That ole neighborly feeling seems to be drifting away on some days. WE used to know our neighbors well, sometimes too well. “When we were kids,” is a common nostalgic phrase we often express now. “Can Johnny come out and play?” was a phrase all kids knew. Today, it’s possible that in many places that phrase is absent from the daily life.
The point is that we need to actively work at creating and maintaining relationships. Car care business owners probably need to have this as a daily goal in their business. For car washers, this effort to build and maintain a relationship with customers has always been present. It includes things like having outstanding signage as a way of attracting attention on-site. It includes having or training a terrific Greeter—that was always part of a visit to the car wash. That magic that a Greeter creates seems like a lost art here in Arizona, I don’t know how you feel? We have also always done a lot to create a bit of pleasure or excitement for customers while at the wash. These include exciting stuff like multi-color foam, play areas, lobby marketing, friendly staff. Self-serve owners have always accomplished this with great signage, great reliable products and good value. All these things combine to create affinity.
Now, we have recently heard some folks aggressively promoting how your car wash Web site is a key to attracting customers and building affinity—really? Do consumers really hangout on your Web site? Do they really go there to find you when they plan their errands for the day. I am not going to discount a car washers Internet marketing efforts, but, let’s be realistic about how consumers find and return to a certain car wash site. If I can print out a $4 discount coupon before I leave for the car wash—will I do it? Will I think of it? Is Twitter replacing the Greeter? Really?

Members of the Thought Leadership Club were asked the following two questions.

1. A trip to the car wash is a retail experience for many people. For others it is about the car and about taking care of it. If a car wash consumer’s retail experience is like that when he or she visits a big box retailer, is that a good thing? How can car washers and detailers create business-building customer relationships in 2010?  What kind of experience does a car care business owner need to deliver in order to create a return visit, or even better, a loyal customer who will return again and again.

2. How can manufacturers, chemistry suppliers, and service providers that support car care business owners help them create a business that consumers will return to time and time again?  After all, these companies have a vested interest in supporting car care business owners in this quest. If a business develops loyal clients, then the people supporting that business win as well. Is this all accomplished by providing reliable and effective equipment and chemistry, it is done by counseling owners with great marketing ideas, member and affinity cards, database techniques or even providing Greeter training?

Joe Cameron

National Sales Manager, Kim Supply

jcameron@kimsupply.com

Answer Question 1
One would think that this is almost a no-brainer for me but there are other considerations that cause me to look past the obvious. Having a customer service and sales background, it is impossible for me to conceive of building a service business that doesn’t rely in whole or part on personal contact with the customer.  This is the key consideration; it is a service business. As such, how that service is packaged and presented can have a significant impact on the outcome of that service business enterprise. Conversely, it is also impossible to ignore the established fact that labor costs are always a consideration and in a market place of dwindling demand and increased supply, the urge to run “lean and mean” cannot be ignored. The easiest, most obvious place to cut expenses is in labor costs. Technology has made this argument a little easier to make with customizable voice greetings in entry systems and various menu and wash package options; functions that were previously handled by a greeter or attendant. In weighing the merits of the two options, thought should be given to the type of wash, the type of customer, budget analysis, a labor pool possessing the appropriate skill set and a cost/ benefit analysis of labor versus technology.

We must first assume that the clever operator has effectively addressed the issue of curb appeal. In a sense, the presence (or lack thereof) of an attendant is very much a part of that and while not having much influence on the customer’s first time decision to use a wash, it will definitely have an impact on whether or not they become a repeat customer.

Now consider the type of business. A self-service wash would seem to be a good candidate to not have an attendant and in fact, many do not. There is not a lot of potential for upselling that can’t be addressed by adequate signage and the majority of the car wash consumers are well trained in the use of a self-service wash to begin with. But then consider the fact that many self-serve washes tend to be community oriented businesses catering to a customer that typically has a little more time to spend washing their car. There is a certain intimacy to the self-service wash process. The self-serve operator is in the business of selling time and any inducement to use all of the available services is of value.  In this situation, having a well trained attendant on hand to make sure everything is operating properly, trash is properly disposed of and just generally “making nice” with the customers will go a long way to sealing the deal with your customer and making the wash experience all the more appealing.

