Well, before I retired, I was in the franchise business, in the automotive service industry. One thing he had noticed over the years was that the economy was doing good or bad. That is, there was a period of expansion or a period of contraction, growth or recession. One thing I can remember is that many of our franchisees complained when the economy was bad because it was hard for them to make money. In reality, simply by adjusting your menu and the types of services you offer, it’s quite easy to switch to a high-volume, low-cost business model and actually make more money during a downturn. Okay, so let’s talk, okay?
In fact, I realize that this is a very bold statement, but I can tell you from experience and real life observations that it is true. Too often, the wealthier crowd stops wanting to pay for the $150 car details, and the middle class finds other options, perhaps even building their own car from time to time. One thing I can say that never goes out of style is the five dollar exterior car wash. You might say it’s crazy, washing a car for only five bucks. However, during a recession, there will be a lot of business at that price. Better yet, it’s not too hard to drive 100+ cars a day in office building parking lots.
Why am I mentioning this now that you ask? Well, our economic growth has only been around 1.7% in 2012, and I imagine that in 2013 we will go back into recession and have a negative growth rate. This means that there will be fewer people with jobs and less money floating around in the economy. It also means that a lot of your competitors will go out of business, and who knows, if you don’t follow my advice here, you might as well. Of course, that leaves more business for those who are still in business because they weren’t too proud to try something new.
You don’t have to ruin your prestige or your car detailing brand. You can simply call the new service line you have; mobile car wash The rest of the time you can do auto detailing at the highest price. In this way, it now offers two types of services, although the auto detailing business will be much smaller than during the good economic times.
I think what you’ll also find is that by having hundreds and hundreds of mobile car wash customers with significant volume, through those economies of scale you’ll find more people willing to get a detail than ever before. Yes, you may have to cut the price on all your details too, but you should be able to stay in business during the recession without a problem. Please consider all this and think about it.
