By Jim Utter
Director of Journalism
It was just a few months ago that Champion Xpress hit an important milestone with the opening of its 50th site and just this month entered its sixth state with a location in Maryville, Missouri.
Leading the charge is Champion co-founder Trey Merchant, who returned as CEO of the express car wash company last year after serving in the role for its first six years since its founding in 2015.
Champion currently ranks as the 26th largest car wash company by Car Wash Advisory with more than 55 locations.
Car Wash Daily News recently spent some time with Merchant discussing several topics regarding the car wash industry. Today we present the final part of the interview, tackling issues such as the company’s biggest challenge, what sets Champion apart from its competitors and its keys to successful marketing.
What do you feel is the biggest challenge Champion Xpress faces right now to remain a growing and profitable company?
Merchant: “You know, for in our situation, because we are family owned and operated, we don’t have private equity money or capital funding of any kind. As for new unit growth, the biggest challenge is the inflation number that we’re seeing. The costs are rising and with interest rates being what they are for groups like us, we have to be a lot more specific on our choices. We’ve always analyzed our size close in our markets and the demographics and all those fun things, but it you better it’s going to wash when you’re going to go. The money and the interest rate that we’re currently having to pay, I think that’s the biggest challenge when you’re talking about growth by units.
“On the other side of things, I think there is a little more competition. We’ve got to be better on site. Figuring out how you can be that premier service in this industry consistently across 55 locations and across six states is a challenge. A lot of people talk about this next group that I’m going to mention, and I mimic it. I’m talking about what Joe, Bill (Dahm) and Sally (Dahm Grant) have done and continue to do at Crew (Car Wash). I think that’s the standard the rest of us are trying to get to. For me, I’m trying to figure out how I take care of my team members in a way that they want to perform excellently every day, no matter what the conditions like the weather – whether it’s snowing in Iowa or it’s awfully hot in El Paso, Texas. I’ve got to figure out how to be consistent every day for every customer.”
With all the competition, how does Champion distinguish itself from its competitors? Do you feel like you’ve established an identity that does that for you?
Merchant: “I think there’s many things that separate Champion from other companies and from our competition. The biggest is we are family owned and operated and the decisions that we make, we are able to roll them out quickly and we don’t have a board (of directors) that we have to go to or anything like that. That allows us to be who we are, which is a faith-based company. Do we focus on growing? Yes. Do we focus on getting more retail traffic on our sites? Yes. Do we focus on our expenses? Yes. But our primary focus is we feel like God gave us this company and the platform to do more than make money and we truly believe that. If it was all about money, there’s a different way to run this where we could drain everything out of it. So, my focus and my team’s focus are how do we treat each other, our team members? How are we lifting them up? Are we helping change their life, not only financially, but spiritually, physically, and so on.
“I think you could go talk to a lot of my people, any one of them in the field, and I think they’ll tell you Champion’s a little bit different. I spent all week last week at a grand opening and worked right alongside the rest of my guys. That feeling – that high-five or chest pump between shift changes – that’s fun for me. That’s important to me to be out there with them and they see that I care about them and that I care what they do day in and day out. So, how do we differentiate ourselves? You know, I think it’s just through that how we treat our people. Whatever success Champion’s had, and it’s going to have is not is not because of me or because of my family. It’s because of those people in the field and what they do every day that takes a lot of prayer and people are happy and they’re excited to be at work here. Everybody talks about culture, but culture can’t be bought.”
Word of mouth obviously remains important but what sort of marketing practices does Champion utilize and have they changed at all recently?
Merchant: “I returned to my role as CEO of Champion last June and we made a lot of changes across our company and that included some on the marketing side. I am blessed to have the best or one of the best in the industry as my chief marketing officer, Lindsey Joy. When we got her, Champion changed dramatically. She’s been one of the greatest blessings, not only for her skills and experiences she brought to us, but just her heart for serving people. I am fortunate that I get to lean on her. I’ll tell you this, I don’t think there’s anything I can share that’s going to be groundbreaking or jaw-dropping. Where we have seen success in marketing and advertising campaigns is when the preparation and execution in the field come together. You know, throwing something at the wall and hoping it sticks, it’s just not how this business is, not how this industry works. You have to be able to take it from the marketing department, out to the field and execute it. It must be communicated appropriately. Not just on social media or radio or TV or billboards, or what have you, but how it is communicated on site to each customer. How it’s executed on site and making sure the message is very clear. We make sure we do things the right way so that our team understands them fully, so our customers can fully understand it and appreciate it. Those have been our successful campaigns.”