I would insert here that with regards to making sure equipment is operating properly, a great deal of care must be taken in what kind of repairs a wash owner would want a probably low paid attendant to make. Good intentions with no mechanical ability or training can make a bad situation worse. I would also make the disclaimer that for any type of wash, a bad attendant or greeter is far worse than having no greeter at all! If the available labor pool seems unable to produce someone with good people skills, don’t chance it! Pay for the custom voice messaging upgrade! An unpleasant attendant can and will chase away customers and what ones you do get will tend to spend far less time and money.

In the case of in-bay automatics and express washes, technology solutions make more sense. The customer doesn’t get out of the car and the entire wash process is quicker. This type of wash tends to become less of a destination and more of something that is done on the way to somewhere else.  I will say though that in the case of a conveyorized express wash, not having an attendant on duty given the highly mechanical nature of the wash seems counterintuitive. I shudder to think about the potential consequences of that unsupervised, less than switched on customer getting sideways with a chain conveyor. Even then, a modicum of people skills is required.

With flex and full-service washes, no matter how technology driven the wash process itself is, a good greeter/attendant can have the most influence. I will always contend that a friendly and personable greeter will upsell far more washes than an electronic entry system, sultry female voices notwithstanding. Certainly having an impulse lobby operation requires sales help and again, they can go a long way toward making your wash a favored destination.

Thus far, we have discussed ways to build relationships by proxy.  I would argue that while having an a good attendant can be a good thing, I would never underestimate the value of having a high profile, hands-on owner making their presence felt on a regular basis. Certainly the consumer is going to feel good knowing that the person with the greatest stake in their satisfaction is on hand. Making the rounds of the vacuum islands and bays, smiling, waving and introducing yourself to your customers is without a doubt, a surefire way to cement a relationship with a customer. There is no technology solution for that. Having said that, if the wash owner is stressed out, cranky and prone to scowling, perhaps the office is a better place to be and leave the meeting and greeting to those that are more agreeable.

In all cases, whomever you put out there to cement customer relationships, they become the face of your business and a great deal of thought must be given to what you want that face to be.

Answer Question 2:

This question addresses one consequence of modern technology and business practices that can be quite advantageous. Supply chain management has now become a science. Many companies are advertising these capabilities. As with all things in the modern car wash, how process oriented those relationships become is predicated on the operator’s commitment to technology. While process oriented vendor relationships can help maintain trust, that crucial, initial trust bond can only be established through a direct relationship. Nothing can replace having an experienced, customer oriented supplier on hand to evaluate the needs that are unique to each person’s business.  Even in a well established relationship, the ability for the operator to be able to reach out to a key person in the vendor organization to negotiate pricing or when something is not working is essential to the success of a car wash enterprise. It demonstrably adds to the bottom line of a car wash.  In this relationship, it isn’t necessarily an either/or situation. Personal relationships and technology can work hand in hand to help ensure the success of a wash operation.

I will always maintain that if the wash operator has a passion for their customer and their supplier has a passion for their customer, prosperity for all concerned is the result. It is a symbiotic relationship that must be carefully cultivated and vigorously preserved.  While I think there will always be a place for big box thinking in the car care industry, especially for commodity items, the overall investment is too large and potentially too complex to not have solid relationships.

Ryan Beaty

Vice President of Sales, Mark VII Equipment Inc.

rbeaty@markvii.net

Answer Question 1:

The last three years the economic situation has virtually affected all businesses and the way business gets done.  It used to be fairly easy to determine your customer base, but we now see consumers driving the extra few miles to get their car washed vs. going to something closer to home.  Not surprising that this is the case as some operators were just not in a financial situation to keep the level of service or value proposition where it needed to be.  Many operators overpaid at the peak of the real estate boom and just could weather the storm.

On the flip side, some operators took advantage of the changing economy and made small improvements to increase their customer base by luring new customers on to their property.  It’s exactly true when we say that the professional car wash is a retail experience for many.  No matter what business model you employ, it’s never been more important to get your arms around your customer and make their experience one they appreciate.

