Comparison Of 2 Car Wash And Valeting Centres In Westmeath
Hi, this is Vlad from The Garage Mentor.
Are you looking to grow your reputation and make more money without putting in extra effort and big investments?
If you are eager to save the winter season when the car wash and valet work is low, we can help with that.
We specialise in helping car valeting businesses sustain and grow. The holistic systems we develop for them bring in new business even in dead periods like winter or during the night.
Find out how you get on and what you can do to uplevel your car wash and valeting business
This analysis of two randomly selected car-valet businesses I’ve been working with aims to give you an overview of the capabilities of the systems we build, help you assess how good or bad you get on and give you ideas about where you can excel.
The stats represent figures about search methods, leads’ interaction, conversion, and automatic bookings of two businesses in Athlone and Mullingar, Westmeath. Their figures were produced in a competitive environment in a randomly selected period (September 25th, 2022 to October 25th, 2022) when all car washes in the area reported significantly lower workloads.
The Mullingar-based valeting centre, named Business 1, has been on the market for a year and consists of 2 experienced valetors and 1-2 assistants. The centre works 7 days a week with random mid-week breaks. Location – on the main road. They had their Google profile, website and booking system developed in the spring.
The Athlone-based centre, named Business 2, has been operating for 4 months. It is a small valeting centre with a staff of 2. They keep the door open 6 fixed days a week, and the two work 3 on 3 days. Location – off the main road. They had their Google profile, website, and booking system developed at the beginning of the summer.
For confidentiality reasons, I won’t reveal their names or more details.
Google Stats
The first graph shows how many times and which of the Google services the users used to discover the two car-valet businesses. The figures combine data from all devices (smartphones, tablets, and desktops). You can easily compare these with yours.
Business 1
Where customers viewed Business 1 on Google
Business 2
Where customers viewed Business 2 on Google
The interaction graphs below show results about website visits, direction requests and direct phone calls from interaction with the Google profile. The numbers represent people who discovered and interacted with the business during the month. These leads come as a potential business on top of the usual work the two centres get from referrals and the street. Yet, the graph doesn’t reflect the bookings through the additionally integrated booking system or Facebook pages.
Business 1
The most common actions customers take on Business 1's listings
Business 2
The most common actions customers take on Business 2's listings
As you can see on the two graphs, website visits and direction requests significantly outnumber direct calls. The stats provide essential data about modern buyers’ behaviour. In most cases, potential customers first want to find as much information about the services as possible and decide if they want to book with or contact the business.
It proves that websites are a crucial step in the buying process. It also suggests that car-valet businesses having functional, rich-content websites are in a more advantageous position to get extra work as opposed to the ones with low-quality ones or without any. The quality ones get endorsed by search engines and rank higher in the search results.
Simple maths shows that getting from 15 (for a small valeting centre) to 30 (for a medium-size one) new customers a month out of the blue, compounding on top of the existing ones, makes a whopping average of 180 to 360 new customers a year. If converted into returning ones, they could spread the good word, send multiple referrals, and help grow the customer audience indefinitely.
Caveat: Converting the new customers into returning ones depends heavily on the car wash and valeting centre’s management and staff capabilities. If a business relies only on new customers to sustain itself, it will probably experience a chronic lack of sufficient workflow. Continuous engagement with the existing ones is vital for the business.
There are multiple tactics for keeping customers happy and loyal, which I’d share readily with interested managers.
Booking Stats
The stats represent the last 30 days until October 25th 2022, for which other similar businesses have already reported significant workload drops.
Business 1
Booking stats of Business 1 for a month
Business 2
Booking stats of Business 2 for a month
The booking process happens on autopilot, thanks to an awesome booking tool developed by OnceHub, without the owner or staff having to do anything except familiarising themselves with the booking details and following up if needed. All the details are stored neatly in a dashboard and booking calendar (for future reference), and the tool sends reminders to the customers and service providers to reduce the no-shows.
On certain occasions, a business representative may have to book on a customer’s behalf if the customer can’t do it. It means nothing abnormal and 0 extra effort. The booking is complete while the phone call goes on.
Conclusion
From the said and shown above, you can rest back there is a way to keep your work calendar filled and your cash flow steady even in low seasons.
15 to 30 new customers a month, delivered on an automated principle on top of the existing work, could do a lot of good to many car wash businesses. Those customers could be turned into returning if the owners and staff nurture them properly and engage with them consistently.
Final Thoughts
A big mistake the majority of car-valet businesses make is to rely mostly on constant new customer flow to sustain. They need to realise that nurturing and engaging existing customers is profoundly beneficial. Failing to do so means missing out on a huge potential for extra business and losing them to competitors who are better at nurturing them.
Remember, whatever tools and sales systems are in place, they are there to create an initial bond between the business and potential customers by propagating quality information about the services and providing undisrupted communication channels; this bond is strengthened by the managers and staff with quality services and outstanding pre- and post-service care.
Some owners reckon that Google profiles, websites, and sales systems aren’t as efficient as they are advertised. But they should remember it all depends on the set up.
When these tools didn’t work well, the most common reason was a low-quality set-up created by the owners on their own. So, they deprived themselves of the benefits. Another common reason was availing of poor services that failed to deliver the promised results.
The clever owners know how powerful money-making tools they are. A quality Google profile, functional website and automated booking system are a wise and more secure investment than the powerwasher, wet-hoover, and first rent paid without guarantee customer would ever step in the door. They are brilliant for businesses wanting to stay in business for a long and grow steadily without investing in expensive ad campaigns.
Thank you for reading this post, and I hope it gave you insights into your performance and areas where you can improve. Please, feel free to contact us for more on how we can help your business to grow or leave your thoughts in the comment section below.
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