How do we maximize our investment after the trade show and how do we accelerate our networking success?

A little background first…networking is defined by Webster’s as “the exchange of information or services among individuals, groups or institutions; specifically: the cultivation of productive relationships for employment or business.”

Pay attention to four words: Exchange, Cultivate, Productive, and Relationships.

Exchange: Networking is a two way street. You need to meet other vendors and owners and share. What are you looking for? What are you being successful with? What do YOU have to offer?

Cultivate: Think farming; good networking is about investing in the future. Till the soil, plant the seeds, fertilize, weed, and fertilize again…harvest months later, maybe years later.

Productive: Think goal setting and time management. Why are you here? What are your SMART goals (specific, measurable, actionable, reasonable, bound in time). For me I am looking for some new “sizzle” to add to one store by July 2012 that will increase my average dollar per car by $1! I also want to catch up with 2 fellow owners about new initiatives they began earlier this year. How will you measure your productivity?

Relationships: Networking…and business in general is about relationships. I love to share with my staff that we are all about “making a sale to get a client, not about getting a customer to make a sale.” This is a subtle, and powerful difference in the strategy. In networking at the trade show, look to make new connections and relationships. Don’t worry so much about how the individual can help you today or what they can buy or sell you today. Think about building a large diverse network of individuals YOU can serve. If you develop a reputation for helping others achieve their goals, fix their problems, sell their products…you will attract solutions to archive your goals, solve your problems.

Relationship building takes time. Be patient. Rarely do great marriages start with a proposal at the end of the first date. Generally in business, great relationships don’t start with the answer or the sale after the first meeting. It’s the second, third and fourth date. It’s the relationship, trust and shared experience you develop over time that creates a great network. Use today’s super social tools to follow up

I strongly encourage you to create a LinkedIn account for you and your business. Put your LinkedIn address (did you know you can customize it) on your business card (I need to do this). Collect business cards, connect to your new contacts through LinkedIn, send information they may have wanted or needed. Check in weekly. Every Monday before I leave the house I spend 15 minutes reviewing my LinkedIn contacts, what they are doing and what they are looking for in information and contacts. Share updates on your business, your marketing, what you need help with, what staff positions you are looking to hire. A great networking resource on LinkedIn is the “Groups” function. You can join groups with similar interests like “car wash owners” or “Raleigh Internet marketers” or whatever is interesting and valuable to you.
Have a great trade show. Build your network one relationship at a time and get LINKED with a LinkedIn account.

May your sky be sunny and your lines long.

The buzz created around town regarding our Baby Car Seat and Stroller Steam Sanitizing service has been unbelievable.   The key to this response is knowing our target market.   We are located in an affluent community on the Long Island Sound, where many families live.   Most of the clients who bring their cars in for a Steam Hand Car Wash or Detail are moms.  And the moms are buzzing to their friends about the Car Seat and Stroller service.  What’s more powerful than “word of mouth” marketing?

The lightbulb moment came one Saturday morning while detailing the interior of an SUV that had three child car seats in the back.  Milk and juice stained the seat covers and there were lots of crumbs from different snacks the kids had eaten in the car seats.  The seats were full of all kinds of germs.  Click!  The light turned on!  Why not offer a service to steam clean the car seats and strollers while moms were here getting their cars washed or detailed.

A recent study conducted by Charles P. Gerba, Ph. D., professor of environmental microbiology at the University of Arizona and a leading authority on germs, found that car seats often have bacteria on them – and enough to make a child sick with an ear infection or strep throat.

And that’s not all!  They all typically have some mold growth, which can be particularly worrisome if you or your child suffers from allergies or asthma.  Dr. Gerba, suggests washing your child safety seat cover, plastic shell and harness of the child safety seat a few times per month.   Steam sanitizing is a simple and effective way to clean the seats and prevent children from becoming ill due to bacteria and other germs.

While baby car seats and strollers have visible spot and stains, the harmful germs are what you can’t see.  On March 4, 2010, experts from NBC’s The Today Show found Strep bacteria present in a car seat.  They then stated, “if the child were to touch the car seat, then put its hands into its mouth, the child would become ill.”

