Positioning for Growth by Developing Your Leadership Team

For business owners, recognizing that you can’t - and shouldn’t - do it all can be a humbling process. Bringing in other talented people to lead departments within your organization, and intentionally developing your team from the executive level down, positions your company for meaningful growth. 

In this episode Lanese talks with Derrick Merchant and Michael Murry of Champion Xpress Car Wash about why they prioritize developing their team as an integral part of their path to scalability and long-term success. Michael and Derrick share about how being humble, hungry, and smart all while having fun at work is important to their company culture.

Though building and maintaining a great team isn’t easy, knowing you are investing today in the future success of your company may put some of that hard work into perspective. Listen to this episode for insights on how laying the foundation of your company with a strong team, focus on operations, processes, and company culture positions you for growth and success.  

For more about Derrick and Michael, a full transcript of the interview, and more, check out the post.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:07

Welcome to Car Wash M ⁇ A, the podcast, brought to you by Amplify Car Wash Advisors, the number one advisors of car wash chains nationwide on mergers and acquisitions in capital advisory services.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Hi, I'm Lenise Barnett, Vice President of Business Development at Amplify Car Wash Advisors, and your host of Car Wash MA, the podcast. Here we'll take a deep dive into the current mergers and acquisitions activity of the car wash industry with the goal of keeping car wash owners informed on where the market is today and where it's going tomorrow so that you can make informed decisions about your business. We'll help you answer the question should I sell my car wash now or should I enter growth mode and really scale my operation? Each month, I'll speak with industry experts who will share practical advice on how to sell or scale your car wash. While the industry is undoubtedly changing, what remains constant is the need for solid information so you can evaluate where you are and chart the course for the future of your business. Welcome to Car Wash MA Episode 9. Today we have uh guests on. We have Derek Merchant. He is the principal and CEO of 7B Development out of Lubbock, Texas. And then we also have his um his coworker counterpart, Michael Murray. And Michael is the CEO of Growing Champion Express Car Wash. So we're really excited to have both of you gentlemen on today so we can talk about your entrance into the car wash industry and your path to where you are today and then what you see for the future. Derek, I'll start with you. Can you give me a little bit of your background as far as what your role is and what you were doing prior to being introduced to the car wash industry?

SPEAKER_00 2:08

Sure. Thanks, Lenice. Thanks for having us. This is my 12th year at 7B. My dad started the company in 2008. And if you know what 2008 was like, there weren't a lot of jobs out there.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

Yes, it right around the time I graduated college.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

Yeah, exactly. So 3,000 bucks a month sounded awesome. From not making more than 500 bucks a month to 3,000, I was ecstatic. And so jumped in the family business. We went through a couple sales during that time period, one in 2019 to zips. And it was at that point, I was about nine years in. My dad wanted to go into more of a senior advisor role and asked me to take over and run the place. And so it was a huge honor for me at that time to do that. It gave me some vision that I needed. I I was introduced actually about that time, maybe a year before, hired Michael's wife, Heather Murray, as our CFO. And she really helped me understand what good culture and bad culture look like. She introduced me to a book called Ideal Team Player, which is what I say this company is now built off of that and the Bible. It really helped me start a we had a back when my dad was running the place, he just went to work. That was the mindset of all people. You just went to work, did your job, and he went home.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

But your job could include any and everything when you have that mindset too. You're you're the person that's responsible.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

Yeah, exactly. And so my main focus coming in was building culture, and we had a very poor culture at that time, a very toxic work culture. And so we kind of had to shrink to grow. I'm very proud walking down the halls today. You'll hear laughter. Our HR department is called TED, which is the team experience department. And right now the whole office looks like a haunted house. On Friday, it looked like Michael Murray's scrapbook because it was his 40th birthday, and there was like 120 photos of Mike all over the office.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

But well, happy belated birthday, also.

SPEAKER_00 4:18

Thank you. We're doing cool stuff. Very early on, I was introduced to a couple companies that really helped me learn about leadership and growing. We paid those companies to come in and teach us, teach me really. And we've kind of just built off that. We now have a full-time leadership coach that does a weekly masterminds. We believe that the Bible is the best place to learn leadership skills from. Nobody was better at leading people and getting more people to follow than Jesus. And so we get that privilege every Monday to have Ray lead that mastermind session.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

It's so refreshing to be able to hear successful business owners and successful business leaders talk about having a company culture that wasn't what they wanted, and then taking the steps to change that and to make something different. But it's oftentimes where, I mean, it's it's hard to turn that mirror on yourself and see like, okay, we need help and we need professional help. That's something that's outside of the realm or the scope of my capabilities or time or or whatever it is. I think that that's a very wise and um admirable quality to have in a leader is to say, like, okay, I need help over here. I need someone to, you know, show me what I need to be doing. So I recognize that it was a casual part of how you're talking about your journey, but that's a really huge thing because as we grow, as especially the car wash industry, the team aspect of it is so important for the growth.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

Yeah, and so we cut our teeth, you know, in dollar stores and auto parts stores. And so I learned the construction side first, learned the development side after that. We were the largest general contractor for Dollar General, then we were the largest developer for Family Dollar. And in 2014, that's when Trey wanted us to get into the car wash space. And it was Trey's vision that that was going to be a successful venture.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

And is Trey your brother?

