Thanks to Steve@Poorboys

[RaysWay]

Just gotta give a shoutout to Steve@Poorboys. We had a great conversation at Detail Fest about detailing packages and what to offer potential and current customers. At the time, I had your typical detailing packages; but after our conversation I really thought about steering away from specific packages. He spoke from personal experience and told me he always thought it was best to talk to the customer and figure out what THEY want. What THEY are looking for and what THEY specifically want done. Every customer is different and talking to them is the only way to make sure they walk away 100% satisfied. Some customer won`t notice if you spend 2 days polishing their paint, so getting on the same page is more important than offering packages that include X, Y or Z.

Since our conversation I`ve changed my approach and have noticed better results. Customers really appreciate making sure that all of their bases get covered and that their money is going into the areas with the highest priorities.

Thanks Steve! You`re a great business man, detailer and hot dogger

[Ronkh]

Every once in a while, he has a good idea......

[Lonnie]

So what Steve is proposing a customized detailing plan for each customer based on a visual inspection of the vehicle and verbal conversation individually RATHER than a one-size-fits-all approach of having, say, 4 different levels of detail packages with prices based on vehicle size. Some customers like the guaranteed or base price package option.
Getting the customer involved in the detailing process cannot hurt IF they know what the end result is that they want for their vehicle. That`s where a good professional and experienced detailer has to explain to the customer what is involved in a detailing task;
1) What the end result will be that customer wants:
2) What car-care chemicals and materials will be needed,
3) How they will be applied,
4) Time need to PROPERLY complete this task
5) And, hence, service charge (price) for all of the above.
It`s a fine line between when the customer feels like the detailer is "upselling" packages (being taken for a ride ) to when the customer feels like they`re REALLY being cared for (genuine concern that what they are paying for is of value). Unfortunately, not all detailers are "salespersons" who can convey this "feeling" to the customer. It`s also difficult to differentiate a customer`s wants from their needs AND how those fit in to customer`s budget. Every customer wants a new Chevy Corvette at a Cruze price, but what they need is family-sized Malibu, as an example.
How do you convince a customer that his wife`s soccer-mom daily-driver van does not need to look like it`s ready for the Pebble Beach Concourse Show (but that is what he insists on or had in mind), or that he only has X-amount of dollars to spend (according to the wife!) and what the detailer can offer "only" amounts to a wash and wax and an interior vacuuming?

Like all businesses learn, there are ONLY two rules in running a company:
1) The customer is always right;
2) When the customer is wrong, see rule No. 1!!

[RMD]

Ray, this an excellent post, and should be required reading for anyone who details for a living. For all of you out there who do this for a living, I’ll add some unsolicited advice from the school of hard knocks. I am not a professional detailer, but I make my living in the professional services industry, as do professional detailers. I charge by the hour which is selling my time (lawyer), and even though professional detailers may think they are selling a “job,” all services are selling one’s time. Even if the service is a flat rate, it still is based on the time it takes to do that service. My time does not come cheap, and if you want to be successful, your time should not come cheap either. We are not in the business of selling physical products to people, so our time is money. Its great that the people on this forum love detailing, and are skilled at it, but you are in business to make money. If you are not making money doing this, then you can spend whatever money you do manage to scrape together to hire my law firm to set your business up as a non-profit entity. It will definitely cost you; I am not a non-profit, and you should not be either.


The absolute 100% most important aspect of any service business that relies on customers to give you money, is MARKETING. And marketing is conceptually simple, it is how well to you communicate to potential customers (1) what it is that you do, (2) why your customers need your service, and (3) why they should pay YOU for that service instead of some other guy. Customer education is key, if they don’t know what they are paying you for, and why they should…then they won’t. As an example, I once saw a mobile detailing van in my area that had a bunch of detailing product stickers on it, and the primary marketing slogan painted on the side was “100% swirl removal.” Mike Phillips had an excellent post/article on the AG site some years back about how the general public (your potential customers) don’t know a swirl from a squirrel. That is absolutely true. Who exactly appreciates the concept of swirl free paint in those terms? Other detailers and enthusiasts on these forums, that’s who. We are are not going to hire you. Ever. We do our own cars. Epic marketing fail.


