Businesses on wheels have edge on convenience

By Nell Luter Floyd
Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, Miss.)

Tom Ellison needs his four-wheeler for work.

"I'm a land surveyor, and my four-wheeler is constantly in use," said Ellison, who with his wife operates Capital Surveying in Madison, Miss. "I can't pick and choose when I leave it at the shop."

When Ellison's four-wheeler needs maintenance, he simply calls Sportsmen's ATV Service for an appointment, and they come to him.

"Before that, I'd have to haul it to the shop — they could never get to it immediately — have it sit there and then go back and pick it up," he said.

Sportmen's ATV Service is just one of the businesses taking their services on the road.

The mobile business' greatest asset: convenience.

"Convenience adds value for the customer," said Jim Chrisman, professor of management at Mississippi State University. "It may give a business a competitive advantage and may allow it to charge more, depending on what it's worth to someone to have that extra benefit."

L.B. Smith of Jackson, Miss., never has to wait for customers to come to him. He works in parking lots downtown or wherever he's called. He drives to his customers in a Busy Bee Mobile Car Wash van equipped with a generator, pressure washer and a 20-gallon tank of water.

"People like coming out of work and getting into a clean car," said Smith, who owns Busy Bee. "I love to clean cars. It's hard work but good work."

Smith advertises in the Yellow Pages, and that's how many of his customers learn about him, he said.

Mark Siebert, chief executive officer of the Franchise Group in Homewood, Ill., said mobile businesses typically have low start-up costs — $50,000 or less — and little overhead compared to location-based businesses because they're often home-based. But being mobile doesn't guarantee overnight success, Siebert said.

"You have to be in it for the long haul because it takes up time to build territory," he said. "You're always subject to competition. You can't lock out competitors."