Raising Prices.

[Barry Theal]

I'm at a point where I'm think about raising some prices. For a while now I have been discussing this with my wife and a few fellow detailers. I talked to a fellow detailer who pretty much insured me I'm worth what I have been thinking, yet he insured me I'm worth more lol. How do you guys set your exact prices. what makes you say I charge X amount of dollars and this is what I'm worth. For me I'm in a pretty rural area and the high dollar car are here and there not. I'm affraid if I raise my prices Ill lose money in the long run. Anyone car to offer someadvice?

 

[David Fermani]

I'd try building value in your services to your potential clients and make sure you have a solid sales approach to earning their business. You may want to offer a few packages (good/better/best) and explain the differences. I offer a base package and upsell ala carte operations like multiple paint correction steps(almost every car needs them), interior details and engine. Sometimes I throw in the engine if they do a 3 step correction with interior. Every customer and car is different. Also, give price ranges instead of a solid price.

 

[imported_DJ Mayo]

Charge hourly. Do a "walk through" if you can with the customer and find out the owners expectations and from that you can have a "decent" idea of how long it can take. Then if anything changes, like the clear is super soft or super hard, I always contact the owner and further discuss. You can easily charge 50-60/hr Barry. Then when doing a full DA sanding, I would do 75/hr.

 

[Jean-Claude]

Supply/demand plays a large role. If you're constantly booked and want to make more money then a price bump may be in order.



If you bump prices 10 or 12% and you only lose 10% of your clients is that a fair trade? I would say yes! Eventually, you will become completely booked all the time and another price bump may be in order. You will be filtering out less profitable clients for more profitable ones.



If you don't plan on running extra crews then the easiest way to make more money for the same effort is to bump prices. If you do envision having more than just you, keeping the same prices may be called for.



Work smarter, not harder.

 

[imported_Jakerooni]

Well you know where I stand on the subject there Barry. We've talked enough over the phone. Raising prices is one thing just don't go stupid on it. You have to feel comfortable charging it. No matter how much I do and what length's I go through I still can only charge so much before I would feel dishonest. My tell on it is "How much would I feel comfortable paying if it was my car?" $600 for a basic once over new car prep is just insane in my books. But $600 for a lot of correction work is not. live good, but live honest

 

[unleashedfury]

I guess your a flat rate guy barry?



Whats your justifcation for price increases? Cost of materials/Overhead? Or just downright wanna make more money lol.



I know the area you live in and your right rural is rural.



I think it would come down to competitive pricing across the boards vs. your competitors. Even if your slightly higher if you can produce results that are higher than expected. And on your work. If that was one of my cars I would be simply astonished. A price increase is justifiable. Especially if you can back it up. I mean come on dude. You picked that porsche apart. I doubt many would do that.

 

[David Fermani]

You have to feel comfortable charging it. No matter how much I do and what length's I go through I still can only charge so much before I would feel dishonest. My tell on it is "How much would I feel comfortable paying if it was my car?" $600 for a basic once over new car prep is just insane in my books. But $600 for a lot of correction work is not. live good, but live honest

I completely disagree 100%! It sounds like you should be putting more value in your services. Just because you don't feel comfortable paying that much for something doesn't mean squat to many others. Apples and oranges comparison.

 

[David Fermani]

Anyone ever wonder how some shoomie in a bad suit that knows close to Zero about Car Care can sell a $500 paint protection warranties all month long to someone buying a $14,000 Focus, but many Professional Detailers have a hard time getting more than $75 for a Wash & Wax? You can be the best detailer in your state, but if you can't sell how good you are, you'll never grow as a business person.

 

[imported_Jakerooni]

I completely disagree 100%! It sounds like you should be putting more value in your services. Just because you don't feel comfortable paying that much for something doesn't mean squat to many others. Apples and oranges comparison.

That comes down to morals and ethics there Dave. Just because you CAN rip some nit off from their hard earned money dosen't mean you SHOULD. My values have always been based on my own beleifes on if I would pay for it myself. And there's no way anywhere by anyone would I pay someone over a grand to detail my car. So why would I charge someone a grand to do it? You obviously have a salesman mentaility on it. Which is fine for some people. Sell it for as much as you can possibly get and try to justify it later. Used cars salesmen do this all the time until they get to a point where they just don't care anymore sign on the dotted line pay 35% interest and give me my check... Ehh I've just never fell into that sort of mentaility.



