Joe Dahm, President of Mike’s Carwash, shares how they are using Salespath to bring structure, gamification, and consistency to their in-driveway sales process and how a culture built on people is powering the next era of membership growth.
Mike's Carwash was founded by Joe Dahm's grandfather, Joe, and his brother, Ed, in 1948 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Today, the company operates 41 and growing locations across Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky, and has built its reputation not just on a high-quality, fast exterior wash, but on a deeply held philosophy about people.
“Mike’s Carwash was founded on being in the people business. My grandfather always said: 'We’re in the people business. We just happen to wash cars.'” — Joe Dahm, President of Mike’s Carwash
With a “team member promise” focused on helping people reach their full potential, Mike’s Carwash has always viewed their people as their greatest competitive advantage.
Joe Dahm started working at Mike’s Carwash at 16 years old, selling memberships in the driveway. Even then, he recognized that while the company had strong sales contests and team culture, something was missing—a way to make the process more immediate, more engaging, and more fun for individual team members.
“When I was 16 years old working at Mike’s Carwash in the drive, I really enjoyed the sales process… But I did feel like there had always been something missing as far as that instant feedback or the gamification piece of making it a little bit more fun and engaging for our individual team members selling in the drive.” — Joe Dahm, President of Mike’s Carwash
As Mike’s Carwash grew, the need for consistent, scalable coaching became even more pressing. The team needed a tool that could deliver real-time performance data, support individual accountability, and keep a young, motivated workforce engaged.
When Salespath was introduced, it immediately resonated with Joe and his leadership team. The platform’s blend of structured sales presentations, live performance dashboards, and rewards-based gamification felt like a natural fit for a workforce that grew up on video games and instant feedback.
“Salespath was a tool that I kind of naturally gravitated towards as something that could solve some of those needs that I had always been kind of thinking about when I was younger. We have so many young people that work for us. We’ve really loved Salespath in a way that we can help coach, develop, hold our team accountable, and help them reach their full potential.” — Joe Dahm, President of Mike’s Carwash
District managers and site managers across all of their locations quickly found ways to leverage the tool’s data to identify and develop talent. One manager used Salespath metrics to spot an underperforming team member and turn their trajectory around entirely.
“Utilizing some of the metrics that Salespath offers, we were able to identify team members that weren't fully engaged with the job itself, not just the sales portion, and we were able to actually coach that team member and figure out kind of what motivates and drives them, and they're still with us today as one of our better performing team members.” — Mitch Sanders, District Manager at Mike’s Carwash
One of the most significant outcomes Mike’s Carwash has seen since rolling out Salespath is a meaningful improvement in consistency across locations, across shifts, and across the sales presentation itself. For a company in growth mode, that consistency is essential.
“Salespath has really helped us be a lot more consistent. Over the past ten, twelve years, we’ve really grown as a company. And we always say internally, the bigger we get, the more simple we got to be and the more consistent we got to be. And really, I think as we continue to grow, Salespath is a tool that is going to help us achieve that consistency across our locations.” — Joe Dahm, President of Mike’s Carwash
Beyond consistency, Salespath has brought a new energy to the sales team. Team members can see their individual performance, compare themselves to peers across locations, and earn tangible rewards, fueling a healthy competitive culture that District Managers have seen drive real results.
“When we introduced Salespath, it really increased the level of competitiveness that our team members had. They could feel the rewards on their fingertips. They could see how their individual sales rewarded them, sale to sale, day to day. And they could use that to compete against other team members within their location and across other stores.” — Mitch Sanders, District Manager at Mike’s Carwash
“Some team members are motivated by different things—some are very competitive and some are motivated by money. Salespath has provided an opportunity for both of those things to function in the driveway.” — Charles Abell, District Manager at Mike’s Carwash
The payoff has shown up where it matters most—execution and same store sales growth. Mike’s Carwash has used Salespath as a key part of their strategy to grow their unlimited membership base, and leadership is already seeing the results compound.
“We’ve really seen by executing at a higher level, better service for our customers, more engagement from our team—smiling faces that really leads to hitting our goals, hitting our metrics. And so I would say yes, we have had an increase, and Salespath has been part of that.” — Joe Dahm, President of Mike’s Carwash
Charles, a district manager who has been with Mike’s Carwash for decades, put it succinctly:
“Over the past 30 years, Mike’s Carwash has continued to develop and grow with our opportunities and focuses as far as technology and quality customer service. Salespath is another tool that we are using now to help us increase our sales, and it’s a welcome technology.” — Charles Abell, District Manager at Mike’s Carwash
Whether through The Car Wash CRM or Salespath, Rinsed empowers you to effectively manage and grow your memberships. From initial contact in the driveway to cultivating loyal members, Rinsed helps you to support your customers at every step of their journey. Boost on-site conversions, centralize customer data, enhance marketing efforts, and more. Get a demo to discover how we can help your business thrive.
