I am a parttime detailer who is one day hoping to take it to a fully operational business. I struggle because even being pt I struggle to find customers and my frustration continues to grow. I have a garage that luckly I own so there is no rent or mortgage and over the years I have aquired some of the equipment needed to set up a small shop. plus I have a small trailer that I can use to get to the customers as another facet but despite this I rarely if ever have any customers and it sucks. now granted winter weather is here and the holidays just passed so I imagine having your vehicle detailed is not a top priority for most people. For you guys that are in a simular situation how do you cope and is there ever any light at the end of the tunnel.
sucks
- Thread starter tooklean
- Start date
Brenton
aka PEI Detail
I don't know man.
I just started, and we are performing at 40-50% of our hopes. There are a few reasons, but mostly it is sluggish car sales and an economic dip. My own sales (dis)ability is an issue.
We opened in August and had a good month considering. Septemeber was a little disappointing, but October was horrible. We broke even in November, which is cool, and did as good as could be expected in December.
We've cut costs (including renting the shop to a bike custom guy) and found other projects for Jan-MidApril, so we hope to break even. All of this without a salary.
One of the ways we are surviving is bartering. I've traded detailing for ads in a trade publication, ads in a coffee news, a window sign, a street sandwich board, for meals (anniversary, etc.), and mechanical work. I rent my garage to a sign place, so I'm getting $500 worth of signs for the trade. My grandparents and father-in-law also got cleaning and waxing for their Christmas gifts.
I've also done some free work for dealers, which has paid a little back, hopefully more. I've also donated gift certificates to charities--so far these have all paid back $/$, so cost me only half.
This is a good thing, but I've got about 1 full week of detailing to do this coming month for things already "paid for."
And I'm still not drawing a salary, which I need to do by about May 8th.
To make up for lack of work, I do about $200/month of online work for a grad school while waiting for work at the shop. I also prepare sermons for local churches when ministers go on vacation, which is about $2000/year of income. I'm teaching at the University, which is $950/month for January-April of this year, and half of the class prep and marking can be done at the shop. So we have a personal income of about $1300/month this winter, which is about 1/2 of what a person needs here.
For our shop to work, this is the breakdown.
-$1000/mo is winter breakeven, so about 40-50 hours of work. I also have 40 hours of work waiting, so about 1/2 time through the winter should break even.
-$2000/mo is regular breakeven, so about 80-100 hours of work. If I were to work f/t myself, booking f/t (about 40hrs/wk, doing 50 hours of work), I would have about $1800 income, or 3/4 of what my family needs.
-Adding a second guy/gal if the work is there works good. Our supplies and costs only go up to $3000/mo if we have 200-300 hours of work, so that would be great.
That's all nice, but what is needed for our shop to really work is this:
1. Prices go to $30/hr from $25/hr.
2. Two good shop workers billing 12-14hrs/day.
3. Therefore, we need customers.
So, my plan after I get my 05 books in order and my class ready, I'm attacking wholesale clients with free demos. I've ordered the signs I mentioned above, and am trying to trade detailing for more ads. I've got about $7000 in inventory, or enough product to X-kote 200 cars and do full details on about 50 cars. That is about $30-$35000 in income, so it's just a matter of getting cars in.
Will it work?
I don't know. But I'm 30. I've already blown my money starting up the shop. It's gone forever, so I'm going to see this through. Perhaps God knows if this will work out.
I just started, and we are performing at 40-50% of our hopes. There are a few reasons, but mostly it is sluggish car sales and an economic dip. My own sales (dis)ability is an issue.
We opened in August and had a good month considering. Septemeber was a little disappointing, but October was horrible. We broke even in November, which is cool, and did as good as could be expected in December.
We've cut costs (including renting the shop to a bike custom guy) and found other projects for Jan-MidApril, so we hope to break even. All of this without a salary.
One of the ways we are surviving is bartering. I've traded detailing for ads in a trade publication, ads in a coffee news, a window sign, a street sandwich board, for meals (anniversary, etc.), and mechanical work. I rent my garage to a sign place, so I'm getting $500 worth of signs for the trade. My grandparents and father-in-law also got cleaning and waxing for their Christmas gifts.
