Relaunching Biz...Pricing advise!

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Boosted Pinky

New member
Hey All,



Been a good little while since I have been on this site. I am going to have to post some before and afters of my last details I'm slacking! School/work/work are killing me...haha



Anyway the reason I come to you today is because I have some questions for you folks.



I have done a few searches on here and haven't really turned up much on this question. I want to restructure my pricing for detailing, and come up with a better option for giving estimates. So here's some back round.



I have been detailing for awhile now, my business is 100% mobile detailing. I obviously do not own a shop then. Gas prices are dropping and the economy is hurting and I want to relaunch my little business (The Perfect Touch Detailing this spring with advertisements and new pricing see if I can capture a larger share of the detailing market in my area.



Any suggestions, links to similar threads or other reading that can be fowarded to me would be greatly appreciated! I need a good place to start, i thought this would be the best.



Thanks in Advance,

Kenny
 
Kenny,



Have you figured out your target market yet? What area are you targeting? This will help in trying to figure out pricing and capturing more business. You said a key thing there, "the economy is hurting" How can you convince them your worth the $?? It's a start...and its winter where I'm at, so its a perfect time for me to restructure and get ready for spring.
 
Twista616 said:
Kenny,



Have you figured out your target market yet? What area are you targeting? This will help in trying to figure out pricing and capturing more business. You said a key thing there, "the economy is hurting" How can you convince them your worth the $?? It's a start...and its winter where I'm at, so its a perfect time for me to restructure and get ready for spring.
Click to expand...



Agreed! You can target the high class luxury crowd or you can target the average joe looking for an express detail.
 
How about line like: "A clean car will make you feel good in this horrible economy!"

Or: "Highly recommended! by the owner!" And "by the owner" would be in smaller print.



Humor can work... :)
 
I also own and operate a Mobile Detailing Biz. I do not own a building. I also live in Ohio. So winter work is slim to none. I will be going into my 6th year. I too have been considering the market and pricing for the coming year. My business name " Showroom Shine Auto Detailing " hopefully will continue to draw returning and new clients. I will make their car look like it just came off the " Showroom " floor. I have also added some new profit centers with some training. Leather and vinyl repair,velore and carpet repair. Wetsanding,head light restoration, trim dying,and paint chip repair. Now I can offer more services to my client's, not just a detail. But,I'm also open for feed back and ideas on how to not just stay afloat. But be prosperous in 09! IM me Pinky
 
There's a body shop near me that used to offer detailing services but doesn't anymore. Now, they refer the phone calls to me. On occasion though, they'll call me to detail a vehicle at their place.



So....I'd suggest contacting local body shops. I'm sure you could develop a relationship with one or multiple places. If they don't offer detail services, it'd be a good opportunity for them to add the service without the overhead expenses and it would allow you to still work (indoors) through the winter.
 
The prices you set for your business are determined by many factors. Some include your costs of doing business. What are your costs? Are you licensed and insured? What are your equipment costs? What are your vehicle maintenance costs? What are your advertising costs? These are questions only you can answer. Once you ad those various things up, you can get an idea of what you NEED to charge to make a profit. Your target market and the type of services you are offering obviously have something to do with it. Finally, what is the competition charging. I had a professor once who said charging "The high side of the middle" usually works.
 
Ziebart in my area has launched a massive radio campaign around their rustproofing and "detailing" package. The main, underlying theme is "times are tough, don't buy a new vehicle if you don't have to". "We can make your vehicle look new again and last for a long time".



IMO this is the perfect pitch right now. I've heard several folks at my workplace talking about this ad, and these are people who have probably never said the word detailing before. The market they are targeting are people that normally trade their car in every 3 years but are now rethinking that decision until times get better. This is an enormous market share, the biggest by far. These are people that are used to driving a shiny car but are now not wanting to buy a new one, but see their cars as needing attention.



I am not a professional, heck I'm even very new to hobby detailing with a machine. But people notice that my car is shiny and know about my hobby. I've mentioned to a few people that I just bought a Flex and I already have people wanting me to detail their cars next spring. I just know that if I put an offer on my company intranet that I'll get business. I would expect 95% will want an AIO, but that's ok too, I'm not even looking to do this for a living. If I were, I would just explain how a 2 or 3-step would look even better.



I would never for a second try to offer advice to the professionals here, I'm simply offering up my observations of the public opinion right now in my small circle. Offer up the AIOs, folks are just looking to have a shiny car until they feel better about buying a new one again.
 
I'm def. gonna try to stay higher end, where my cliental is now. I have done a couple front cover cars, most recently the No Limit 900+ awhp skyline for Modified magazine. But I feel that I have drifted from my pricing.



How do you determine what percentage of your product cost gets transfered to the quote you quote a customer.
 
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