New price sign, the good, the bad, and the ugly

[Sequoia]

I've worked a bit on which price increase to do, and how to present it. Maybe agonized a bit is better. My goal is to increase prices and shape the signage to encourage customers to spend above the minimum start level.

Would you please look at and comment on my proposed new price sign? I'm seeking any feedback on how to improve them or anything that looks confusing. These signs will be about 16" x 20" right above the meter boxes.

Visit the website below and scroll to the bottom to see the price sign:

http://www.sequoiacarwash.com/

Thanks for any feedback -- Good, Bad, or Ugly!

 

[borumrm]

I really like it.....So...I take it $3 would be your start up price as well. I like the idea of just saying for $3 you get x amount of time and describe the vehicle size to give an idea of what they can wash in that time...of course as slow as I am it would take me the full $5 to wash my small Ford Fusion .... LOL ... lucky for me I own a carwash......

 

[Whale of a Wash]

I like the sign--Very professional looking. A lot of information for customer.
What timer allows you to adjust time per coin, for more money in. Please don't tell me my dixmor will do it, and i didn't know it. While i am not known for my english skills--On the left side I would change the last part more to OUR CAR wash.. Be more specific. The line for me says--- any wash. Maybe a thought of protect the environment -Next to protect your investment.
Also are you happy with the credit card to token dispenser, and which one are you using?

John

 

[I.B. Washincars]

I can't figure out what the 25% and 36% lines mean . I was good at math in school, but nothing seems to work out the way I figure it. It's definitely too complicated to figure out what it means at a quick glance. I think you should leave it off or something simple like "4 extra minutes for just a dollar."

I think the sign looks nice and proffessional. Whether it works, remains to be seen.

 

[Mr. Clean]

If I understand you correctly you only intend to put the white price menu in the bay, no? Nice layout!

I would add a header "Welcome to Sequoia Car Wash" and change "Vacuums protect" to "Vacuuming protects".

What are your demographics like? What were your prices previously? It seems that you're being overly generous with time.

MC

PS> Whale, your Dixmors will perform the bonus time function.

 

[Sequoia]

Pricing

Excellent feedback-- thanks! Keep it coming. Much appreciated.

I have Dixmor timers, I think they are LED-7. There is a bonus function that can be set as "one time" or "repeating". Or something like that. I use that function to achieve the price levels shown once you go above startup price.

My current pricing is $2 for 4 minutes, w/a bonus at $4 for 10 minutes. I figure about 1/3 of customers pay the minimum, and 1/3 do the $4/10 mins. The new prices will require the "minimum" customers to increase their spending by 50%, although I am giving an extra minute. And the former $4 customers will get 1 minute less than before.

I get a LOT of SUVs and trucks. That was a big reason for modifying the price signs toward the vehicle size. It's an interesting mix of people-- of course there are the locals in a small town, but also a heavy population of folks from the San Francisco area who rent vacation cabins-- summer and winter.

I first mulled over $3 for 5 mins, $4 for 10 mins, and $5 for 15 mins. After thinking about that for a while I agree that this was MUCH too generous. I had visions of people putting in $6 for 20 minutes and washing 2 or 3 cars from their household. So I have backed it off, for now, to $3 for 5 mins, $4 for 9 mins, and $5 for 13 mins. I'm not opposed to tightening it up even further.

 

[rph9168]

I like the idea of the sign. It will be interesting to see how well it works. I have never been a big fan of advertising savings. I don't believe people use a wash to save money. They go to wash their vehicle. While some try to do it as inexpensively as possible I believe most want to do a good job. Using percentages does not differentiate between the washes clearly or why one might be better than the other. It just puts a price tag on them. I think the concept of value best describes that effort. It focuses more on the idea of doing a better job rather than on the price. I would probably go with the terms Better Value for the second wash and Best Value for the top wash.

 

[seattleguy]

Nice signage. Looking at your RV wash makes me wish we had one in Seattle for cleaning my rig.