If I were detailing for a living the first investment I would make is to create a high end brochure that explains the paint correction process, since I’m presuming that’s where you guys make real money, or should. Your website should have the same information and pics. An educated customer is the one who will appreciate corrected paint and will perceive value in giving you money to get it. We all love seeing 50/50 shots on this forum, but your potential customers are the target audience for these pics. Your brochure and website should show customers the tape line with swirls one one side and perfect paint on the other. I would absolutely have a graphic showing what an automotive finish is. Put a horizontal line representing bare metal, with another horizontal like above it representing primer, then one above that showing base coat and one showing clear coat. Scratches in the clear coat can be shown as depressions in the clear coat line. I saw one of AJ (Junkman’s) early videos where he drew this out on a whiteboard, and I think Mike Phillips may have done the same in a video. Easy graphic to understand, scratches can be shown as a series of depressions in the otherwise smooth line of clear. We autopians know that the human eye perceives these scratches as swirl patterns, and your brochure can explain that to customers. When you are meeting with a customer you break out a scan grip light and show the customer that his/her car has swirls. Helping people understand how swirls happen can be huge. Your customers are not autopians, they take their cars through a tunnel wash occasionally, if you make them feel guilty for doing that you will lose the customer. You want to make them feel that they are making a good choice to have you clean their car, and not make them feel stupid if they don’t.


This is the intro to explain that the shiny car that they came to you to get is the result of smoothing out the ridges and valleys in the paint via abrasives. Leveling the paint makes it shine, not a coat of wax. You can also depict a bonded contaminant on your graphic as being a spike into the clear, and the function of iron removers and clay to remove those contaminants; an upselling opportunity. If the customer is following the discussion, you can go into the degrees of smoothing the paint in the form of compounding and polishing, i.e. two step vs a one step, etc. Another upselling opportunity. You might even go into the high end equipment you have and how it makes you more effective.


Once the customer understands corrected paint, you can educate them on the concept of an LSP. Everyone knows about “waxing” a car, and I would guess that potential new customers don’t understand the difference between waxes, sealants and coatings. You can explain that the wax they know about is the old standard, looks good, but lasts a month or two. Sealants are the next evolution, with man made ingredients and last 6 months or more. Excellent upselling opportunity here, it takes you no more time to apply and remove a sealant than a wax, and sealants can cost less than beauty waxes, but you can create perceived value by offering sealants at a higher price point. Coatings are another huge upsell if you offer them, and can explain to customers why they are worth the extra money over a sealant.


Marketing is a funnel. You want as many potential customers into the big end as possible. Not every customer will be a repeat customer, but the good customers are those who respond to your educating them and who will pay you well. Those customers end up in the small end of the funnel, and they are who you build a business on. The more of those that you develop is the single most important factor to determine the success of your business.


The above is geared toward generating new, and well paying customers. The issue that I see with detailing, coming from the point of view of someone who is not a professional detailer, is that we all know how difficult it is to properly correct paint and maintain a vehicle. But a lot of the public sees you guys and gals as just washing cars, which is no different than what they can get for $7 at the gas station, or from some mobile outfit charging $20. If you want to differentiate yourself from these options, it is YOUR responsibility to educate customers why you are worth a lot more than $20. Not every potential customer will respond to this, but you don’t want the $20 customer. If you are catering to that audience you would be better off in the fast food industry. Seriously. Harsh? You bet your ass. But absolute true. We all have mouths to feed and rent to pay, and there is only so much time in a day. You have to maximize the return on the limited time you can devote to work.


Looking back on what I just typed, it sounds a bit like preaching, and I really don’t want to come off that way. Many of you run successful detailing businesses and I respect you for it. If you are on these forums then you are passionate about detailing. But if you do it for a living, then it is a business - you are a businessman first, and a detailer second.


