Your opinions on my pricing structure and your perspective.

[J Young]

I'll just give you a link to my Craigslist ad. I get a few cars a month from this advertising however before I implement my pricing structure on a brochure, I'd like your perspectives please.

Royal Finish Detailing* 13 yrs of custom professional detailing

[Dan]

IMO, the whole quadrant thing is unappealing. Keep it simple.... Otherwise the ad looks great, I love the before and after pics, make sure you watermark them cause they are going to be stolen soon.

[C. Charles Hahn]

You're pretty much inviting the low-ballers and problematic price shoppers with that quadrant thing, IMO... are you really saying you'd just clean up the driver's front "quadrant" of the interior and not touch anything else if a customer called and requested that on a vehicle that is completely trashed?

I'm also a bit confused by part of your process description -- "polish/buff is +$25, swirl removal of polish/buff is +$25" Swirl removal of polish/buff..... huh? If I'm a customer, and let's just say I can't afford the extra $25 for another step after you polish/buff, does that mean you're putting a bunch of buffer trails in my paint and leaving them there?

You might want to reconsider the "Details start at $50" approach -- a simple service menu that looks something like this:

Hand Wash - $15
Wash & Wax - $35
Silver Exterior Detail (1-Step) - $75
Gold Exterior Detail (2-Step) - $100
Platinum Exterior Detail (3-Step) - $125

(Based on your existing prices) would make it much easier for customers to see what they're getting instead of trying to decode the breakdown you're currently providing. You can go into more detail about what differentiates the Silver, Gold, and Platinum packages, but branding them gives people something easy to identify with and choose from. In a fast-paced, high-turnover volume situation it streamlines your operation while still allowing you to up-sell customers based on what the vehicle would most benefit from.

[ShineShop]

I'm not digging it - too many choices and in my opinion, way too cheap if your work is good. I would break it down into 3 packages for different levels of what people want/need and have an a al carte menu for add ons.

[JPostal]

I'm not digging it - too many choices and in my opinion, way too cheap if your work is good. I would break it down into 3 packages for different levels of what people want/need and have an a al carte menu for add ons.

Yep, keep it simple. 3 or 4 packages then work the upsell if you want. Ie. Complete interior detail with hand wash for $150. (Upsell an AIO for an extra $50). Customers want to pick a package and know the price without having to add up a bunch of smaller prices.

That being said, in all my adds I make sure to mention that packages can be customized to meet individual needs/budget.

Ditch the quadrant structure. Just add an additional charge for larger vehicles.

[J Young]

Thanks for your feedback guys. The reason I formed this structure is because I started out removing stains or because details were generated from problematic quadrants. After I spoke on the problematic quadrant it was then easy to upsell the rest of the interior at the average rate of $50-$80.

For exterior of the vehicle I say, "$50 is the minimum for wash and wax which includes wash, clay bar wash, detailing of rims and all door jambs etc., followed by a finishing wax. To upsell polish and swirl remove, I say "It's $50.00 for polish and swirl removal which will bring deeper gloss and paint correction". My upsells have been working and I'm grateful for the action I do get. I've had picky customers before and I met their expectations however they have all moved away because of their success. I'm now adapting to just get business and referrals.

In regards to silver, gold, and platinum packages I have worked at shops that have these. The result is confusion, misunderstandings and time spent explaining packages to a disengaged prospect. Quadrant pricing in my opinion satisfies and interests the customers understanding of value as well as the amount of work that entails a detail or reconditioning. I experimented and notice I have happy customers selling them quadrant and step explanation of services vs precious metal grade categorization. I believe this is because I sold them the service and full understanding of areas covered. It's the salesman in me that says "hey if you don't want a full detail we can just clean up the back seat spill. It will be $25 or you can treat yourself for $25 more and get the rest of your interior completed." I'm just trying to get business and the customers I do receive from quadrant pricing are the best clientele I could ask for. Folks that will drop their vehicle off the night before because of schedule conflict or tell me to take my time. Either way I like my quadrant pricing and just wanted feedback which I do appreciate so Thank you again.

