offer accepted!

[Ted]

There is plenty of auto-car washes that are not anywhere near a service station or have anything to do with a service station.

Just in my area there is 3 alone in a 15km radius & all of them are doing amazing one of them has 2 auto car washes & 4 bays, the other one has 3 auto washes & 8 bays........ the other one a much smaller 3 bays 1 auto + dog wash.......

the one with the 8 bays anything you drive past does not matter what time of day it is full of people washing there cars it recently got complete make over and now looks a million bucks.......

the other 3 bay + 1 auto wash the owner has 8 ''auto'' car washes....can't be doing that bad.

you don't want car washes that are hand wash more staff = headache..........if the business is quiet atleast you don't have to pay staff just run it on your own and get a car detailer every now and then and do that on the side.

 

[Truly Exotic]

you don't want car washes that are hand wash more staff = headache..........if the business is quiet atleast you don't have to pay staff just run it on your own and get a car detailer every now and then and do that on the side.

in a perfect world, yes, you want a business that runs itself or has no staff,

however, the rent on these self service places would be pretty high since you need multiple bays, I would assume that they would be busy right through the weekends and dead at night (depending on the area) and possibly quiet during the week,

that being said, how much is it a wash, $6-$10 DIY!

even if your costs are 0.50c in electricity, water, soap for example, I cannot see you doing that much turnoever, given that it would probably take 30mins-1 hour to do your car

 

[Ted]

in a perfect world, yes, you want a business that runs itself or has no staff,

however, the rent on these self service places would be pretty high since you need multiple bays, I would assume that they would be busy right through the weekends and dead at night (depending on the area) and possibly quiet during the week,

that being said, how much is it a wash, $6-$10 DIY!

even if your costs are 0.50c in electricity, water, soap for example, I cannot see you doing that much turnoever, given that it would probably take 30mins-1 hour to do your car

The rent on the one i mentioned 2 auto washes + 4 bays is $60k per annum, the 3 bay 1 auto wash would probably be cheaper and i don't know about the larger one, the larger one is in semi industrial and on a main road but not the best area but it is flat out.


If they didn't make money there would be alot of them for sale however there is is hardly any available on the market which are worth it.

Just to give you an idea the one that is 60k rent per annum sold for $550k and that was an urgent sale due to the owner having a health issue and has since passed away, so in realistic that was worth about 700k, turn over 330k.

 

[Corey Batt]

Car wash's in Commodoresville is a good money spin. Constantly filled with VT's onward getting their Wednesday night, friday night, saturday afternoon, Sunday morning wash and polish.

The poor cars will have their clear rubbed back before long with these sorts of owners!

 

[BayView]

Perhaps the reason price is all your customers care about is because you haven’t given them anything else to care about

When I hear statements like these (and in some instances they are true), I often think of the average Joe who is:
a) waiting for the cheap petrol day each week to fill up the car - they couldn't care less how nice to them the bloke behind the counter was last week/this week/ever.
b) waiting for the boxing day sales to buy stuff; they couldn't care less about the niceness of the staff last time.
c) buying stuff cheap on ebay when there is a terrific shop 1km away with exactly what they need and a smile on the shop owner's face...but a few dollars more expensive.

 

[Ace in the Hole]

Lose the C and D grade customers.
Increase profits by upselling to the A and B grade customers.
Less work, more profit.

 

[Truly Exotic]

Lose the C and D grade customers.
Increase profits by upselling to the A and B grade customers.
Less work, more profit.

unfortunately, thats not always easier said then done
it will depend on where his shop is located, people arent going to drive 40mins extra to go to a shop thats going to give service with a smile

also depends on what he is selling as well, its like owning an aldi (not saying BV's products are cheap), and selling cheaper products and expecting people to be willing to pay extra for better service)

 

[BayView]

Lose the C and D grade customers.
Increase profits by upselling to the A and B grade customers.
Less work, more profit.

What are the C and D customers? - I haven't seen them listed in the thread.

 

[BayView]

also depends on what he is selling as well, its like owning an aldi (not saying BV's products are cheap), and selling cheaper products and expecting people to be willing to pay extra for better service)

It's amazing how at Aldi you get absolute rock-bottom service (the staff at our local store are good, actually) - pack yer own trolley and bags, no-name brands etc, yet everyone keeps on lining up to go there.

The clue is price, and we've found the quality is generally pretty good.

