You will need to excel in this program if you are to meet the expectations of your customers. Simple carwashing will not meet many consumers' desires. What does is a treatment that will remove of faded paint, dullness, pitting and oxidation -- express polishing.

But first you must educate the consumer to the fact that washing alone will not do the trick. Take a proactive approach and capitalize on the challenge of giving customers a better-looking car.

A major benefit of this program -- besides adding $2 or $3 per car washed -- is that an express-polished car is much easier to clean. You can actually get paid for making your own job easier.

Express polishing will do more to develop customer loyalty than any other service you can perform. As more customers experience this low-cost service, your volume will build.

The Program

There are some basic requirements for starting an express polishing program. After you have found the best product to use (see sidebar), obtain the best equipment for the job. Purchase only high-quality, heavy-duty orbital buffers.

Eight to 10 orbital buffers should be enough. Initially, you may need only four or five, but eventually you will want few more as demand grows.

Begin a weekly training program, conducted by your most professional detailer, to train all of your personnel and new employees how to polish a car with your system. It usually takes the polishing of one or two cars for a supervised trainee to become proficient at express polishing.

Emphasize speed. Time the job with a stopwatch to stimulate and complete an express polishing in the shortest period of time.

Educate Your Customers

After you teach your staff the benefits, make a concerted effort to educate your customers. Teach them why they need and should have their cars express polished. Use signs, handouts and advertising combined with a great deal of obvious enthusiasm from your staff and greeters.

Initially make your customers an offer that they cannot refuse. Make the introductory price irresistible until you have express polished a few hundred cars and everyone understands how the program works.

A good starting point is $19.95, including the wash of their choice. Then offer the service for $29.95 including the wash of their choice. Two weeks later, a price of $29.95 plus the carwash of their choice will make the program as common as any on-line service offered, even though express polishing is an off-line service.

Workers performing express services should wear a uniform that differs from the one used by the regular carwashing staff. This adds a touch of professionalism and image to the program. It also gives the program a unique look of importance.

At first you should try to promote and market the program at the exit of the carwash because usually there is not enough time to demonstrate the product and your program at the entrance. Convincing a customer by demonstrating that their car requires a polishing treatment is a challenge to anyone's persuasive abilities.

It's a harder sell than other services you offer, particularly because the customer is anxious to leave your premises as soon as possible. But it will be worth the effort if the customer decides to have the car express polished while still at the carwash. Customers will love the way their cars look with a beautiful shine, and will usually express their gratitude to you for having convinced them to have it polished.

Time Is Critical

Here is where the time factor is critical. You have to convince customers that if they give you 20 minutes, it will only be 20 minutes.

In my carwash, I try to have a minimum of two people working on a car so they can finish the job in less than 20 minutes. But I prefer to have three men so they can finish in less than 10 minutes.

The longer you take, the less valuable the service becomes and you may antagonize a customer who may not give you another chance to do it again.

Upon arriving at the carwash, each customer should receive a handout describing the benefits of the program. You can also produce a video which can run every hour of the day selling and promoting your program.

In the initial stage, owners of carwashes should become involved. If you as the owner believe in express polishing, customers will follow your advice if they believe in you and trust you.

The Selling Strategy

At the exit end, your salesperson approaches a customer who has paid for a carwash and is now in the waiting area and asks, "Is that your blue Ford over there?"

If the customers says yes, the salesperson continues, "I would like to show you something interesting about your car. Please come with me for a moment."

At the car, the salesperson says, "You have a very nice car, but the sun and the elements have caused the finish to lose its luster and the original look it had when you first bought it. Let me show you what I mean."

At this point, the salesperson applies a small amount of polish to the corner of the trunk, saying "Now I am going to demonstrate for you how I know that your car's finish has oxidized, and show you what the true color of your car finish really is." (It is important that only a small corner area be used -- doing a large area or doing it in the center of the trunk could easily antagonize the customer.)

After buffing the area to a bright shine, the salesman continues, "Look at the spot I just did and compare it to the area next to it. Do you see the difference? If you give us just 20 minutes, your entire car will look this good. It will look fantastic if you give us just 20 minutes to express polish it.