For those tunnel operators out there, technology has allowed you in many cases to limit if not eliminate much of the labor it once took.  That said, it’s still important in my opinion to have a “face” of the car wash.  Someone to meet, greet, answer questions and handle complaints directly.  Stand alone operators may find a challenge to always have someone on the site, but in some cases, especially those where the owner is “living the day to day operations” it’s not uncommon to see higher wash counts than those of unattended or infrequently attended stand alone sites.

Obviously, just because you have a friendly face and smile at the wash doesn’t guarantee loyal customers.  Clean bays, good equipment, ancillary services and price are equally important.  Customers are more and more searching for those washes that make it the easiest to do business with.  Accepting multiple forms of payment, RFID technology, Web site and other marketing all lend themselves to reaching out and touching the customer.  Unlimited wash plans and other loyalty programs continue to grow in popularity as value proposition has become one of the most important buying indicators.  Employing Green technology never hurts either.  Studies show that consumers will go out of their way to use an environmentally sensitive wash.

Bottom line is getting a customer on to your lot can sometimes be the easy part, but keeping them coming back is the challenge.  Get to know your customers (technology has made this easier than ever before now) and find ways to show your appreciation to them for their business.  Sure, the economy is still teetering, but it’s easiest to gain market share in times like these.

Answer Question 2:
Manufacturers can help by providing the training tools necessary to help their customers increase revenues, customer base and trim expenses.  For too long, suppliers simply sold goods to operators and while some were better than others at after sale support, the level we find it at today is far greater than just a few years ago.  Consider the ICA Show last month.  For the first time, you had suppliers forking out $2,500 for an hour long spot to educate customers about growing their business, being friendly to the environment and other topics designed to provide value to operators.

We’ve also seen the success of some manufacturers who have stepped up and provided training classes, both classroom style and hands on to those operators who are interested at being the best they can possibly be.  What you find is that the more the manufacturer does to make the operator successful, the more loyal the operator becomes to that manufacturer.  Local distributors shouldn’t be left out here either.  Every market in the U.S. has stand out distributors who pack the local knowledge needed to support the operators.  It’s easy to find these folks, you just have to poke around.  This is a small, niche business and while like any business there are people out there who don’t bring much value, at this stage of the game, many of those have left the business or gone out of business and you’ve been left with some nice choices for support and training.

Suppliers for the most part have the benefit of seeing things on a large scale, coast to coast, what programs, products, and ideas are being successful and those that are not.  That’s also not to say that what works in one part of the country will work in another, because markets can be so different it’s unbelievable.  We’ve seen the recent success of “market rides” by local and regional car wash associations where operators can board a bus and get a sneak peak at what other operators are doing out there to be successful.  It’s important to be connected to these types of associations and take advantage of seminars and other educational/networking events.  We should be learning from each other and sharing best practices and manufacturers along with car wash associations are joining forces more and more to make this happen.

If you’re not inquiring with your suppliers for “value added” type services, you may want to consider seeing what additional support they can lend you.  Never has being in “partnership” been more paramount to success.  I encourage all operators to get out and immerse yourself in discussions with other operators and manufacturers if you are not currently doing so.  There are new ideas, products, promotions, and chemistry being developed daily by suppliers and distributors large and small.  Lean on your suppliers, that’s what we’re here for!

Ken Dollhopf

VP of Marketing and New Business Development for PDQ

Ken.Dollhopf@pdqinc.com

Answer Question 1:

There is not a “do this and win” answer to this question. The key item is that the owner/operator make a business decision on the type of operation they want to have and then develop the customer process around it. The customer process (or customer experience) actually has a strong parallel to the wash process of a car wash. In the in-bay market there are touch-free wash processes, friction wash processes and then the blended hybrid systems. As a wash owner a business decision was made on the type of wash process that will be used for washing consumer vehicles. The decision of wash process led to the realization that there are consumers that will not come to your location because of the wash process selected. The consumer process is the same.