 

[Aaron_C]

It's amazing how at Aldi you get absolute rock-bottom service (the staff at our local store are good, actually) - pack yer own trolley and bags, no-name brands etc, yet everyone keeps on lining up to go there (the clue is price).

Of course, people are willing to accept crap service for a cheap price. Just look at any Chinese restaurant vís-a-vís a Vue de Monde.

 

[Ace in the Hole]

What are the C and D customers? - I haven't seen them listed in the thread.

Just found them, here they are...

having to deal with whinging deehedds who want their Corolla to be a Roller and spend 5 cents into the bargain to keep it in tip top shape, or; won't spend the 5 cents, and then want a miracle to be performed (also for the 5 cents) when the pile of cr@p blows up.

 

[BayView]

Just found them, here they are...

Aha!

But...what if ALL your customers are C and D customers?!

 

[Ace in the Hole]

Aha!

But...what if ALL your customers are C and D customers?!

Then back to step 1 on that page of "5 ways to increase your business profits".

Lead Generation.

Once you are generating more leads and potential business, no need to waste another minute on rubbish customers.
Select and service the best first, get back to the rest if you have time.

 

[lizzie]

A girlfriend is trying to get her new horse float registered ... there is only one business in 4 surrounding towns (total pop 70,000+) that actually does the required brown slips (newly required for rego of new heavy vehicles and towing devices like trailers) ... and one of few that does blue slips.

There is a 2 week waiting list and, the day she went down, the queue was out the driveway.

Unfortunately she didn't get her brown slip as she has to have installed electric braking system etc - and has to save up to get them installed.

Perhaps there is a market for the oddball things in your area - like brown slips (as well as pink and blue) - you'd only need one mechanic who is trained to the top level of the brown slips - and if you also do the repairs/install so that they pass ...

 

[Jacque]

Then back to step 1 on that page of "5 ways to increase your business profits".

Lead Generation.

Once you are generating more leads and potential business, no need to waste another minute on rubbish customers.
Select and service the best first, get back to the rest if you have time.

So very true, but sometimes it's too late to recognise a "rubbish customer" until you've already started working for them. As one of my wiser colleagues says, when you're in a position to not be as selective about which customers/clients you take on, you end up giving your best to your worst and your worst to your best.

 

[sash]

That seems to be the attitude of lots of Australian businesses....keep going out that rate...and you won't have any customers.

The change has started in Retail where they charged ridiculous prices and poor service...it will flow onto Telcos and Banking....matter of time.....

Then back to step 1 on that page of "5 ways to increase your business profits".

Lead Generation.

Once you are generating more leads and potential business, no need to waste another minute on rubbish customers.
Select and service the best first, get back to the rest if you have time.

 

[Ace in the Hole]

That seems to be the attitude of lots of Australian businesses....keep going out that rate...and you won't have any customers.

The change has started in Retail where they charged ridiculous prices and poor service...it will flow onto Telcos and Banking....matter of time.....

Maybe, maybe not.
We've been in biz about 6 years now and for most of the time, to busy to even have time to quote and return emails for customers wanting to buy our products.
So the more "difficult" customers have to wait a week or so for a reply.
Sure, we'd love to service every single customer as best as possible, but when it's busy, which is practically 95% of the time, you take the best first.
What else can you do?
Obviously, the goal would be to service 100% of all customers equally, in quick time, but it's just not possible without cutting into profits.

Don't landlords do exactly this? Choose their best potential customers first?

 

[sash]

Not quite....sometimes the really picky tenants are the best tenants as they can really look after properties well. Some of them even fix things themselves.

Occaisionally, I will find a tenant who will offer $20-$30 more per week...I am always careful with those. They sometimes have really bad rental histories...

Don't landlords do exactly this? Choose their best potential customers first?

 

[Ace in the Hole]

Not quite....sometimes the really picky tenants are the best tenants as they can really look after properties well. Some of them even fix things themselves.

Occaisionally, I will find a tenant who will offer $20-$30 more per week...I am always careful with those. They sometimes have really bad rental histories...

True.

The key with it all is choice.
Being in the position of having the option of choice is better than taking what you can get.
Provided you don't get accused of discrimination of some sort.

 

[BayView]

Don't landlords do exactly this? Choose their best potential customers first?

I've had Tenants who looked terrific on paper - and were nightmares.

And vice versa.

Same in retail; some of my best customers are (and over the years have been) the odd-ball who has an irritating manner - they first give the impression that they will be "high maintenance", but end up spending dollars, don't complain and are easy to get along with.