Just my two cents, and worth exactly that.

[Poorboy]

Just gotta give a shoutout to Steve@Poorboys. We had a great conversation at Detail Fest about detailing packages and what to offer potential and current customers. At the time, I had your typical detailing packages; but after our conversation I really thought about steering away from specific packages. He spoke from personal experience and told me he always thought it was best to talk to the customer and figure out what THEY want. What THEY are looking for and what THEY specifically want done. Every customer is different and talking to them is the only way to make sure they walk away 100% satisfied. Some customer won`t notice if you spend 2 days polishing their paint, so getting on the same page is more important than offering packages that include X, Y or Z.

Since our conversation I`ve changed my approach and have noticed better results. Customers really appreciate making sure that all of their bases get covered and that their money is going into the areas with the highest priorities.

Thanks Steve! You`re a great business man, detailer and hot dogger

Thanks for the shout out Ray

[RaysWay]

Ray, this an excellent post, and should be required reading for anyone who details for a living. For all of you out there who do this for a living, I’ll add some unsolicited advice from the school of hard knocks. I am not a professional detailer, but I make my living in the professional services industry, as do professional detailers. I charge by the hour which is selling my time (lawyer), and even though professional detailers may think they are selling a “job,” all services are selling one’s time. Even if the service is a flat rate, it still is based on the time it takes to do that service. My time does not come cheap, and if you want to be successful, your time should not come cheap either. We are not in the business of selling physical products to people, so our time is money. Its great that the people on this forum love detailing, and are skilled at it, but you are in business to make money. If you are not making money doing this, then you can spend whatever money you do manage to scrape together to hire my law firm to set your business up as a non-profit entity. It will definitely cost you; I am not a non-profit, and you should not be either.


The absolute 100% most important aspect of any service business that relies on customers to give you money, is MARKETING. And marketing is conceptually simple, it is how well to you communicate to potential customers (1) what it is that you do, (2) why your customers need your service, and (3) why they should pay YOU for that service instead of some other guy. Customer education is key, if they don’t know what they are paying you for, and why they should…then they won’t. As an example, I once saw a mobile detailing van in my area that had a bunch of detailing product stickers on it, and the primary marketing slogan painted on the side was “100% swirl removal.” Mike Phillips had an excellent post/article on the AG site some years back about how the general public (your potential customers) don’t know a swirl from a squirrel. That is absolutely true. Who exactly appreciates the concept of swirl free paint in those terms? Other detailers and enthusiasts on these forums, that’s who. We are are not going to hire you. Ever. We do our own cars. Epic marketing fail.


If I were detailing for a living the first investment I would make is to create a high end brochure that explains the paint correction process, since I’m presuming that’s where you guys make real money, or should. Your website should have the same information and pics. An educated customer is the one who will appreciate corrected paint and will perceive value in giving you money to get it. We all love seeing 50/50 shots on this forum, but your potential customers are the target audience for these pics. Your brochure and website should show customers the tape line with swirls one one side and perfect paint on the other. I would absolutely have a graphic showing what an automotive finish is. Put a horizontal line representing bare metal, with another horizontal like above it representing primer, then one above that showing base coat and one showing clear coat. Scratches in the clear coat can be shown as depressions in the clear coat line. I saw one of AJ (Junkman’s) early videos where he drew this out on a whiteboard, and I think Mike Phillips may have done the same in a video. Easy graphic to understand, scratches can be shown as a series of depressions in the otherwise smooth line of clear. We autopians know that the human eye perceives these scratches as swirl patterns, and your brochure can explain that to customers. When you are meeting with a customer you break out a scan grip light and show the customer that his/her car has swirls. Helping people understand how swirls happen can be huge. Your customers are not autopians, they take their cars through a tunnel wash occasionally, if you make them feel guilty for doing that you will lose the customer. You want to make them feel that they are making a good choice to have you clean their car, and not make them feel stupid if they don’t.


