Ken Bucher
Warsaw Chemical Co. Inc.
Warsaw, Indiana
Q: Tell us about your business.
A: We are a manufacturer of cleaning compounds. Seventy-percent of our business is car wash. We’ve been around since 1941.
Q: What do you love most about the industry?
A: The customers. I’ve been around car washes most all of my life, and I’ve enjoyed it. Car wash is kind of a small world. Almost everybody knows everybody. I’ve always enjoyed working with the people and coming up with advanced ways to clean the car. It’s an industry that gets in your blood.
Q: What marketing tool has had the biggest impact on your business?
A: Our best marketing has been word of mouth.
Q: What’s one technology or innovation that will change the future of car washing?
A: We’re doing more and more super concentrates where we can ship a lot of product in smaller containers. I think that’s going to continue to grow due to the cost of shipping and the ergonomics of it.
Q: What is the key to great customer service?
A: We are very customer-oriented. We do whatever it takes to take care of our customers. It’s just the philosophy of our company. People have emergencies, and they want things taken care of. At this point, a lot of our distributors just feel like good friends.
Q: Best advice for successful hiring?
A: We’ve been very fortunate. Close to half of our employees have been here 20 or more years. Education is great, but you also want someone with personality who will be committed to the company.
Jason Cunningham
Big Splash Car Wash
Kansas City area
Q: Tell us about your business.
A: We have two flex serve tunnel washes in the Kansas City area. Both are older sites that we have rehabbed and brought to current standards for performance, efficiency and curb appeal. Someday we hope to expand with a third site that would be a ground-up build.
Q: What do you love most about the industry?
A: I enjoy setting up a tunnel that produces clean dry cars and automating as much as possible the manual tasks of cleaning cars.
Q: What marketing tool has had the biggest impact on
your business?
A: We’ve had good success with direct mailing campaigns. They are driving traffic. We also like strategically placed billboards.
Q: What’s one technology or innovation that will change the future of car washing?
A: I believe the dual-belt conveyor is a game-changer for how it allows unattended loading, reduces damage claims, and could even allow a tunnel wash to stay open through the night without staff. The future of this industry is determined by consumer demands coupled with how car wash operators deal with those consumer demands. That’s why we’ve seen the shift away from strictly full-service washes. People want options.
Q: What is the key to great customer service?
A: Be consistently consistent. Communicate effectively and never assume that someone understands something — no matter how basic. Always be fair and honest. Admit your mistakes. Some of my most loyal customers are the ones that were turned around after a rough patch or negative experience.
Q: Best advice for successful hiring?
A: Create a culture where people feel the opportunity for advancement and always seek to promote and develop from within your organization, if at all possible. Ask your best employees to help recruit their friends to come work there as well. Your existing staff are your best referrals, so keeping your employees happy is key to hiring success as well.
