NYSCWA Venus vs. Mars - Summer 2009

Venus Says

When the lines are long it is virtually impossible to keep the same level of service and quality as on a day when the lines are shorter and employees have a chance to catch their breath and work at a comfortable speed. In a perfect world we would have enough labor to impress all of our customers every day. They would leave our wash with a picture-perfect clean car and be so impressed that they would continue to use us once a week to protect their investment. But, the world is not perfect. We know the look of the final product does not always determine whether or note they will return to us. They will be dragging out their hoses in their driveways and washing their own cars as soon as the spring thaw arrives. Of course, that really doesn’t help our faithful clients who come in each week when there is a longer wait and they end up getting a wash that may have been rushed through during a high-volume day. As one operator said to me, “I think we need to go for the volume, but not be a pig about it.” 

However, we need to do our best to have great service everyday. I do think our regular customers know that on a high-volume day we still go over and above any of our competition. As another one of my favorite operators said, “It is like going to your favorite restaurant on Valentine’s Day — you never get the service or quality of food you are used to on a normal day, but you still are happy that you went there.”

There are different schools of thought on how to handle peak days. I would say that the old school of thought would be to maximize volume even at the expense of a drop in quality. Lately, though, when busy peak days are not so common it is easy to fall into that old school of thought. I think that the type of carwash you operate has a lot to do with it.

Exterior washes are obviously set up to maximize volume and can do so with very little drop in quality. Full serves, though, can easily see a drop in quality when volumes are at a peak. There are so many areas of the operation that can slack off if not properly managed. When the chain is moving faster than normal the chemicals do not have as much time to react. The machines are not touching the vehicle surface for as long so the chance of the car coming out dirty increases. There is nothing worse than having a car come out dirty after the customer has been waiting on line for longer than normal. I think that management and ownership also have to use their best judgment on these days and decide what the best rate is for the wash on that particular day. Some days run smoother than others so what you are able to handle one day may not be so on another day. You have to take one day at a time and figure out what your peak performance is for that day.

I am a firm believer that on peak days you are advertising your services to a great percentage of customers who are probably not your regular customers. As a result, on these days, I actually like to go above and beyond on the customer’s cars. I feel that if you can impress a customer who has never been to your wash before, or who does not come so often, it will pay off in the long run through repeat business. On busy days I am on top of my staff more than ever to do a great job. If I do a few less cars per hour it does not bother me. I would rather have somebody pull off my line than have a bad experience at my wash.

Management needs to use their best judgment and decide what their facility can handle on busy days. You need to find that happy medium where there is a steady flow of volume and your quality does not suffer. If you can create some loyal customers on these days, it will pay off in the long run.