SPEAKER_00 6:22

Trey's my middle brother. He also had the foresight and the humbleness about a year and a half ago, came to us all and said, Look, I think I'm being pulled too many directions. I think we need to get an executive team. And it was, I believe, God's timing. That was right here in 2020. Mike and I had just started getting to know each other. That's really what I just felt like where God was leading us. Mike had taken over a bad culture at his company. He was at a family-run company and took it through a merger and and an acquisition of a PE company from, I believe, the UK.

SPEAKER_03 7:00

Austria.

SPEAKER_00 7:01

Austria. And so everything seemed to have happened at the right time, right when we needed it. And Mike has come in and he embodies humble, hungry, smart. And that's what you have to be as a leader. We're not, we're both, well, we used to both be in our 30s. So I've crossed that bridge. But uh humbleness is a is a trait we value probably more than most because we believe we're still learning as leaders and we're still growing. And anybody that that is prideful enough to not does not belong in our organization. So that's when we brought Mike on, and Mike brought a whole new exec team. I'll let him talk about that.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

Michael, tell us a little bit about where you came from, oil and gas. Am I right?

SPEAKER_03 7:48

Yeah. So I was uh been a supplier in the oil and gas field for for 14 years before I came to Champion Express. And really that's I was perfectly content there and thought that's where I would be, you know, the the remainder of my career. And as Derek said, my my wife works for him, has worked for him for a while. That's kind of how we became acquainted. And and like like Derek said, he he was really taking the reins at 7B about the time that I was taking the reins at the company I was at. But COVID hit, and uh everybody was searching for answers, right? And so him and I really fed off of each other. Um, I learned a lot from Derek through that and tried to share our experiences, how we were, how we were dealing with different situations, how we should deal with it. And really, like Derek said, uh, I it's always unfortunate on a culture that's that's toxic, but it it was a learning curve too. And I'll say it was a it was a maybe weird to say, it was a great experience because once you've been there in that type of culture, you know you'll do anything possible to not go back. And so whenever I saw what merchant family companies, Derek and and Trey at Champion was doing here, um, and they invited me to come be a part of this, it was a pretty simple yes just because I saw the direction they were going. So we have very similar stances, obviously, on culture and really just adopting what they already were putting in place.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

Well, and you had the added benefit of your wife already working for Champion Express. So that when you told your the rest of your family that you're going to leave your job that you thought that you're going to spend your career at and go pursue car washing, that at least they weren't quite as shocked as they could have been had your wife not already exposed them that this is a very professional environment that just sometimes when you say car wash, people get a little deer in the headlights.

SPEAKER_03 9:29

No, you're spot on on that. In fact, I was a little bit surprised talking to different family members about it. I really expected most of my family to, you know, to say, are you sure you really want to do that? But they were all very excited and supportive. And yeah, a lot of it had to do with my wife already explaining, you know, what type of family the merchants are.

SPEAKER_01 9:46

Right. Derek, there's one part of the story though that I wanted to kind of go back through on your journey. So starting out, and correct me if I'm wrong, but so your first kind of professional job with your family was through 7B on the development side. So those retail businesses, and then did you start developing car washes in that journey through 7B? And that's how you got exposed to one day starting Champion Express?

SPEAKER_00 10:08

Yeah. So in 2014, Trey came to us in the middle of we had 89 family dollars under construction, 68-unit apartment complex under construction, and he said, Look, I think we need to diversify and get into the car wash business. We like a challenge, and so we knew a state that was very underserved at the time. It was a real easy transition for us. You know, all these retailers and QSRs that we work for today, even they're looking for the same things that car washes are looking for. Traffic is the gold standard.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

Right. You can't fix your location.

SPEAKER_00 10:51

Yep, exactly. You pay for your pay for your location once or you pay for it every day in marketing.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

If you choose a bad site, right, and so that's the way we were trained, and I think it gave us a competitive advantage out of the gate. We haven't had any misses on locations. That continues to fuel our our growth. It gives confidence, and we're still 100% family owned. We use local banks on all our transactions, and so you have to have a track history to borrow that kind of money.

