Marketing That Worked For Hobbyist

[Mikeman]

Some variation of this might work for professional detailers too.



I sent 100 letters in hand-addressed envelopes to physicians listed in the yellow pages of the phonebook. The letters were sent to their offices. All were personally signed. All contained a magnetic business card. The cost to me was about 75 cents per envelope, and roughly 10 hours of labor. Within one week of the mailing I have booked three cars from two doctors. My foot is in the door with the medical professionals in town!



I should mention that there are no detailers in my town who are NOT heavily involved with car dealers. For the private citizen they are expensive and not known for quality, to put it mildly. I`m charging between $125 and $200 depending on vehicle size alone.



For this, they get 16 hours of work done on their vehicles, and I get to decide how that 16 hours is best spent. :2thumbs: I`m not making much per hour; but my only real overhead is the products used. Besides, it`s a hobby.....and it makes a little money too! I just have to make sure the owner of the large filthy SUV realizes he`s not going to get his carpets shampooed and his engine wiped down in the 16 hours. I`m good, but I`m on the slow side.





Here`s the text of the letter I sent to the doctors:



Greetings!



My name is Mike Meinecke. My hobby is detailing cars. It is a labor of love for me. I`m sending this letter to area professionals, the people most likely to be interested, in order to inform them of my services. Ideally, I`d like to have 20-25 regular customers for my detailing work (fun). This would provide me with all the fun (work) I want, support the hobby, and provide a little income on the side.



I`ve been doing full auto details at my home for over a year now. There are more than a handful of beautiful cars and trucks around town that I brought back to near-showroom condition after several years of neglect. I do very high quality work with only the finest waxes, polishes, cleaners, and protectants.



If you have a vehicle in need of a little TLC, please consider giving me a call. I need to keep a car for 48 hours in order to do the quality work my perfectionist nature demands. My prices are quite reasonable as I do it for the love of it. I can provide references upon request.



Join the exclusive group of 20-25 people in Hot Springs who have their vehicles detailed by a craftsman, in it for the love of it, not the money!



I sincerely thank you for your time.

[doged]

If your marketing to expand business, you’re a professional and no longer a hobbyist. When your in business as a professional your time is money. The 10 hours of time would cost me $500.00 Plus $75.00 in material, or $575.00. It cost $575.00 to get 2 customers. If I charge $125 to $200 per vehicle then I have done the first service free. I have not accounted for the lifetime revenue of the customer or referrals. It looks like it cost you $10hr or $175.00 and that is not bad.

[imported_mirrorfinishman]

Hey Mike,



What I like about your letter is that it shows the physicians that you are a real person trying to do the things that you like to do.



To often, people get into the detailing business because they think it`s all about making lots of money. It`s not the money, it`s the passion and your letter certainly proves that to the physicians that you contacted. Great work!

[JustinR32]

And it goes without saying that since you`re a professional you are reporting this on your taxes.



I`m not meaning this as a slam; I`m saying that it goes without saying that you`re reporting it. After all, you`ve posted on the internet that you`re in business.





Tom

[doged]

To often, people get into the detailing business because they think it`s all about making lots of money. It`s not the money, it`s the passion.



Are you implying money is not important and one can’t be passionate and make a buck too? People sell Insurance and Real Estate to make money, not detail cars.

[Mikeman]

Hmmm......taxes.....I never gave it a thought. Now that I have, I`ll never give it a 2nd thought. :usa



Mikeman "The Evader" out.

[salty]

Very nice concept and letter. But as Mosca says you are a professional when you also say that you want 20-25 people as customers. I would change the letter a little and say that you will show them what you will do, at a half price discount. And then try and charge a good price for your time after that. I mean 16 hours per car, i wouldn`t expect a doctors car to be that bad.



Also a year down the road when you have being charging $10 an hour and you don`t feel like doing 25 cars anymore, you might if you are making $30 an hour.

[Mikeman]

25 people as customers is, at most, 50 vehicles per year. That`s only one per week. That`s a hobby to my mind. Now, the government may think different; but I`m not giving that a 2nd thought.