In another study, Dan O’Brien, a lab technician from Richards Laboratories of Utah took samples from 20 car seats and found two seats tested positive for E. coli.  One seat tested positive for staph.  Keeping children’s health at the forefront, steam sanitizing is clearly an effective and cost efficient method for cleaning car seats and strollers.

Never shoot down a marketing strategy until you give it ample time to succeed.  In this economy it is imperative to be creative with new “Green” marketing strategies and understand that sometimes the most cost efficient strategies are the most effective if implemented correctly.

Disclaimer: Any repeated/excessive cleaning to baby car seats will remove the flame retardants.  Customer is responsible for having a Certified Passenger Safety Technician reinstall the baby car seat.

A carwash uses electricity in an inconsistent way.  Because of daily and seasonal volume fluctuations, electrical usage per vehicle fluctuates.  The best way to manage electrical costs is to reduce wasted energy.  In a carwash this can easily be done by reducing the current used for motor starts; and by reducing overall energy usage by matching motor speeds to work load requirements.  A carwash uses a number of induction motors (as much as 80% of its power used), so the logical place to save the most energy (and money) is in managing the induction motors.

An induction motor is an alternating current (AC) motor where power is supplied to the rotor by electromagnetic induction.  Motor speed is determined by the frequency (Hz) of the incoming power.  U.S. power is delivered at 60 Hz, so at 60 Hz a motor will run at its full speed.  A variable speed drive (VSD) also called a variable frequency drive (VFD) can be used to start the motor, and can also be used to control the Hz (speed) of a motor.

Most motor systems still use across the line starting, which is accompanied by inrush current up to 7 times higher than running current, and starting torque up to 3 times higher than running torque. This increased torque results in mechanical stress on the machine components which reduces service life. The high inrush current stresses the power supply, which leads to voltage dips, and increases power cost, both by using more current and by creating a “spike” which increases the “demand” rate charged by most utilities.

Some systems use soft starters (soft starts) on their motors.  A soft start will temporarily reduce the load and torque in the power train of the motor during startup. This reduces the mechanical stress on the motor and shaft, as well as electrodynamic stresses on the power cables and electrical distribution network, extending the lifespan of the system.  But a soft start does not save energy once the motor is up to speed.

The most versatile and correct way to control motors is through the use of VFD’s.  AC motor-driven applications that do not require full speed will save energy by controlling the motor with a VFD. Most carwash motors drive what’s called a variable torque load, including blowers and pumps.  Energy cost saving with variable torque can be significant, usually paying for the cost of a VFD within a matter of months.

The power factor of an AC electric power system is the ratio of the real power flowing to the load to the apparent power in the circuit. Real power is the capacity of the circuit for performing work, apparent power is the product of the current and voltage of the circuit. Due to energy stored in the load and returned to the source, the apparent power is greater than the real power, causing what’s called a low power factor.  A load with a low power factor draws more current than a load with a high power factor. These higher currents increase the energy lost in the distribution system, and require larger wires and other equipment. Because of the costs of larger equipment and wasted energy, electrical utilities usually charge a monetary penalty to commercial customers where there is a low power factor.

A system which uses across the line motor starters will measure low in power factor, and will be charged penalties by their utility in most areas.  To correct the power factor, a carwash can be outfitted with power factor correction capacitors, which are load matched to the energy consumption.  These capacitors, if sized and installed properly, can correct the power factor to eliminate penalty charges by the utility.  There is little evidence that these devices will reduce Kilowatt Hours (KWH) through the meter in a carwash, which is what the carwash is paying for from the utility.

At our washes the utility measures our power factor at .99, nearly perfect.  This is due primarily to the fact that we utilize VFD’s on almost every motor in our washes, big or small.  VFD’s provide improved power factor and low sensitivity to incoming phase sequencing.  Because the VFD’s provide us with the ability to ramp down quickly for open beds on our blowers, we don’t require blast gates on our blowers.  Because of the starting torque reduction and soft starting, our mechanical devices attached to motors (pumps, couplers, fans, impellers) as well as the motors themselves have seen greatly increased service life and reduced wear.  And because our power factor is corrected by the VFD’s we don’t require power factor capacitors.  This one device, a VFD to start and control each electric motor, replaces the need for soft starts, power factor capacitors and blast gates, and reduces mechanical and electrical wear and tear – all of this while saving enough KWH to pay for themselves fairly quickly.