SPEAKER_01 11:24

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 11:25

And that development history and success. It was a banker in Lubbock that took a chance on us with that first location. And then when we sold to Zips in 2019, it showed people that the industry was real. And then when we sold to 25 locations to go this last year, it showed them we had a business model.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

Right.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

And we knew what we were doing.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

The demand is there, and the car wash industry is not immune to market effects like any other industry. But at the same time, it has proven more resilient than others through the last several years. I think that's a real eye-opener to a lot of the outside community that is like, wow, how have we been missing this whole car wash thing? And I think that's really neat that your brother Trey had an interest in it in 2014, because in the kind of scheme of the cycle of where we are now, that was early for someone outside of the industry to look at this is a very viable business model to pursue. So we've got a little bit about your history. Let's talk about Champion Express and some of the things that you guys do having that outside experience. So while you do have a family business, it's not that you grew up in car washing, which a lot of family owners of car washes typically do. It's kind of they have this journey, their granddad or their dad. And then, you know, maybe the children follow in their footsteps. As you're building this company, one of the things that made me so excited to talk to you guys today, Derek, is when we were in San Antonio at the Southwest Car Wash Association, you know, we were having dinner, and you said as part of your, you know, your strategic goals or initiatives that you're willing to overstaff even in your leadership team in preparation for their future. And that really, really struck me because in my mind, that's the important part is having that those people in place so that when you're ready to keep growing, and as you keep growing, you're not also trying to find these really, really key people to your organization to help that. So I want to talk about the focus on your team and how you build a great team and how you find these people.

SPEAKER_00 13:34

So I'll let I'll let Mike answer that. But for for me, that was that was finding Mike and it Mike's vision really took over from that point.

SPEAKER_03 13:44

One thing I learned about the merchants very early on, whenever I got here, was that they uh when he when he said they like a challenge earlier, they do make some big challenges, you know, and these big goals of building. And so I learned very quickly when when they would throw out the numbers of washes that they said that uh they weren't joking. I I knew these weren't hypothetical washes that they were going to build, you know, that I had to be prepared for them um and be ready for them. So yeah, back when I first started, I think the goal was was 20 or so by the end of this year, which will be at 27 um by the end of this year, and then 50, 60 by the end of next year. And so as I started thinking through that and and started strategizing, really the coming in taking over eight washes, in all honesty, is no is no joke. And so that's where I was when we started, and I immediately wanted to get a foundation, right? And so it's it's truly about that foundation because I knew if we were going to get that big that fast, that nothing matters unless you have the foundation set and ready to go. So I'm immediately tried to get to work on an executive team and and finding finding the right people. I am adamant about finding, you know, there's a quote from the movie Miracle, um, but you're not I'm not looking for the best ones, I'm looking for the right ones. And and that's really what I tried to do and and um we were able to accomplish here someone, an executive team that could help build this thing out and build the culture and everything we were looking for. So so we did that. Um we got to work on on building the executive team and then built our field ops team and then our uh training department as well. And so I wanted to let the washes come to us, not not us go to the washes, meaning knowing that these things were coming, whenever we took over these washes and opened them up, that we we had the staff ready. We weren't doing as much training just there on day one. You know, we already structured this thing out, even from a regional standpoint.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

When you're looking at opening new sites, do you have the team ready to go to where you guys do practicing or you do the on-site training where you have kind of a team that comes in and they, you know, start giving them the process and the manual and the scripts and things like that?

SPEAKER_03 15:41

Sure. So what we do is we have two counterparts. So we have a we have a filled ops team and then we have a filled training team. And the training team doubles as store openers. So when they're not opening stores, they circle around to all of our washes doing continual training. And then whenever they're opening up washes, so we have it fully planned out. I I couldn't tell you how many weeks beforehand that we start each wash, but training the site leader, um, getting everything in place before, and then then throughout opening day, we have at least two trainers on site, a regional operations person on site. And so we're very intentional about how we open up these washes and how we prep for them.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

And was it through your your background with your previous role that some of these things made sense to you? Or is this just new store openings in general or growth in general? So what kind of guided that?

SPEAKER_03 16:30

So, yeah, so for the most part, maybe a little bit from there, but for the most part, learning as we go, listening to my different team members that have had that have experience in that.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

Hey, we would really like to have this when we open a store or we really need this.

