Car Wash Consultants- Good, Bad, or Ugly?

[Sequoia]

Recently, some banter involving a car wash consultant got me to wondering if there truly are ideas for improvement that a car wash consultant could see but I can't. I'm highly confident of my business skills, but admit that I am still a novice car wash owner. (Had my 3-bay SS for 3 years now.)

I recognize that each market and wash is different due to demographics, competition, clientele, and more. I'm familiar with the details of my local market but I don't see a broad spectrum like a consultant might.

My question is to ask if you have ever hired a car wash consultant and seen positive or beneficial aspects from that experience?

 

[Bubbles Galore]

I am positive that I don't know it all by any stretch. But....I am a little skeptical of bringing someone in who might think they know more about my wash/demographics even though they aren't at my wash every day like I tend to be. I might sit down and talk with them a bit, but I don't think I would necessarily contract out their services.

Just my .02

 

[pitzerwm]

There is a joke that "a consultant is an unemployed X" I too think that I know everything and I've been paid as a consultant. I'm wondering if it isn't that the "consultant" isn't inside your frame and therefore can see your picture better. Maybe they tell you something that you do know but you have ignored in the past. When I walk into a company, I gather the lowest paid employees and kick out management and empower them to tell me how to fix this company. We write all of the ideas down and when I talk to management, they comment that they had been told these ideas before but blew them off because they came from "those people". Since they are paying me so much, they start to realize that a lot of those ideas are really good. I was involved in a city project once and they hired this consultant. All he did was call a meeting of everyone concerned, asked us what we would do to fix the problem and then wrote a report. $50K.

Just like shrinks and counselors, IMO most aren't worth a damn, but if you find a good one, they can really help you. Getting references and checking them out, just like you would any other business decision, you have a better shot at getting helpful info.

Personally, I think that you could get a lot of help by asking a friend or customer to critic your wash and be totally honest. I drive up to friend's car washes or business and the paint is faded, the decals are trash, missing pieces of tile or a warn carpet, all it needs is a little TLC. I remember after painting my laundromats, customers would ooh and aha how nice it looked. It also justified raising the prices.

 

[MEP001]

I've never been a paid consultant, but I have been asked numerous times for advice on how to improve business at a wash. The first thing I do is visit and spend time there, studying the customers and how they perceive things, what functions they use and how they treat the equipment.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Do you have a local industry association? Perhaps you can have other operators stop by. I have had some stop by my places, and I always stop in at others to steal ideas.

 

[pitzerwm]

Here something almost free and really worked for me.

http://www.autocareforum.com/getnewideas.html

 

[Greg Pack]

I have recommended consultants before to newcomers. If prospective owners employed consultants perhaps we'd have less car washes in our market.

I think consultants can have value. I am often guilty of not being able to see the forest for the trees. I am too close and too emotionally attached to my business to sometimes make truly objective decisions that most benefit the bottom line. I employ the help of friends in the business who I respect and trust. I would probably try a consultant if their fees were reasonable enough.

IMO, one problem is the pool of available talent. There are several self-proclaimed industry experts who appear not to be the sharpest crayons in the box.

 

[Sequoia]

One problem I've encountered with prior consultants is that they all have the same skill-- they talk a good game. Any consultant who can't talk a good game is quickly weeded out.

This ability to sound really effective and competent makes it hard to determine quality consultants from the rest-- which is why I ask for evidence of past successes if claims of success are made.

I also suspect that car wash consultants do better in areas other than self-serve operations. The SS operations are by their nature less complex than some other types of car wash operations, and are probably not as amenable to injection of outside expertise.

 

[Patrick H. Crowe]

The term "consultant" covers many folks. McKinsey is a world wide management consulting firm known for superior work. They are world famous and expensive.

In the car wash industry the standards are fairly lax. The McKinsey consultant I know told me getting his job was far more difficult then getting admitted to Harvard. His beginning compensation package was about 150K (now much higher starting pay for new associates) and within a few years double that and growing.

Here are a few ways to distinguish between "advice" and what an authentic consultant will provide. I'll limit myself to three points:

1. An authentic consultant will ask for exactly what the potential client wants to know (find out). Example: I want to know what my car wash is really worth?

2. The authentic consultant will then tell the potential client exactly what facts he/she (the consultant) will have to have will in order to be able to help solve the problem. Examples: I need the lot survey, the income tax records and the original costs for construction and so on.

3. The authentic consultant will produce a written, documented report. Example: The fair market value of your wash is $300,000.

There will be none of the sort of stuff like: You might want to consider this or try that. On the one hand this and on the other hand that. These are the hallmarks of a non-consultant.

Finally, in my personal view, many authentic consultants have publiushed in their fields and have had their written works reviewed or else work for a company like McKinsey where the world wide reputation is seldom questioned.

Patrick H. Crowe

 

[rph9168]

I have worked at a large company that hired McKinsey and have a much different opinion of their work than Mr. Crowe. They pretty much interviewed key employees and regurgitated what they heard. Their survey work was marginal at best. The report they completed was pretty much done on a template they use for almost all their work. I know they have a good reputation but I have a feeling that companies hire them because it makes Boards feel that something is being done. At least in my case the changes the company made based on their recommendations caused more issues than they solved.

Maybe they truly are a good company but from my personal experience they are overpaid and over-rated.

As far as car wash consultants go I think a lot has to do with how much the operator does with the recommendations they are given. I have seen some operations completely turn around while others failed. The difference being how committed the operator was to make changes and the follow up done by the consultant.

 

[Patrick H. Crowe]

Dear rph9168:

I respect your opinion to view McKinsey as you see fit. So be it, plain and simple.

