But what if you could find individuals or groups in your community who must have clean vehicles as part of their professions or businesses? Although these potential markets (see sidebar) are smaller than the total universe of car owners, some operators find that targeting these groups can be an efficient and profitable way to boost volume.

Consistency, Efficiency

More than simple wash volume is at stake. By adding to your customer base those who have a regular need for your services -- as opposed to a more fickle general public -- there is the promise of volume consistency. Targeted customer groups can even out the "hills and valleys" of your car counts -- and may even give a location a volume boost on rainy days.

Target marketing has been an accepted strategy in many retail and service businesses for years. Some companies identify census tracts or postal ZIP code areas where people are most likely to buy certain products; others purchase specialized mailing lists; still others use other methods.

Whatever the method, target marketing simply means that you zero in on those people most likely to want or need your services instead of spreading your efforts too thinly over a more apathetic general public.

Most carwash operators are used to catering to the general public, but more operators could likely increase their volumes by seeking out specialized customer groups or fleets, says Jim Rossini, owner of the Wethersfield Car Wash & Detail Center in Wethersfield, CT.

"We're only limited by our own creativity in this," Rossini says. "We just need to open our eyes."

As one example, Wethersfield recently started washing the prescription delivery vehicles of a small chain of local pharmacies. "That's been a good business," Rossini says. He says the pharmacy firm appreciates the convenient, regular wash service Wethersfield provides its 15-vehicle fleet.

Carwashes that seek out fleet customers are practicing target marketing. One that aggressively goes after a number of specialized business and fleet markets is the three-location Plaza Car Wash in Lima, OH.

Many Groups on Target

"There's really no group you should overlook," says Plaza Operations Manager Eric Schmidt. He says about 30 percent of Plaza's volume involves fleet accounts. Schmidt maintains a lengthy list of current or potential fleet accounts that he updates regularly -- everything from heating and plumbing contractors' vans and florists' delivery vehicles to large industrial fleets and the vehicles operated by sand and gravel companies ("Their trucks are always getting dirty and they need to keep washing them," he says).

How do you find target markets for your carwash? You don't have to be a high-powered market researcher or hire a consultant. Among the easier and less expensive ways:

Drive the roads and look. As simple as this sounds, it's a surefire method for finding the companies most likely to have vehicles out in public. "I took one day and drove around town," Schmidt says. "I'd see a vehicle on the road with a company's name on it. I'd log it into a small, hand-held tape recorder and then when I got back to the office, put them on a list and look up the numbers." He says this method has generated several new company fleet accounts.

Rossini says he and one of his employees drove around town one day taking down company names and phone numbers off the sides of vehicles. He followed up by faxing his menu of carwashing and detailing services, and the results were successful.

Look in the yellow pages. The yellow pages of your phone directory classifies businesses or professionals by type, providing a ready-made list of many of the companies you want to target in a certain category.

Go to the chamber of commerce. Local chambers of commerce often provide businesses with opportunities to market their services to other chamber members through newsletters, flyers, mailing lists, etc. Chamber members can often obtain these services at very reasonable cost. Schmidt says he pays his local chamber of commerce $50 to insert his one-page flyer into the chamber's newsletter, which is seen by hundreds of businesses. The flyer promotes fleet discounts. The only other expense for Plaza Car Wash in this promotional effort is the cost of printing the flyer.

Promote referrals in-house. In the customer walkway next to your tunnel, at your cashier's station or on a prominent sign in your self serve, actively promote group, employee or fleet discounts to your casual drive-through customers. Remember that your next casual customer could be the president of the big maid-service franchise up the street with 20 crew vehicles that need to be cleaned every week, rain or shine.

Visit or call local industries, government agencies or corporate offices. Ask their top administrators, executive directors, business managers or payroll department heads if they would like to offer carwashes as an employee "perk" to everyone from the chief executive on down. Many firms lease fleets of company cars for their executives, middle managers or salespeople. If a government agency must purchase your service through a bidding process, find out how you can get on their bid solicitation list. Offer to print up promotional coupons or flyers for your wash that companies can stuff into pay envelopes.

"It can be tough to find [decision-makers in such large organizations]," Schmidt says. "But once you do, it's worth it."

However you find your target-market prospects, follow up diligently with phone calls, mailings and personal visits. Although a single promotional flyer mailed to a list of companies could produce results, don't expect it to do all the work. Offer discounts, promotional pricing and group rates. For example, Plaza Car Wash's Schmidt says he offers 25 percent off his regular price to fleet accounts. When he puts out his flyer through the chamber of commerce, he'll spend the next two weeks on the phone following up.

What Do They Want?

Assuming you've identified (and maybe sold) a few target customer accounts, what do these customers want from your wash? What kind of service should you deliver?

* First and foremost, you should be delivering a quality wash or detail in a professional operation. Remember that many of your target market accounts put a high premium on professional image and cleanliness. They expect you will, too.

* Give them convenience and flexibility. Your target customers will be busy business and professional people who don't have time to wait in a long line at a tunnel. But they may also need to use your service frequently. Suggest wash times when your wash isn't backed up with casual customers. Due to their work schedules, they or their employees may need to wash vehicles early in the morning or late in the evening. At self serves, set aside bays for their use, perhaps with a token system.

* Provide payment, billing and validation methods that are easy to use, for them and for you. With a computer or similar system, you could record license numbers and send the customer a regular bill. Self serves could sell fleet customers wash tokens for their drivers. Fleet drivers could be issued magnetic-strip swipe cards to automatically record washes.

"The main thing is the convenience," says Derrick Hamilton, manager of the Dallas, TX, satellite office of Dalworth Carpet Cleaning. The carpet cleaning business has its technicians clean 13 of the company's vans every day at Marshall's Car Wash, a self serve in the Dallas suburb of Garland, TX.

Tokens in Bulk

Like many businesses with smaller fleets, Dalworth's Dallas office doesn't have the facilities to wash its own vehicles on its own property. It also faces tight wastewater disposal regulations that prevent it from setting up an in-house wash bay. As a result, the company looked for a self-serve carwash close by -- where technicians could stop every evening after their shifts and spend about 15 minutes washing each van.

"Our policy is that a van never goes out in the morning [to its service calls] unless it's washed," says Dalworth General Manager Bill Robbins. "We get more compliments on those vehicles -- but that's by design."

Wash owner Robert Marshall, who operates six locations in the Dallas area, says Dalworth has been a good customer. He sells the carpet cleaning company wash tokens in bulk, meaning that, as with his other fleet accounts, he has the advantage of being paid up front. "It helps your business," Marshall says. He also has two truck bays and receives "quite a bit" of business from trucking companies.

Up Goes the Volume

Operators who seek target markets and fleet accounts had better be prepared for the added volume those accounts can generate, says Plaza Car Wash's Schmidt. "You better be computerized," he says. "Without it, it's tough."

But the benefits can be sweet. Even with Plaza's 25 percent fleet discount, the increased volume boosts the company's bottom line.

Discounts can be a good incentive to draw in targeted customers, but remember that these customers may not be as sensitive to wash prices as is your general customer base. Professionals who must be on the road, small businesses with delivery operations or companies with fleets are usually more interested in keeping their vehicles clean than what it is going to cost them, Schmidt says.

Dalworth Carpet Cleaning's Robbins says, "In our case, our vans are like moving billboards," .

Operators who line up targeted customer and fleet accounts find that, besides more profit, they're lining up guaranteed repeat business and customer groups who can be identified and contacted easily. Or as Schmidt puts it, "You can count on them on a cloudy day."