SPEAKER_03 16:44

Yeah, I mean, that's really what what managing is, right? It's it's giving the giving the people that's working for you the right tools to do their job. And so I just listen, you know, what what tools do you need? Here's here's the standard, here's the expectation. What do you need to do that? And then it's really just about putting that in place.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

It sounds like you two specifically work really well together. From my own experience as well, yes, you need somebody, a counterpart or uh someone that you work that closely on an executive level, or even if it's on a store level where you have a manager, an assistant manager, or two co-managers or your teammates. It's important to have that relationship personally as well. It doesn't mean you have to be best friends, but if you have something that you can build off of, it makes that trust and it makes that ability to listen to each other and to hear or actually hear what their needs are, what they're saying. And it seems like that between the two of you that you have that. And um sometimes I think that that's overlooked in the the professional world that it still matters that your personalities click. You don't have to have the same thoughts. It's better to have the balance, but you still have to have a working personal relationship as well as the working professional relationship.

SPEAKER_00 17:57

Yeah, that's 100% right. And that's what we've been building on in this culture here is we can be friends, but we can also we can also challenge each other. And I think Mike does that to me, and I do that to him. But work as you come in today is fun, and it's because Mike believes the same things we believe culturally, and it just makes me smile when I walk in the halls and I hear the laughter. One minute there'll be rap songs on because construction had a team win, so they play all I do is win. The next minute, development will be playing queen or champion will be playing queen. We are the champions because they hit a goal. It's just fun. When you make it fun, and it's the same for Mike and I. I know I don't feel like I work every day because it's fun. I get up every day and I look forward to what's going to be different in the office every day and the challenges that come with it. When you have a trust with your executive teams, then it's fun.

SPEAKER_03 19:02

Yeah, I think that's a big, a big part of it, you know, when he talks about trust. I think that's the first, there's there's trust and there's buy-in. And once you have that, it creates an opportunity to to have healthy conflict. Of course, there's a lot of, but we we listen to Patrick Lincioni, you know, a lot on his books, Five Dysfunctions of a Team that that talks a lot about it. But it's so true to be able to sit in a room and speak passionately, you know, about your stance on something and then to hear someone else out. And the goal is to truly be about what's better for the organization. You know, it's not about each individual, but but I want to hear all of the different discussions and then to be a hundred percent okay if it's not your idea, you know, that that was gone after. And really it doesn't, it doesn't matter whose idea it is, it's about what's going to make the organization better. And and um, I think Derek and I have that, and uh that's what we try to create down to our teams.

SPEAKER_00 19:52

Mike's better at it than me. I'm trying to learn from him still.

SPEAKER_01 19:56

Speaking from, again, taking my own experience, this industry has changed a lot over the years. I I started in 2010. Obviously, I was still like, you know, 10 years old then. I'm just kidding. I had uh I'd already had a career in marketing and communications working at a public relations agency. And so I did that for about five years, and then I joined the car wash industry. Over time, I've seen more and more women join into this industry. But one thing that really makes a huge difference when you're coming into a room where maybe you are different than the rest of the people that are there is if you have a room that is open to listening to your thoughts or your ideas and there is a sense of collaboration, then everybody feels empowered to share. And I I feel very fortunate that that's been my journey. But it also takes building a culture that encourages people to share their ideas and to maybe you don't adopt them and maybe it's not the right path for the organization. But if you have that culture where it's okay to say something and it's okay to even have conflict, conflict isn't the end of the world. That's a that's a healthy part of growth and and a team. But if you have the safe space of everyone here is respected and everyone has their place, then that opens that dialogue. And I think that that's the most successful teams are the ones that can have those conversations and grow from them and learn from each other and listen. And listening is the hardest part. Even I struggle with that, and that's part of this whole process, it's just me listening to someone else talk. But it's harder than it seems, it just seems very fundamental. But we're all human and it's uh it's a learning process as well for me.

SPEAKER_00 21:37

Agree a hundred percent. I've I've had the ability to learn under some very good listeners. My dad is a very good listener. I very much undervalued that and didn't even understand at the time to appreciate that. Mike is a very good listener. He is methodical in everything he does, he hears everybody out. I really believe to be a good leader, you have to be a good listener.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

Totally. I totally agree. Back to the car wash side of it. What are your goals for 2023? We talked about some growth plans on numbers that you want to, you know, extend your store count, but what will you end next year feeling most proud about if it goes kind of according to what you what you foresee and what you're what you're planning out now?

SPEAKER_00 22:27

In 2019, we told PC and D magazine that we had a goal of getting to 50 locations in five years. And so that will be an awesome accomplishment for us when we get there by the end of next year. Didn't think we would have to have the number of sales that we've had to get there, but we've we've very much always wanted to continue owning our own company. And that's just because we believe in our mission, our vision statement, and our values. And a lot of times when you bring in a partner, that can change things. And so that's been our heart behind it. It's not been about the merchants making money. If that was the case, we would have retired after last year. But it was very much about hey, we're building something cool here. We want to continue building that. We want to see what this thing looks like operating 50 car washes.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

Right.

