For the casual fan, baseball conjures images of lazy summer afternoons, hot dogs and warm beer. However, for genuine fans, the major league game is often inseparable from the layers of statistics that come with it. They are almost their own hobby. Dedicated baseball fans have at least a rough idea of their team’s players’ batting averages, runs batted in totals, on base percentages, pitchers’ earned run averages, etc. Really intense fans are likely to know obscure stats, but even casual fans appreciate the bevy of statistics dispensed by broadcasters throughout the game.
Those who believe baseball is “boring” or “too slow” often do not appreciate the game’s statistical magic. What makes all those pauses in the game interesting is the analysis of the statistics and the anticipation they can create, such as two outs with runners on second and third, a 3-2 count and a batter hitting .275 with runners in scoring position. The statistics enable deeper appreciation, better understanding and a clear gauge to determine player and team effectiveness.
This is analogous to marketing in that statistics are the only way to know how a business is truly performing and can help owners appreciate the value of marketing. Just like in baseball, business statistics enable deeper appreciation, better understanding and a clear gauge to determine your marketing and business effectiveness.
To continue the comparison, watch any manager’s press conference after a baseball game to see the value of statistics. Reporters ask all kinds of questions about the game and the answers are almost always based on statistics. If the team lost and the manager is asked for an explanation, he could simply point to the obvious that the other team scored more runs, but he is more likely to provide useful game analysis, commenting that the team “got behind hitters” (threw too many balls early in the count), “left too many runners on base” or “failed to get hits with two outs.”
Moreover, these same statistics can help the coaching staff indentify trends over time and help guide decision-making and adjustments based on what is working and what is not. The point is statistics enable improvement because they give clear proof of the results.
Compare this to carwashing. When asked about a decrease in sales, the vast majority of owners will talk about the weather or the economy. That’s a simplistic answer because everyone already knows the economy is bad or the weather stinks. It is important to figure out specifically why sales are down. Is it because you’re losing customers? Is it because the average number of days between visits is going up? Is it because you’re not attracting as many new customers as you used to? To what extent are the answers to these types of questions affecting your business?
Understanding the statistics of carwashing is absolutely essential if you want to improve. Our goal is to get more customers to spend more money, and it is impossible to know which efforts are successful if we don’t have anything to measure against. There are 15 statistics or metrics that carwashes should measure to gain better operational insight and enable improvement.
Although you may have a great POS system, nothing beats a simple spreadsheet for tracking this stuff. Remember that the data in and of itself is useless; what we care about are the trends over time. You will want to assemble this data once a month.
Also keep in mind that there are only three ways to increase sales at a carwash: winning new customers, increasing customer frequency and getting customers to spend more per visit.
The Basics
The first four metrics generally are what most operators track. They are a great start but certainly don’t tell the whole story.
1. Wash volume. How many vehicles went through your tunnel?
2. Gross sales.
3. Dollars per car. It’s important to note when you change prices.
4. Sales mix. What percentage purchased a basic wash, middle tier, top package, etc.?
Customer Insight
The following metrics show the most value; unfortunately, few operators regularly measure them. The first three require customer tracking. Many operators have POS systems capable of tracking customer visits but fail to enter license plates because they’re not using the information. However, when tracking data is entered into a spreadsheet, the information can provide tremendous insights. Eventually, every carwash will use license plate recognition for customer tracking.
5. New customers. How many new customers do you attract each month? Is the number increasing or declining? Many promotions and advertisements are designed to bring in new customers. However, if you’re not keeping track of new customers, you won’t know what is working and what isn’t or whether the number is trending up or down.
Of the customers redeeming your promotional offers, how many are new and how many are repeats? During an educational seminar I presented at Car Care World Expo in May, I asked the 200 or so in attendance how many knew the number of new customers they were adding each month. Only one person could tell me, and I know