This is the intro to explain that the shiny car that they came to you to get is the result of smoothing out the ridges and valleys in the paint via abrasives. Leveling the paint makes it shine, not a coat of wax. You can also depict a bonded contaminant on your graphic as being a spike into the clear, and the function of iron removers and clay to remove those contaminants; an upselling opportunity. If the customer is following the discussion, you can go into the degrees of smoothing the paint in the form of compounding and polishing, i.e. two step vs a one step, etc. Another upselling opportunity. You might even go into the high end equipment you have and how it makes you more effective.


Once the customer understands corrected paint, you can educate them on the concept of an LSP. Everyone knows about “waxing” a car, and I would guess that potential new customers don’t understand the difference between waxes, sealants and coatings. You can explain that the wax they know about is the old standard, looks good, but lasts a month or two. Sealants are the next evolution, with man made ingredients and last 6 months or more. Excellent upselling opportunity here, it takes you no more time to apply and remove a sealant than a wax, and sealants can cost less than beauty waxes, but you can create perceived value by offering sealants at a higher price point. Coatings are another huge upsell if you offer them, and can explain to customers why they are worth the extra money over a sealant.


Marketing is a funnel. You want as many potential customers into the big end as possible. Not every customer will be a repeat customer, but the good customers are those who respond to your educating them and who will pay you well. Those customers end up in the small end of the funnel, and they are who you build a business on. The more of those that you develop is the single most important factor to determine the success of your business.


The above is geared toward generating new, and well paying customers. The issue that I see with detailing, coming from the point of view of someone who is not a professional detailer, is that we all know how difficult it is to properly correct paint and maintain a vehicle. But a lot of the public sees you guys and gals as just washing cars, which is no different than what they can get for $7 at the gas station, or from some mobile outfit charging $20. If you want to differentiate yourself from these options, it is YOUR responsibility to educate customers why you are worth a lot more than $20. Not every potential customer will respond to this, but you don’t want the $20 customer. If you are catering to that audience you would be better off in the fast food industry. Seriously. Harsh? You bet your ass. But absolute true. We all have mouths to feed and rent to pay, and there is only so much time in a day. You have to maximize the return on the limited time you can devote to work.


Looking back on what I just typed, it sounds a bit like preaching, and I really don’t want to come off that way. Many of you run successful detailing businesses and I respect you for it. If you are on these forums then you are passionate about detailing. But if you do it for a living, then it is a business - you are a businessman first, and a detailer second.


Just my two cents, and worth exactly that.

Couldn`t agree more. Education is the golden ticket. Thanks!

[Migue]

The customer is always right....most of the time. I invest a brief amount of time on the phone with the prospect with the objective of getting them to book my visit to work on their vehicle even for a "basic" service because I know once in person that`s when I can truly interact with them, point things out and offer them the opportunity(not force them) to address other blemishes/concerns during my visit or later ones (which results in up-selling while taking care of their concerns), . I make it clear to them that IF the vehicle is in the condition discussed prior to me seeing it, that the service agreed upon may be what will meet their expectations. Once I arrive I invest some more time talking in person, LISTENING to their concerns and watching their body language as I`m making mental notes and keeping the conversation under my control (not letting them BS me and keeping them engaged and excited about the potential results) .

I always treat clients like they have the potential to become long-term, so I don`t get bummed out if they refuse my offer to perform additional services during the first visit. In my experience so far, 9 times out of ten, with proper customer service,establishing trust and communication, they WILL get those things done down the line because you allowed them to decide when the time was right instead of forcing them which turns them off. The chances are even better when you`re doing regular maintenance because you can slowly offer add-ons to make certain visits more profitable ( a brief "hey do you want me to take care of this scratch for you for $X real quick while I`m here?") as long as you don`t blatantly act like you`re trying to squeeze money out of the client, so I keep it genuine and respectful of their wishes .

