Why focusing on community can lead to better results than running "Specials."

The first thing that must be understood is that most of our decision making is subconscious, about 90% or so. This is why some go to the gym every day, and some struggle, why some may have proclivity for addictions, and others don’t. Our base programming from an infinite is a core motivator and thus guides most of our daily decisions. This is why personal development work is so deep and challenging.

Okay Jason, what does this have to do with car washes. Because most focus on what’s logical, and while logic is important to use and how I personally work as a default (ENTJ), the subconscious is what actually gives me the “feelings” to act, like, dislike, make angry, etc.

I’m going to jump right in for brevity.

When you have specials, on a subconscious level you are commuting a “salesman” approach, someone who cannot be trusted. You’re communicating a lack of confidence in your service, product, and that it’s not worth what you normally ask. Specials may communicate to current customers that they’ve been ripped off and don’t have value because the “new people” are more important. It can communicate weakness and sleaziness.

I know these are powerful words that may trigger some, but one must think about this on a subconscious level. This is also a platform where one needs to be brief and cannot explain the intricacies or many exceptions. I’m oversimplifying to make a point and teach the PRINCIPLE, please understand that.

Community involvement paints one's business and self in a completely different manner. Giving away free washes for a fundraiser, free months as a contest, free pizzas as a facebook post with the local pizza joint that has a thriving Facebook or Tiktok, free washes used to give donations to a local tragedy, etc…  These types of acts seed the exact opposite in the subconscious. 

Giving away and being involved in the community seeds strength, humility, gratefulness, gratitude, thankfulness. Most importantly, and please ponder this next point… you INVITE THE COMMUNITY to participate. In other words, those beautiful attributes above, they feel those attributes connected to themselves because they were asked to participate and did participate. Even if it was only with a few dollars.

A few dollars given by community members at your wash that gave it away for free for a fundraiser, connected you and the customer on a level of “giving back”.  The good feelings they feel are now connected and welded to you for a very long time, considering you don’t screw it up.

These seeds that one can plant with community involvement lubricate and make it much easier for customers to want to “share” their joy and subconscious healthy outlook of you and your company. With proper training, these events can be used to help promote your social media, give you ratings, etc. It also provides subconscious “lubrication” with customers who may have an issue down the road because you’re viewed and felt as a “local company”, or “part of the community who gives back”.  In other words you’re considered a peer instead of a greedy business.

These are huge differences in the depths of how people “feel” about you, and believe me, how they “feel” is what makes them and keeps them as customers.

There is a time and place for everything, each business is different and also important, each owner and their skillset and past are different. That being said, I urge you to at least ponder these things.

One last note, we are in a current environment where individual “feelings” are compounded, enhanced, and laid bare to the world to feel with them on social media. This is how exponential growth and trust, or slips and distrust can be sparked like a wildfire. This is also the arena where long term, those feelings will come back to haunt or heal you. Meaning when the majority of your customers feel good about you (community involvement), they will go to bat and defend you when something goes awry at your business. Our facebook got to the point where when someone had a complaint, 3-4 customers went to defend us before we even got to it. Our “meta” environment has changed, every interaction and feeling now has the power to be enhanced and increased by multiples.

I hope this adds some context and considerations for owners to think about when trying to grow their business. Good luck!