So the ideal way to control induction motors in a carwash is to utilize a VFD for controlling starting current and torque, and to determine the most beneficial motor speed for the load.  Old thinking was to run every motor at 60 Hz, then bypass water or oil to send only the necessary flow to the work on water and oil pumps, and to hope the blower fan was engineered for exactly 60 Hz.  By managing motor speed through settings on the VFD, you only use the energy necessary to do the desired work.  The wasted energy, heat, and mechanical wear created by running motors too fast should be a thing of the past.

When you compare the cost and benefit of power factor capacitors or “blast gates” to the cost of a VFD, it makes sense to use the VFD which provides multiple advantages.  A VFD will reduce electrical cost to operate an induction motor.  It will reduce incoming current spikes, and thus demand charges. It will help correct low power factor, eliminating penalties.  It will reduce starting and running torque which will improve mechanical and service life on motors, shafts, couplers, pumps & impellers.  The VFD will provide open bed truck functionality (speed reduction) for blowers.  The VFD can read a pressure or vacuum transducer, to run a load at a certain preset pressure or vacuum.  It can communicate with a PLC.  It will protect itself and the motor from voltage fluctuations.  Given the technology today, a VFD is the best and most complete answer for the power issues surrounding our use of induction motors.

You may feel, there is not enough time in your life to attend the ICA this year.  Why should you anyway?   Well….(it’s the largest car wash show in the world for starters)

1. Locate new products and ideas to grow your business
2. Learn the business
3. Education
4. Network with others in the industry
5. Get a great support system and new friends

There are so many more reasons to attend, but let’s elaborate on the above mentioned five points.

If you are having one of those years, at a minimum, I recommend you fly out and back the same day if needed.  In the past, I have done that.  You actually can walk the entire trade show floor and get great ideas.  It takes a lot of focus and determination, but can be done.

To get the most out of the ICA, go for the entire time.  The education is excellent and you will learn from others around you.  Also, highly recommended is to take several key employees with you.  They will learn something from the sessions and will become better employees because you have elevated them to the level of trust in them.  The employees will feel special because they got to attend the Car Wash Show.

Every year, several ICA attendees are thinking about getting into the car wash business and go to learn more.  The show is an excellent way to learn the business, build a support group and learn from others in the industry.  Years ago when we attended prior to opening the first location, someone in the industry recommended building a multi-profit center.  He said there were several locations in South Carolina that had car wash and oil change centers.  Ron’s Express was the first car wash/oil change/detail center in Central Ohio and has been copied several times.  It was a great idea, which we would not have imagined had we not attended ICA show.  Just that one idea has been a great benefit in revenue has built our name and credibility and made the business more valuable for resell.

While attending last year’s event, just by speaking with others in the industry I made five great connections.  With these connections I received business ideas as well as employee relationship ideas.  There were also new products that I found very interesting! Also at the event, I further developed stronger relationship with vendors for products and repairs.

Life is really about Networking and Helping others.  There’s no better place to do both, than to attend the yearly car wash show.  It’s said you “are” the potential of your ten closest friends.  Always “up your game” and “develop relationships with people smarter then you”.  It is an excellent way to grow and build personal network!      Clean Cars make happy people!!

I agree with the main point of Stephanie’s Holland’s blog post from March 23, 2012.  Women do control a large portion of the family’s discretionary income.  I also agree with Stephanie’s description of the psychological, relationship and decision-making differences between men and women.  I would like to offer a different perspective on how to make women swoon over your business in every interaction they have online and off line.

I disagree that you should jump into social media marketing because half the neighborhood has posted their latest quilt project on Pinterest.

As a car wash owner, direct marketing expert and coach to high-performing car wash owners….I think most of you should go back to basics.  “The basics of operations and marketing”

Do you know why good businesses thrive?  Do you know why great businesses become great?  They are!  What?  They execute unbelievably well on what the consumer (male, female, not-sure) wants. They literally are great.  Becoming great is not something marketing can help.  Marketing can only accelerate the success of operationally excellent businesses.

There is a systemic, national, maybe world-wide desire among most business people for an “easy button.”  Push the button and it happens.  I put Facebook marketing in that category.  Post 2x-a-day and the ladies will line up with credit card in hand ……Well, I argue that  the time posting to Facebook would be better spent  training your crew to vacuum faster or having your loader (express wash) go to the pay station and say hello to every customer who comes in.