Simple is not what I'm selling. If details were easily done, my phone wouldn't be ringing. I'm selling details for Miata's to Suburbans and making it fair for customers. The Miata has 2 seats, Suburban can have 8, why categorize packages when you have variables like that to equate. Adding additional cost because of size after package is priced is not gonna get me a sale. Having the customer figure for themselves what there cost should be makes the customer sell themselves not you sell them. For example, customer: "I never use my 3rd row so a quick vac will do", I reply "sure I'll vacuum out that area at no charge I just wont detail it", now I have closed a customer for an interior and built rapport to move onto upsells. When I'm contacted by a new prospect it's for a reason and that reason is usually not habitual hygiene from another shop. I plan on raising my prices especially on the exterior paint correction however for now this is a hobby which is transitioning faster and faster to a business.

Thank you, thank you, thank you again for your feedback, more is appreciated.

J Young

[J Young]

Each day brings a new perspective. I'm in a good and humble mood today and after a great shower I realized that exterior packages of gold, silver and platinum make sense as Charlie suggested. Charlie thank you for assistance, I believe that have precious metals now make sense with royalty and value.

Suggestions for interior categorization?

[350zchad]

WAYYYY to cheap for paint correction... I mean it takes a full day 12+hours to do a complete correction... no way I'd do that for 200..

[JPostal]

If it works for you that's great, but you posted looking for input and got less than favorable feedback from some successful operators. I like everything about your ad, I just cant get on board with the quadrant pricing for interior work. Think about offering package pricing and then maybe offer spot cleaning at an hourly rate or piecework rate (which would be at a higher rate than if they opted for a package).

IMO you really only need a couple interior package options...

Mini/Express detail (or whatever you want to call it) - quick vac, wipe down, windows, maybe interior protectant
Complete detail - Thorough vac, detailed cleaning of dash and trim, shampoo or spot cleaning, protectant, windows, leather, etc

Additional charges would be applied to extra dirty vehicles, over sized vehicles, pet hair removal, etc. I have never had a customer ask why they have to pay more to get their Suburban detailed vs their Miata.

[Dan]

Each day brings a new perspective. I'm in a good and humble mood today and after a great shower I realized that exterior packages of gold, silver and platinum make sense as Charlie suggested. Charlie thank you for assistance, I believe that have precious metals now make sense with royalty and value.

Suggestions for interior categorization?

I'm glad you changed your mind. Keep in mind that your package prices should be base prices. Never give estimates over the phone or email, just the base price package. The beauty of the base price is you can present your quote based on the vehicles condition and then feel out your customers. If things as slow as heck and someone balks at your quote, tell them you would be happy to give them a first time customer discount of X if you really want the work. If you are busy as heck, you can quote higher and only keep the customers that are willing to pay a premium.

[Nth Degree]

J, remember that the purpose of advertising is to simply get potential customers to contact you. Simple is better. Once they are in you can have a further break down of pricing. You will sell exactly 0% of the the people who do not respond to your ad. Look at how tire shops advertise; "Tires from $100/4" In reality that price is only for tires that would fit a Smart 4-2. Someone with an SUV knows that they are going to pay a lot more for their size tires.

[autoaesthetica]

There is no way I can say this without sounding like a complete d so im just going give it a shot.


For "13 years"(I quote that because some people say they have 20 years experience at 25 years old because they washed moms car as a baby) experience and those prices, I would immediately gather that the professional has no idea of the value of his or her work, coupled with the fact that this particular professional is probably uninsured, and more than likely probably really inexperienced. Another thing that speaks volumes(remember the forum you're on here) is that I get the very strong feeling you may be limited in the types of services you have performed(for example: dealership 3 hour bangers vs nightmare marathon correction suprises) and as such really don't yet have a strong idea of what YOUR WORK is worth TO YOU.