 

[Sequoia]

Value

RPH,

One of the earlier sign ideas had "Biggest Value" and "Good Value" very prominently posted near the times of the top two washes. The struggle I have had is with cramming too much into the sign-- or having conflicting focus points-- which dooms much of the sign to remain unread if it is too cluttered. I will tinker some more with that concept.... maybe something like "Biggest Value- 4 FREE minutes" or something like that. There seem to be confusion regarding the percentages so that's good feedback. btw, 4 free minutes out of 13 is about 36% of the time being free.

Through casual observation, I've seen MANY people at the wash put in $2 and start to wash. Then time runs out, usually while they are using the foam brush. They go to the changer and buy two more tokens and put $2 in again. They are not trying to get free foam brush time as they go buy more tokens as soon as the suds stop coming out of the brush. My question is ... WHY did they do that?

I'm guessing that these people, and there are a lot of them, simply didn't know how much time they would need when they started out. At least that is my theory. So that's why I re-oriented the signs/times/prices toward vehicle size. Plus the fact that I get a LOT of SUVs and Trucks so they are a prime revenue target.

What I would really like to communicate is that with lots of time purchased you get to use all the services of the wash, like pre-soak, foam brush, etc without racing around and playing "beat the clock." But trying to do that seems to quickly get far too wordy for a price sign.

 

[blurdgman]

You may be on a good track however I run my two 6 bay washes with Washgear credit card system and that accounts for 34% of our business. People come in to wash their cars not necessarily thinking how many minutes or coins they're going to use. Right now we charge 75 cents per minute with a $2 startup. Our average customer spends between $5.20 and $5.60 per wash. There are very very few that spend less than $3. The $2 startup makes it seem like a good deal.
The balance of our customers use dollar tokens only. I don't know what their average cost is but I'd guess $4 to $5.
The credit card customers are relaxed and don't think too much about minutes. That what we like.
I think your system makes people too aware of the time and cost and that's what our industry should get away from.

 

[Sequoia]

Blurdg

Blurdgman,

I tend to agree on the potential negatives of focusing on time and price.

But, unlike your wash, I don't have CC acceptance. If I had in-bay credit card acceptance I would likely take a dramatically different approach on pricing and its presentation. And, much of my business is from one-time visitors who drive a big SUV, so I probably have a lot less percentage of repeat customers who are already in a habit of doing ... something. It's these transient SUV drivers that I am trying to target to a higher price level. My current average spent per wash right now is only about $3.

I appreciate all the good feedback. I have used this feedback and updated the price sign which is at the bottom of the page at:

http://www.sequoiacarwash.com/

 

[rph9168]

Looks good. Please keep us informed how it works.

 

[Sequoia]

Final version

OK at the risk of beating this to death I have done a final update to my pricing sign. In this final version, I integrated every suggestion I received here which caused numerous changes to the sign, including retaining the "branding" of the "Giant Sequoia" wash, lowering the alloted times per dollar, removing the percentages of savings, and more.

The final pricing result is $3/4mins, $4/8mins, $5/12 mins. I was able to work in the recommendation that SUV's and Trucks use the "Giant Sequoia" which, of course, involves spending $5. Check it out-- I think it's a winner, at least I hope so. You can view it at the URL below, just scroll to the bottom:

http://www.sequoiacarwash.com/

THANK YOU to everyone for the great suggestions and help. I believe the suggestions I received will better my business and increase my revenue.

 

[blurdgman]

Dear Sequoia:
With all due respect I'm not going to hold back with what I think.
As I mentioned earlier I don't think you should get into much discussion on time and minutes because people aren't really that concerned, they just want to wash their car. Your method builds up concern on their part. You're really making them aware of the time and cost. HOWEVER!
You seem to want to make use of your fancy timer more than you want to make money. Since you want to do that then do it but I think you're giving profits away to the SUV's and trucks. They need your facility more than others with smaller vehicles.
I'd therefore recommend $3 for 4 minutes, which happens to be what I charge all the time, $5 for 8 minutes and $7 for 12 minutes. If customers are willing to pay $3 for 4 minutes then they'd be tickled pink to pay the other numbers that I suggest.
My best advice however is to chuck it all and get yourself a credit card system in each bay where the customer swipes his card and pushes the stop button when he's finished. He'll have washed his vehicle without stress and go home happy. The next time you have to raise price all you'll have to do is raise the price per minute and no one will hardly know the difference. My method is time proven since 2003 when I installed Washgear.
In any event I wish you well.
Blurdgman

 

[I.B. Washincars]

FWIW, "triple motor" vacuum means nothing to the customer.

