Carnauba in drive to woo more corporate customers - NST 22.08.2007

By Goh Thean Eu

CARNAUBA Autospa Sdn Bhd, an upmarket car wash operator, is beefing up its corporate sales team to lure more corporate customers.

Currently, 70 per cent of the company's sales are from private car owners, while the rest comes from companies. These are made up of car dealers, limousine companies as well as car importers.

These companies usually send their cars to Carnauba Autospa before it is delivered to their customers or to be showcased in a car launch, among others.

"The present 30 per cent contribution by corporate clients is certainly not sufficient," Carnauba Autospa branch manager Vasudavan Prabakaran told Business Times. "Nevertheless, we have a very healthy pool of private car owners, or genuine car lovers who are our customers."

The company currently has some 700 private car owners who signed up as Carnauba Autospa's member.

It unveiled its service management system to newsmen yesterday. The system allows the company to monitor job flow and helps it to monitor stock and sales.

The system, which costs some RM500,000, would help Carnauba Autospa save time and cut costs.

"The system will play a very critical role when we launch our franchise programme, as it will help our franchisee to work more efficiently, as well as help us provide a better back-end support," said Vasuda-van.

The company aims to launch its first franchise outlet by the end of this year, or early next year.

"We are quite selective on this matter. We want our franchisee to have the same passion like us, it's not just about the products, equipment and techniques," he added.