The benefits of implementing and then growing an unlimited wash club program are undeniable. For carwash operators, these plans help produce a predictable monthly revenue stream, regardless of such factors as poor weather conditions. For customers, it’s all about value because washing as many times as they’d like at one low, set price is an attractive lure to join membership.
As we have noted in recent issues of this publication, complete satisfaction for operators and customers is realized when the program is properly managed, top-end, reliable equipment is installed at the wash and customers use the plan often.
According to the Professional Carwashing Industry Report: Third Edition, found at Carwash.com, of all carwash types, 16% of survey respondents have 1,000 or more club members.
As noted in last month’s issue, in the article “How to get 10,000 members per site” by author and President of Brink Results, LLC, Steve Gaudreau, the majority of washes struggle to eclipse 2,000 members per site and very few are able to average 5,000 members per location.
However, as Gaudreau notes in the article, after most of the washes that reach 5,000 members do so, doubling the number of members to 10,000 becomes a more achievable goal since “what it takes to get to 5,000 is very instructive on how to reach 10,000,” writes Gaudreau.
In other words, once you and your team can get the ball rolling with a successful membership program, sustaining that success should be organic with proper training, marketing and implementation.
In case you missed Gaudreau’s article in the last issue, please visit Carwash.com and view the December 2021 issue in our magazine archives. A market-leading consultant, trainer, speaker and writer, Gaudreau offered many tips and insights into why programs find success or ultimately fail.
As the calendar flips to 2022 this month, growing and maintaining an unlimited wash club membership program is on the to-do list for many operators with varying experience in running such a program.
In this month’s cover story, we continue this conversation and speak with several industry insiders on what it takes to operate a successful membership program. While promotions and word of mouth advertising are high on the list when attracting new members, keeping current customers as members in an increasingly competitive market is just as important.