I've also done some free work for dealers, which has paid a little back, hopefully more. I've also donated gift certificates to charities--so far these have all paid back $/$, so cost me only half.
This is a good thing, but I've got about 1 full week of detailing to do this coming month for things already "paid for."
And I'm still not drawing a salary, which I need to do by about May 8th.
To make up for lack of work, I do about $200/month of online work for a grad school while waiting for work at the shop. I also prepare sermons for local churches when ministers go on vacation, which is about $2000/year of income. I'm teaching at the University, which is $950/month for January-April of this year, and half of the class prep and marking can be done at the shop. So we have a personal income of about $1300/month this winter, which is about 1/2 of what a person needs here.
For our shop to work, this is the breakdown.
-$1000/mo is winter breakeven, so about 40-50 hours of work. I also have 40 hours of work waiting, so about 1/2 time through the winter should break even.
-$2000/mo is regular breakeven, so about 80-100 hours of work. If I were to work f/t myself, booking f/t (about 40hrs/wk, doing 50 hours of work), I would have about $1800 income, or 3/4 of what my family needs.
-Adding a second guy/gal if the work is there works good. Our supplies and costs only go up to $3000/mo if we have 200-300 hours of work, so that would be great.
That's all nice, but what is needed for our shop to really work is this:
1. Prices go to $30/hr from $25/hr.
2. Two good shop workers billing 12-14hrs/day.
3. Therefore, we need customers.
So, my plan after I get my 05 books in order and my class ready, I'm attacking wholesale clients with free demos. I've ordered the signs I mentioned above, and am trying to trade detailing for more ads. I've got about $7000 in inventory, or enough product to X-kote 200 cars and do full details on about 50 cars. That is about $30-$35000 in income, so it's just a matter of getting cars in.
Will it work?
I don't know. But I'm 30. I've already blown my money starting up the shop. It's gone forever, so I'm going to see this through. Perhaps God knows if this will work out.
Brenton
aka PEI Detail
I should also add that my wife and I like to walk, so we drop off flyers in mail boxes. We've only done dumpy neighbourhoods so far (my own), and have delivered about 500 flyers. We've gotten two jobs, and have lots of flyers left.
We did a full colour 20,000 flyer drop and got 10 calls, and 4 full jobs, so it only broke even. We are doing better with our b/w dumpy neighbourhood drop.
We did a full colour 20,000 flyer drop and got 10 calls, and 4 full jobs, so it only broke even. We are doing better with our b/w dumpy neighbourhood drop.
If you choose e-mail me @ [email protected] then I can help.
joe.p
New member
pei, i'm nowhere near your level and all my detailing is from my garage,so no rent or lease and my customers were mainly neighbors and the few cars i was offered to do i had to turn them away because of no heat at the time. but i only detail PT,because i have a good job. i would like to one day own a land base operation. i have family who own business no detailing and tried the flyer thing it almost never pays off and from what i have been told you'll only get about 1% back on the flyers.imo you have to educate the client, i have a line of great products mf's,wax,sealant etc and i try to use these products and explain why and what would be the right process to correct their paint.how and why their paint got that way and what needs to be done to maintain it. i try and use this to seperate myself from the others in the area.some people beleive because they go to hand car wash that there protecting the car from autmatic washe's and this is furthest from the truth at times.leave your business cards at church,eateries where the workers no you, post a flyer at the local auto store where car buffs tend to go. literature that shows the enviromental effect of everyday wear and tear on the car and what corrective process you do,if the consumer's not aware of the problem the enviroment has on their paint they can't correct it. just some ideas but i'm sure you know this. i wish you guys the best of luck!PEI Detail said:
Brenton
aka PEI Detail
Yeah Joe, we've gone the superior work & product route. We also educate folk-landed me a couple of contracts and jobs.