SPEAKER_00 23:22

That's been the goal from the beginning.

SPEAKER_01 23:24

As we've seen the rise of different regional players and just the scale of car washing changing so much over the last several years, a lot of people say that they want to get to, you know, 50 car washes or 100 car washes or 200 car washes. But I think in reality, when uh when people get started, sometimes it's harder than it seems. And having all the things that we talked about on the leadership side and the infrastructure. And I think it goes without saying that obviously when you have all of those people on your team, they each have an important role with their HR, with their marketing, with their maintenance, with their store openings and all of those things. But that's really the hard part. Opening locations, just acquiring them or building them, you know, can be part of it, but it's how do you run them after they're open? How do you keep these stores successful? And so that is a really cool marker to have that magazine article and have that kind of goal that was publicly put out there. And like, yeah, no, we can do that. And we are doing that. Derek, one of the things you just said right now is that part of that journey, not seeing that that some of these locations would be, you know, sold or have a disposition of them, was it hard to let go of those, or did you just see that for the bigger picture of the company that it makes sense to kind of let some go and then pursue your own path forward after that?

SPEAKER_00 24:41

Yeah, I would say it was hard. I think Mike and our marketing team probably breathed a sigh of relief when we said we're just gonna operate one brand instead of two separate brands. We didn't realize what we were putting them through at that time. It was always a vision to be at 50. Car washes, as everybody knows, have gotten extremely expensive.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

Yes, they have the last two years.

SPEAKER_00 25:04

And so, yeah, it was kind of a we try to be good stewards of the talents God gives us. And so part of that was having to sell a couple times to be able to really afford not just to stretch ourselves thin, but to really afford being able to operate at that type of level.

SPEAKER_01 25:22

Michael, I hear you on uh multiple brands. That is, it's very difficult to switch gears, and uh that's hard. I'm sure that that was a sigh of relief to like, okay, this is the one, the one place that we're focusing.

SPEAKER_03 25:36

We very much like the idea of running, running one thing, one brand, one operational model. And so even when we do acquisitions now, uh, that's really the first thing we do is we you know, we we convert it to our brand, our model, and just rerun one thing, do the basics well.

SPEAKER_01 25:53

You know, I hate to be a cliche with uh like the Chick-fil-A model, but like they're not serving hamburgers for a reason. They do they do their one thing and they do it well, and that's that's it. And they've got a line out the door every day.

SPEAKER_00 26:06

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 26:07

Michael, what has surprised you most about the car wash industry since you have transitioned your career to here?

SPEAKER_03 26:14

Yeah, oh my goodness. Okay, so honestly, from coming from oil and gas to car wash industry, the most noticeable change and the refreshing one uh has just has honestly been been the people. So in oil and gas, it's very cutthroat. You you keep everything, you know, it internal and it's very strategic and and you don't want anybody to know your business. Whenever I got here, honestly, there's so many open doors from car wash industry people about, you know, just letting me ask all the questions that I want to ask. And I'm like, you know, are you sure this is okay? You know, and so that has been tremendous. It's something I try to be conscious of paying that back, you know, in different forms of fashions just because it's it's such a friendly business. So that's been the most, the biggest change.

SPEAKER_01 26:55

You know what's so amazing is that I ask this question a lot. And nine out of 10 people who came from a different industry say that exact same thing. And I think that that says something really amazing about this larger community of people that is, I don't know it's exclusive to the car wash industry, but it is special about it. While we have a shift from kind of a more small business owner to a larger, more scalable idea of what car washing looks like, it doesn't mean that we have to lose that really special aspect of it. And it's something that I feel passionate about is that the car wash industry is a neat place. And once people get in here, they're hooked forever. They don't leave. So it's not like people like went from car washing to oil and gas because you just kind of get it in you and you're you want to be better, and there is no top of the mountain as as well as you do at any one area. It just shows you Pandora's box that there's all these other things that you can tweak and improve on. A good case in point of that is Bill Martin, who's on my team. He is a very successful car wash operator, has been doing it for over 50 years. And when I talk to him, he is so humble about the improvements that he wants to make and that they're always tweaking things and coming up with new technology. And I love that about our industry that everybody is like, oh, but I could be better about this, or what are you doing about that and sharing those best practices? And I think that's really that's really neat. Derek, you've been in it longer, but I'll ask you the same question. So coming from a development side on retail and these other still retail businesses like like Dollar General or things like that, but what has surprised you, especially about operating car washes, not just building them?

