PC&D MAGAZINE
Four image killers
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From Volume 24, Issue 10 - October 2000
Feature
Here are four things that can damage a carwash's image.
by: Jeff Mowatt

Whether it is fair or not, businesses are often judged on first impressions. In today's ultra-fast business world, customers size up your wash in a nano-second based on your personal image. Since your customers' first impressions will determine whether or not they continue to patronize your wash, the impact of first impressions on your wash's bottom line can be staggering.

There has been little industry-wide professional education for carwash employees on personal image. Since it's often awkward to confront employees on this sensitive issue, you need some ammunition to make the task easier.

Here are four image-related reasons that customers may not like you or your employees. Incidentally, customers usually will not tell you these reasons - they will simply get their cars washed elsewhere.

1. You look different than expected

Customers prefer to conduct business with individuals who meet their visual expectations. So if you want to keep customers, have your employees dress in a manner that customers expect.

A plumber dressed in an Armani suite makes the client uncomfortable. A waitress with too much makeup, tattoos and body piercings would likely offend a patron in an upscale restaurant. On the other hand, a carwash employee in a clean, conservative uniform may make customers feel comfortable, because the uniform meets customers' visual expectations of what a carwash employee should look like.

"But that's not fair!" decry so many employees at the thought of being told what to wear. Again, first impressions may not be fair, but they are the realities of the business world.

You do not hire employees in order to allow them to express their creative individuality. You hire employees to take care of your wash's customers. Your job as the carwash owner is to create an environment, right down to staff wardrobe, that makes your customers feel comfortable.

The most effective way to convey the wardrobe message to employees is to have a written dress code. The great thing about a dress code is it often weeds out would-be applicants who would not feel comfortable in an environment that features a mandated wardrobe. That's better for everyone.

When writing your dress code, check with an attorney for the laws that apply in your jurisdiction.

2. You're hard to understand

Customers don't want to strain themselves to understand your front line staff. If your employees don't speak the local language clearly, whether it be English, Spanish, or another language, then customers will generally go to your competitors, where they won't have to work so hard to communicate.

Clear communication is doubly important when speaking on the telephone, where customers do not have the benefit of non-verbal communication to help them interpret what is being said.

This concept does not advocate discrimination based on ethnic differences or nationality. I simply recommend that your front-line staff be equipped with the basic communication skills that are needed to interact with your customers. Some operators need to develop these skills as well. If you need to improve your knowledge of the local language, then take courses until you are fluent and easy to understand. It will be well worth the investment.

3. You exaggerate

Never exaggerate just to tell customers what they want to hear. If an express detail task will take 15 minutes to complete, do not say, "It'll only be five minutes."

This is called lying, and customers hate it. Carwashes that stay in business for long periods of time, adhere to the age-old adage: Under promise and over deliver.

4. You're indiscreet

There are some indiscreet people in the car-care industry, such as cashiers at gas stations who chat on the phone while customers try to pay. Customers feel like they are crashing a private party, and some of them will never come back.

While this obvious display of rudeness is relatively rare, a much more common example is when employees carry on conversations in front of customers. How many times have you seen your employees drying cars at the end of the line, so engrossed in their conversations that they barely notice the customer, much less the car? Not only is this poor customer service, but it forces the patrons of your wash to listen to your employees' private conversations, whether they want to or not.

Far too many employees also tell customers more than they want to hear. For example, when a customer asks your greeter how he or she is doing, the customer really does not want to hear complaints.

It's just a greeting.

However, some employees take your customers' greetings as a chance to complain. They respond with witty remarks such as, "Oh, I'm 60-40", or as a security guard once told me, "I'm vertical." Some employees even say, "I'll be great when my break starts." What does this say about how your employees feel about your wash and your customers?

Considering all of the tasks that accompany running a carwash, verbal indiscretions by employees can seem minor. However, all of these indiscretions make customers wish they were dealing with professionals.

There is hope

Awareness of these problems is half the battle. Many employees simply do not realize when they are committing offenses that will hurt your wash's image.

Another part of the solution is training. Address your employees as a group, in a fun, non-threatening manner. Sometimes a professional trainer can provide the benefit of third-party objectivity.

A training program will help you provide good customer service and build repeat business. Without a good training program, your business may suffer - and your customers may not ever tell you why.

Jeff Mowatt is a Calgary, Alberta-based author of self-study training systems.
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