CAR WASH The Podcast

The Car Wash Show 2024 in Nashville is just ten days away! It will feature the most exhibitors we've ever had, the largest square footage, and it is sold out! Claire Moore, ICA's chief learning officer, is here this week to reveal some of the opportunities you may not know about along with a few tips and tricks to stay organized and get the most out of the show. This year we are also excited to have a podcast studio built into the LEAD booth on the show floor. We are inviting you, our listeners, to come and share your stories. Our theme is “Stories of Impact,” so we are gathering stories about how organizations have made an impact on you or your community or what has made an impact on your organization. Come visit us in booth #823!

We are going behind the brand with Qual Chem. Joseph Moldovan, founder and managing director, and Ryan Molinelli, VP of Sales, join us to pull back the curtain on the company's history and to discuss their new graphene product: NanoHex. We discuss the story of Qual Chem's founding, how they maintain company culture now, and the reasons for adding this new offering to their lineup. NanoHex also represents a new approach to research and development. We explore the unique methods they employed to hone NanoHex and how it will affect their product development moving forward.

"The most important thing on a remodel is that you go big .... it's really important that you don't just put lipstick on the pig." If you are considering remodelling your wash, there are many questions you need to answer before you begin. What amenities do you want to add? What is your budget? Is a remodel going to be less expensive than starting over? John Roush, CEO of Express Wash Concepts, has remodelled countless washes since the ’90s. He joins us to talk about the do's and don'ts of revitalizing your wash.

When it comes to investing in your people, staff training is where it’s at. It even took the top spot in the Q1 ICA Pulse survey. In fact, 49% of those surveyed shared that they are planning on spending more on training in 2024 and 50% about the same as last year – leaving only 1% that were planning on decreasing their spending in this category. While we've seen an influx of learning and development professionals in this industry, there are a few companies that have made training a priority for many years. Hoffman Car Wash in New York is a great example. Today we are talking with Walt Hartl, Vice President of Learning, about Hoffman's training history, their culture of learning, and advice for bolstering new training programs.

Could understanding the trends of the U.S. economy make you a better car washer? It might. In this episode, Eric Wulf, CEO of International Carwash Association, and Alex Chausovsky check in on the current state of the U.S. economy and how to understand, define and interpret it to make more strategic business decisions. Chausovsky delves into three metrics — the health of the consumer, the cost of inputs and the cost of capital — and gives his advice on economic indicators we should be watching in the short term and free resources to do so. Chausovsky is an economist by trade and for several years he has spoken at The Car Wash Show on topics ranging from economic cycles to workforce development. He is also a contributor to the International Carwash Association's quarterly research paper, The Pulse Report. To hear more from Alex Chausovsky, join us at The Car Wash Show 2024 in Nashville, on May 13-15: ⁠https://thecarwashshow.com/

Membership models and unlimited clubs have become the norm in the car wash industry, but the methods by which we convert visitors to members are mostly restricted to face-to-face in-person sales. This week on the show we explore the question: Could customers join our membership programs online... and could they even do it without even having visited our wash? Marcus Sheridan is a New York Times Official Web Guru, owner of a successful digital marketing agency and author of the book "They Ask, You Answer." Sheridan joins us to discuss what digital campaigns and strategies could lead to online conversions. Along with those campaigns, he explains the kind of information we need to be ready to provide on our sites and platforms and what steps you can take to improve your digital presence today. Armed with these tools, your wash can be a digital David in an industry of Goliaths. Hear more from Marcus Sheridan at The Car Wash Show in Nashville, May 13-15: www.thecarwashshow.com.

The future of work is not only difficult to predict, it is the wrong question to ask. The question we should be asking instead is: How do we build an incredible team that can help us get to whatever the future of work looks like? Eric Termuende, author of "Rethink Work" joins us with a bold suggestion. He shares that the best solution to talent acquisition and preparing for the ever-changing work landscape is investing in the quality of your work environment for your current employees. Termuende says the keys are to build trust, remove friction, and create a culture of experimentation, and he provides some practical tips for each. Hear more from Eric Termuende at The Car Wash Show in Nashville, May 13-15: www.thecarwashshow.com.

Continuing our content theme from last week, we have another conversation around artificial intelligence. Brian Sathianathan, co-founder of Iterate.AI, joins us to talk specifically about AI in the car wash space. Iterate.AI works with companies across many industries including several big car wash and convenience store brands. Sathianathan offers unique ways AI can be used in your wash like pay stations, maintenance and managing inventory. He also addresses the security risks around customer data and the best ways to start implementing AI in your wash. You can read more about Iterate.AI in the Q1 issue of CAR WASH Magazine, which ships on March 28 to ICA members.

Our guest is Terry Brock, who just celebrated his 40th year as a Marketing Advisor. He joins us to talk tech trends which, let's face it, are mostly AI these days. Brock shares with us some thrilling use cases for AI in the carwash space as well as some input on common concerns. Every new technology has brought with it some fear. Brock reminds us that from discovering fire to inventing airplanes each advancement in technology has introduced danger that we have mitigated with regulation. Will you lose your job to AI? Probably not but as Brock says: you might lose it to a human that understands and deploys AI better than you. This episode will get you closer to implementing AI solutions in your wash and staying ahead of the technological curve. More information on Terry Brock can be found at: https://terrybrock.com/