I know the flyer thing doesn't pay off, but the big drop I paid half in detailing, and the walking thing is just using time with two-penny flyers. We could drop 500 more and get no responses. That's fine. Got a Mustang with one of the drops!
cheers
b
I know the flyer thing doesn't pay off, but the big drop I paid half in detailing, and the walking thing is just using time with two-penny flyers. We could drop 500 more and get no responses. That's fine. Got a Mustang with one of the drops!
cheers
b
dirtdiggler
New member
you could always teach workshops on proper paint care. I worked at a bike shop during college and in the winter months we offered how-to classes, which generated purchased items and more repeat business.
dirt diggler
dirt diggler
SA Detailer
New member
WOW 
This is just stating the truth and no means trying to offend.
TOOKLEAN, by being mobile with no employees, no truck payment(it was paid of in 2 years instead of 5), in '04' we spent almost $15,000 in expenses and made over $135,000 and well over that this year.
My wife and I have never adverticed, just added a website last year that generates 500 hits a day and just a internet yellow page ad, this it.
When my wife and I started back in '99', instead of leaving flyers in mailboxes, we door knocked in the wealthiest part of town and spoke to clients face to face and explained to them what we did.
On days that we had no appointments, we would get dressed for work, hook up the rig, pack up our son(he was about 2 then) and we would go door knocking. Then someone would call, we would wash their car and go back to door knocking until the phone would ring again. We never sat around waiting for business to call, if we did, we would be out of business NOW.
I'll never forget the day we didn't have a single appointment, we door knocked and washed 9 vehicles, made $245.00 with tips included and the phone never rang once that day.
After about 3 months into the business, we never door knocked again and the word of mouth started to spread like wild fire in the world of the socialites and the rich. These people love that you come to them instead of them taking their vehicle to a detail shop.
I firmly believe, when trying to reach for a potential client, face to face works wonders than through a mailbox or phone call.
This is just stating the truth and no means trying to offend.
TOOKLEAN, by being mobile with no employees, no truck payment(it was paid of in 2 years instead of 5), in '04' we spent almost $15,000 in expenses and made over $135,000 and well over that this year.
My wife and I have never adverticed, just added a website last year that generates 500 hits a day and just a internet yellow page ad, this it.
When my wife and I started back in '99', instead of leaving flyers in mailboxes, we door knocked in the wealthiest part of town and spoke to clients face to face and explained to them what we did.
On days that we had no appointments, we would get dressed for work, hook up the rig, pack up our son(he was about 2 then) and we would go door knocking. Then someone would call, we would wash their car and go back to door knocking until the phone would ring again. We never sat around waiting for business to call, if we did, we would be out of business NOW.
I'll never forget the day we didn't have a single appointment, we door knocked and washed 9 vehicles, made $245.00 with tips included and the phone never rang once that day.
After about 3 months into the business, we never door knocked again and the word of mouth started to spread like wild fire in the world of the socialites and the rich. These people love that you come to them instead of them taking their vehicle to a detail shop.
I firmly believe, when trying to reach for a potential client, face to face works wonders than through a mailbox or phone call.
Martin thanks for the feedback. Can you email me a few more of your tips to see if they may help out. belive me I don't like sitting around waiting for business it bothers me. But during the course of the week I'm relegated to my full time job so there is no time to knock on doors.
joe.p
New member
Hi just as SA Detailer I have a mobile business and have found that not having the overhead that comes with a fixed location was a big plus for me. When I first started out times were tough but you just have to weather the storm so to speak.I think you are on the right track with your donations but I would set a limit as to how many you are making. My business come from word of mouth and my advertising is basically on the job site you have to put on what my wife calls a little show, setting up my canopy always draws a lot of attention along with the sound of the pressure washer and generator I almost always leave a job site with another job on the books. Overall I think word of mouth will be your biggest asset so the jobs you do get now in the beginning could pay off big in the future . Good luck!!!
SA Detailer
New member
JOE P, maybe a couple of Bud's rules apply to me but the rest should be thrown out the window.
What do you do to market your business? You need to be proactive to get customers. If you feel your salesmanship and or marketing is lacking then take the time to work on it.
Here are a few books worth a look: "Guerilla Marketing" By Jay Levinson & "The Little Red Book of Selling" By Jeffery Gitomer.
Here are a few books worth a look: "Guerilla Marketing" By Jay Levinson & "The Little Red Book of Selling" By Jeffery Gitomer.