Champ, please give me your take on colors. I’m preparing to do a renovation on my wash. Which ones should I use and where? Does it matter?

Tex, in Texarkana, Texas

Your question reminds me of the famous Pablo Picasso quote, “Colors, like features, follow the changes of the emotions”… Okay, actually I’ve never read that quote before, but my Internet research had to start somewhere!

Of course colors matter, Tex. They can help you in at least three ways: (1) telling a story, (2) getting attention and (3) conveying an emotion. So, before you select colors, you should ask yourself: What is my store’s story, what do I want my customers to know, and what do I want my customers to feel?

1. Telling a Story. If your story is about the environment, you’ll go with green hues. If your story is about cleanliness, you’ll go with whites or metallics. If you want to convey love and caring, go with shades of pink.

2. Getting Attention. Designers will encourage you to consider warm colors to get the attention of your customers (think your sign and your menu). So, look at reds, oranges and yellows as accents to your primary palette.

3. Conveying Emotion. Warmer colors, like those mentioned above, are typically reassuring and inviting, making them good choices for your lobby if you have a full-service wash. Cooler colors, like greens and blues, are known to have a calming effect, which can make them good choices for the tunnel or bay.

Whatever your story or priorities, be thoughtful in developing a holistic visual strategy for your car wash. (I’m talking to you, fella with two-dozen faded chemical supplier signs hanging around!) Remember, everything you do to connect with your customers gives you that leg up on the competition.

So, you’ve been around the block, Mr. Savage. Given what you’ve seen and known, I’m curious to hear what you think is most unique or interesting about the car wash business compared to others. Pray tell.

Bartholomew, Providence, R.I.

Bart, here are two things that come to mind:

1. $3 for $30,000. It’s not uncommon for car washes to charge $3, or less, for a basic car wash. And, it’s common for those cars to be worth $30,000 or more. Think about that for a moment: You’re accepting a car into your wash that is worth 10,000 times what you are charging — and maybe 30,000 times what you are netting!

Sure, there are lots of examples of services for significant assets that are low priced (e.g. a maid service for a home), but I can’t think of another example of where the business essentially takes custody of someone else’s valuable property for a handful of coins.

2. Complexity of the Value Proposition. I’ve heard lots of car washers describe the essential business task as delivering clean, shiny and dry cars. I think this is a much too simplistic view, describing the product but not the value of the service or the emotion — and you need to master all three to be successful.

Clean, shiny and dry describes the product. To deliver this requires equipment, chemistry, and labor investments and expertise. This is the first value you provide the customer. Speed, safety and quality are ways to describe the service — it’s the things you do along the way to deliver the finished product. It’s the second type of value you provide, but even if you master these first two steps, you still are at risk for commoditization because these can be replicated fairly easily. It’s the third that’s the real trick: making an emotional connection. I’ve only seen this mastered at a small percentage of washes. These are the ones where customers smile not just as they pull out, but as they turn in! It’s because they know the people who work there, they know they will be treated well, they know how they’ll feel when they pull off the lot with some of that same feeling they had when they bought the car, and they know that they’ll feel confident when they go to that next business meeting in a clean car.

There are others unique aspects to be certain, but car washing — there’s nothing like it!