True operational excellence will make women swoon over your business on every social media platform they communicate through and that same operational excellence will keep the dumbest competitor from building down the street.  Operational Excellence will literally fill your bank account with gold.   Far more so than posting to Facebook about what your dog ate for breakfast or what your son’s basketball team score was last night.

I struggle with achieving operational excellence every day in my 2 acre empire..it is not easy, it is not pretty. it is neither sexy n fun.  It is A GRIND – W.O.R.K.  It is checking your free vacuums so much that the customer never knows they clog; it is greasing your bearings so much that your accountant wants to know why you have a four figure lube budget.  Operational excellence is ferreting out every customer facing inefficiency and training it away, fixing it or buying some new equipment to solve that problem.

The pay -off is that operational excellence makes customers say “Those guys are so fast and good…why would I go anywhere else…Those guys are so fast and friendly…it’s like a factory at ABC Car Wash.  I barely had time to go to the bathroom…”  And it does not give the ladies enough time to post on Facebook.

I recommend you read “Broken Windows, Broken Business” by Michael Levine.  It will inspire you to redouble your efforts at operationally excellent behaviors, especially the little things that we tend to overlook sometimes.  Things like minor uniform policy infractions or gentle barely noticeable slips in procedures.

Last week I came unglued – screaming – at an employee who answered my store phone “hello….”

I had just signed a $1920 commission check for the guy.  (Insert very angry, stressed, yelling voice) “Did you read our handbook?  Did you buy the business, not tell me and decide to implement lousy phone procedures?  Do you know that phone is worth $14000 per month?  How about you try that again when I call back!!!”

I call back.  “Good morning…Thank you for calling Carolina Auto Spa…home of the $29.95 Unlimited Car Wash Pass and Triangle wide mobile Detailing. (Pause) May I schedule a mobile detailing service for you today?”

That is focus on operational excellence.  Apply that level of procedure, inspection and discipline to your business.  My gut says that will pay off better than a facebook account.

When you think you are on the road to operational excellence I would encourage you to revisit the basics of marketing too:  USP, build a list, mail a post card.

What is your Unique Selling Proposition?  Why should consumers choose you over all other car washes and above all other choices of where to spend their disposable income?  My guess is your focus on operational excellence will fuel a few concrete, customer-facing benefits for your USP.

Tried and true direct mail strategies will pay off in spades if executed well.   Build a house list, track customer visits and mail reactivation post cards to “over-due clients.”  This strategy in my business has a 10-32.8% response rate depending on the offer.  Don’t have a house list?  No problem.  Use the USPS’s new “every door direct mail” service.  This service is PERFECT for car wash and detail shop owners.

May the sun always shine on your wash and your hydraulics never leak!!

There are two contributing factors that have changed the course of business and neither one has to do with the economy.  Yes, the recession has forced businesses to close and demanded more streamlined operations of others to simply survive. But the economy will eventually rebound and businesses will prosper once again.

However, there are two things that will never return to business as usual:

1)     the power of female consumer and

2)     web 2.0, now called Social Media

Companies who wish to not only succeed, but, flourish, must embrace these new dynamics. They must focus on the female customer, find her online and connect with her effectively.

Why women?

Overwhelming statistics reveal that the female controls or influences 85 percent of all brand purchases and is now coined by many marketers as the CEO of the household.

She is responsible for 65 percent of new car sales as well as requests 65 percent of service work performed at dealerships.

She takes her role as CEO quite serious and this often includes having the car washed. But just knowing that she is a viable market is not enough. Companies must understand how she shops and buys are different than men. Targeting the female without grasping this can actually cause more harm than good.

For instance women view relationships differently. Think in terms of a personal relationship between a man and a woman. If they have an argument or disagreement, for the man it may simply be a blip on the radar. It may be something that he acknowledged that they disagreed about and moved on. For the woman, however, it may be a relationship ender – it was that serious to her. Now consider that same scenario in a business setting. If a man comes in and has a bad experience, he won’t like it, but he will most likely be back. If the female has a bad experience, she won’t be back.

