The secret to any successful business lies in a capable and professional workforce. This is especially true for the car wash industry, where both technical knowledge and outstanding customer service skills are necessary.
To provide the best possible customer service experience, your car wash employees need to have a thorough understanding of how the business works, what visitors expect, and the types of equipment your particular car wash business uses. After all, you can’t be on-site at all times, and if equipment breaks down or a customer complaint arises, you want to rest assured your staff members have the proper training to respond appropriately and promptly.
It can be very beneficial to invest in car wash training to ensure all your team members are on the same page, including experienced employees. Read on to learn more about why your employees should take a car wash training course, the type of skills these courses teach, and how NCS can help fulfill your training needs.
What Are Car Wash Courses?
Car wash courses are training programs that teach students about the fundamentals of running a professional car wash business. They take place either at a physical training facility or online depending on the subject matter. A car wash course may cover any number of topics related to the industry, such as how to perform equipment maintenance, the basics of managing inventory, car wash safety, how to handle vehicle damage claims, customer service fundamentals, and more. By taking one or more of these car wash training courses, your employees will acquire valuable knowledge about the industry, including deeper insights into what it takes to keep operations running smoothly.
How Do Car Wash Courses Work?
Car wash training sessions typically last from one to five days and focus on bolstering particular skill sets related to the car wash industry. For example, a tunnel maintenance course could include hands on instruction in an actual tunnel. Chemicals handling courses focus on safety and effectiveness of car wash chemistry. Upon completion of the coursework, students are typically rewarded with some form of certification.
At NCS, we provide many different one- to three-day in-person car wash courses that will give your employees the skills they need to build a long-lasting career in the industry. Whether you own a small convenience store tunnel car wash or are the owner of multiple car wash locations, our training resources are designed to help you build the capable workforce your business needs to remain competitive.
Main Benefits of Your Employees Taking a Car Wash Course
Providing car wash training for your employees will not only help your business thrive, but it will also provide your employees with a wealth of knowledge that will serve them throughout their careers. If you’re considering putting your employees through training but still aren’t convinced, it may help to consider some of the reasons why it’s a solid investment. Here are the primary benefits of various car washing training courses.
1. Enhance Professional Skills and Knowledge
First, your employees will gain useful expertise about the car wash industry they may not get anywhere else. If you have several new hires with relatively little experience, putting them through a car detailing training session or preventative maintenance course will quickly enhance their skill sets, thus making them a much more valuable asset to your business.
The knowledge and experiences your workers gain from car wash training may also help them to take on supervisory or management positions in the future. In this way, you can cultivate assistant managers or team leaders in-house, saving you time and money.
2. Mastery of Equipment and Tools
Car wash training courses will also give your employees greater knowledge of the type of machinery and car wash tools they use on a daily basis. During their training, your workers will learn more about the various types of car wash models in use today, the main differences between them, and how they function. During in-person training sessions, your staff may also gain valuable hands-on experience working with the actual car wash equipment your business uses. For new hires, this training can help to fill any experience gaps between your employees and quickly bring them up to speed on what to expect from the job.
3. Reduced Downtime
Employees – even yourself – who know how to get tunnels back up and running fast, or chemistry systems fixed, save time when your wash isn’t running. Time is money, as they say. Even if a professional repair associate needs to be called in, knowledgeable staff may be able to recognize that more quickly, streamlining the maintenance or repair process.
4. Streamline Operational Processes
Another beneficial aspect of car wash training is it will give your employees fresh insights regarding approaches to optimizing operational efficiency. This may include identifying bottlenecks in the car washing process, ways to simplify inventory management, financial literacy, and basic maintenance tips to prevent disruptions to operations. By equipping your employees with these skills, you can help ensure your car wash functions at peak performance, even if you’re not around to provide oversight. As your car begins to operate more effectively, you can expect to see customer wait times decrease, higher ticket volumes, and fewer snags to slow down productivity.
5. Boost Customer Satisfaction and Retention
Offering training about the car wash industry not only benefits employees but will also have a profound impact on customer relationships. Visitors to your car wash will appreciate the expertise of your workers, thus contributing to improved customer satisfaction and higher retention rates. Given time, your training efforts will translate to a higher quality customer experience, accelerated growth and an improved reputation within the community.
6. Reduce Workplace Accidents
Modern car washes contain many moving parts that can be potentially dangerous to your team members. Workplace accidents, injuries, and near misses in the car wash business can lead to liabilities with workers’ compensation claims or negligence claims. However, issues like this are easily avoided by ensuring your employees receive comprehensive car wash safety training from the onset of getting hired. This training will include common safety hazards with various types of equipment, how to properly handle chemicals, and which types of maintenance or repairs are best reserved for more experienced professionals.
7. Build a Strong Team and Work Culture
Each car wash worker at your business is part of a team, and car wash training courses can help your staff members work together with greater cohesion. Employees appreciate being invested in, which builds positive attitudes on the job. The right training will ensure employees spread across various stations understand their responsibilities and how their duties contribute to the business as a whole. With greater cooperation and teamwork between workers, the work culture at your business will be more positive, ultimately helping you to attract more applicants and retain experienced employees longer.
8. Return on Investment in Employee Training
No one implementing a business plan can succeed without keeping a close eye on ROI, but when it comes to car wash employee training, the initial investment cost often pays for itself rather quickly. Car wash employment expenses can take up a substantial amount of overhead costs, and if your employees aren’t properly trained, you could just be throwing money down the drain. However, if you invest in training courses early on for your workers, you’ll have the knowledge and skills they need to succeed from day one. In this way, investing in employee training can be seen as more of a business opportunity than an expense.
Learn From the Industry’s Top Professionals
If you’re interested in creating an experienced and capable workforce at your car wash, our professionals at NCS are here to help. At our College of Clean, we provide numerous car wash training courses, covering topics such as chemical and water system maintenance, chemical application systems, tunnel maintenance and more. We also offer car wash investment courses and webinars. Our team at NCS also plans on rolling out online courses in the near future as well to make it easier for you to schedule training sessions for your team members, even if they can’t make it to our training facility.
With a well-trained workforce, your car wash will stand out from the crowd and have a much higher chance of achieving the sustainable growth you want to see. If you’re ready to boost the knowledge and proficiency of your car wash employees, contact us today to learn more about our effective training programs.
