Having sold his two car washes, a full-serve and a 6-bay
self-serve, Scott entertained retiring before coming across an 8-bay self-serve
with two touch-free automatics for sale near his home. While running the
full-serve he became interested in the express-exterior wash model as a
solution to his labor headaches. The potential he saw at this older self-serve
was to convert four of the bays along with some underutilized real-estate into
a 135 ft express tunnel, while preserving the two automatics and four bays. One
year after the conversion, he’s logged 130K washes on the tunnel, and annual self-serve
vends have actually grown 13% from half the space. So what’s the secret of his
success? I’ll let Scott tell you. Here are some excerpts from a recent
conversation.
Analetto: Why did you
decide to sell your full-serve wash and consider leaving the industry?
Scot Bowen, Owner,
Moore Clean Cars Fast: After 12 years of operating a full-service location
and a 6 bay self-serve, I decided I was done with “that season” of my car washing
experience. The self-serve market had really softened and the operation of the
full-service wash was no longer any “fun”. Shrinking margins, the labor pool to
draw from, training, turnover (I think we sent out 282 W2s the year before I
sold), cost of insurance, and just the ability to fully trust and rely on staff
had really diminished. So selling my full-serve business was a very desirable
option.
With very minimal effort, the next thing I knew, I was being
solicited by a buyer interested in both of my locations. I jumped at the
opportunity to be free. I don’t think you can be in the industry and not moan
some now and then about labor issues.
Analetto: What attracted you to this new project and
back into the industry?
Bowen: It’s a
unique location. Paul Morton, the first owner, built the wash in 1999 - 2000. He had real
“out of the box” vision and invested in the best equipment available at the time.
Back then, this area was mainly an agricultural community and I’ve been told that
this was the first wash in Oklahoma where building costs exceeded $1,000,000.
There was nothing but alfalfa fields around here at that time, and many thought
Paul was nuts. Actually, he had them.
He built an 8/2 (8 self-serve bays and 2 touch-free
automatics), one of the first washes of that type, and turned a decent profit
for 6 years. So you may say that a “maturing” of the surrounding community was necessary
to catch up with their new “cutting edge” car wash facility. Decent operation
of the facility and natural growth took place over the next several years. Lots
of residential and some major retail moved in the area. So when I purchased
this location in 2006, it was still “successful” by an 8/2 standards. However,
the area’s market was being underserved and the property’s potential was starved
by the current service offering.
Analetto: Did you buy the 8/2 intending to add an
express-exterior tunnel?
Bowen: Yes and no.
I had been paying great attention to the developing express-exterior market but
couldn’t see it working at my full-service location. That wash was built
heavily on the personal touch of service and relationships. I knew the volumes that express-exteriors
were experiencing in my area were slowly but radically changing the exposure to
my existing customer base(s).
I’m no stranger to doing a site conversion. When I bought
the full-serve, I had just moved to Oklahoma from California. At that time, I
was new to the industry and thought I could convert the location, already 11
years old, into a hand wash like I was familiar with. We kept the blower and
the rinse arch, re-opened as a hand wash, and then proceeded to add all the
equipment back until we couldn’t fit any more. I may have had no idea what I
was doing back then, but it was fun.
Six months passed, and in September of 2006 I purchased this
8/ 2, containing the benchmarks of a “B+, A-” location for an exterior express.
The big questions were, how, what, and where to incorporate an exterior tunnel
on this existing “successful” site. How hard do I swing???
Analetto: What kinds
of improvements did you make to it and why did you decide to make them?
Bowen: Immediately, I invested in a complete face lift of all aesthetics
of the existing operation. We acid washed the entire facility. All exterior plumbing,
hoses, guns, wands and brushes were replaced using new and different colors. We
decaled all vacuums and their face plates and added digital readouts and voice
service confirmation with time, and amount deposited, to all in-bay face plates.
We also added credit card payment options and air wand dryers to our self-serve
bays. We changed the chemistry delivery to improve the perceived value to our
customers with color, fragrance and show with every service selection. Last but
not least, we put banners in every bay and signs all over our site and street
side announcing that a change was coming…
COMING SOON!!!
3 MINUTE $3 RIDE THRU EXPRESS TUNNEL
FREE VACS
Cleaner…Faster…Shinier…FOR LESS!!!
