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  1. #1

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    How do you guys deal with low ballers? The guys who use professional products or even otc products, do the same things you do, and they do it for half of what you charge?



    How do you convince a client that your work is better at your price vs the low baller who does the exact same thing? If im charging someone say $150 for a full detail, and that one person has a friend who got a full detail done for $75, what do you do? There is a higher % i think, that you just lost a customer?



    Anybody can really do the basics such as vacuum and wash, clean rims and tires, hand wax, wipe down interior, windows, and apply dressings to moldings and tires, polish chrome wheels, leather conditioner, air freshener etc.....



    I ask, because i know of a guy on the other side of town that uses a honda civic hatchback and does alot of business. He has a few places where he details (previous paragraph) all the employees cars for half the price as the previous detailer, and took his job basically.



    What do you do? Will you match his price to keep the business, or you work much better that you`ll take it as a loss and move on? How do you compete. Unless im blind, the only really difference i can see is in the waxing. The pro may use a buffer, but the low baller will use his hands and he`ll be safe. Waxing with a buffer is probably the really big difference, because you can for sure screw up a car?



    With how bad the economy is these days, people will always go cheaper.

  2. #2

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  3. #3
    Autopia fire/rescue. DaGonz's Avatar
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    "The bitterness of a poor quality detailing job remains long after the sweetness of low price".
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  4. #4

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    I just tell them if money is more important to them then go ahead and go with the lower priced individual. It`s not my job to convince someone I`m better than someone else, my work does that for me. It is just completely up to the individual whether they want to get in now or later when they start hearing about me through their other friends that got the job done right.
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  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by bozz
    How do you guys deal with low ballers? The guys who use professional products or even otc products, do the same things you do, and they do it for half of what you charge?



    How do you convince a client that your work is better at your price vs the low baller who does the exact same thing? If im charging someone say $150 for a full detail, and that one person has a friend who got a full detail done for $75, what do you do? There is a higher % i think, that you just lost a customer?



    Anybody can really do the basics such as vacuum and wash, clean rims and tires, hand wax, wipe down interior, windows, and apply dressings to moldings and tires, polish chrome wheels, leather conditioner, air freshener etc.....



    I ask, because i know of a guy on the other side of town that uses a honda civic hatchback and does alot of business. He has a few places where he details (previous paragraph) all the employees cars for half the price as the previous detailer, and took his job basically.



    What do you do? Will you match his price to keep the business, or you work much better that you`ll take it as a loss and move on? How do you compete. Unless im blind, the only really difference i can see is in the waxing. The pro may use a buffer, but the low baller will use his hands and he`ll be safe. Waxing with a buffer is probably the really big difference, because you can for sure screw up a car?



    With how bad the economy is these days, people will always go cheaper.




    I guess I`m not really sure how you can screw up a car waxing with a buffer? You have to sell on service. What is it about you that makes people want to come to you? I like to do little education type sessions when I`m done like how to now properly take care of your car now that it`s detailed. Find something that will separate you from him. If you sell on price, you`ll lose your customers on price.
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  6. #6
    Optimum Product Support Chris@Optimum's Avatar
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    Three things people want 1. cheap 2. good 3. fast. Tell `em "You can only have two"

    I can do it fast and cheap, but it ain`t gonna be good

    I can do it cheap and good, but it ain`t gonna be fast

    I can do it good and fast, but it ain`t gonna be cheap
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  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by integritydetail
    Three things people want 1. cheap 2. good 3. fast. Tell `em "You can only have two"

    I can do it fast and cheap, but it ain`t gonna be good

    I can do it cheap and good, but it ain`t gonna be fast

    I can do it good and fast, but it ain`t gonna be cheap


    I`m going to sue you......you are biting my lines!!!!
    Detailing Technology - specialista vernice di correzione

  8. #8

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    I let the work go. If they dont want to pay, they are not a customer for me. I get 3-4 inquiries per week that I pass on.



    Cant you do it for xyx?

    What if I do abc?

    Can we meet at lmn?



