So do you want to start a quick lube? We are doing great and in doing so the SBA assisted loan has asked you to do a business plan, ‘tally hoe’ and off you go. Right? Well wait a second, every good business plan looks at market share, competition, market areas, etc.

So, have you figured out who your competitors are? You may be surprised by the actual answer. For example, when Midas Muffler started to lose its market base as new cars were often leased and therefore didn’t need mufflers as often, what did they do? They began to change the oil and brake. Well, what did the brake shops do? They started doing smog checks, changing oil and rotating tires. What did the tire shops do? They started changing the oil too. Wal-Mart and Kmart saw their sales lag a little bit and they couldn’t keep up with the growth rates and they feared a bad quarter and they knew they had a captured audience, so what did they do? They began offering auto services, oil changes at Wal-Mart, and fuel. gas stations with card at Sam’s Club. Kmart made a deal with Penske Auto Centers and then closed stores that weren’t profitable, even when Penske Auto Centers was. Pep Boys also sold auto parts and then began servicing, while Jiffy Lube couldn’t grow fast enough, as could AAMCO. Car Washes wanted to become a destination location and also began offering java, oil changes, and small gift shops.

So really the original core business, that HBR editors love BS, is really a questionable event. Since even Michael Dell, Microsoft, GE, 3M, etc. they’ll tell you it’s a never-ending evolution, so books like the Stanford professor’s Built to Last simply biasedly reported what he perceived to be his reality. So while you’re still with me on this topic, keep in mind that we’re not going off topic at all, we’re building this conversation on a reality that you should be thinking about in your business as well.

Many in the industry report as many as 21 competitors in the metro area who are pure competitors, fast lubes that are located within what they believed to be their exclusive 20 mile business area. Actually, that number is pretty irrelevant because your business area is probably only 10-12 miles. Because the Washes business area is usually 5 miles sometimes 10 they add oil change facilities on their properties because of interest free loans and building incentives from the oil companies and to increase the draw to a larger commercial radius. Works? Well, it worked for a while and it makes sense to the customer, although it’s not true that car washes mix everything so well, despite what they may tell you. Both industries use the theory of synergy to promote equipment sales to their potential customer base to improve their sales quotas and give them more people to call and more sales to close.

Now with these added competitors in the market, some have said they are still making money and profit through synergy efficiencies on other things like adding air filters, wiper blades, car washes, detailing, vehicle rotations. tires, brakes, belts, etc. . More money per customer per visit but fewer cars per day. Declining vehicle counts. So what the heck do you do when you trade yourself off the market? Speedway for Truck Oil Changes is doing this now, but keep in mind that fewer truck stops are changing oil and none can do all the jobs on time and few have the manpower to run 24 hours a day, the 7 days a week.

To top it off, car dealerships like Audi, BMW and others want you to use their oil and oil changes so they offer it to you for free and then ask you for their prescribed checkups on redundant service mileage which cost you even more. , otherwise the warranty is void. . So they take those brands of cars away from you. Also United Auto, Auto One and many major Ford and GM dealerships are learning this, many of them from Carl Suell in Dallas who wrote an excellent book on customer service that you should read called “Customers for Life” and while you ago, choose to upload the Enterprise rent-a-car Story; “Exceeding Customer Expectations” by the founder, I’ll tell you Jack was not only a good fighter pilot, he’s a great businessman with an amazing young and aggressive team. You could learn a lot from these people.

Now we see Wal-Mart cutting the price to $12.99 barely breaking even, but to them it’s a loss leader anyway, they just want shoppers in their store to shop for an hour or more, did you know that the average oil change customer spends $87.90? while shopping during the time it takes to change the oil? Do you think they don’t know what they are doing, it works for them, but this may not be so good for your business plan? So now we’re reading articles that you may need to expand into more fleet businesses as those companies are removing staff from the garage and you could be back in business. AH HA you say, yes, I will build bigger bays to transport school buses, cable company tow trucks, ambulances and other vehicles. Yes, but there are mobile oil and lubricant companies and fuel refills on the site that already make this world, as well as the cars of employees of all construction companies. Companies like ours:
http://www.OilChangeGuys.com

And I doubt they want to spend the time driving all those vehicles to you, and I’d even bet you don’t want to spend the extra work or added responsibility of your employees getting them into their bays, right? AIG hopes otherwise, but why make a low offer to get the account and pay all the insurance to AIG, Farmers, Fireman’s fund, American States or State Farm Commercial? Good question, some might say now is the time to focus, but staying focused means keeping your eyes on the ball, weaving, jagging, and running like hell toward that end zone.

The more vehicles, like fleets, you make, the more filters and larger air purifiers you’ll need to stock, and if you lose count, what exactly were you planning to do with all those extra fuel, air, and oil filters? Use them as Christmas tree decorations? Hey, better in your inventory than mine? How can a fast lube service compete against a mobile lube service even for as simple an account as a limo company? There’s no way, and it’s just a matter of time until they go mobile again or move to mobile for the first time and never switch again.