I had already experienced an external force of change in the
market with my previous locations. I knew this market was being grossly underserved
and this time I was going to do my very best to shape, capture, and influence
the quality, time, and price of service in the surrounding markets. I had 53
competing self-serve bays within a 3 mile radius. Yet I was averaging $1600 -
$1800 per bay which is/was close to/above the national average. The closest
tunnel wash was over 5 miles away. If I could get over removing 4 of my 8 bays,
I could fit in a 135ft tunnel with lots of stacking capacity and great exiting
right onto the street. At first this was like swallowing a bowling ball, but
once I got over wrestling that pig and choked it down, it made a lot more sense
than any of my other alternatives. The self-serve market (or real estate) is
only capable of generating a certain margin of profit per square foot, per
minute. The express-exterior market has a much greater capacity and profit potential
when comparing profit per minute, per square foot of real estate. But by
choosing an existing site and doing a remodel, we were able to save a ton of
time and money by skipping many of the elements required for new construction.
It also let us market the new express wash to an existing satisfied customer
base, while continuing to generate income the whole time.
Analetto: What has
the result been? Was it what you were expecting?
Bowen: The
synergy between the three types of washes available has been working very well
for us. It seems as if someone is always washing their car or vacuuming on site
regardless of conditions. Activity brings more activity which, more times than
not, generates revenue.
Automatic volume went way down but it’s still a force. From
2007 to 2008, we lost 21,000 washes from the two automatics, not quite half the
previous volume, but picked up 130,000 washes from the tunnel that we didn’t
have before. What I didn’t expect was that our self-serve revenue has increased.
The four bays are averaging over $3,000 per month per bay without vacuum
revenue whereas before, we averaged $1,600 to $1,800 including the vacuums. I had no idea this would happen. I have a
funny feeling that just being able to show the market the quality of our
services across the property increases their loyalty to our entire business.
Analetto: What would
you recommend to owners trying to stay ahead of the competition?
Bowen: Earn the loyalty of your customers. “Where
there is no vision, the people perish”. Vision creates purpose, purpose creates
passion, and passion empowers discipline to do the right things. It’s not so
much to stay ahead of the competition, but rather to do what you do, and be the
best at it.
Customers recognize when you’re working to be the best at
what you do. I believe there are two major driving forces in business; one is
profit and the other is service (where profit is hopefully a byproduct).
Eventually, your customer will experience (knowingly or unknowingly) what is
driving your business; service or profit. If your customer finds or suspects
you are profit driven, I think that can be dangerous territory. If they realize
you are service driven, then I believe you have a much greater opportunity to
earn that customer’s loyalty. Once you’re truly service driven, all of a sudden
your marketing slogans will work. We use “Cleaner, Faster, Shinier, FOR LESS”
and “Crazy Clean! Crazy Fast! Crazy Good!” They’re not just tag lines, but
mantras that are driven into our staff and even our site culture. It’s just
Crazy!
Also, be sensitive to the shifts in your marketplace and
your consumer’s buying habits. Try not to fight over market share and instead,
look for blue ocean opportunity. Know precisely what services you provide as
well as the services you don’t. Build on your strengths. Identify your
weaknesses. And when you’re done with all of that, make sure you know the exact
same information about your competition.
Analetto: What cost-effective
solutions can older car washes use to compete with newer facilities?
Bowen: Ask your
customers and employees. One great question I like to ask is “Would you ever
consider washing your vehicle anywhere else?”
The real question is “Why?” Huge
territory can be captured there! I’ve also asked my employees what we can do to
make us the best wash without spending a dime. There are NO wrong answers. It
creates an interesting dynamic and thought process that wouldn’t otherwise be
present when examining possible improvements. Other than that, image is
everything. A customer’s perception is a customer’s reality. Every service
business really sells an image or perception of who they are. Just make sure
you deliver what you say you are going to deliver every single time, and
competition becomes much less of a problem.
Analetto: If a new
car wash were to open up down the street, what would you do to secure your customer
base?
Bowen: If? Is
that supposed to be funny? When I first got into the car wash industry 15 years
ago “the word on the street” was that Wal-Mart and other big box stores were
getting into the carwash industry. And they have. My full-serve was directly
across the street from a Wal-Mart, and for 15 years I waited for them to build
a wash. They never did, but the possibility sure made me a much better
operator! To me, that’s the key. If you constantly and honestly search for any
possible reason your customers might consider going somewhere else and work to
eliminate the reasons you find, your business will be much more secure
regardless of your competition.
I had a brand new wash open up less than a half mile away
the same month we opened our Express tunnel. To be honest, I wouldn’t want to
compete against me. You know how those car wash operators can be, but maybe that’s
just me.
Questions can be sent directly to Scott at: Info@moorecleancarsfast.com
Anthony Analetto has
over 26 years experience in the car wash business and is the President of
SONNY’S The Car Wash Factory’s Equipment Division. Before coming to SONNY’S
Anthony was the Director of Operations for a 74-location national car wash chain.
Anthony can be reached at 800-327-8723 x 104 or at AAnaletto@SonnysDirect.com
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