Once a customer establishes a relationship or identifies with a particular car wash, changing their mind and flipping their loyalty is more easily said than done. And the most common challenges to this loyalty, which usually involve a combination of price wars, promotions, and advertising blitzes, are costly with varying mileage.
But that doesn’t mean wooing your competition’s customers is impossible. In fact, provided you can nail the following three factors and keep up with the basics like good customer service and facility cleanliness, your chances are surprisingly positive!
“Faster”
Busy customers want quick visits, and if your system can deliver a faster wash that fits in their schedule better, they will notice. Review your entire process, from the queue, to payments, to the conveyor speed, to parking lot and vacuum station traffic flow. And remember, increasing wash speed also has the advantage of increasing your wash’s total production capacity—a win-win!
“More Convenient”
Speed is a huge portion of customer convenience, but it isn’t the only factor to consider. Customers are interested in how easy it is to get to the car wash and pull in from traffic, how simple or intuitive the point of sale system is, how long they have to wait before they can get into the wash, how easy it is to load their vehicle, and how quickly they can pull back out onto the road afterwards. If you can provide a low-stress, low-pressure, in-and-out experience—especially for wash club members!—your customers are that much more likely to keep coming back and tell their friends why.
“Better Quality”
Does your car wash do a better job? Are customers happier after they wash with you than when they go to the cheaper place down the road? Is there anywhere where you can you improve?
Delivering on your promises and putting out the cleanest car possible is one of the single most important aspects to running a car wash, and failure will cost you new customers and old alike. Take the time to maintain your system, monitor output quality, and fine-tune your applications. Then compare your wash quality results with the competition. If you can consistently beat them in performance you can win the long game without sacrificing or undervaluing either your pricing or services.
Interesting in joining a fast-growing, innovative, results-focused car wash franchise? Then take a look at Tommy’s Express Car Wash. Tours now available in Western Michigan.
Tommy Car Wash Systems.