This can be critical to businesses attempting to build long-term relationships for repeat business. Yet, companies willing to respect, listen to and engage with her will find themselves speeding ahead of the competition.  Below are a few characteristics you need to consider when targeting the female.

1. She wants to know her business is important
2. She wants to feel you are taking extra care of her and her vehicle.
3. Trust and relationships are important to her
4. She places a high value on a friendly staff and how she is treated
5. She is very busy and her time is precious
6. She notices the little things such as the cleanliness of the facility
7. She is looking for value. Not a cheap price.
8. She expects good quality for a reasonable price.
9. She appreciates promotions
10. She wants you to engage her

Why Social?

Not only do women have the power of the purse, they now have a voice – a very loud voice. Social networks including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the increasingly popular Pinterest, allow women to share their opinions and information with their closet 500 friends in a matter of seconds. For companies, this can be good or it can be bad.

Social media has created a devastating shift of power from companies to the people – and specific to our discussion, to women. Gone forever are the days of advertisers touting the bells and whistles of their products and services expecting people to show up. People are now in control of the conversations and for companies to regain control, they have to go where the people are. They must find effective strategies of joining into the conversation and engaging the customer. They must listen and they must respond accordingly.

The good news, for those doing it right, is that companies will not only have the women lining up for their products and services, they will have them for the long haul.

What are your thoughts?  Leave a reply.

Now I am just saying…

I really enjoyed Mark Ellis’s fine blog on car wash lighting date January 20, 2012  (http://www.washtrends.com/blog/?p=101 )  It was well written and I agree with his comments on the great new styles of car wash lighting available to operators today. It is amazing to me how well you can light up a car wash bay. The one thing that always puzzles me is why people put nice lights in their car wash bays and tunnels and then don’t turn them on. When you go to most car washes they are typically dark during the day and then the dusk to dawn switch activates the lights about the time that its too dark to see.

To me this is way too late. I noticed the other day when I went shopping that the store I went in had the lights on! Can you imagine this?

I went to the car dealership and guess what? They had the lights on too. The cars were gleaming under the lights. So why is it that the majority of the car washes I see only turn the lights on at night?

There is an old saying in the car wash business. ”You can’t sell clean if you are not”. It is not a coincidence that the words dirty, dark, and dingy all are frequently used together.  If you are in the vehicle cleaning business, you love cars. Our customers, those people who wash their cars, typically love them too. They like the way they look when they are clean and shiny. Nothing shows off a cars finish like a little bit of super sealant and a little bit of water. Imagine how good it looks if you turn the lights on! Lots of todays car wash equipment is also very attractive to the eye.

The breweries long ago figured out the appeal of showing off their equipment. Today many car washes feature glassed in equipment rooms where customers can see the guts of the equipment. The new plastic wall treatments create a easy to clean bright bay. We have the perfect set up to create a great customer experience.

A couple of years ago we did an experiment, in a dual automatic bay we turned the lights on during the day in one of the bays and left them out in the other bay. Any guesses?

Today’s car wash lighting is way more efficient then days of old.   If you wash one more car a day because your site looks like it is open, you will have covered the cost of running the lights. So I am just saying…can we turn the lights on?

Social media is great for drawing people to your event, whether you’re tweeting from your booth with a contest, posting to your Facebook page or blogging.

But using social media to help people connect while at the event is easy, too. It just takes a little thought and planning, and using the right tools.

For instance, if you can do a minimum of three things on social media at your next show, and plan to keep doing them (and adding more as you’re able), you’ll start to see your reach, influence and community grow.

1. Share!

The easiest way to share these days is with your Smartphone. Even if you don’t have one, someone in your group does. Take photos and post to your Facebook or Twitter account. Photos of people in your booth or at events help the people at home or unable to attend feel connected.

I just signed up to attend Chris Gillebeau’s World Domination Summit in Portland this July. During the process of signing up and confirming payment, I had the option of sharing some limited personal and business information so that other like-minded people can find me and perhaps connect before the event. The thinking seems to be that it would lead you to want to connect in person at the site. This approach seems perfectly set-up to help keep you engaged in the event a good 175 days before it kick off, and positions you to connect with people before the event. I’m curious to see what else the organizers will do to foster connectivity in the next few months, as the event gets closer.