You say I need to add value to my service but to me it sounds like you need to add value's to your sales pitch. My values are right where they need to be to let me sleep at night.

 

[Jean-Claude]

That comes down to morals and ethics there Dave. Just because you CAN rip some nit off from their hard earned money dosen't mean you SHOULD. My values have always been based on my own beleifes on if I would pay for it myself. And there's no way anywhere by anyone would I pay someone over a grand to detail my car. So why would I charge someone a grand to do it? You obviously have a salesman mentaility on it. Which is fine for some people. Sell it for as much as you can possibly get and try to justify it later. Used cars salesmen do this all the time until they get to a point where they just don't care anymore sign on the dotted line pay 35% interest and give me my check... Ehh I've just never fell into that sort of mentaility.



You say I need to add value to my service but to me it sounds like you need to add value's to your sales pitch. My values are right where they need to be to let me sleep at night.

All things are lawful, but not all things are advantageous.



I feel the same as you do Jake. But when supply/demand start coming into play then it's more of the market dictating what a service is worth.

 

[imported_DJ Mayo]

That comes down to morals and ethics there Dave. Just because you CAN rip some nit off from their hard earned money dosen't mean you SHOULD. My values have always been based on my own beleifes on if I would pay for it myself. And there's no way anywhere by anyone would I pay someone over a grand to detail my car. So why would I charge someone a grand to do it? You obviously have a salesman mentaility on it. Which is fine for some people. Sell it for as much as you can possibly get and try to justify it later. Used cars salesmen do this all the time until they get to a point where they just don't care anymore sign on the dotted line pay 35% interest and give me my check... Ehh I've just never fell into that sort of mentaility.



You say I need to add value to my service but to me it sounds like you need to add value's to your sales pitch. My values are right where they need to be to let me sleep at night.

So if someone wants their car's paint perfect and it takes me say 25 hours and I charge them $1000, I'm now ripping them off?

 

[evolutionwc3]

Barry- if you're having customers bring their GTR(s) down from New York, you've done a good job creating demand. If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't feel bad bumping my prices a bit.



Just my 2 cents.

 

[JohnKleven]

This also depends on how satisfied your customers are after a detail. If half your customers say "can you get this a little better", or "you missed this", then I wouldn't raise your prices. If 99% of your customers drop their jaw, and have no complaints, then you could certainly justify raising prices.





John

 

[David Fermani]

That comes down to morals and ethics there Dave. Just because you CAN rip some nit off from their hard earned money dosen't mean you SHOULD. My values have always been based on my own beleifes on if I would pay for it myself. And there's no way anywhere by anyone would I pay someone over a grand to detail my car. So why would I charge someone a grand to do it? You obviously have a salesman mentaility on it. Which is fine for some people. Sell it for as much as you can possibly get and try to justify it later. Used cars salesmen do this all the time until they get to a point where they just don't care anymore sign on the dotted line pay 35% interest and give me my check... Ehh I've just never fell into that sort of mentaility.



You say I need to add value to my service but to me it sounds like you need to add value's to your sales pitch. My values are right where they need to be to let me sleep at night.

I think you’re a terribly confused individual in respect to understanding the detailing business Jake. By the way you sound; you should open up a detail shop next to a church. Equating me as not having morals & ethics because I’m able to confidently sell myself and what I’m able to do for top dollar is really unfortunate for people like you who obviously aren’t able to relate. Just because your beliefs, tastes, standards and bank account might fall at the bottom of the barrel in comparison to mine and many other's clients doesn’t mean that the rest of society should be shamed by you for choosing to indulge on a quality service. The people I cater to have no problem spending whatever it takes on their hard earned possessions because they know, realize and understand that what I deliver is a high quality service. I know that I’ve succeeded when each and every one of my client’s eyes nearly pop out of their sockets when they see how I’ve transformed their vehicle to well beyond their expectations of “detailing”. I don’t charge $150 for 4-6 hours of my time because I feel what I deliver is worth way more than that. And my customers fully understand and appreciate it as well. I don’t oversell my service for “as much as I can” either and I don’t ever rip people off. I price my work according to what I feel my time and the job is worth. Big difference. I could easily charge many of my clients double or even triple, but that’s not what I choose to do either. I believe in earning a fair wage for the extremely hard work I do. At the end of the day, I have no problem falling sleeping knowing that I’ve made another person happy with the service I’ve given them. I don’t detail for a living; I detail for the passion. The passion of exceeding my client’s expectation by pouring every last ounce of integrity into my work. That’s how I sleep at night. Anything less would be a shame to me, my family and the detail industry.

