AI’s adaptability equates to operational agility for car washes.

Jesse Strot, learning and development manager at Soapy Joe’s Car Wash, has taken his job title to heart. The guy responsible for training new hires at the San Diego-based chain recently exhibited some professional growth of his own, completing an online course in artificial intelligence from the University of California at Berkeley. Since earning his certificate last September, Strot has been putting his coursework to use, making AI an important component of the car wash company’s expansion strategy. 

“As a company, we wanted to explore how we could use AI to innovate,” he said. “When I found out about [the UC-Berkeley program] focusing on business strategies, I jumped at the chance to enroll and expand my skills.” 

One of his first tasks was to find something to help with training. Soapy Joe’s has 23 locations and plans to add about six more in the first half of the year, which will require the company to hire dozens of workers and prepare some employees for managerial roles. Strot can’t be everywhere at once to train them, so he’s turned to Synthesia, one of the many startups that has jumped into the AI space since OpenAI introduced ChatGPT in November 2022.

Using Synthesia, Strot has been able to create training videos specific to Soapy Joe’s locations, policies and procedures, as well as to address HR compliance issues such as ensuring that workers understand wage and hour laws, he said. 

AI also is being used to improve customer service and generate marketing copy. The company’s creative team “moves fast and has a lot of off-the-wall ideas,” and AI content generators such as Copy.ai and ChatGPT are helping to flesh out those concepts, said Anne Mauler, VP of marketing. The goal is to create scroll-stopping content that breaks through the digital cacophony of social media, she said. 

However, AI platforms are known to “hallucinate,” the industry term for producing copy that’s inaccurate or nonsensical, so the marketing professionals at Soapy Joe’s needn’t worry about being replaced by AI, Mauler said.

“I believe AI can free us up from mundane, repetitive tasks in order to give us back time for more creative projects or critical-thinking tasks,” she said. “AI content generators can sometimes help us keep our pace as we innovate. Sometimes it’s just about getting that first sentence on the page before your juices start flowing. 

“We know AI is helpful when producing a large quantity of content, but be cautious. You still need a human’s creative mind to finesse messaging to ensure it aligns with your brand,” Mauler said.  

Businesses have begun using AI-powered chatbots to answer customers’ questions and schedule appointments. AI software can recognize basic terms and simple questions and supply the right answers to customers, whether that involves the status of an order, information about a product, the company’s promotions, a store’s hours of operation or its return policy. 

AI chatbots reduce the manpower needed for customer service and allow consumers to interact with the brand outside of normal business hours. Providing “24/7 access to information, personalized interactions and efficient issue resolution contribute to an elevated customer experience, fostering loyalty and positive brand perception,” said Jay Wolcott, chief executive and co-founder of Knowbl, a Northville, Mich.-based company that provides conversational AI solutions such as chatbots.

CSAT in the spotlight

To boost its customer-satisfaction (CSAT) scores, Soapy Joe’s has implemented the DialpadAI communications platform, which uses automatic speech-recognition technology. When a customer talks on the phone with an employee, the software instantly transcribes the conversation and recognizes specific keywords. Using cloud-based data, the AI platform directs the employee to the right answers or resources to address customers’ concerns.

Managers can track the positive or negative sentiment of multiple customer calls in real time, view ongoing transcripts and jump in to help when needed. The AI software learns about each business over time, making it more effective at finding the right answers and providing insights about the company’s customer-service strategies. 

By analyzing every customer-service call over months or years, the AI platform may reveal areas where the company is failing as well as hidden opportunities.

“For us, DialpadAI has improved customer-care team-member workflows with automated transcriptions, real-time coaching and a unified interface for both voice and digital interactions,” Mauler said. “

Personalized strategies 

One of the biggest decisions facing car wash operators is site selection, and AI can help with that too, according to Ethan Chernofsky, senior vice president of marketing for Placer.ai. The California-based company’s AI platform helps businesses to identify the best locations for expansion. Placer.ai combines analytics with AI, then uses a wide range of data points to help car wash operators make crucial site decisions. 

“The AI platform can combine market factors, demographics and customer behavior to make data-driven decisions for your next car wash location. It helps car wash owners be really refined in their search,” Chernofsky said.

“It’s plugging in the factors that matter and getting the answer pushed out,” he said.  

This same principle applies to sales strategies, as well. AI can help car washes get more revenue per customer by analyzing consumer data and making personalized recommendations at the point of sale, according to Brian Sathianathan, co-founder and chief digital officer at Iterate.ai, a San Jose, Calif.-based provider of enterprise AI solutions. “AI is adept at suggesting additional services to customers based on their past preferences, enhancing their experience and boosting sales,” he said. 

Pricing strategies fall into this realm too and many retailers have been using AI to establish dynamic pricing. AI can recognize in real time when demand for certain products/services is strong and can raise prices automatically. Likewise, it can identify products that should be discounted due to weak demand. Also, AI can automatically send digital coupons to customers based on factors such as weather forecasts and traffic conditions. This usage of AI strikes a balance between profitability and customer satisfaction, Sathianathan said. 

Companies like Driven Brands and Circle K, both major players in the car wash industry, as well as companies such as Ulta Beauty and The Pampered Chef utilize the “intelligent low-code” capabilities invented and patented by Sathianathan and his team. Low-code AI refers to solutions that can be built, deployed and managed without a lot of programming knowledge or expertise, Sathianathan said. These solutions typically rely on prebuilt templates, drag-and-drop interfaces and other visual tools that allow users to create and customize AI models without having to write complex code.
 
Low-code AI solutions are preferable for car wash operators because they’re designed to be user-friendly and don’t require many resources, financial or otherwise, to implement, he said. 

Iterate.ai is also helping to automate processes for car washes by using computer vision and machine-learning algorithms to recognize vehicles, license plates and customer preferences. Iterate.ai’s platform also provides real-time analytics and insights to monitor operations, identify bottlenecks and make data-driven decisions to improve service, he said.

“It’s about harnessing data for smarter decisions, optimizing every facet of operations and creating a more responsive, customer-centric business model,” Sathianathan said.

Achieving operational excellence 

Looking ahead, AI will help car washes improve their operational efficiency by optimizing tasks such as bookkeeping, inventory and employee scheduling, said Sathianathan. It also can assign tasks to optimize workflow and analyze the performances of individual employees, teams and locations, he said.

AI can monitor equipment for subtle changes in performance and predict when maintenance will be needed, helping car wash operators to minimize downtime and avoid costly repairs. The software also can function as eyes inside the tunnel, monitoring operations and anticipating problems such as cars getting too close together.

“We are using a product to monitor in-tunnel activity,” Mauler said. “The sensors operate within parameters, and we’ve learned the more we engage and train the system, the more we drive down tunnel stops and overrides.”

Wolcott, of Knowbl, said AI isn’t a risk-free proposition for car washes, but it has the power to streamline operations, improve efficiency and reduce operational costs if implemented correctly. Through its adaptability, it can help car washes achieve operational excellence, he said.

“There are accompanying risks, including the initial investment and training costs associated with AI implementation, concerns about data security, potential job displacement and dependency on technology,” Wolcott said. To mitigate these risks, small businesses should start with small-scale AI projects, continue to invest in employee training, prioritize cybersecurity measures and strike a balance between automation and maintaining a personal touch in customer interactions, he said.

“AI holds significant promise for small businesses like car washes,” Wolcott said. “AI systems can continuously adapt to changing customer preferences and operational dynamics, ensuring that the car wash business remains agile and responsive to market trends.”