitol investment and was in hindsight afraid of having a data-trail of his income.  Success comes in many different forms and for David and Miriam they were able to meet a demand at the right time. Several local businesses had recently issued company gas cards and credit cards to their drivers and David and Miriam were the only ones that could capitalize on what is a growing trend throughout cities across the country. Businesses with employees are looking for car washes that can accept business credit cards or issue fleet cards and send an invoice each month for employee wash usage. Trusting employees with cash or tokens for washing their business vehicles is apparently too much to ask these days. According to business owners one of the top fears is that their employees are ripping them off.

Do it before your competition does

Never assume your safe from competition – American auto makers made the same mistake by not capitalizing on new technology and new business models. Cashless acceptance programs like credit card in the bay is no longer “new” to the car washing industry. It is rare to see a new construction car wash that doesn’t include credit card acceptance on every service. Get established now and start earning more right away – if competitors already accept credit cards in the bay then there is no time like the present to start making up lost ground.

Things to Remember

1. Cash is NOT King with Consumers Anymore – Nearly every person on the street has a credit card in their pocket. A much smaller percentage of those same people will have enough cash on hand for a car wash. How do you take everybody’s money that comes to your wash?
2. Credit Card Acceptance Increases Spending - By changing the way customers spend in the bay and influencing their purchasing decisions at the automatic entry station you make more money as a result of card acceptance. The increased dollar per ticket will always outweigh the cost of transaction fees.
3. Fleet Management Programs Increase Business Opportunities – Most credit card acceptance solutions that allow you to keep your existing hardware through a retrofit kit that generally includes fleet management options. Establishing and managing these business relationships are incredibly important to any car wash business that wants to make it big in their community.

Every year business owners are put into a position where they need to decide whether or not to buy a new product or service for their business. There are new products and services that come out every single year and in many instances products within the wash industry are just evolutionary and rarely revolutionary. So when considering a purchase that you had not been planning on consider the following;

1. Business Basics: Ask yourself, “Does this bring my business value?” Is there something about the purchase you are about to make that you are not currently capitalizing on? Examples range from finally adding that RainX super-sealant arch to your automatic so you can start up selling your menu items or finally adding credit card acceptance to your entry stations, bays, and vacuums to your cash-only business. These would be examples of “new changes” whereas changing the color of your soap and replacing wash equipment may be necessary, but not necessarily adding additional value.The key thing about bringing additional value to your wash services is that it’s not just improving on something you already do. There are a lot of wash owners that end up spending money just to have the latest and greatest – if you have the money to do that, by all means. But most wash owners need to consider that new equipment purchases (outside of necessary repairs and replacing old failing equipment) need to answer the question, “Will this product/service provide a feature or service that that my customers want or are willing to pay for?”

1. Research Basics: Ask for referrals, do your homework online, and ask for the names of competitors. If a supplier or manufacturer is unwilling to provide you with customer referrals or hesitant to give you the names of their competitors that should send you a signal to be cautious. Nothing quite beats talking to an actual operator that uses a manufacturers product to learn whether it will be a good fit for you. The reason to look at competitors is because many times it will reduce any ‘buyers remorse’ that you may have when making big purchases, even if you made the right decision for your business. Anytime you are spending thousands of dollars with a supplier or manufacturer you need toknow that you didn’t make the wrong decision. Before speaking with a manufacturer or supplier be sure you’ve reviewed the information available online so you can ask intelligent and well-informed questions.

1. Common Sense Basics: The wisdom of generations before us still holds true especially in making unplanned buying decisions.

• “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” - Business owners are just as susceptible to the “rush” of buying something new as every other consumer on the planet. Most wash operations will always check to see if the equipment they have can be upgraded, retrofitted, or repaired before resorting to buying new.

• “You get what you pay for” - There is a reason why you charge more for your top wash package than your basic wash package right? When evaluating suppliers and manufacturers solely based on price consider that (in general) the more you pay the more money the supplier or manufacturer has for supporting their customers, research & development, and providing additional services the low-cost alternatives can’t afford to provide. So consider when a claim is made about up-time, product features, and customer support that the price tag doesn’t seem too good to be true (it rarely is).

I Present to you the Top 10 ways in which to improve profitability and sales on a budget in 2009.

Because of the economic conditions that we are faced with in the car washing industry it is time to follow the lead of our own customers. Now is the time to take care of the car(wash) that we already have and focus on getting the most out of it we can. There is far too much waste on labor, lost sales due to equipment failures, and not nearly enough attention on marketing and finding ways of appealing to the next generation of wash customers.

10. Fresh Paint and New Bulbs – This may seem insignificant but now is the time to realize that those customers that are still washing their cars want a clean and well lit environment to wash their car. Applying a fresh coat of paint and replacing old light fixtures (or bulbs) is a great way to appeal to the consumer populace that assimilates 83% of their information visually.