SPEAKER_00 28:42

That's a good question. Yeah, the community. You know, the first people that kind of took us under their wing was Andrew Zamora with Racer Classic.

SPEAKER_01 28:52

Would have been my guess.

SPEAKER_00 28:53

Yep. His ability to just open up and share things. Most people don't do that. And even in the development world, people don't tell you what kind of rent they're getting. Like those are things you don't ask. And so for Andrew to do that, for lots of other people along the way, that's been fun. When it comes to operating car washes, I laugh and joke with my team because I'm on the I'm on the board. I know the least amount in the building about operations. I'll defer to Mike on all operational questions.

SPEAKER_01 29:24

I think one of the things that's so interesting about the car wash industry is that yes, you have the, you know, you have the development side, you have the the team aspect of it, but when you are working with your team, you're somehow a quasi-therapist, you are uh a chemist, you are a mechanic, all of these an accountant, you know, when now that you guys have a larger team and you have someone that's fulfilling those specific roles, but as as an industry, I don't think that people maybe not understand or don't really think about all the things that go into having a successful car wash, whether it's one location or it's 50 or if it's 300, that they all involve so many areas of school where maybe you weren't paying attention. I know that uh how to have a rough lesson in chemistry and all of those things that I just thought I never thought, you know, just the soaps come on and your car's clean, but it's so much more than that.

SPEAKER_03 30:22

For sure.

SPEAKER_00 30:22

Yeah, that was for me. That was when Mike said I I want to bring on an HR team. I thought I thought that was the silliest thing in the world at the time.

SPEAKER_03 30:33

And I didn't understand it. Now I can't get him to stop using my HR team. Now I use them all the time. I love them.

SPEAKER_01 30:41

Totally. You are as good as your team. And it sounds like you guys have a very intentional focus on that. And that's what really drew me to wanting to speak with you today, is because I think it's a great example of making team building a true part of your scalability and your operational plan as well. That like you have to have the people that can perform these jobs and you have to have the culture behind that to attract them, to retain them, to give them the skills and the tools that they need. We have talked a lot about culture kind of in in general, like, you know, you get to pick the cool music and people feel happy. But what are the guiding kind of at the core when you break everything down? What do you think it is about your company culture that makes people feel part of the team and makes them buy into what you're doing?

SPEAKER_03 31:26

I mean, I think it's there's a Henry Ford quote, and I'm sure I'll butcher it. But he he basically says, you know, uh, a company that solely makes money is a poor business, however, he says that. But there's more to it, it can't just be about money, you know, money's not in our mission, vision, values.

SPEAKER_01 31:40

And go do I want to share what your values are, your mission statement is, since we've referenced it.

SPEAKER_03 31:45

They're a little different, they're similar on on ours, but uh our uh Champion's mission is to become church serving as a car wash, and then our values are stewardship, hard work, excellence, difference, and community. And then we prioritize people over profit, right? And so I think executing just that is what we're trying to accomplish. So it is about getting involved in your teammates' lives, you know, and so it really becomes less about car washing is what we do, but we we like to say, you know, of course, that we're really in the people business and hiring people on, and like I said, just being involved in their personal life, helping to grow them, them growing, them growing us, you know. I had to come to the realization a long time ago in life that if I have to come to a job in order to make bills, then it's just not it's not within me to to just go and do monotonous work. You know, there has to be a reason that I'm showing up to work and and uh and it's not it's not the money part of it.

SPEAKER_00 32:42

Our like Mike said at 7B, our our mission statement's pretty similar. It's to be the church serving as a construction and development company. Our vision statement is to build the kingdom of God by building people projects in our communities. We led with people there. To build a culture, you have to focus on the people. When you have a team of achievers like we have, kind of a cool story, real quick. We had uh a lady come in and poll all our all our people on their different strengths, like a Myers-Briggs type of thing or something, yeah, something similar. And she said that she had polled companies of thousands of employees and companies smaller than we were, but that per capita we had the highest percentage of achievers in their top ten. I thought that was kind of a cool statement because that is at the time, you know, it's it goes back into one of our core values, which is grind. We say we love to grind, we love to work hard. Um, that comes from Ecclesiastes where the Bible says the gift is the day. That's the gift the Lord gives us. If you come into the day thinking this is the gift and you love the people you work with because we are intentional with having a bunch of achievers, we often have to pull them out of the office for our monthly team building events. So we'll we'll drag the older ones. The younger ones kind of tend to buy in quicker to that, but with we drag the older ones out, make them make them have fun, type of deal.