Danka Dubak, director of marketing for AVW Equipment Company, joins us to go behind the brand and discuss the trends AVW is seeing in the industry from a supplier's point of view. AVW is a family-owned business that just celebrated 51 years in operation and Dubak is the third generation. As suppliers, part of AVW's job is both anticipating and tracking shifting trends within the industry. The trends Dubak discusses in this episode fall under the umbrella of customer experience. How can a detailing belt, squirt guns, play spaces for children, indoor vacuums, and coloring books influence the comfort of your customer? Tune in to find out. For more information on the "megawash" from Car Wash Magazine: https://www.carwashmagazine.com/stories/rise-of-the-megawash

Tony Sposit always wanted to be a paramedic. And after high school that is exactly what he did. But in between his 24-hour paramedic shifts, he decided he wanted to find more work (he claims he was driving his wife crazy around the house). When the Frenchtown-Monroe Auto Wash opened near his home, he became an attendant loading cars into the wash. A year later he is now the assistant general manager at that location as well as running the PR for all five of their wash locations — and has earned the nickname “The Monroe Car Wash Guy.” Sposit joins us to talk about what it was like to change roles so quickly. We also talk about the skills that transfer over from being a paramedic to car washing and the unique experiences he has injected into his wash including a live-streamed TikTok radio show on Saturdays from inside the wash.

If you’ve found yourself wondering about how you can better motivate today’s employees … or how to level up your spaghetti … you’re in luck. Our guest, Joe Mull, has some hard truths and expert tips about both in, surprisingly, the same conversation. Mull, the author of Employalty (plus several others) and host of the podcast Boss Better Now, joins us to share his expert knowledge on better management to inspire high performance and commitment in your workplace. You will walk away from this episode as a better boss. We are sure of that. You can find out more about Joe at www.joemull.com. Did you like this episode? Joe Mull will also be a speaker in Nashville at The Car Wash Show 2024. Register now at https://thecarwashshow.com/

If you attended The Car Wash Show in 2023, you undoubtedly saw Quick Dry’s booth with pink carpet. Jonathan and Lindsay Wiles, who run the family-owned business, called it the ugliest booth at the show. But the carpet was to bring awareness to a great cause. In October of 2023, Quick Dry launched its Go Pink! campaign. They sold pink towels to participating customers and donated a portion of the proceeds ($10,000!) to Hospice of the Piedmont and Breastcancer.org. Many of their customers were also involved in fundraising projects that revolved around the pink towels. The Wiles join us to talk about the idea for the campaign, the hurdles to make it happen, how they will make it better for 2024, and the humanizing effect that a program like this can have on your view of business.

This episode closes out season three of CAR WASH the Podcast. We spent some time playing clips from some of our favorite shows from the season and discussing what is coming up next year from the International Carwash Association. The episodes we discussed in order of appearance can be found at these links: Season 3, Episode 1: Gleam Car Wash Colorado Pt. 1 Season 3, Episode 12: Honoring Car Washing's Greatest Season 3, Episode 26: Bringing Car Washers Together in Europe Season 3, Episode 18: So You Want to Sell Your Wash Season 3, Episode 14: Get Uncomfortable Season 3, Episode 3: OmniX patents new AI Thank you for listening to season three of our show! Please follow and review on your podcasting platform of choice. We are looking forward to seeing you in 2024!

Claire Moore of the International Carwash Association, Justin Salisbury of Breeze Thru Car Wash, and Michael Schultz of Rich's Car Wash joined Matt DeWolf in an informative live panel at the Car Wash Show™ 2023 in Las Vegas. They discuss talent engagement, investing in your workforce, and how to effectively let employees know their personal worth and impact on the company.

In early November of 2022, Jeff Pavone was on the show to talk about what was happening in the car wash industry in a two-part episode called The Great Market Reset. A year later, Pavone is back with his insight on the industry from his perspective as a founding partner of Amplify Car Wash. We discuss the recent market pause, trends moving forward, the added professionalism in the space, and the trends owners should consider to stand out. Host: Matt DeWolf Guest: Jeff Pavone, Amplify Car Wash Advisors Episode Summary: This episode of "Car Wash the Podcast" features Jeff Pavone, a recurring guest, discussing the dynamic shifts and future trends in the car wash industry. The conversation revolves around the industry's rapid growth, market changes, and the impact of external factors like interest rates and inflation. Key Points Discussed: Closing Thoughts: Matt and Jeff conclude with insights into the future of the car wash industry, stressing the need for adaptability, smart growth strategies, and the potential for more creative and innovative approaches in the coming years.

Claudia Moldovan Crea, CEO and Jessica Price Easter, Director of Marketing join us to go Behind the Brand with Qual Chem.

Marketing is all about spending money to (hopefully) make money. The trick is knowing where to focus that spend. This week we are playing you a panel, recorded live at the Car Wash Magazine Live Studio at the Car Wash Show™ 2023 in Las Vegas. Levi McClendon of OptSpot, Nick Rodia of Sgt. Clean Car Wash, and Sam Sousa of All American Car Wash joined host Matt DeWolf to discuss trends they are seeing as the best ways to spend a marketing budget. From YouTube to community engagement and fundraising there is certainly something to take home and try out from this conversation.

This episode is all about people and is applicable to much more than the car washing community. Justin Salisbury, president of Breeze Thru Car Wash joins us to talk about how Breeze Thru Car Wash has maintained its culture as they have grown to 12 locations. He defines culture, gives great tips on coaching, discusses building trust, balancing staff development and profitability, and the importance of failure. Plus a brief aside on kid’s baseball teams. You are going to enjoy this one.

The Car Wash Show Europe was held in Amsterdam two weeks ago and we sent a member of the podcast staff to report on the goings on there. He is back this week to play some of those conversations and chat with Matt about his experience at the show.