As for 16 hours on a car, I`ve never been able to even vaguely comprehend how some of the times on this forum are achieved. Oh, and doctors have wives and kids. The latter can really make a mess of a big SUV.



Back to detailing time, even though it`s a little off-topic, I need 3 hours to thoroughly wash and vacuum a dirty car. I haven`t done a job yet where the vehicle wasn`t VERY dirty. This includes door, trunk, hood jams and sills, fenderwells, wheels, the inner side of bumpers. IOW, in 3 hours the vehicle is truly clean.



I then spend an average of 2 hours thoroughly claying all painted surfaces. I often spend an hour just removing tar from the filthy cars I get.



If I`m only going to polish once, it takes me 6 hours to do it. I need 2 hours to wax.





Then there is the interior...floor mats, carpets, windows, wipedown & dress, leather conditioner....another 4 hours.



I then spend about 30 minutes wiping off the worst of the grime from the motor.



That totals to more than 18 hours. I could see getting that down to 14 hours with lots of practice; but I`ll never do better than that. I`m too old.



So, I need two days to deliver an Autopian detail, and that`s the only kind I do.



Mikeman out.

[Superior Shine]

I can admire your motivation but you either do it right or don’t do it at all.



What if another detailer targeted the same doctors list you did but with a letter that went like this:



Greetings,



My name is John Doe I am the owner of Done by the Book Auto Detailing. We are a mobile auto detailing service that conveniently performs high quality automotive cleaning and polishing at your location. Your vehicle never has to leave your parking lot or drive way.



Call us today to have a fully equipped van manned by fully trained auto detailing technicians efficiently transform your vehicle from mediocre to gorgeous in about two to four hours. We are liability insured and reclaim our waste-water as mandated by law.



Please call me at 1-800-999-9999 or visit our web site at www.#website#.com for detailed descriptions of our service.



I invite you to utilize our services and I will personally guarantee your 100% satisfaction.

[pogo123]

I mean 16 hours per car, i wouldn`t expect a doctors car to be that bad.

LOL.............yeah ok, it will be clean because they are doctors? Better watch out for those dentists though! :LOLOL

[WaXwOrKs]

I can admire your motivation but you either do it right or don’t do it at all.



What if another detailer targeted the same doctors list you did but with a letter that went like this:



Greetings,



My name is John Doe I am the owner of Done by the Book Auto Detailing. We are a mobile auto detailing service that conveniently performs high quality automotive cleaning and polishing at your location. Your vehicle never has to leave your parking lot or drive way.



Call us today to have a fully equipped van manned by fully trained auto detailing technicians efficiently transform your vehicle from mediocre to gorgeous in about two to four hours. We are liability insured and reclaim our waste-water as mandated by law.



Please call me at 1-800-999-9999 or visit our web site at www.#website#.com for detailed descriptions of our service.



I invite you to utilize our services and I will personally guarantee your 100% satisfaction.

Thats what I`m talking about right there. Although I like the passion expressed in the letter posted further up, I run a business and try my best to provide beautiful results, I`m the Autopian sort at heart (I`m totally driven by passion and nothing else) but to be honest in light of reality most of my customers end up coming out stopping me after about six hours because they simply cant see the their car looking much better than it does (in their eyes), this is after explaining to them my process and its approximate time. So I had to change my approach I found that my typical customer are those who just want some pertection and a nice thoroughly clean car, so now I just give them the basic detail with clay, AIO / SG and I`m out after 4-6 hours and they love it to death. I reserve the 16 hr+ stuff to those who request it (i.e "can you get all of the swirls out of my vett" sort), and of course my own.



As a mobile deatailer (in California) heres what I`ve come to learn, even though I provide a convenient service by going to the customer many still have conservative time restraints, I use to think that because they dont have to take and leave their cars at a shop it would afford me much more time to express my passion (no pun intended) on their cars, some people yes, but your typical soccer mom family type which I get a lot of, no.



I suppose it depends on your client base.

[salty]

LOL.............yeah ok, it will be clean because they are doctors? Better watch out for those dentists though! :LOLOL

Meaning a Doctor will have some grace and a nicer car than most.