Involve those back at home or the office. By sharing hashtags (#), photos and videos – even live video streaming at chosen times – you are opening the conference or show to those who were unable to attend in person. Granted, you won’t get the same kind of engagement as you will with attendees, but it’s like offering a lifeline to ‘what’s new’ and happening’ at the event.

2. Check-in!

Foursquare is a useful tool to share tips and comments about event speakers, exhibitors and products. It also helps people find other attendees and share tips on the best restaurants and places you might want to go. By monitoring the conversations on Foursquared Twitter, organizers can quickly step in to address concerns, solve problems or use the comments to guide a better experience with the things that are working particularly well.

Facebook also has a check-in tool through their smartphone app, so if you’re not on Foursquare, you won’t feel left out.

The percentage of people that check-in using LBS (location-based-services) is still low, but growing. As you check-in, you have an opportunity to share that check-in information with your friends and followers. But don’t leave it at that. Mention what you’re doing. You still have 140 characters. Are you working, meeting friends, connecting with clients? Every bit of info you share helps to brand you and your business. So share the good stuff, but leave the boring stuff behind.

3. Listen!

Yes, you’re busy. It’s a show and you have a ton of things to do and people to meet. But find a few moments to see what others are doing at the show. Monitor your Twitter and Facebook accounts – if even for just a few moments at a time just a couple of times a day – and you can uncover what others are doing. Listening is probably one of the most important things you can do whether you’re at a show or not. But if you can track the movement of show attendees, and use that information to connect with people, it can become even more valuable during the chaotic time of a tradeshow.

Tim Patterson is the @tradeshowguy on Twitter; author of e-books and webinars, public speaker and trainer. Read his blog and listen to his podcast at http://tradeshowguyblog.com. His newest project is the culmination of years of speaking and writing about using social media for event marketing: an online membership training site for event marketers on learning how to use social media effectively in their event and tradeshow marketing efforts. Check out SocialMediaEventMarketingU.com/exhibitor today!

The message today:

Successful marketing is a PROCESS, not an EVENT.

If you are unhappy with the results of your marketing, you are not really marketing your business and you want to get started now…. create a marketing process for your business will maximize your investment in marketing dollars.

So what is the difference between events and processes?  Let’s use fitness, running and marathons as an example.  I know running long distances is something ever car wash owner does on a weekly basis so this is a very appropriate analogy….

The marathon is the event.  Life-long fitness is the process.  The marathon races occur infrequently (for most of us).  They tend to occur on one day.  Fitness is the process that occurs over a lifetime.  Each day we get up and exercise.  We run, lift weights, eat healthy, ride a bike, take a class at a gym, do cross training, go for a hike, etc

So how does process vs. event affect your ability to do well running?  If you show up on race day for a marathon, enter, run and perform poorly or don’t complete the race because you didn’t train for weeks in advance…that seems like a reasonable outcome.  Your marketing reacts the same way to events.  If you decide to one day run an ad, buy a Valpak ad, run a radio spot or buy a cable TV ad with no process, strategy and continuity over time you will have little or no success.  One ad, little or no preparation equals no success.  Just like running marathons or any road race, with your marketing it is unlikely that single event will have any measurable positive impact on your business.  In fact event driven marketing can be very damaging because you develop bad habits in your business “my marketing doesn’t work…I’m not going to invest in “X” any more.”

I coach and educate business owners on marketing and sales every week and I hear this a lot.  “I did one or two of something and we didn’t grow our business.” One of the biggest challenges I face is creating marketing process based habits in the owner.  Much like my children, owners want immediate impact from the first event.  It just doesn’t work that way.

You need to market your business every day, week and month religiously if you expect to make a difference.  You need a great USP (unique selling proposition).  A USP is the “why me,” “why should you spend your money with my business over all other options available to you to spend your money.”

Every hour, day or week you are not executing some sort of marketing event to share your USP’s with clients and potential clients you are missing opportunities and allowing competitors access your clients.  If you are not starting conversations and developing relationships with your clients and prospects, you can bet a competitor is.

A brief word about the competition today, if you haven’t been paying attention THERE IS a new economy.  Today consumers at all income levels are more discerning with their discretionary income.  Because of this new more difficult consumer mindset you now compete with everyone else and everywhere else the consumer may spend his or her discretionary income.  You just don’t compete with other car wash and detail facilities.  You compete with vacations, car payments, house cleaning services, laundry and dry cleaning, auto repair services, children’s parties, gym memberships, new clothes.  Today you literally compete with every other discretionary item that a consumer MAY spend money on.

