October 5-11, 2007 Section B

StrategieSIdeas for growIng busIness

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gary Dennis and Chip Hackett have taken a real shine to their mantra, a bumper-sticker slogan they say explains their rising success in the carwash business.

In a hyper-competitive industry — carwashes seem about as rare as fast-food outlets — Ultra Car Wash has expanded to four locations since being launched in mid-2004, employing a high-tech, low-labor model that differs sharply from its sea of rivals in metro Atlanta. Ambitious growth plans are in the works as well.

“The phrase we like to use is ‘Faster, Better, Cheaper,’ ” Dennis said. “Faster appeals to the person who wants convenience. Better is because our carwash rivals any full-service one. And our rates start at $3.99 and include free vacuuming.”

How to separate your business from the teeming multitudes? That’s the question fledgling enter-prises face in crowded fields, which often appear easy to get into — that’s why they’re crowded — but where just more of the same-old, same-old is a good prescription for failure.

“The common mistake many of these businesses make is that they don’t try to do anything different,” said Greg Henley, director of Georgia State University’s Herman J. Russell

Sr. International Center for Entrepreneurship. “They really need to distinguish themselves in whatever it is they do well.

“Such businesses also should understand what their target market is and what it finds valuable,” Henley said. “A lot of small companies try to be everything to everybody and

don’t focus on their real market. In many cases, they don’t have enough money to do everything, so they end up doing nothing well.”

University of Georgia graduate Hackett and Georgia Tech alumnus Dennis were working together as investment bankers in Atlanta when they hit upon a new take on the age-old carwash business. The proverbial light bulb clicked on.

“Throughout our careers, we’d seen a lot of

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HenleyGeorgia State

University

By Tom BarryCOntribUtinG Writer

Entrepreneurs reap benefits of advanced carwash

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Clean sweep: Gary Dennis, left, Chip Hackett and brad thomas took a chance on new carwash technology that would be better, faster and less expensive than what that market offered.

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