just converted to flex serve

[iwashcars]

We just converted our full service hand wash into a fully automated flex serve. Many of our customers are not taking well to the change. Staying in their car as it goes through the tunnel seems to be disliked by many women. Our base exterior wash with no wipe down is $7. We offer a $5 wipe down option but people seem insulted when we tell them it is $5 more for a wipe down. Our exterior price prior to the the change was $13 with a wipe down. Our full service prices range from $19-$50 and right now I am doing more than 80% full service on weekends and about 65% on weekdays. It has only been two weeks since the conversion so hopefully things will go as expected.
Has anyone else who has gone from full to flex experienced similar challenges?

 

[DavidM]

I have been there and felt your pain. We made a similar transition several years ago. It was tough but worth it. Do everything you can to simplify the transition and mitigate the problems. Ask specific questions, like what don't you like about riding through?

Ultimately, if you believe in your decision, stick it out. Eventually the vocal complainers will be won over or you will lose them. You should gain far more new customers than you lose. Be sure to advertise to everyone how much better the new process is.
People hate change and will complain just because it is different even if it is better, faster and cheaper.

It was a great decision for us but there were some days that made me wonder if we made a huge mistake.

David

 

[Earl Weiss]

Did 2 FS conversion and 2 where there was lots of manual prepping. As a rule people are adverse to change. Had to explain to many who were dismayed at no manual prep that the equipment was upgraded so it was no longer neccessary and we guaranteed a clean car. Since volume increased dramaticaly the overall market validated the concept. I don't know where you are or what the competition is like. If your market justifies a $7.00 exterior price and a $5.00 wipedown so much the better for you. I think in many areas you would be priced well above what the rest of the market charges.

 

[iwashcars]

Thanks for the replies. Customers are definitely not adverse to change. David are you now glad that you made the change and was it worth it? It is a tough change for us as well as this is all new to us. We thought it would be easier to operate but right now it seems more difficult. Maybe just because it is so new and we are training our customers and employees all over again.

Earl we are located in New York and nobody is doing a express type wash here. My market is 100% full service so any exterior washes are priced on the high side. I am discounting the $7 wash down to $5.

 

[DavidM]

I don't know if we would still be in business if we hadn't made the change so yes, it was worth it. It definately takes some getting used to after managing traditional full service.

David

 

[robert roman]

As Earl implied, people are creatures of habit. However, new habits can always be formed.

Years ago when I wrote for PC&D, I interviewed Chip Lavigne, owner of Mandeville Car Wash in Louisiana. Mandeville was one of first publicized washes operating with flexible service format.

Mandeville is a multiple facilities carwash with express tunnel (ride-though), several islands with coin-operated vacuums, large gasoline bar, convenience store, boutique gift shop, drive through coffee/food service, three bay full-service oil change facility and gigantic after-care area (detail canopy).

I asked Lavigne what one thing he would do differently as owner. To paraphrase, he said he would personally work the POS for 90 days straight, shaking hands and kissing babies.

Lavigne said he did this for 30 days and it wasn’t nearly long enough to get customers accustomed to him, his people and process.

Another thing to consider is business model. Yours appears to be out-of-step with current patterns and preferences.

For example, most express tunnels don’t need to towel dry or don’t offer it and those offering it don’t charge.

Since most people like ride-through, 20 percent exterior confirms your assessment; people dislike your ride-through for some reason(s).

So, 35 percent exterior on weekends suggests that full-service is too slow on weekends and customers are opting out for express wash or people who wash their cars on weekends like ride-through.

New York is a big place and carwash markets can be worlds apart (i.e. upstate versus Bronx) so I can’t speak to price.

Biggest thing you haven’t mentioned is goal and objective? People who have made the switch usually see 40 percent or more exterior.

What are you trying to accomplish?

 

[Washmee]

You need to stick with it and in the long run you will be better off. I went to a Flex/serve type model because my customers were telling me they wanted to be able to stay in their cars. I would bet there is an untapped market for customers who aren't interested in fullservice.

 

[DavidM]

We do more interiors on weekends than weekdays, which is what you are seeing as well. It can take 6 months or more to shift from 80% interiors to 30% interiors. It won't be instant, the next 6 months will be tough.

David

 

[iwashcars]

Robert
I am located in Long Island, NY and the market is all full service. My goal is to get to a 50/50 split of FS a d exterior. We are currently doing less exteriors on weekends than during the week not the other way around as you stated. The customer would not know how long the full service is taking until after the wash so I don't think thet has anything to do with it. As far as staying in the cars Ive had a few women who absolutely would not stay in. I asked one woman and she said her baby was scared and another woman said that she was nervous.
As far as towel drying goes it is only an option. If I have the labor here why not charge for it as an extra? Even with the towel dry my exterior was is still cheaper than it was before the conversion.
I agree that having an owner at the POS is a good idea. I think we are picking up new customers with the low price wash and longer hours. I am now open an additional 30 hours per week weather permitting and labor is down about 40%. So there are definitely some positives showing up. I guess I'm just getting nervous about some of the negative feedback.
Thanks,
Paul

 

[Earl Weiss]

Robert
............................ My goal is to get to a 50/50 split of FS a d exterior. .........................
As far as staying in the cars Ive had a few women who absolutely would not stay in. I asked one woman and she said her baby was scared and another woman said that she was nervous.
.
.
Thanks,
Paul

2 thoughts re above.
1. I think the goal of 50/50 is misplaced. The goal should be improving your bottom line. Your breakdown may and should be way off. Exteriors often need cleaning more frequently than interirs. Your exterior volume should hopefuly increase by a multiple and interior may only increase fractionaly. Lets say you were doing 50K annual volume before. You may do 25K FS and 75K Exterior in a couple of years with less labor.