 

[Sequoia]

Ahhh

Blurdgman,

I won't disagree with your insight, but maybe approach it a little different. Mostly because you have CC acceptance, I do not, and I think that is a significant factor. But before I do that, I THANK YOU FOR YOUR INSIGHT as this is why I made the post-- not to validate my opinion but to seek industry expertise to reveal instead the problems it might entail. You are helping to do that.

Increasing my pricing to $3/4 minutes is a 50% price increase, and $4/8 minutes is a 20% price increase-- both in a tough economy. Have you pushed up prices recently? I have some concern about price increases that range from 50% - 20% and the acceptance, or lack of acceptance, of such.

I wish I had CC acceptance in the bays, but after putting in two new Vacs, a new floor heat boiler, a Shurvend, new changers, credit-card-to-token dispenser, and on and on, at some point I have to say "enough" with capital expenditures. CC acceptance will eventually come, but until revenues increase it's a ... future item.

Last year's expenses outstripped income, and that's with the foundation that I own the wash free and clear plus do almost all the maintenance. Maybe you are right-- perhaps I am badly undervaluing my services? If I am, I am curious to learn how could I validate this with any evidence to support that? If I had confidence it would be accepted I would adopt the rates you proposed .... immediately.

Thanks-- I appreciate the feedback and the challenge to my approach.

 

[Sequoia]

3 motor

Great call on the triple motor. It's coming out-- this sign is getting better and better.

 

[Mr. Clean]

I was at $2./4mins a few years ago. When the time came to increase prices, I went to $3./5mins thinking the same way - give them enough time to complete the wash w/o rushing or running out of time. Found that most people didn't do the math and thought we were more expensive than the guy giving 4mins for 2.50 or 2.75. Definitely a psychological barrier.

Last year we modified it to a dollar startup and give 90 secs, explaining that if adequate time was not purchased in advance, it would only take a buck to restart and finish. This, too, creates a more relaxed experience. We also have seen an increase in visit frequency by some customers who come in and drop two bucks for a quick rinse.

Revenue has increased but hard to say if it was due to the restructuring or the economy improving in our area.

I can see offering bonus time during slow seasons or time of day, but is it not counter-productive during busy times?

MC

 

[pitzerwm]

IMO people do look at the cost, at least the first time. If their perception is that you are more expensive, (read Mr. Clean) they probably don't come back the 2nd time. Once they see that everything works and their perception is that you are giving them value for their dollar, then they aren't paying attention to the minutes.

It's that first time customer that you need to replace the ones that move or die or whatever move on.

Personally, I don't like the cheap start up time, as you attract more dead beats and problems.

 

[blurdgman]

Dear Sequoia
The fact that you mentioned that most of your customers are transient SUV's and trucks lead me to believe that they would afford $3 for 4 minutes rate for their entire wash. You said that they are one time customers. My second rate, if I had one, would then be $5 for 8 minutes, a 16.7% saving. On my sign I'd put:
"$2 to start at rate of $3 for 4 minutes.
Insert $5 at start up and save 16.6% on your rate"

The less info you give the better. The $2 shows that you're not very expensive and the 16.6% prompts the $5. Historically we get about 4 out of 60 customers that spend less than $3 and about 2 out of those 4 that spend $2.
You can't afford to run your equipment for 12 minutes and only get $5. If you're in an area that salts the roads you'd also be cutting down how many customers you can get in per hour when there's a mad rush.
I keep coming back to one rate $3 for 4 minutes. The SUV's and trucks will likely spend $6 worth of time and these transients will be happy to get their vehicle clean. Why should a transien get a discount anyway they're not interested in that, they just want to clean their vehicle.