The old adage, “the only constant is change,” rings especially true for suppliers in the car wash industry. Improvements in technology and customer demands for increased performance require suppliers to constantly evolve their offerings to maintain top customer satisfaction. But even when change is for the better, it can often be a tough uphill road to get both your employees and your customers on board with a new product.
“Change management is challenging at best, and can be quite maddening for business leaders,” said Connelly Hayward, CPBA, CPMA, CPEQA.
The fundamentals of change management are generally applied when management needs to successfully guide their employees through a change. Minor transitions, such as a new team forming, to major changes like company mergers, require leadership to be sensitive to employees’ reactions and responses. Suppliers in the industry not only have to be aware of how changes in their business impact their own employees but also their customers.
“Change management is a process. There are some key components that help make the process less painful,” Hayward said. The same principles that guide change management with employees can guide successful management of change with your customers as well. “Think of your customers as employees, people on your team. They need be brought along in the process, too,” Hayward said.
JBS Industries is a leading car wash manufacturer producing high-quality chemicals since 1979. “As former car wash owners and operators, we know the difficulties our customers are experiencing in car washing. As innovators, we know our job is never done. Our focus is on providing our customers with the highest-performing products to produce the best results,” said Scott Baeten, Owner and President of JBS Industries.
“Over the past several years the industry has seen an influx of interest in concentrated formulas. The reasons are simple, but with change comes obstacles,” Baeten said. “Business owners and leaders see the vision before others. They see the need and/or benefit of change when others don’t. The leader’s role at this point is to paint the picture plainly so that everyone can see it and understand it,” Hayward said.
JBS Industries had a vision for providing their customers with the highest caliber products, but this necessitated a change from their old way of doing business and the challenge of communicating this change clearly to customers.
“Changes in a business bring fear,” Hayward said. When the change involves a consolidation or merger, fear revolves around job loss, job changes, and the unknown. “At this stage, the leader needs to be honest about changes,” Hayward said.
When the change involves customers and a new product line, honesty and transparency are just as urgently needed. How the change will impact the cost, efficiency, quality and availability of the product are all questions a supplier needs to be readily prepared to answer for the customer.
“It’s important to include customers in the process from early on because they don’t like to be surprised. This builds trust and strengthens the relationship,” Hayward said. Bringing customers into the conversation demonstrates that you value their business and are paying attention to their needs. “Change is a great opportunity to take your relationship to the next level, which in turn increases customer loyalty,” he said.
“Not including the entire company in the planning leads to distrust of leadership and feeds fear,” Hayward said. The same can be said of the relationship between a supplier and its customers. “Everyone should have a voice and that voice needs to be acknowledged.”
When JBS Industries introduced the C.O.M.P.A.S.S. line, the products were in some cases almost four times more expensive than the comparable conventional blend, but for good reason. “They perform as well or even better at dilution ratios 4 to 5 times higher,” Baeten said.
JBS Industries needed to help customers plan for their new concentrated offering by helping them understand the benefits of the new line. Shifting from cost per gallon to cost per car realized the true value on hyper concentrates. Customers who converted from the conventional line of products reduced their cost per car by 20 percent.
The second obstacle customers needed to plan for to fully realize the potential of the new hyper concentrated chemicals was an upgraded injection system. “To take full advantage of these hyper concentrated chemicals, your equipment needs the capability to dilute at such extreme ratios. A traditional hydro minder simply can’t keep up with the increased concentration of current formulas,” Baeten said. JBS Industries recommended a modern injection system such as Hydraflex or Dosatron. Although customers did incur an upfront expense, the system paid for itself in chemical cost savings in less than 2 years.
“Sometimes a leader has the luxury of time and can slow the pace of change, sometimes things need to change in a hurry,” Hayward said. The faster the pace, the more the leader needs to be involved in and focused on managing the change itself. The leader must understand that some people don’t deal with rapid change well and that the company might lose some good people due to the speed of the change. Mirroring this, suppliers need to be in communication with their customers about what tempo for change feels appropriate to the customer. “The rule for rate of change is: as slow as possible and as fast as necessary,” Hayward said.
When change is achieved, it is cause for celebration. The planning stage will help identify key milestones. “Celebrate these when they happen. Not a week later, not when the whole process is done. Celebrate achievements and milestones in real time,” Hayward said.
Finally, a leader must always be acknowledging people’s willingness to change and their contribution to the change. “When people feel appreciated, they are willing to do more and they are willing to understand more,” Hayward said. A gesture as simple as a thank you card addressing the customer’s willingness to try a new product and the appreciation you have for their business can pave the way for further positive interactions. JBS Industries utilizes Facebook to highlight customers’ success stories through monthly spotlights, along with personal touches throughout the year with their sales team, to celebrate with their customers.
“Thanking people makes them feel valued. This is oil for the gears of change,” Hayward said.
Guiding customers through the process of change from your initial vision to celebration and thankfulness ensures that future innovative products will be successfully adopted.