One of my recent clients spent about 80% of the job sitting there watching me work and asking me questions, did it take me longer to finish the work causing me to earn a bit less per hour ? yeah sure, but I got to know my client,he got to know and trust me and has more vehicles for me to do plus he`s a member of car/truck groups and may be sending me some business in the future .


When I first designed my Menu I had that mentality of "you either get this this or that and that`s it" but since then,due to my desire to constantly improve, I focused on putting myself in the customer`s position and have added/tweaked my services and packages to where they address the different levels of expectations while allowing me to modify them on the spot to accommodate a budget , that way they stay within their budget, and I stay within my standards and profit.

[Justins00ss]

Absolutely correct Ray! Most of the time my first question is what are they looking at getting done and what`s there concern with the vehicle. Weather it`s a dirty interior, paint correction or a want for long term protection. I have some base "packages" or starting points and usually figure out what the client wants and price it accordingly. I try to make 50+ an hour. Sometimes I fall a little short others I make more. It`s really about being able to communicate and find out what they are looking for and setting realistic expectations.

[dcjredline]

Is it the same thing when you have "base" services, talk to the customer and hear what they want in their car, and then choose a package for them that fits those needs? Ive found better results when there is a price there for people to look at (I am not an official business full time).

[Lonnie]

Is it the same thing when you have "base" services, talk to the customer and hear what they want in their car, and then choose a package for them that fits those needs? Ive found better results when there is a price there for people to look at (I am not an official business full time).

Don:
You`ve hit on one of the keys in pricing of services for a detailing (service) industry. You have to remember, for the most part, those who do want their vehicle detailed are doing do with disgressionary spending money, IE the left-over money after ALL the bills are paid that are REQUIRED for living at whatever standard of living that person falls into based on their net personal income. Let`s face it: having your car detailed for most individuals is a luxury, NOT a necessity. It`s not like getting your oil changed in your car; a service that NEEDS to be done. Think of all the things people spend disgressionary income (money) on: eating/dining out, sports, hobbies, personal fitness, going to movies to name a few. Getting your own car professionally detailed is NOT high on that list. Which is WHY most people do not make it a "priority" to have it done and having to choose between paying for get-away weekend or having the car detailed, which one will most individuals choose?
I think your idea of base prices and packages for detailing service appeals to a larger customer base simply because they want to know the cost up front and it has a value. That said, I also agree with RMD about "educating" the customer what detailing services are needed for their particular vehicle and a thorough inspection by you, the detailer, needs to be done up front with the customer rather than saying, "Yes, I can do that and it will cost X-amount of dollars."
I also think RMD is saying that all professional detailers who do this as their livelihood need to find and keep a core-group of loyal, repeat PAYING customers who perceive this detailing service a value for what they spend AND an absolute necessity as an "investment in protecting and maintaining" their larger investment in a vehicle. That`s not an easy "sell" in this day and age when most individuals are cash strapped in debt over their head, from the newer"pre-owned" car loan to credit cards, and now lifetime-and-unforgiveable higher education student loans, and the necessity of having a smart phone and 4G connection services. There simply is no money left for detailing.

There are, indeed, customers who can afford high-end details for their hi-end vehicles. However, being THE DETAILER to provide that service will mean that person will need to make a sizeable investment in equipment and car-care chemicals, PLUS having a building where this can be performed OR a reasonable vehicle (service van) for use as a mobile service. And your detailing service prices will HAVE to reflect that to cover the costs of those overhead expenses if you expect to stay profitable and in business. That is not to mention the detailer`s own skill level, expertise, and commitment to workmanship and getting the job done on time. Just because you have the same golf equipment and clothing as Tiger Woods does not mean you golf like Tiger Woods!
Those professional detailers that do cater to these hi-end (and paying) clients/customers have differentiated themselves from fly-by-night detailers (hacks or wannabe`s) in their workmanship and abilities and the end result. As my late father once said, "You want to run with the big dogs, you have to PAY like the big dogs", a paraphrase of "The best is NEVER cheap."

[lloydrm]

So many paralells to selling-buying polishing machines and kits ...