A lot of car wash owners are passionate about their businesses. This is why they work so hard to build them to achieve the best possible results for their customers. Whether you’ve owned your car wash business for years or you’re a brand-new start-up, there are basic things you should do to improve your throughput and your bottom line.
From improving car wash consistency, to getting the most from marketing, to maintaining customer loyalty, read the tips below to help you outpace your competition and take your car wash business to new heights.
Improve Wash Consistency
As you know, there are a lot of competitors when it comes to washing cars. Therefore, you need to aim for spotless washes and improve wash consistency to keep customers from going elsewhere. Assess what you can do to deliver a consistent product better, faster, and in a predictable time.
Most customers likely won’t let you know if they are dissatisfied with your business. Therefore, make sure you reward your valuable customers with a clean, dry, and gleaming car every time they leave your site. Avoid relying on a re-wash guarantee since that technique probably won’t ensure complete customer satisfaction.
Keep your equipment, material, and detergent type up to date. Purchasing new equipment can be expensive; however, there are leasing or equipment financing options available.
If you’re planning to replace your worn-out equipment by buying it outright, talk to your accountant. Schedule your equipment purchase when it’s going to benefit your bottom line the most. Your accountant can help you manage depreciation to help you minimize your tax obligation.
Make Sure You’re Making the Most of Marketing
Social media, texting, emails are all cheap and readily available marketing solutions to reach your customers at the click of a button:
- Social media: Inform your social media followers about your equipment upgrades, chemical changes, or unlimited membership program.
- Blogs: Craft blogs regarding your community activities and charitable events.
- Email: Email coupons and offer codes giving customers discounts on your services.
- Other marketing techniques: Direct mail, billboards, and newspaper advertising; the possibilities are limitless.
- A customized website and app: A company like Washify will set your car wash up with marketing tools that include SMS text marketing, a consumer app, email marketing, and website ecommerce.
Improve your car wash business marketing and online presence until you have a clear line of communication to new and potential customers.
Properly Train Your Staff
Washing cars and dealing with customers may seem straightforward; however, there are many things your team members should do to ensure the customer’s car is protected. For example, train your customer-facing staff to ensure your company’s customers are receiving the best care possible by utilizing car washing best practice techniques.
From misusing the equipment to improper waxing techniques, there are many things an inadequately trained employee can do to create problems for your business. Ensure your car wash business staff always treats your customers’ cars like their own.
Clean and Maintain Your Equipment Regularly
Maintaining your equipment is crucial to owning a car wash company, and unscheduled repairs should rarely happen. If your customers spot a lack of quality with your equipment or services, they will likely move on to another shop to better suit their needs.
Cleaning and maintaining your equipment regularly will reduce expensive breakdowns and ensure your customers are getting the best services you can offer. Review your staff training procedures, cleaning and preventative maintenance (PM) program, and associated documentation.
Make sure your PM allows for wash consistency, minimal downtime, equipment longevity and helps you spot components that may need replacement or repair. All of this needs to be done before your business experiences real growth.
Reduce Your Operating Costs
Perform a complete evaluation of your equipment, operational software, chemicals, and detergents. Then, talk to your supplier and find out if there are safer and more efficient products they can introduce you to.
Look for ways to reduce water and energy consumption without negatively affecting the quality of your small business. You may need to modify, enhance, or upgrade your hardware or software. Analyze your preventative maintenance program and perfect the timing for your cloth and nozzle replacement and activation intervals.
Compile a list of actions that you’ll need to do to minimize the operating cost of your car wash business and include an estimated cost and timeframe to implement your changes.
Manage Your Payroll
For most small businesses, labor is one of the most significant and most inconsistent operating expenses. Your payroll costs will depend on the type of wash you own. If you own a full-service or manual wash, you’ll have to hire staff members to meet demand. In contrast, 50-foot automatic wash tunnels can process more than 500 cars per day without an attendant.
Additionally, investing in point-of-sale (POS) software and self-service kiosks can keep cars moving with self-pay options, license plate recognition integration, and cash flow management. Payment kiosks connected through cloud-based POS systems can help you maximize your site’s profitability and keep payroll costs to a minimum.
Increase Customer Frequency and Loyalty
Washify offers an ecommerce-enabled web page so that you can sell cards and wash books through your custom-branded website. Your customers will each have an account to schedule detail services, update their payment information, and control their unlimited membership plans, all without calling your car wash.
All our management software is designed specifically for the car wash industry. Our software programs utilize straightforward processes to expand your customer database and boost user experiences.
Take Your Car Wash Business to New Heights
If you’re after next-level revenue growth for your car wash business, use the tips above will help get you there. Partnering with Washify will get you even further. That’s because our mission is to supply you with the best software and tools to help your company perform at maximum efficiency.
Ready to expand your business, improve customer experience, and improve your revenue? Call Washify today or contact us with your details and a consultant will get back to you shortly.
