marketing ?'s for school - if you have time

E

Envious Eric

New member
I have a report to do on the detailing industry and its going to end up about 30 pages total. One of the sections, I need to compile some secondary research data on marketing; what has worked, wheat didnt etc. If some of you would not mind sharing with me the answers to these few questions, I would greatly appreciate it



This is for those of you who own your own business only, as per the requirements of the assignment...but if others have gone through the same deal also, then that would work. This is going to remain annonomous in the paper. If you would rather PM me the answers, please do!



1 - what is your target market?

2 - how did you figure out your target market?

3 - what income bracket do you cater to?

4 - how do you deal with scheduling conflicts?

5 - At what point did you decide to hire permanent help? Where did you find this help?

6 - When you were not busy in the beginning, what helped you gain customers, besides time?

7 - What did you do for advertising on a start up budget?

8 - How many days a week are you Detailing cars?

9 - Do you feel you are charging what you want to charge, or what the market lets you charge?

10 - How do you intend to grow in the Detailing Industry?



These answers can be breief one sentece, or a couple sentences, but do not need to be paragraphs!



Thanks in advance,



Eric
 
Sounds like you will have some great information when you are all done. Any chance you would be willing to share it with us. If not, I understand. I would love to help with your questions, but I just do it as a hobby for now. Someday I would like to start doing it part time. Good luck!
 
1 - what is your target market?



High End



2 - how did you figure out your target market?



Product: High End, mobile car detailing using the upper end products.

Price: $250-300/full detail. High priced for my area

Promotion: Word of mouth, business cards,

Place: Client specified site



3 - what income bracket do you cater to?



In all honesty, hard to say. I would say 50,000-75,000 +



4 - how do you deal with scheduling conflicts?



The main conflict is rain. Clients are usually very acceptable to rescheduling due to rain. A simple call a couple days ahead of time when rain is in the forecast is a heads up on a possible reschedule. In the event of rain, we typically move the detail to the next open day.



5 - At what point did you decide to hire permanent help? Where did you find this help?



Have not gotten to that point.



6 - When you were not busy in the beginning, what helped you gain customers, besides time?



To spread the word, I offered discounted prices on car details to attract customers. Also, bring up your detailing business to anyone you talk to. It usually sparks interest and you can give out a card. In the event someone says "I would like to do that," feel free to give them a call a week later trying to schedule a detail.



7 - What did you do for advertising on a start up budget?



Website: $40/year

1000 Business cards: $30

Window Decal, Shirts, Logo: $200



8 - How many days a week are you Detailing cars?



In summer, typically 4 days a week.



9 - Do you feel you are charging what you want to charge, or what the market lets you charge?



I am at the point where I am really satisfied with my pricing. I would be interested in a year or 2 to slightly raise prices to a 250-300/full detail to 300-350. It will come with more clientel.



10 - How do you intend to grow in the Detailing Industry?



Gain a wide client base and schedule clients for weekly washes after full details. Although a partner would be nice, I fear that the quality from that person may not be up to my standards.
 
1 - what is your target market?



Upper Class and Middle Class, with some disposable income. Anyone else will be too hard to sell.



2 - how did you figure out your target market?



Who can buy, who is around, and who needs my services.



3 - what income bracket do you cater to?



Refer to #1



4 - how do you deal with scheduling conflicts?



I tell them when I'm available, if it works, great, if not, we'll schedule another week out. People are very forgiving!



5 - At what point did you decide to hire permanent help? Where did you find this help?



No help yet!



6 - When you were not busy in the beginning, what helped you gain customers, besides time?



I spent ONE day driving around in my shiny work truck handing out business cards to all the local aftermarket shops, high-end mechanics. That one day has kept me busy for going on 2 years! Everything else has been word of mouth.



7 - What did you do for advertising on a start up budget?



Business Cards!



8 - How many days a week are you Detailing cars?



2 full days a week, plus one evening



9 - Do you feel you are charging what you want to charge, or what the market lets you charge?



I charge what I need to make a decent amount of money, any less and I would be wasting my time, any more, and people would question my reasoning. I average $200/car.



10 - How do you intend to grow in the Detailing Industry?



No growth needed!
 
I find it interesting that the question about how you intend to grow within the industry was interpreted as making more money. I understood this to mean professional growth, being a contributing member of an association, paying for real professional training, writing articles for trade magazines, etc. That is my idea of how to grow (professional growth).



I guess it depends on demographics, but 50-75k in my area is middle income at best.

200k and up is upper, but the high is well over that. This group is NOT easy to penetrate and many times impossible.



I also find the former answers to advertising a bit on the cheap side- business cards? I would not consider that advertising. Consistent ads, mailings, paying for mail services, addresses of certain zipcodes, etc. are ways to advertise and the means by which businesses conduct a budget on advertising.



I suspect with all due respect that the two former responses to your questions are not full time professional business owners. Rather, they are doing this on the side. You should contact professional detail shops and mobile detailers that are a business. You will find the answers much different than what has been stated. If your paper is to focus on the detailing industry and its business, then you have to make sure your sample population for your paper fits what you are reporting.



I do not fit as well because I do not detail full time, nor do I for money. I continue to train and attend detail training courses (Prep Excellence) for my own benefit and perhaps the future. I do have a background with sales and there is NO way any business owner spends money on biz cards and a website and that is the total package for advertising.



Find a list of business owners running detailing shops and mobile units and ask them...you can google or use another site as not too many have responded to you.



Call detailing training facilities and ask for a list of previous students and explain your situation. Warning, some may think you are simply trying to find out what they do so that you can take their hard earned work and turn it into a business yourself.



That said, good luck and make sure you set some parameters around who qualifies for your paper.



Rob

M.A. Education

I sounded more like a professor in this post so I thought I'd share where I'm coming from.
 
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