    I don`t want the reputation or the work on the road that isn`t 100% backed my me. I`m not a production guy. I`ll do a favor here and there for someone that is going to do a favor in return, but I`m not a price matcher. If I can deliver results I can be proud of, I take the job.
    Detailing Technology - specialista vernice di correzione
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  9. #9
    Optimum Product Support Chris@Optimum's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jsatek
    I`m going to sue you......you are biting my lines!!!!


    I couldn`t remember who said that but I love it, sue away- I`m still using it, lol.



    I think it was on the Bernie Mac show.

  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by integritydetail
    I couldn`t remember who said that but I love it, sue away- I`m still using it, lol.



    I think it was on the Bernie Mac show.




    That is where I got it from...
    Detailing Technology - specialista vernice di correzione

  11. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by jsatek
    That is where I got it from...




    All trying to take credit for a Bernie Mac quote...best part about it, it`s not his quote, its some writers quote that wrote the script to the Bernice Mac show! Bernie Mac was the lucky one to say it on TV!



    Anyone can use it...I just did on a customer, they laughed at me, then had me explain it to them again, then they realized what each one meant. They didnt laugh again, instead they wanted me to clean all of the cars in the family! Thanks to the guy/girl who wrote it for Bernie Mac!!:woot:



    Haha
    Garrett Hess

    Top2Bottom Auto Detailing--"Your Recondition Specialists"

  12. #12

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    Its marketing and your loosing if you`ve come on here to ask for advice.



    Of course your $150 detail would be better quality as you`d spend more time and include more steps due to charging double. Saying that your $150 package is better than the competitions $75 package is plain obvious.



    Now if your competitor had a $150 package that included twice as many steps as his $75 package would your $150 package beat his $150 package?



    It might not, so saying your work is better quality is incorrect and the customers will walk away.



    If your detail costs $150 and your competitions detail is $75 then the solution is easy.



    Offer a $75 "mini detail" and call your $150 detail a "deluxe detail"



    If your $150 detail is so much superior to the competitions $75 detail then you could halve the amount of steps, charge $75 and still provide a better quality job than the competitions $75 job.



    You can then try and up sell to the $150 package by saying how much better it is compared to your $75 package AND the competitions $75 package. This is much more convincing than simply stating your work is better.



    You`ll then gain clients by offering a $75 package and some of your usual clients may come in more often and get a mini detail every month opposed to a full detail every 3 months.



    Its win win really.



    Even better is to offer a deluxe detail that includes a few follow up washes in the price. This really helps up sell the customers and its extremely easy to wash a car that has been freshly detailed. Say a $250 package that includes your $150 detail and 4 additional washes. That means your charging only $25 for each wash but it would only take 30 minutes at most. So the car is cleaned 5 times which averages out to being $50 per time which is cheaper than the competitions $75 job. This helps keep the customers coming back over and over again.



    Market well and you`ll blow the competition out of the water and soon enough you`ll have the same regular clients.

  13. #13
    Rob G
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    Quote Originally Posted by Twista616
    All trying to take credit for a Bernie Mac quote...best part about it, it`s not his quote, its some writers quote that wrote the script to the Bernice Mac show! Bernie Mac was the lucky one to say it on TV!



    Anyone can use it...I just did on a customer, they laughed at me, then had me explain it to them again, then they realized what each one meant. They didnt laugh again, instead they wanted me to clean all of the cars in the family! Thanks to the guy/girl who wrote it for Bernie Mac!!:woot:



    Haha


    That little gem pre-dates Bernie Mac by at least 10 years. I read it in Readers Digest many years ago. I`m sure they got it from some place else.

  14. #14

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    My prices are firm.
    Bryan Burnworth - Atlanta Car Detailing - Peachstate Detail LLC

    Selected as one of the top nine detailers in the US by Autoweek

    Published in the 356 Registry

    The only exclusive Opti-Coat Pro specialist in Atlanta

    All PPF work done by the best in Atlanta Derek Johnson of Atlanta Protective Films

    Follow Peachstate Detail LLC on Facebook here.
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  15. #15

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    Ask them if they would take their car to Jiffy Lube to a teenager who is using a impact wrench to take a oil plug off.



    Would they take their child to a half price doctor?



    Just ask the city of Boston made out with the lowest bidder?



    apples to apples
    JAMRINE AUTO DETAILING



    Not your Average Detail

 

 
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