Excellent point Earl, we plan on putting up fiberglass panels. Right now we have mirrors on the walls but they are old and dingy. Also plan on adding some sky lights to add some natural light.
Paul
New Flex Serve (Not So Easy)
- Thread starter iwashcars
- Start date
Paul
smokun
Consultant - Rainmaker
A few more things you may have either missed or been given poor information.
1. There is NO FULL SERVICE in the flex-serve paradigm; just hands-free carwashing and hands-on detailing. It's not a semantic thing because consumers already have a frame of reference about what full service is and isn't. Flex-serve separates hands-free (no labor) from hands-on (efficient humans cross-trained to perform manual stuff) from simple wiping down to a myriad of detailing services... so I grouped things that need a pair of hands and things that are done via automation. Studies show that consumers feel more comfortable having a detailer touch their car than the typical carwash attendant. So you have exterior (express) carwashing and everything else (detailing)... which is perceived as being "better, safer, more meticulous". Detailers simply are perceived as being "better".
2. As eluded to previously, having a real live service advisor engaging customers safeguards your business by having a knowledgeable personality setting the tone of the buying experience. Having several service advisors gives you great flexibility, and because they are also cross-trained, they can also load and detail. You will pay them more (bonus) but they are well worth the investment... and will pay for themselves while retaining your customers. Face it, too may operators place too little importance on hiring & retaining the right people, but those who do make more money and whine a heck of a lot less.
(continued)
1. There is NO FULL SERVICE in the flex-serve paradigm; just hands-free carwashing and hands-on detailing. It's not a semantic thing because consumers already have a frame of reference about what full service is and isn't. Flex-serve separates hands-free (no labor) from hands-on (efficient humans cross-trained to perform manual stuff) from simple wiping down to a myriad of detailing services... so I grouped things that need a pair of hands and things that are done via automation. Studies show that consumers feel more comfortable having a detailer touch their car than the typical carwash attendant. So you have exterior (express) carwashing and everything else (detailing)... which is perceived as being "better, safer, more meticulous". Detailers simply are perceived as being "better".
2. As eluded to previously, having a real live service advisor engaging customers safeguards your business by having a knowledgeable personality setting the tone of the buying experience. Having several service advisors gives you great flexibility, and because they are also cross-trained, they can also load and detail. You will pay them more (bonus) but they are well worth the investment... and will pay for themselves while retaining your customers. Face it, too may operators place too little importance on hiring & retaining the right people, but those who do make more money and whine a heck of a lot less.
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smokun
Consultant - Rainmaker
3. The phased sequence of engaging customers and selling prior to the transaction process has been around since exteriors have; nothing new here because savvy carwash operators were doing it long before McDonalds. Why risk rushing a carwash customer when the option of having a second service advisor enables you to properly process the experience? It's no place for a "wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am" rush attitude because you will always leave way too much money on the table.
Please understand that flex-serve was designed to give operators more control of their bottom-line net profitability, and it works exceptionally well when prudently implemented. The optimized use of cost-effective labor is strategic to robust net profits as well as powerful customer retention! Just plan your work... and then, work your plan.
Just a few more well-intended recommendations...
Please understand that flex-serve was designed to give operators more control of their bottom-line net profitability, and it works exceptionally well when prudently implemented. The optimized use of cost-effective labor is strategic to robust net profits as well as powerful customer retention! Just plan your work... and then, work your plan.
Just a few more well-intended recommendations...
smokun
Consultant - Rainmaker
"I am still amazed though by how many people do not want to stay in the car while it is washed. The biggest complaint is that they feel claustrophobic, one customer even compared it to being inside a MRI machine."
Quick cure: Make the tunnel as bright as a local hospital emergency room! More lights; the brighter, the perception of being safer requires plenty of light. Also, clean up the tunnel so it looks and smells as spic-n-span as the restroom you'd personally like to visit.
The complaints will disappear and customers will concentrate on the process... so plan on plenty of suds and foam and make sure the tunnel smells super clean.
YOU'RE IN THE BUSINESS OF CLEAN... so you should look and smell like the cleanest place in town. Dingy, dirty tunnels are quite common in automatic carwashing, mostly because too little emphasis is placed on it. That gives you another way to distinguish your business operation.
Quick cure: Make the tunnel as bright as a local hospital emergency room! More lights; the brighter, the perception of being safer requires plenty of light. Also, clean up the tunnel so it looks and smells as spic-n-span as the restroom you'd personally like to visit.
The complaints will disappear and customers will concentrate on the process... so plan on plenty of suds and foam and make sure the tunnel smells super clean.
YOU'RE IN THE BUSINESS OF CLEAN... so you should look and smell like the cleanest place in town. Dingy, dirty tunnels are quite common in automatic carwashing, mostly because too little emphasis is placed on it. That gives you another way to distinguish your business operation.
Thanks Steve for the advice and suggestions they truly have been helpful. The process is really beginning to work well now after almost two months. The customers are getting used to it and the compliments are flowing. Our employees are really coming around and getting used to the new system as well. Best of all our volume is up about 20% and I really have not began promoting it yet.
Thanks everyone for your help..
Paul
Thanks everyone for your help..
Paul
smokun
Consultant - Rainmaker
You'll Find It Can Get Better (More NET Profit) If You Optimize Its Flexibility
Once again, Paul... if you really optimize the "hands-on" aftercare offerings and capitalize on everything being a detailing service, the number of customer-driven service choices will provide 3 potent enhancements:
1. The more comprehensive the services are, the more frequent the return visits. That means increased volume, revenue and profits.
2. Offering a myriad of as-needed (wanted) services provides awesome customer retention.
3. The very adaptable flex-serve format relies on continuous hands-on skills availability built-in to the flex-serve paradigm. Essentially you will really enjoy the refining of skills because you will do more... with less labor. Be sure to pay your staff well via the bonus system covered in the Jump-Start Guide: Strategic bonusing keeps it all going right! And continuous monitoring keeps things razor sharp, a well compensated extra effort.
Too many operators are so pleased with the flex-serve concept and its savings... that they stop growing too soon and never take it far enough to really harvest optimum net profitability. Those that do walk around with a big grin on the outside... and an even bigger one on the inside.
If done properly, your market increases to include all those consumers currently patronizing freestanding detail operations. That, with or without the wash demand, is HUGE!
Once again, Paul... if you really optimize the "hands-on" aftercare offerings and capitalize on everything being a detailing service, the number of customer-driven service choices will provide 3 potent enhancements:
1. The more comprehensive the services are, the more frequent the return visits. That means increased volume, revenue and profits.
2. Offering a myriad of as-needed (wanted) services provides awesome customer retention.
3. The very adaptable flex-serve format relies on continuous hands-on skills availability built-in to the flex-serve paradigm. Essentially you will really enjoy the refining of skills because you will do more... with less labor. Be sure to pay your staff well via the bonus system covered in the Jump-Start Guide: Strategic bonusing keeps it all going right! And continuous monitoring keeps things razor sharp, a well compensated extra effort.
Too many operators are so pleased with the flex-serve concept and its savings... that they stop growing too soon and never take it far enough to really harvest optimum net profitability. Those that do walk around with a big grin on the outside... and an even bigger one on the inside.
If done properly, your market increases to include all those consumers currently patronizing freestanding detail operations. That, with or without the wash demand, is HUGE!