There are consumer processes that are like touch free washing — automated entry stations and not a person at the site. There are also hands-on wash processes that are focused on direct consumer interaction with greeters and employees. Then there are the hybrid models where no employees are at the site during most hours but then there are special (and posted) attended hours of operation. When an owner selects a specific consumer process they must realize that this is segmenting the market and reducing the customer base that will come to the wash.

The challenge is to choose the correct system for your local market based on demographics, competition and personal view of what a car wash is. Then even more important is to constantly inquire and monitor the customers to make sure that you are on the winning side of the market. The customer process that was chosen in 2001 may not be what the local market wants in 2010.

Whichever customer process is selected, the car wash operator must be clear that they are focused on it and it is performing well. If all you have is automated entry units, they better be working all of the time and must be easy to use. If you have greeters, they must be trained at meeting the needs of those customers. A wishy-washy process will lead to any customer being frustrated and not satisfied with your wash.

Answer Question 2

Customer loyalty is a customer’s “feeling” that directs a buying decision toward your company’s services over a competitor. This is the heart of what you are trying to get at. The problem with this is that it is a feeling and customers can change their feelings. So what you want to do with a loyalty program is to build and cement a strong feeling about your car wash.

Loyalty BEHAVIOR and Loyalty ATTITUDE

There are two parts to loyalty—loyalty behavior and loyalty attitude. Loyalty behavior is the customer’s response to market conditions. If there is a competitor that has a better wash or better offer or likes that person better, that is a market perception of where that customer will take their business. Loyalty behavior is measured by customer retention, the customer’s act of making a repeat purchase at your site and choosing a specific car wash over the competition. The second part of loyalty is loyalty attitude. Loyalty attitude is the judgment and perception about a company, brand, service or product. This is typically measured in terms of customer satisfaction and is actually a predicator of customer behavior.

To have a successful loyalty program, you must monitor it and know how it is doing. With loyalty behavior, there is a set of informal measurements. Everyone has customers that come to the car wash every Saturday. You’ll want to monitor your good customers and make sure they are coming back to your wash. This can be measured by consistent car counts. If suddenly you see things varying way outside your range and can’t allow for that by weather or any other factor, this is a flag that needs to be watched in making sure your customers are behaving loyally to you.

Formal measurements include customer surveys for loyalty behavior. You’ll want to monitor data as far as the wash frequency of customer’s coming to your wash. Some of the questions of a customer survey include: Have you washed your vehicle with us before? How often do you wash your vehicle? Would you expect to return to use this wash again?

Measuring loyalty attitude is fairly easy to do. This is the core of customer satisfaction surveys. How satisfied were you with the wash? Were the instructions easy to understand? Was the wash a good value? This is based on past experiences. This is to make sure you are meeting and setting up their attitude correctly for them to come to your site. Customer attitudes are most often weighted by the most recent experience that they have had. If the customer had a recent bad experience, they may forget how everything was great the previous 10 times they used your wash.

Making Them Special

Good operators are good at customer satisfaction, which is the foundation of customer loyalty. Customers have to be satisfied before they can become loyal. However, the common view of customer loyalty is that if I satisfy my customer, it will lead immediately to loyal behavior by the customer. You may satisfy your customer, however that doesn’t mean that they will come back to you over and over again. You have to provide some extra incentives to really make sure they are loyal, such as doing more than expected; making them feel “special” by giving them a special car wash lane, or sending them e-mail incentives. These all can help build customer loyalty.

Some things to keep in mind with loyalty are that some customers will not show you loyalty at your wash no matter what you do and you need to understand that you cannot get every single customer. Also, an unsatisfied customer will never be a loyal customer.

Partners of your wash site offer a wide variety of products and services to help build loyalty. Be sure that you measure all of the programs or offerings against the simple loyalty pyramid. Does the item fall within the “building loyalty” bands or is it building the foundation of customer satisfaction. If you have an operation with a strong satisfaction base then focus on building loyalty items. If your operation is not satisfying your customers this must be focused on first and building loyalty cannot be done until it is stable.