SPEAKER_01 34:18

Yeah, absolutely. And and you're right, it is nice to to wake up every day and think it's a gift that I get to start this day. I'm a mom of two small kids, four and a half and two, especially when they were younger, and when we're still in the thick of it, but when they were younger, you know, sometimes it's like, oh my gosh, like I'm I'm so I'm so beat down because, you know, you've got all these things and you're, you know, you have work and you've got your home and everything. But for me, I I just had to really be intentional about not getting too caught up in missing everything that was good happening in the day, even though, you know, you've got like lots of laundry and spit up and you've got projects due and all those kind of things. But the fact that they're they're there and you have these amazing moments in every single day that if you are especially looking for them, it's so much easier to see them and to be appreciative of them. And gratefulness is an another trait that it's makes you feel better. You know, it's just it's a good thing to be happy about your work and about your both home or elsewhere or at your day job. I appreciate you sharing that. And I think that uh you can't go wrong if you're you know starting the day and trying to do the best you can and provide those opportunities for those around you as well. And that you have between 50 stores, you know, at when you get to that, that's a lot of people. And that's not just on the leadership team, but you have all of those stores that you're making a path for growth for each one of those. That's an amazing thing to offer. We have had uh a really nice talk today. I feel very passionate about the car wash community and exploring this this side of it that's a little bit different from just talking about what it means on a very tangible level to make a successful car washing. You know, if you have this ratio of your chemical costs or you have this equipment or you have this, you know, what fill in the blank on those sides. They're all important. But the the relationships that you develop within your team also shows outwardly to your customer. Your customer feels all of those things. If you have people who are happy to be at work or who are high achievers, you have the recipe for success to provide that outwardly to your customers. And without your customers, you know, what do we have? Nothing. They're we need them, but you have to provide that to them. And if if you're not doing it internally, it makes it very, very unlikely that they will be able to give that outwardly to your customers.

SPEAKER_00 36:53

Yeah, that reminds me of uh Sam Walton quote. We have one shareholder and that's the customer. They can choose to fire us any day.

SPEAKER_01 37:02

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 37:03

Right.

SPEAKER_01 37:03

And we talked just very high level about the economy and it goes through kind of these cycles and everything. And as interest rates keep ticking up and as we're experiencing an inflationary environment, it also means that consumers they might be changing some of their patterns of how they spend their money and especially their discretionary money. And so I think that the car wash industry, while it's discretionary, we do still provide a service. And I think the more that people feel connected to us as people and to the businesses that they frequent as people as well, that this is an uplift and an experience that it goes beyond just a commodity of a car wash that's interchangeable and I can just find the cheapest one or I can do it at home or not do it. That when you feel that connection, like I like going there because they always remember that my favorite fragrance is cherry, you know, whatever it may be. But that connection is what brings people back and makes them loyal to your brand beyond anything else.

SPEAKER_03 38:00

Yeah. We try to do that. I guess champion's way of doing that is like you said, it's it's always about the people. We we have the our champion wave, you know. So we we actually want four to six interactions with a customer on our side, you know, every every single customer that comes on four to six. And that doesn't always mean speaking to them, you know, but but a wave, eye contact, you know. Um we we like to say have a champion's day, you know, at the end. And we really that's the experience that they should be getting when they leave the car wash, you know, like you feel after a haircut, you know, you feel great about it. We want them to leave with that experience.

SPEAKER_01 38:34

And oh, you noticed that I got my haircut yesterday? Because I did. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:38

I did, yeah, it looks great.

SPEAKER_01 38:41

That's uh yes, I love that. And you're right, it's not always verbal. Um, the car wash, you know, especially as an express exterior model, you may not have a long time to chat. And if you are, then the people behind them are mad. Right. But you do have every opportunity as a as a staff member and as on the training side of it to smile, to wave, to make some sort of connection with them. You know, maybe at the prep area, they're maybe they're guiding them on, but they have a smile and they are they're waving them for and they give them a thumbs up or you know, whatever it may be. But I think that those touch points and I love that you have the metrics on, okay, this this is how many we want to have from tire on to tire off.

SPEAKER_03 39:20

Yep. And that's our it's part of our KPIs from our training team and our ops team too, and we're evaluating our sites, you know, and and we go on. It's something I look for, we know, we know whenever I go to our washes is how many times do they do they engage me through this? So yeah, it's it's fun to watch.

SPEAKER_01 39:34

I'm I'm sure part of this is how they spoke to you about monthly plans and the services and things like that.

SPEAKER_03 39:41

Absolutely. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 39:42

I have to admit that I go to car washes as a consumer and I am asking all of those questions because I want to see what other people are doing.

SPEAKER_03 39:49

Oh, yeah. My wife on vacation now, so I got I got a dash cam and I'm sure it's become annoying for her. Um, but when we go to different places, I go through washes with a dash cam, you know, and I'll I'll evaluate and and bore her to death.