 

[imported_Jakerooni]

So if someone wants their car's paint perfect and it takes me say 25 hours and I charge them $1000, I'm now ripping them off?

Re-read my initial post. That would be a big "No" There's a huge difference between new car prep work and extensive detailing. If someone wants perfect paint then by all means charge an hourly rate and do what it takes. There's a very specific reason I said the number I did. Barry knows exactly what I'm talking about and we both had a good laugh over it.



Dave- Same really applies to you as well. Knocking the customer's socks off with the huge wow factor after an all detail is not what I'm even talking about. I get paid a decent amount for those kinds of details as well. (not saying a $1000 or anything but "well above $150") The type of situation I'm discussing is something more back sceens between Barry and I. But we're talking A new car needs very little done to it. Maybe a once over polish your in your out in about an hour and half to two hours tops and we have some people on here and other boards that honestly feel that's worth $600 and up to them. To me that's absolutly absurb. Then when talking with such people the reasoning comes down too... "Well the car is nice and they must have money to burn to even own a car like that" LOL... Ridiculous!. Hypothetical situation.. But if Bill gates ever called me to wash his car I wouldn't charge him a million dollars just because he can afford it... But I can see some people actually thinking along those lines... Ehh they got money I'll charge more... You shouldn't charge more to wash a lambo than you do to wash a camry. I'm really suprised some people on here don't demand to see bank account records before quoting a job. That's what ethics are... And some people obviously have them and others obviously don't. This conversation has nothing to do with all out detailing that requires hours and hours of time to complete. This is simple prep work that shouldn't take anyone with any real skills more than a couple of hours to do. Don't confuse the two.

 

[imported_DJ Mayo]

Re-read my initial post. That would be a big "No" There's a huge difference between new car prep work and extensive detailing. If someone wants perfect paint then by all means charge an hourly rate and do what it takes. There's a very specific reason I said the number I did. Barry knows exactly what I'm talking about and we both had a good laugh over it.



Dave- Same really applies to you as well. Knocking the customer's socks off with the huge wow factor after an all detail is not what I'm even talking about. I get paid a decent amount for those kinds of details as well. (not saying a $1000 or anything but "well above $150") The type of situation I'm discussing is something more back sceens between Barry and I. But we're talking A new car needs very little done to it. Maybe a once over polish your in your out in about an hour and half to two hours tops and we have some people on here and other boards that honestly feel that's worth $600 and up to them. To me that's absolutly absurb. Then when talking with such people the reasoning comes down too... "Well the car is nice and they must have money to burn to even own a car like that" LOL... Ridiculous!. Hypothetical situation.. But if Bill gates ever called me to wash his car I wouldn't charge him a million dollars just because he can afford it... But I can see some people actually thinking along those lines... Ehh they got money I'll charge more... You shouldn't charge more to wash a lambo than you do to wash a camry. I'm really suprised some people on here don't demand to see bank account records before quoting a job. That's what ethics are... And some people obviously have them and others obviously don't. This conversation has nothing to do with all out detailing that requires hours and hours of time to complete. This is simple prep work that shouldn't take anyone with any real skills more than a couple of hours to do. Don't confuse the two.

I only said $1000 because you said yourself you would NEVER pay over $1,000 for a detail. I do 2-3 details every other month of that extent so it's rare. I do several details weekly in the $300-$600 range. But as everyone knows, there are cars that take very little to correct, and cars that take many many hours. I'm just confused on why you see it not necessary to pay $1,000 for a detail if that's what your car needs?

 

[imported_Jakerooni]

I only said $1000 because you said yourself you would NEVER pay over $1,000 for a detail. I do 2-3 details every other month of that extent so it's rare. I do several details weekly in the $300-$600 range. But as everyone knows, there are cars that take very little to correct, and cars that take many many hours. I'm just confused on why you see it not necessary to pay $1,000 for a detail if that's what your car needs?

PM'd you for a more in depth answer to this