It’s easy for companies to publish mission statements and to talk about values, but at Waves they form the lifeblood of our business: we live them, every day. This starts at the top, but is replicated across the business.
Our CEO Joanna Graham has campaigned for years to increase human rights regulation in the industry, engaging with local MP’s, government, police, academics and NGO’s to drive change and increase awareness of modern slavery in the wider industry. Joanna says:
“Integrity is one of our company’s values and I am very proud of the way that we all live this value. Hand car wash has traditionally been a grubby industry, but at Waves we have always worked to operate our network differently. This emphasis can place a burden on our franchise partners compared to less ethical competitors, but running a compliant, legal network is not negotiable for us. We have a dedicated team to support our franchise partners by helping them to drive their business trade, and to attract local and national customers. We make sure that working with integrity does pay!”
In her spare time, Joanna also volunteers at a prison in South West London, helping prison leavers to find jobs under licence and post-release, as part of the government’s strategic objective to prevent reoffending through employment. The rest of the Waves executive team are also actively committed to volunteering in the community, including with the Samaritans, local church, refugee groups, sports teams and more.
At Waves we make sure that the Waves values are absorbed into everything we do, below are some examples:
Respect
We know that a car represents most people’s second largest purchase after their family home, is usually relied upon heavily, and often treasured. We understand this investment and the value and importance placed on the family car, and we make every effort to treat each car with our full respect, however “pre-loved”.
To deliver this quality of service experience, every operative is trained in the Waves valeting method, and we use only the best, environmentally-friendly products, always from our sole supplier Autoglym. The result is that every car leaves a Waves site sparklingly clean, and often feeling almost new again.
Integrity
Integrity (business transparency) underpins all our processes.
We have spent over £1m in 5 years developing proprietary tech to help us have clearer oversight and UK-wide real-time transparency across operational areas, including pricing, trade levels, employee RTW data, training status, HD CCTV and ANPR and much, much more.
This data is analysed constantly to identify sites needing support, compliance requirements, marketing opportunities etc. At Waves, visibility is key to transparency and therefore to ensuring compliance.
Relationships
We have several important groups to develop and nurture relationships with:
- Our customers
- Our landlords
- Franchisee/Franchisor/Franchisee employees
- External stakeholders (including regulatory compliance)
We work hard at building loyalty with our customers (our own online scheme as well as working with landlord loyalty partners such as offering Clubcard points to customers on Tesco sites).
We work closely with our landlords to ensure we deliver the best customer experience to support their customer offer, and to provide data to demonstrate our performance.
We train, support, coach and encourage our Franchise Partners to develop their businesses for the long-term with transparent acknowledgement of success via our unique Reward and Recognition Programme.
Waves continues to lead the way with external stakeholders, taking the initiative to develop voluntary codes of conduct and proactively engaging with stakeholders to influence industry change.
Innovation
Our service may look deceptively simple, but the management of our network requires considerable innovation. Our systems are proprietary and cutting edge integrating technology such as:
- Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR)
- DVLA vehicle lookup to obtain vehicle size information
- A complete Point of Service system, with integration with third-party staff timekeeping platforms and card payment systems, and
- A proprietary Customer Booking App, allowing customer to find their nearest site, pre-book a service and pay after completion.
Our bespoke developments ensure we deliver the best customer experience with unparalleled ethical compliance
Pride
We are very proud of the business we have built, the 2,000 jobs we have created and the changes we have influenced across the industry.
We encourage our Franchise Partners to take pride in their businesses – getting the best shine from a wax, transforming that filthy family car back to glory and providing the best valeter training and support in the sector.
Our Franchise Partners are right to be proud of doing a great job: they average 4.2 in Google ratings and have an average Net Promoter Score of +55, a rate many corporates can only dream about.