Please tell us if you had a definitive role in their being hired or did you mostly experience the consequences of what they did?

Here's my point: Appraising a car wash, i.e. determining its fair market value, is a clear, simple and definite example of a consulting task.

Simultaneously many owners have very definite preconcieved notions of value - - as they see it. To them some of the major factors are: what they paid, how long have owned it, how long and hard they have worked and what they percieve as improvements galore compared to ten years ago when they bought it. Beyond that they have read almost nothing about appraisal work, could not begin to define fair market value and so on.

This is why I wrote The Car Wash Appraisal Handbook as opposed to doing appraisals. This book tells buyers and sellers how to realistically determine what washes are worth.

Patrick H. Crowe

 

[pitzerwm]

Pat maybe right with what he used as an example, but if you wanted to know what to do to improve revenue, then the consultant would tell you "I think that if you do this then revenue will go up $X" Whether, his advice is right is another thing.

 

[rph9168]

Pat,
McKinsey was hired while I was at the company. I suffered through their two years of consulting and the consequences of their recommendations. I would not want to go through that process again.

You and I have a different perspective on consulting. I view it as a vehicle an owner uses to improve his business, build a wash or prepare it for sale.

 

[Patrick H. Crowe]

I spoke with the man I know who works for McKinsey and I learned three things which I believe merit reporting: 1. McKinsey almost always works for companies where the gross annual revenues are way up in the hundreds of millions, often billions. 2. When a team (4 people plus back up) takes on a job the fees are apt to be in the range of a half million dollars a month, 3. It would not be at all uncommon for some of the employees at a company where McKinsey consulted to be dissatisfied with what was done; there are many reasons including but not limited to, a particular person or group of folks being seenn as a cause of the problem. That has to hurt.

As most of us probably know there are no car wash companies of this size so perhaps any expectation of McKinsey entering this field is extremely questionable.

Patrick H. Crowe

 

[rph9168]

Pat,

I would agree with your first two points. On the last one almost no one in the company felt the recommendations would work except for the Board. They fired the CEO and replaced him with a former McKinsey employee (it is my understanding that this often happens). After years of problems the Board was forced to force that CEO out. Unfortunately the company is in far worse shape now than when all this started. It has been split up into smaller units several times with some of them ultimately being sold off to keep revenues up. They lost many good people and sales took a nose dive. This company has been around a long time and will survive but probably will never return to the position they were in when this all started.

McKinsey must do some good work somewhere but this was a disaster.

 

[ScottV]

A consultant is anyone that travels 50 miles, has a business card, and is full of opinions!

I tend to go the other route. I have established a very small network of other wash operators within a 100mile radius. We meet about once a quarter, visit one anothers wash sites and talk about best practices, etc. We all operate in different sized markets but there is no doubt that we "have been there and done that" and I never attend a get together that I don't learn something.

Between our meetings, if someone has a question or idea we use email to bounce it off of the others. It works well and the out of pocket costs include lunch for the group, should they visit your wash.

 

[Patrick H. Crowe]

Scotty:
In my opinion your definition of a consultant is not only scarastic and wrong but represents an effort to mock nearly all consultants. I applaud your efforts to meet with peers on a quarterly basis but please don't call that consulting. Fun it may be; consulting it is not. Here's why.

Lets suppose you're considering a new location which was rumored to once have had a gas station on it. You and your buddies meet there. You buy them lunch. None sees oil puddles; none smells gasoline. Therefore you know the property is not contaminated, right? You need a consultant. Probably an environmental engineer with a degree and a license. He will do extensive testing, write a detailed report and charge a substantial fee. That's consulting.

Same for plans for a new wash. You and your buddies can BS all you want about them but you need an architect to get a building permit. Hire an authentic consultant.

Same for the lender. He wants an appraisal. He will never accept the collective opinions of you and your buddies. In fact he'll laugh at you. You need an AUTHENTIC consultant. More examples abound!

So, kind sir, please admit there are authentic consultants and buddies and plese do not confuse them.

Patrick H. Crowe

 

[BayWatch]

Pat, I would agree with what I see your opinion of what a consultant is, a well educated specialist in a certain field. I wouldnt hire a plumber to install an electrical outlet, but the difference with a consultant is they provide an investigative service. Yes, an appraiser or engineer can be consultants, but we lack car wash consultants. I dont believe a "general" consulting firm would benefit most anyone on this site, since we have taken the initiative to learn and improve on our own. Pat, do you know of a car wash operator who has used this expensive product and improved. Did they get more than what this site or mags have to offer? Was it more than common sense ideas?

 

[Bubbles Galore]

Well said Bay Watch. I also understand what Mr. Crowe is saying. I agree that there are many a specialized consultants out there that are extremely good at what they do. I just don't think that your general business consultant is really going to understand our industry in the context we would be willing to accept advice from.

I spent some time dealing with a marketing consultant when I first bought my wash. He did up a really pretty little packet with pictures and a bunch of buzzwords that just made him sound pretentious. Once I got through all that, he was basically telling me the only way for me to successfully advertise was to run print ads in our daily 3x's a week. A good carwash operator knows there are lots of different ways to advertise, not just the papers. I felt like I got ripped off, I personally will stick to advice that I can get here instead of paying someone who thinks he knows more about my business than I do.

My mistake =(

 

[pitzerwm]

Pat, as usual is right in theory, but in reality, for every good consultant/Shrink/Dr./etc. there are a 1000 that aren't worth a damn. Finding that 1 in a 1000 is always the trick. I had to teach myself accounting because all of my CPAs made mistakes, I taught myself law because my lawyers were making mistakes that I was paying for. You might still hire these people but you better know enough to know when they are full of crap.