"We guarantee it will hold for at least three months as long as you wash your car at least once a week. Maybe even longer, but at least three months, and it's only $29.95 for the whole car."

The salesman consinues: "If you want, for another $10 we can apply special protectant to the vinyl on the seats, the entire interior, and the tires and bumpers on the outside. It won't take any longer. Would you like us to do that while you wait?"

If the response to your presentation is positive, get the car to the detail area, and rush your team to complete the car in less than 20 minutes.

If the customer is hesitant, your salesperson is going to have to work a little harder for his commission by offering the benefits of having it done immediately, for example:

* Your paint is very dull; oxidation and pitting are beginning to develop.

* Your car will look great for the holidays and stay like that for three months ... guaranteed.

* By protecting the finish now, you protect the trade-in value of your car.

* If you are planning to sell your car, our express polishing will make it easier to sell and you will probably get $300 to $400 more for it.

If that approach doesn't work, you can try offering the customer a top-of-the-line wash, worth $20, as their next wash, if they let you to express polish their car. If the offer is still turned down, don't get discouraged. You have made an impression on the customer.

It's possible the real reason for the refusal may be that they didn't have the time or money to do it right now, but would give serious thought to doing it another time.

Have the salesman give the customer a $5-off coupon with a three-week expiration date, and close with "Well, I'm sorry we couldn't do it for you today, but here's a coupon worth $5 to use when you come back next time. Ask for the express polish service of your choice and use this coupon with our compliments. Thanks for giving me the time to explain the benefits of express polishing your car."

Reward Employees

Offer your salespeople and greeters a generous commission for selling this service. Initially $2 is acceptable for exit and entrance sales. For the first six months, you may want to offer your greeters a $3 commission. In the long run this will be well worth it.

Keep in mind that a person who has their car express polished may return three additional times in a year for the same service. After the program has been running for the six months, the entrance commission can be reduced a bit because there are many repeat customers, and greeters may simply be taking an order rather than making a sale. But if keeping the commission at $2 on both ends works for you, don't change it. You can also offer greeters a $5 bonus on top of the $2 per car for each 10 programs they sell.

Offer the detailer who polishes the car $2 extra, or split the $2 among the members of the team working together on one car. This incentive pay will ensure that you will always have express polishing specialists who love the extra $2 plus the potential of receiving a tip from the customer. If you add all the extras they receive to their hourly pay, some should earn over $10 per hour.

The Guarantee

Always have one person designated to inspect the car before it leaves your premises. You never want a customer to discover that a section of the car was neglected. Have the designated person sign an inspection paper to assure that the job is properly completed and the customer is thrilled with what they have paid for.

Appoint one person to be responsible for the entire express polishing program and make sure that the department is properly managed and kept humming. If your volume begins to fall and your staff is sitting around, simply lower the price for a few cars to get the program back in gear and to keep the staff occupied. When customers notice that you are polishing cars they are more likely to want the same service.

If possible, try to locate the express polishing program in an area that allows for maximum exposure to customers entering the carwash. This will help to stimulate interest.

Set Your Goals

Goal-setting is critical to achieve success.

Set a goal of how many express polishing jobs you want to complete. Offer an incentive to your management staff to reach that goal and inform everyone involved in the program of the goals for each day, week, month, quarter and year.

Once the express polishing program is running smoothly, you can add other express services such as Carpet Express, Seat Express, Interior Shampoo (a combination of seats, carpet, and vinyl) and Interior Protectant. With those services in place, establish sales goals for them as well.

Step by step, you will provide your customers with all the services needed to maintain their cars' looks and value. Step by step, you will build uniqueness and loyalty by providing customers with the best.

The beauty of the express polishing program is that when a customers are sold on the value of the program, you have potentially sold them on the concept of maintaining the car's appearance by returning for three additional visits within the following nine months. If you have 1,000 customers in the program, you have a potential for 3,000 additional treatments.

Most homes today have two or even three cars. Polishing one of the cars can lead to having the others polished. A beautiful express polished car is a moving advertisement for your carwash and the many services you offer.

Ira A. Feinberg is a carwash consultant (The Dean of Clean) and owns Panaram International Trading Co., Inc., Belleville, NJ.