 Venus Says
No, but I wish I had. Now that I am retired from carwashing I enjoy visiting carwashes just as a customer. I have to admit that now as I look back at it I was completely wrong thinking that my wash attendants were always friendly, service oriented and knew how to answer questions about our products and services. I assume when you show up at a wash as a regular the attendant treats you a little friendlier (if you tip), but if you are a first-time customer or ask a "stupid" question how does the attendant respond? I just want to share with you a few of my recent experiences and see if this could be happening at your wash.
Wash #1 (first visit without the owner greeting me) This is a fabulous looking wash. It is fabulous on the outside, clean and white on the inside, just a few years old, with great signage. I have been there twice in the last two months; both times there was a different attendant. At the first visit I got waived on to the conveyor. It is close to the end of the day and I am probably one of the last washes on a Saturday. I am sure all this guy wants to do is get my car on the conveyor. He keeps waiving his hand and I can see he is a little annoyed that I don't hit the gas peddle to move right on to the conveyor because the car in front of me is just starting to move forward. When he comes to my window, I say , "Hi, how 'ya doing?" and he replies back with a little "Hi," nothing else. So, I decide this is the perfect time to ask my "stupid" question. If I pay $2 extra for wheel brite will that get that black break dust off my wheels and make them shiny? He answers me back, "I don't promise nothin!" I say, "They are pretty bad I guess I will try it anyway." His answer is "OK, put your car in neutral, no braking, no steering." He takes my money for a regular wash and wheel brite. I must assume he doesn't care if I would be willing to pay for wax because he doesn't bother to even ask. The good news is that when my car came out of the tunnel it was beautiful, shiny and my wheels looked great. He should have been proud to tell me what a great job his wheel cleaner does - but he didn't.
Visit #2 (Same wash - different attendant) It was a Saturday. The sun was shining but there was a threat of showers later in the day. The wash was not busy. In fact, there was only one car in front of me and nothing behind me. Once again, the attendant keeps waiving his hand to pull me close behind the other car on the conveyor that had not started to move forward. I kept thinking to myself, what is his hurry as there are no cars behind me? Of course, I know I can get closer but from a typical customer's view it seemed that he wanted me way too close. I put down my window with a friendly, "Hi, how 'ya doing?"? His reply, "OK." Then nothing. I tried very hard not to speak first just to see what he would say next. I was just wondering what he would offer me. Finally, I reached out with my money and told him I wanted the works. He replied, "OK, thanks." Then, he walked back to his booth, pushed the buttons, came out and started to spray the front driver's tire. Next, he walked in front of my car (while the car was moving forward on the conveyor) to spray the other front tire on the passenger side. (Good thing my car wasn't a Jeep!!!) I guess the word "safety" was not in his vocabulary. I am not sure what his hurry was to move me as quickly as possible - there were still no other cars behind me!
Wash #2 - Visit 3 - (This is a wash I frequent more often since I pass it a few times a week on the way to my office.) Again, it is a great wash, in a great location. The turnpike exits on and off up the street so I can only image what his car count is. If he would only train his employees to say a few friendly words like, "Hello, thank-you, have a nice day," and better yet, "would you like to try polish wax today," he would probably triple his business. It is not to say that his employees are rude - they just don't go out of their way to speak to you.
One day I pull up to the wash (there was a pretty long line) and I had the exact change in my hand. When I pulled up to the window I immediately said, "I will have just the regular wash today." His reply back was, "OK, put it in neutral." That's it. He said nothing else to me. There was a sign that I could have had the special for $1 more, and if he had brought it to my attention I would have bought it, but I was testing him. When I got to the other end and they towel dried my car the one attendant banged on the car and said I was all done. When I opened the door to give him a tip, he did reply, "Thanks."
These are three extreme cases. Most of the time I am greeted with a "hello," but rarely do I get "educated" about the specials or have an attendant try to up-sell me.
By not "secret shopping" your own locations, you may be leaving a lot of revenue on the table. Also, the bad news is that I would never call the owner of the first wash to tell him about my last two visits. He is a great guy and I would never want to hurt his feelings or insult him in any way. I am telling you this because if your friends are going to your washes, and have had similar experiences, they are probably not telling you. It is an awkward position to be in. You could consider hiring a secret shopper or having one of your friends recommend a friend of theirs to go undercover for you. But I'd definitely look into getting a secret shopper to periodically run through your wash. You may find that gas prices and the weather are not the reasons your sales are down. It may be that your greeter doesn't bother to ask your customers if they are interested in any extra services, and he or she might need a basic lesson in manners.
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Mars Says
Let's start out by defining a "secret shopper." A secret shopper is someone who you have come into your wash disguised as a customer but with a "secret" agenda. This secret shopper, of course, needs to be somebody who will not be recognized by anybody at your carwash. They are not coming in just to get their car washed, but rather to help you assess the job your employees are doing. How was the service? How was the finished product? Was the wash clean?
I personally have never used a secret shopper I guess because being an owner-operated wash I never really had the need for it. If you are a single-location operator and are hands-on you should be able to be your own secret shopper. Talking to customers and getting feedback directly from the consumer you should be able to find your shortcomings in no time.
However, this is a great resource for the absentee owner or multiple location operator. We all know that when you are on top of your employees they do their job well. The minute you leave though, everything changes. I cannot think of a better way to find out the kind of service your customers are receiving when you are not around. I would think that you should probably have a few different people doing this to avoid management from catching on to what you are doing, and also to get a few different perspectives.
I would instruct my secret shopper to just go in and have their car washed as if they were a regular customer. In other words, don't overwhelm him or her with instructions or checklists so that they will remain objective. After the fact you can present a checklist or questionnaire for them to fill out. Come up with some kind of a scoring system so that way you can rate your location and see if you are improving as time goes on. For multiple-location operators you can make comparisons between each location and use this scoring system for manager bonuses and incentives.
I think the secret shopper can be a powerful tool for those who need it. We are in the service and appearance business so making investments to better them is definitely a good idea.
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