Truck wash business and incentives for higher profits and efficiency considered
One of the most constant growth sectors in our economy after the economic crisis of 2008 has been ground transportation to move goods and services. Maybe that’s why Warren Buffet bought a rail company or why FED EX is doing better with its ground freight division than its air freight division today. Although things change over time, the trucking industry has been steadily hiring new drivers every month, almost the only sector to expand throughout the economic recovery. So maybe a good business could be one that is involved in that sector? Let’s talk about the truck wash business.
Yes, the truck wash industry is a decent business model if done right. I have been involved in on-site mobile fleet washes and fixed-site truck washes in my career. The trick is to be efficient with the labor and the process because, last time I checked the trucks still don’t wash and drive themselves, and until Google realizes that you have self-driving self-driving trucks and self-driving systems fully automated truck wash to talk to each other over the internet, well, we still have a good business strategy here.
If you want your washing crews, employees, and managers to run your business efficiently, you should consider pay for performance, bonuses, and incentive money. Yes, I know, Friedrich Winslow Taylor already made it very clear more than 100 years ago. Now, how much should his hired help pay? Well, first there are minimum wage laws, right? So that should be a good starting point for a base pay for washers, then pay them a bonus from revenues on the minimum number of trucks that need to be washed based on the average price charged to break even.
To do this, show them your actual costs to break even. Bonus percentages are based on each hour worked and divided by each worker’s total hours; therefore, different people get different bonus checks based on the hours they worked. Then tell the workers that the only way in hell they are going to increase volume is by improving quality, speed (get divers out fast), replays, and referrals. In this way they are too nice to ALL THE DRIVERS and ask them to make sure they tell everyone to come wash their truck.
As you weed out the lazy workers “that are standing still”, your team will only have the best hardworking people and this will permeate what is expected of any new person hired to replace the dogs.
What about management bonuses at truck washes?
Okay, so why not tell the manager that he gets a base salary, a salary plus a volume increase bonus over volume from the same month last year, plus an efficiency number based on labor costs? per unit? Let him know that the only way to make it happen is by getting the best guys to work longer hours, and the suckers to take a hike and go out and get new business, sell accounts, make calls to others get companies to bring their trucks, he’ll be more aggressive .
You need to think about the implications of all this and what formulas you could use to determine the percentages. Remember that your goals are more efficient operations, cost savings, higher profits, and more sales and volume, right? Okay, that’s the mission and that’s the goal, so use employee incentives for higher profits and greater efficiency. Please consider all this and think about it.