May the sunshine on your wash and the car lines stretch all the way down your street.

What are your events driven by process or maybe no marketing plans and need a plan?

What works for you?

What questions do you have?

Car washes in this particular economy have to be operational year round and have to be profitable to offset the costs of operation of business and make a living out of it. Unfortunately, there are several factors other than the usual statistics and demographics that affect the operation of the car washes. One of the biggest factors is weather. It’s not unusual to find a car wash being closed temporarily or dysfunctional because it froze, particularly in areas around the country where temperatures fall below freezing point like the northern region of the country. It’s highly unfortunate to see that water and soap, which are the main cleaning agents in any car wash beside the equipment, are actually their worst enemies. The reason being low temperatures cause them to freeze the hoses, wands and tips in the bays and render the car wash useless to wash a car. Not only that, it will cause mechanical problems with equipment and add a burden of maintenance cost to the owner.  It’s highly imperative that such additional costs are minimized and/or completely eliminated while keeping the car wash running 365 days a year.

People in the past have been engaged in various solutions to prevent freezing of their bays or closing of their bays temporarily in winter season. Majorly, they will incorporate a floor heat system with doors or they will implement a weep system. Both the approaches have their own merits and faults.

A floor heat system is absolutely recommended to provide safer operations inside the bay. However, it brings with it costs of water, energy used in heating the water, equipment used for heating water, storing heated water, circulating the heated water and necessary sewage.

Doors come into the picture when we want to close a bay and preserve the temperatures inside the bay to non-freezing levels. Nonetheless, a blowdown system in addition is always helpful. This approach adds cost of doors, installation and maintenance in the long run. Sometimes, it is not feasible to have doors installed in the bay for reasons like shorter bays, no room to install doors etc. In such scenarios, a weep system is implemented.

A traditional weep system weeps water out of all the hoses, wands and tips in the bay that prevents them from freezing. Typically, the idea is that flowing water at a certain flow rate cannot freeze. This process continues until the car wash is in use for washing a car. The process returns to weeping the water once the wash is over. Simple approach, until we incorporate the costs of fresh water used and sewage associated along with electrical power usage cost. The cost drastically changes the bottom line in current times, where prices of fresh water on average, have raised 27 percent in United States in the last five years.

Recently, developments have been made in the field of freeze protection system suggesting a totally different approach. A totally new system named the blowdown antifreeze protection system, antifreeze system in short, have been introduced in the market. The antifreeze system is hooked up to the car wash and works very closely with it. It monitors the car wash and understands when the car wash is being used to wash the car. It also monitors the ambient temperature. Depending on the temperature, once the car wash is idle, it will clear the hoses, wands and tips using air. If need be, it will also coat them with a layer of antifreeze.  The idea is that air will clean wand and tips and push the residual soap and water out of the hoses which leaves little to no room for them to freeze up. In extremely low temperatures, a coat of antifreeze will provide additional safety against freezing. In terms of cost, we have the cost of the antifreeze system, the air compressor and the antifreeze and electrical power usage cost.

There is a point of consideration though; what happens if the antifreeze system fails to operate properly for reasons like the antifreeze supply was empty, the air compressor failed, or the antifreeze circulating device failed or even power outage for that matter? Such incidents are common and occur more often than not. They eventually end up causing freezing bays and lead us back to square one again. The car wash is rendered useless and no income is generated. The antifreeze system should be smart enough to understand and detect these anomalies and counter act. There should be some kind of backup plan incorporated in the antifreeze system which will prevent the car wash from freezing and maintain its operating condition even when the antifreeze protection system is not able to function properly.

The antifreeze system can eliminate the water weep system majorly if not completely and can use it as a backup. This way it will be a less costly alternative to water bills. Not only will it improve the profits but it will also prevent sewage of fresh water. Green, Clean, Mean. How’s that?

Concluding the topic, I would like to say that there are various factors which affect buying decisions of a car wash owner, but a well thought rationalized decision based on facts and calculations will go a long way in their favor and make business available to their customers and profitable to them.