2. If you have the labor, for any woman afraid, I would try to have someone sit in the passenger seat to calmly talk them thru the process the frst ime. Wen they see how simple it is they should return. If it's really too difficult for them, then perhaps they are not your target market.

 

[iwashcars]

Thanks Earl,
I hope your projections are on. 50k cars per year is about what I was doing as a full serve hand wash with a minimum price of $13 for exterior. Now exterior is $7 with a coupon only $5 so you would think exterior volume would grow quite a bit.
Thanks for your input.
Paul

 

[robert roman]

Oops, on transposing the sales mix, I’m dyslectic.

Yes, it will be a challenge to get consumer acceptance of express ride through in urban legacy markets like Long Island.

However, one thing New Yorkers should be appreciative of ride through is faster processing speed and less waiting which are two of the advantages of express format.

This is why it is critical to have dedicated entrance lane for express customers. Otherwise, the wait and processing time may be no different than full-service, hence, no advantage (less attraction) other than lower price.

Changing business model by adding express format requires different marketing strategies and tactics than full-service.

For example, you have gone from $13.00 to $7.00 and promote with $5.00 off.

While a $5.00 discount may be an attractive incentive and appropriate discount for a top package wash with $25.00 price, it may be counterproductive in promoting a $7.00 wash.

With $5.00 discount, the value added drops to $2.00 for a product you once sold for $13.00.

As a consumer, this would cause me to question how much this product actually costs; is it even worth $2.00?

In other words, excessive discounting may come across as a sign of desperation (impatience) and this can destroy the value added of your products and services.

I’m sure you are a good operator and know your customers. However, you are now a rookie in terms of express format.

How long did it take you to learn the full-service business? Figure express will take less than half the time.

Here, your learning curve will be mostly learning how to market and promote products and services.

Hope this helps.

 

[Earl Weiss]

>>with a coupon only $5<<

I read it as "5.00 with the coupon" ($2.00 Off)

 

[robert roman]

“I read it as "5.00 with the coupon" ($2.00 Off)”

When I read ““with a coupon only $5” my affliction cause me to interpret this differently than you do. However, this doesn’t negate what else I said.

People are now use to Wal-Mart-type discounts. So, $2.00 off a $7.00 wash isn’t very exciting but I wouldn’t go deeper.

In fact, I wouldn’t discount the $7.00 wash a penny.

Instead, I would discount the top package by $5.00 and, for limited time, give the $7.00 wash away for “FREE.”

Let’s say you give away 10,000, $7.00 washes in one month. If average variable unit cost is $1.25 a wash, the promotion costs $12,500.

Let’s say from the 10,000 free washes you get 1,000 new customers who then buy six $7.00 washes annually or $42,000 in sales.

First year marketing ROI (pre-tax) would be 68 percent (21,000 – 12,500 / 12,500).

Lifetime value (i.e. over three years) assuming 15 percent annual defection rate has average annual marketing ROI of over 100 percent (53,950 – 12,500 / 12,500) / 3.

 

[kevinmcf]

Be creative! Exterior flex serve is not the do all end all, being a full service operator for 20 years, we just added flex to our full service, did not add much to our car counts but added $4-$5.00 per car to our average. We just offered a less expensive exterior wash, it was $8.50, FS was $11.95 we are due for a price increase as the economy is beginning to pick up. but we dropped our exterior to $4.95. We use to do 90% FS averaged $13.50 in tunnel sales. Now we average $13.25 80% is FS in tunnel sales, but flex makes facility sales $16-$25.00 pending day.
The biggest advantage is on a slow day overcast or rain forecast we offer free mat washing, with an interior express, $3.00 off spray wax. On a 75-100 car day its not unusual to to average $20.00+++/car easily. I even get some slow days 40-50 cars but averaged $28-$30/car adding in a detail or 2. My favorite sign is "ASK ME ABOUT TODAY'S SPECIAL!" because if I have 2 express waxes going and an interior my special is $3.00 off the works wash, if I have nothing going on then its $5.00 off and express wax. Only issues we have is on a Friday trying to do 40-50+ cars per hr with a limited crew (PT'ers are easy on weekends), but since we have a c-store on site we offer a free coffee/ fountain beverage, if the express wax may take 30-40 min, twice what it should be. But we always tell the customer before the sale it may take a little longer then normal. We also move guys from the back to the front to help, it may slow line down, but my guys get a percentage of extra services, so all workers are interchangeable and rotate doing flex services, tips climb by 30-50% if we get a good day of flexes. A typical 350 car day with $1,300 in flex tips go to around $4-$450 we add $260 if all goes smoothly (we add 20%) now if you are paying minimum wage then this model may not work but our base pay is only $5-$6/hr with incentives, tips and % they make $7-$10.00/hr most every day.