SPEAKER_01 40:00

I actually hadn't thought about that. That's smart. That's great. And I would be remiss if I did not also bring up that you guys have a hot air balloon. So can you tell me about the genesis of purchasing a hot air balloon for your car wash?

SPEAKER_03 40:13

Yeah. So you hear about the Albuquerque balloon fiesta, and I'll say this was my first year to go to it. You you really don't understand how the magnitude and kind of the beauty of it until you're there. So I I just would encourage anybody to listen, and this is something that you you have to do. Honestly, that the balloon fiesta gave us the perfect opportunity for community. Like you said a while ago, Lanise, you can't, it's hard to talk to a customer on site because you're you're an express wash, right? And so this fiesta gave us an opportunity to engage our community, and you've got a booth there. So the topic is already car washes, you know. So what a better chance to to hear them and and really to teach, to teach them from a whole industry standpoint, not just about um champion, but um as an industry, we're still trying to educate the customer right on what is a what is an express car wash and why should they use it. And so we could teach them, you know, it is safe, you know, it's safe for your car and and all these things. Yeah, it gave us gave us a chance to be a part of the community, had fun games, and then and then the balloon. I think you're gonna see Champion continue to be a bigger part of that balloon fiesta in in years to come.

SPEAKER_01 41:19

And what were the uh the giveaways of the balloon fest?

SPEAKER_03 41:22

Oh, so we had so we had a game where um you're you're using a water gun to spray off uh bugs and and dirt off of cars, and the and the winner gets to go spin a wheel, and and so the big prize is getting entered into a chance to um win a car wash for a free uh unlimited for a free year. Uh and so we had a drawing for that, and then um really just free car washes is is another. So one free car wash, you know, text in a code, and then uh we had stickers, so we launched uh sticker day. Um so that's something that we are excited about doing uh once a month in our region.

SPEAKER_01 41:56

So what's sticker day?

SPEAKER_03 41:57

Sticker Day is just uh we we design out a sticker, you know, and so I'm just trying to create some some buy-in to come get our our sticker. And so we launched that at the balloon fiesta. So our very first one was uh was a balloon, and that was a lot of fun too.

SPEAKER_01 42:10

So so did you guys get to ride in the balloon?

SPEAKER_03 42:13

We got two individuals, we were allowed two individuals to ride in a balloon, and so um Were you one of them? I I was I was not, I I kind of wanted to be, but we really wanted to treat some of our uh individuals, our site leaders, you know, that that have done a good job. So we offered that out to a couple different site leaders and field team.

SPEAKER_01 42:33

Well, I would be happy to come to Balloon Fest next year because it has been on my bucket list that I have always wanted to go. And I will I will definitely come by and see. And if you're giving away more rides, I'll raise my hand that I can come up and uh give my two cents from the air.

SPEAKER_03 42:48

For sure.

SPEAKER_00 42:49

We can make that happen.

SPEAKER_03 42:50

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 42:51

It's about who you know, right? Who you have relationships with.

SPEAKER_03 42:54

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 42:54

This is just a case in point. Well, um, we'll kind of wrap up here today, but thank you guys so much for sharing about you individually and you collectively and your team. And I really am interested to see your continued journey in the car wash industry and the car wash space because I think that there are things that the intentionality that you guys have and the focus that you have on excellence and excellence in team building and culture, and then how that how that spreads out to everything else that's important was something again that I was really drawn to. And I appreciate you guys sharing about that and look forward to watching your continued growth and your continued success as you uh as you move along through your journey.

SPEAKER_00 43:39

Very good. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks, Lanise. It's I'm a follower of the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 43:43

And yay! So I've got you and my mom, got two people.

SPEAKER_00 43:48

No, I'll say you you do an excellent job and and a big service to our car wash community.

SPEAKER_01 43:54

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 43:54

I I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_01 43:55

I very much appreciate that. This has been uh an interesting journey for me as well. A little out of my comfort zone, but it's been fun. And I get to have these meaningful conversations with folks. And it's fun for me even to go back and re-listen to them because I think that there's a lot that we all have to share and we can share with each other. And it's just nice to have a forum to just talk about the great things that you know make our industry unique and what it is. Thank you guys so much.

SPEAKER_00 44:21

Yeah, thanks, Lenice.

SPEAKER_02 44:24

Thank you for joining us on this episode of Car Wash MA, the podcast, with your host, Lenice Barnett. Like what you hear? Subscribe to our podcast feed and leave us a review or follow us on social media at Amplify Car Wash Advisors. Want more MA information? Visit our website at amplifywash.com and listen for new episodes on the last Thursday of each month.