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SONNY'S DIRECT...Supplier or competitor???

You will probably wait till hell freezes over.

The problem for you, as I see it, is the owner in question is not an owner of the manufacturer in question.

You may believe the right thing for the owner of the wash to do would be to at least bow out of the situation.

However, all is fair in love and war. Business is business, not personal.

There may be some moral obligation to play fair but it is not a requirement to get a club membership card, it just takes money.

Since I know the market, I don't believe you are helpless. However, you may want to consider taking a different course rather than waiting for them to improve your lot.
 
Kimboy, while it's true that airing dirty laundry doesn't get it clean, I think that it's also fair to let the wash community know how some conduct their business. It's very telling, at least to me, that no one from Sonnys or Fazio have made any comment here. That tells me a lot.
 
Just to keep beating a dead horse into the ground

We just opened a new wash in Jacksonville. We received a nice welcome note and flowers from one of our competitors. Another made certain to come by several times to say hello.
When Anthony opened up his wash did you welcome him to the community? Bet you did not, and harbored ill feelings towards him. Bet it would be a whole different outcome if you had talked to him before hand. Competition is good, it makes everyone better if you try, or bring out the worst in us. It is up to you.:)
 
“We received a nice welcome note and flowers from one of our competitors. Another made certain to come by several times to say hello.”

So the next time I receive a call from an operator that is complaining about someone planning to build a $3.00 wash across the street, I should advise the operator to bake a cake for the new owner?

“Bet it would be a whole different outcome if you had talked to him before hand.”

What different outcomes would that possibly be? Not to build or build elsewhere? Raise base price from $3.00 to $5.00? Charge for vacuums? Not to erect a highway billboard in the neighbor’s back yard? Pay retail prices for equipment and building?

The actual outcome is what it is and it speaks for itself.
 
JimmyJaffa said:
We just opened a new wash in Jacksonville. We received a nice welcome note and flowers from one of our competitors. Another made certain to come by several times to say hello.
When Anthony opened up his wash did you welcome him to the community? Bet you did not, and harbored ill feelings towards him. Bet it would be a whole different outcome if you had talked to him before hand. Competition is good, it makes everyone better if you try, or bring out the worst in us. It is up to you.:)
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I have a great relationship with my closest competitor. But with that said, there are limits. We both agree that there are more than enough cars for each of us to be successful without poaching customers from each others backyard. I don't run ads directly in his market and he does the same for me. Areas that overlap, we both advertise. We even formed an advertising group for our entire market, that included 9 washes. Putting a billboard across the street from an existing competitor is a bit much.
 
Washmee said:
I have a great relationship with my closest competitor. But with that said, there are limits. We both agree that there are more than enough cars for each of us to be successful without poaching customers from each others backyard. I don't run ads directly in his market and he does the same for me. Areas that overlap, we both advertise. We even formed an advertising group for our entire market, that included 9 washes. Putting a billboard across the street from an existing competitor is a bit much.
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good relations is the key to success i commend you i only wish some of these manufactures would do the same they think ounce you pay for equipment they say go talk to your distributor well that distributor later on sells you another manufacttures machine that really walks the walk and performs what they say to there best of there ability have a great year may the force be with us all
 
I think that while it's nice to have this idea of everyone getting along and singing Kum By AH, it just ain't so. I get along with some of my competitors who also sell and service equipment, but I wouldn't mind a whit if they went out of business. If you don't try to keep growing your business, you will shrink as your customers die or move away. The trick seems to be doing it so that your competition looks at you and says, I better get some improvement or he'll take my customers away. The billboard across the street is equivalent to getting in someone's face while you spray them with spittle. Not only not nice, but you can get punched in the nose.
 
Sometimes you have to look at business as
" not trying to keep up with the competition,
but being the competition"
Just my 2 cents.
 
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