7 Flags Car Wash Banks on First Impressions

Jack Anthony, 7 Flags Car Wash

First impressions mean a lot to Jack Anthony. In fact, Anthony says he does much of his hiring from Central Casting for that reason.

“If Disney would hire them, I’ll hire them,” says the owner of 7 Flags Car Wash in northern California. “That’s our preferred. We don’t allow excessive jewelry in terms of piercings. We’re trying to put forward a professional image and if that’s what you want to do that’s fine, but that’s just not what we’re about.”

For Anthony, it’s all about the smile and the way an employee greets a customer because if those elements are off, the company Anthony’s father started in the early 1960s could take a big hit.

“There’s no question,” Anthony says, “that our customer service and employee relations philosophy is what sets us apart from others. There’s other good carwashes in our area, but for the last 13 years we’ve been voted the best carwash in the area [by two local newspapers].”

While the customer-centric attitude comes from the top down, success stems from what the customer sees, hears and feels first.

Employee Management

When interviewing job candidates, Anthony says he always hires the smile because success is about what the customer wants to see.

“I obviously look for talent, but the most important thing is how [employees] are going to interact with the other employees and how they are going to interact with customers,” explains Anthony.

That first impression goes right down to the details. One of the things Anthony says he sees when he travels across the nation is unclean conditions at carwashes. So unclean, in fact, that he says he wouldn’t go into them. Another negative observation is that employees aren’t appropriately dressed.

“I want to go to a place that looks professional,” he says. “Employees should have uniforms so customers can recognize them, and the maintenance has to be kept up. Customers are entrusting you to take care of their car and if you can’t take care of your own facility, how can they trust you to take care of one of their most important assets?”

To achieve this professionalism, Anthony says his line employees go through a “rigorous” training process that starts with safety training by a manager followed by teaching skills for each carwash task.

“Not only do we teach them how to do it properly, but in a proper time standard because if we don’t have a time standard then you lose your efficiencies,” notes Anthony. It’s like a dance, he says, where line employees are taught individual tasks and then shown how to put it all together, “so there’s less wasted motion and it flows.”

That intense training happens on the job, on the first day. Training lasts at least a week and is overseen by a supervisor or senior employee, who works in tandem with the new employee. That teamwork continues after training.

“None of this is individual,” Anthony says.

You can’t have a successful business without good employees, and Anthony says employee retention is critical. Hiring and training new employees to get them up to speed costs time and money. While every business has turnover, Anthony says employee loyalty is high at 7 Flags. Most of the company’s managers have been with the company for more than five years, which Anthony attests to the fact that the company takes care of them.

“It stems from the very top,” he says. “It’s not only treating customers with respect, it’s treating your employees with respect.

“We have an awful lot of long-term employees. Our customers like seeing the same people over and over. It gives them a sense that if they’re seeing the same people then the company must be treating them right, and if the company treats the employees right, then they’re going to treat me right.”

It’s not just a pat on the back, though, Anthony says. The company also offers incentives like fast-food coupons, theme-park tickets, movie tickets, and employee-of-the-month honors that includes receiving gifts and prizes.

Furthermore, Anthony says the company goes out of its way to find work for its employees during the rainy season. Not all employees can get all the hours they need or retain the workload they had during the summer,