9. New Equipment Decals – Now is the time to contact your equipment dealer and order up some new equipment decals to spruce up the hardware that you already have. For a small additional cost wash owners are also turning to replace their old peeling decals with new customer equipment decals as part of their business branding efforts and onsite marketing and promotions.


8. Targeted Marketing Campaign – Every community has it’s own form of “New Neighbor” program for people moving into a new area. These are those packets you get in the mail containing coupons from local businesses and information about the community. Wash owners have had great success when offering a valuable promotion to those new potential customers moving within 5 square miles of their car wash location. Wash owners such as Robert Greene of Carwash Express in Georgia (USA), offers a redeemable coupon for a free $20.00 prepaid card usable at his location – which has had a great response and according to Robert is bringing in lots of new first time customers to his wash before they visit another wash in town. The call to action here is that you need to start building your customer database ASAP if you don’t have one already. Don’t know where to get started? Get a customer loyalty program that gives incentives for customers to register online through your website. Don’t have a website to collect customer data? You had better get one because a website is a LOT more than just a digital billboard that people find by searching for carwashes on Google, far from it! See my previous article on online marketing for additional details.

7. Join the Chamber of Commerce - This advice is perhaps the one suggestion I hear over and over again from car wash owners that are looking to establish business-to-business relationships. The Chamber meetings will offer many networking opportunities and puts you face-to-face with actual business owners and decision makers. Brett Pace of Swipe-n-Shine Carwash (swipenshine.com) in Murray, Utah (USA) has found a lot of commercial fleet customers at his local Chamber networking events.

6. Remote Wash Monitoring - Wash owners that take advantage of a system that monitors their wash equipment, tracks, revenue, and alerts them to critical situations is a proven way to reduce unnecessary trips to the wash, reduces service calls, reduces employee theft/fraud, and prevents lost revenue from running out of chemical. The reporting offered by these systems also allows for smarter staffing by identifying the slow and busy periods of a wash operation which allows for greater efficiency at the wash.

5. Develop Business-to-Business Relationships - Car wash operations that reach out to businesses in their community as part of their marketing plan find that their peaks and valleys in wash counts are far smaller than those washes that rely solely on consumer washing. Most of these business operations are looking for ways in which to reduce their administration and labor costs starts by finding an automated “Commercial Fleet Program”. Reducing these costs starts by finding an automated solution that leverages computers and software – many times involving a card-based or code-based system of some kind. Increasing business and reducing labor – thats a win-win situation.

4. “Go Green” with Sustainable Chemicals and Practices - Whether you want to admit it or not, car washing AND the environment will be finding it’s way into the spotlight more often in the coming years. It is far more important to be seen as a trend-setter than it is to be a trend-follower in situations like this. It’s a lot like buying a stock when it’s only valued at a few dollars a share (knowing that it’s going to go up in value) and cashing in at a high point. There is a growing sentiment among the consumer populace that is looking for more environmentally friendly services as the years go on.

3. Credit Card Acceptance - Now that we have had a chance to evaluate the spending habits of consumers for 2008 it has NEVER been more clear that credit card acceptance should be one of the top equipment upgrades that every car wash operation needs to consider. Consumers are reducing the amount of cash they carry due to the current economic crunch. On top of the contributing factors of consumers keeping their cash in the bank, the service and retail industry is reporting record numbers of card-carrying customers in the past three years and the numbers are growing every year. Consumers that fall into the age demographic of 16-43 are now falling into the ‘cashless society’ that companies like Visa and MasterCard have been eagerly awaiting. Now that the cat is out of the bag there is no putting it back in – consumers now demand that they can pay for their goods and services with their credit or debit card. Failing to provide customers with the ability to pay with their preferred form of payment in 2009 is going to hasten the loss of customers to competitors that will accept their convenient cards in the bay.

2. Customer Loyalty Programs - I had the opportunity to sit in on the Future of the Industry panel at the NRCC in Atlantic City and listened to leaders in our industry (as both manufacturers and successful operators) and they explained that of all of the challenges for 2009 that car wash owners will face fall into a few specific areas. Wash owners need to find ways of engaging their customers and capturing their business. Two key areas of this involve marketing and retention – the second half of the equation requires technology to step in and automate the busywork. Automation is what keeps the labor costs down and allows a business owner to leverage one of many customer loyalty programs. The panelists made reference to the importance of taking advantage of a prepaid loyalty program, unlimited wash pass program, and commercial fleet business programs. The walk-away is that you must not confuse ‘Advertising’ with ‘Marketing’ – because customers are changing with the times. Advertising brings a customer in for the first time, customer loyalty programs get them to come back a second time to your wash. These industry leaders that were talking to the assembly of car wash owners and operators were very clear about the times that we are in. In 2009 the primary focus of a business is going to be to increase their focus on marketing and customer retention rather than making that the first budget to be slashed or reduced.

