With all due respect, literally no use of vacuums (or mat washer) and some customers leaving for exterior express wash do not seem to equate with “Things have been going great I should say.”
It sounds like you are starting to bleed to death.
Since you bought this wash back in July, exterior express must have been in existence.
So, what has happened over the course of only three months that has caused in-bay customers (and wand?) to abandon you and stop using the self-service amenities?
Customers abandon a business for reasons.
Poor quality
Poor customer service experience
Increase in price without corresponding increase in value-added for money spent
Unkempt property or building
More proximate competitor
Better alternative for money spent
If customers are unsatisfied with quality and price, offering free vacuum would be like putting a bandage on a gunshot wound.
One of the best ways to determine the level of customer satisfaction is to design and conduct a blind survey questionnaire of current customers and, if possible, some of customers that abandoned you.
A well designed survey can help identify the root cause(s) of why you are losing business.
You have it all wrong. Perhaps I didn't provide enough info.
The wash was closed for over a year. I'm a first time wash owner. I bought the wash from a large international asset management company. Our first month showed a respectable net profit. Sales have been increasing steadily since I re-opened the wash in July.
The large EE was what I believe to be one of a few factors that caused the original owners' demise. The others being too over leveraged(on this and another wash they owned, which was a smaller, renovated EE prior to the larger one being built) and of course the housing bust.
My average ticket sale on the SS is $8.28. My average IBA ticket is $11.32. I'm not only meeting my expenses, but also re-investing in capital improvements. After that, there is still profit left over. I'm happy in that regard.
I was just throwing the idea of, since they're not being utilized, free vacuums and mat washing as a incentive to draw more customers in and in return, increasing my gross sales/net.
My wash is in nearly impeccable condition. Good location ( corner lot with 18K/day+/- flowing both roads) with above average access. SS prices are $2.50 @ 3:30 - Closest competitor is 3 mi away and is $1 @ 2min. The place is a old looking pace that usually has large mud piles. My friend that owns another SS wash about 2 hours from here has suggested I keep my SS price as I'm doing well with it, and he seems to think that my competitor attracts a lot of guys that spend a $1 or two and leave their mess. I haven't had one complaint with my pricing.
My auto pricing is below what the EE is, at least on the lowest and highest packages.
I would say my biggest detrimental issue to my business right now is the issue I'm having with the Wash Card system. I've been experiencing sporaddic outages of my CC readers/LCD's. I get "Out Of Service". Up till about a week and a half ago, I thought I had it localized to a vacuum. I removed it and the system was perfect for about a week and a half. Then, suddenly, Saturday, a full on onslaught of rolling outages system-wide occurred from about 4pm till 5:30. I don't know what to make of it...