1. Raising Prices – Whenever talk about raising prices is brought up amongst wash owners there is a general consensus of both fear and disbelief. Now is not the time to cut your own wrists and build a marketing plan based on “hope” by staying the course and living on reduced margins. Secretly every wash owner wants to raise their prices but is so fearful of losing business it is this very paralysis in the decision making process that leads to nothing happening at all. Admittedly raising prices may not be feasible in some markets, but in MOST markets if you are showing that you are making visible improvements to the wash (see points 10, 9, and 4) and you are finding ways in which to reward frequent wash use and improve convenience (see 3 and 2) you are well within your rights as a business owner to ask for more money for your services. I’m blown away with how much money is left on the table because of ‘fear of change’ or a fear of losing your worst (and cheapest) customers! When you make more money per-customer you need to wash fewer vehicles than before for the same amount of profit and lower operating costs. You spend less on water, electricity and chemical when you make more per car. Be smart about your price increases and make certain that your customers see a visible change to the facility that coincides with the price increase. The only change in your business will be that you are taking more money to the bank every month and you will be sending the low-cost ‘cut throat’ customers to your competitor who can keep trying to survive on on their razor thin margins. Final closing thought – when the economy takes a dip or gas prices go up, which consumer do you suppose can afford to continue washing their car?

Business owners are always looking for ways in which to increase profitability, reduce reliability on labor (thus reducing the cost), and seek to reduce wash downtime as a result of equipment failure or human error. There are three areas in particular in which technology and software-based systems have made a significant impact on a wash operations bottom line.

Point of Sale and Administration Software: Anytime you can reduce the amount of time in which a task takes has a direct impact on the overall operating cost. There are a number of companies in the car washing industry that have made significant strides in automating the back-office of a wash operation. Companies like ICS and DRB have long been offering point of sale solutions and back end software that provides significant value and savings for business owners through automation.

Automatic Entry Stations: Automated greeting stations have come a long way since their introduction into the marketplace. These units go far beyond time savings and represent a technology that directly reduces the number of employees needed by a car wash business. The second primary benefit is in the consistency they provide for the car wash customer – never short changing a customer or forgetting to offer any number of package upgrades or additional services during the sales process. Entry stations don’t call in sick, forget to tuck in their shirt, or steal from you.

Remote Wash Monitoring Systems: Wash operations that take advantage of wash monitoring systems have a significantly reduced amount of downtime, employee theft, and a greater understanding of when and where employee staffing will be needed. Wash monitoring systems are a relatively old concept that has been given a greater significance given the power of internet-based communication and remote access. It was always one thing to have a back office solution tracking wash counts and chemical usage. It is another thing to have a system that automatically contacts wash owners, service managers, and chemical companies when equipment has failed, water pressure has dropped, or chemical is running low. In a business in which time is money it is incredibly useful to have real-time knowledge of exactly what the health and wealth of your business is at any given time.

Making the best of your situation.

What I have to say could be seen as unpopular to a lot of business owners because with it comes both a condemnation in addition to a message of hope. The truth is that there are many car wash businesses that that are not having the same issues that are being reported by failing wash owners. The success of one business means that there is going to be the failure of another – this is the very nature of competition. Right now there may be fewer vehicles being washes, although this does not mean that all washing has stopped. The simple truth is that there are a vast number of vehicles that will need to be cleaned no matter the economics of the day. For most American’s, car care is a necessary expense, no different than fuel and engine maintenance.

I’ve seen some amazing wash business operators thrive in areas that previously were according to failed business owners, “a terrible market for a carwash”. And this just strengthens my beliefs that there are car wash operations that have far too long been taking advantage of what we will look back on as “the golden years of car washing”. There was a period of strong business for carwash operators and it required nothing more than some land, a building, and the equipment to fill it. You could build a carwash in the middle of a corn field in Iowa and customers would line up. But the sad fact is that our current economic ecosystem can only handle limited number of car washes at any given time. Those car washes that are currently not experience economic woes are those that are operating with a plan and it is plainly obvious to me that the businesses having difficulty have no plan and no exit strategy.

So why are so many businesses having difficult times? Unfortunately there are no simple answers that can be applied to every situation but there are indications and trends that have been identified since rising energy costs have started to take their toll on the complacent business owner.

Trend 1) The businesses that are largely unaffected by the current economy in the United States are those that make a concerted effort to appeal to a wider range of consumers. I’ve noticed that all of the washes that I drive by with open bays are doing nothing to advertise, promote, or understand what customers want.

Trend 2) Business owners that will succeed in 2009 will be those that invest in new technologies to modernize their carwash. Is it only me that sees all of my nieces and nephews getting their first car and carrying no cash in their pocket for the car wash? Do you see that the cash-only carwash a sinking ship with limited profitability? Business owners that will come out ahead of the pack over the next few years of economic downturn will be those that increased spending on advertising, marketing, and new technologies – the same was true of businesses that survived the disastrous effects of the great depression that took Wall Street and Main Street to it’s knees. Sound familiar?