Would like some opinions on this lost potential customer

L

Lotuseffect

New member
Just had a consultation with a potential customer and I am wondering if anyone would have done something different.



Customer lived in a very exclusive gated community. Wanted me to detail his 3 cars: escalade, Nissan gtr, and a vette. In discussing with hihim exactly what he wanted he stated he was willing to spend 1k total for all 3 vehicles. I told him then in these exact words " well unless we are talking about each individual vehicle at a time I can't promise you a specific price for all 3."

He seemed put out and wanted me to explain. So I told him until I wash each, clay them, etc. I cant really give an estimate to the exact dollar as to the time involved. Especially with 1 caddy and 1 gtr which have ridiculously hard clear. I told him if I did find swirls and marring which would require more than a 1 step polish (which I could already see on the vette) then the price would clearly go up. I then reminded him he said he wanted them to look "like new". A 1 step polish most likely isn't what he wants.

He began arguing with me about being a professional and giving an honest estimate and not trying to "suck him in to paying more just because he can".

This pissed me off pretty bad. I then told him thanks for your time and I'm sorry we could not come to an agreement and turned to walk away.

He then says hey "maybe next time don't try to exploit people just because you think they are rich."

Realizing at this point there was no way I was doing his vehicles I said"listen pal, I don't give a good god damn if you are a Rockefeller. My price is my price for every customer. In fact, I have a regular customer who lives up the street. If you don't want to pay it, it's fine by me.



So, knowing for the price he wanted I could not do what he wanted, do you guys have any approach you use to get a customer to understand you would rather pass on the job than leave them unsatisfied?

(I already know the last thing I said was unprofessional so no need to remind me of that
 
Anytime you show a customer any sort of emotion, you lose.



That said, IMO, the best thing to say would have been:



"I'd be more than glad to clean up these beautiful cars for you, however, being a perfectionist, I would like to restore the finish to better than they were delivered new. However, if you have a fixed budget of $1k, I will be glad to work with you to stay in that realm. Lets talk about particular issues you have with each car and I can offer my approach and approximate time. If you would like to scale those services back, I'm more than happy to, and since you are asking me to do three vehicles, I am offering additional consideration since you are saving me travel time."



That way you appear flexible and you also jab him a bit like he might not be able to afford more. Either way, win-win. You either do the job the way you wanted to or you have a whole lot less work to do.
 
I think you did the right thing by walking away. The bridge is probably burned, but I would tell him to go ahead and get quotes from others. Simply compare it to an auto mechanic. Sometimes you can only see so much before getting into it. I would have offered a quote to simply wash/clay/decontaminate/assess all 3. From there a quote would be given for the correction. If he wants to check with others at that point he can. You got some business from it and he has the opportunity to go with someone else for the rest if he so chooses. Or you could come to an agreement for 1 vehicle. When he sees what really goes into it he might be more understanding of the price.



My thoughts are he was doing to you exactly what he was accusing you of but in reverse. He thinks his money is something everyone wants a piece of and flashing $1000 will make some struggling detailer drool.
 
Part of me says that you did the right thing. Another part of me thinks that the customer wasn't educated enough. Wanting 3 cars looking like new and pay a fixed price doesn't equate
 
I would have taken an approach similar to Dan's. I would have explained

to him that my prices are based around an hourly rate, not a fixed price,

and offered to do a test section on each car to figure out what he was

after/how long it would take and to show him what could be done within

his budget. That way you could show him a 1 step vs multi-step and

educate him on what you were doing in the process.



Then he could decide if he wanted to adjust his budget or if he wanted you

to work within it.



It can be frustrating dealing with people like that sometimes, but some of my

best customers were like that when I first worked with them. By being patient

and taking the time to earn their trust, my relationship with them has developed

to the point where I can tell them what their vehicles need and they don't even

question the price anymore.
 
It's tough when someone comments like that. Don't ever let emotion get in the way of your communications with him. The fact that he assumes because he might think you think he is rich is an indicator he may not have been exposed to any sorta of quality vehicle care in the past.



For the future(with him or without him) it is important to educate, provide examples(via something electronic - ipad, nook, laptop, even digicam) to help him understand that the time, effort and materials spent with his vehicles is truly for the benefit of them regardless of what each one's MSRP was.



I had a customer new to me this season who really only wanted washes and waxes. After our conversations, it was pretty clear to me he wanted them to look amazing however was unsure, and probably completely unaware of the potential his already good looking expensive cars had due to all the crappy experiences he had prior. We booked one for some light correction and base protection and immediately he stepped wayyyyyy up on the other vehicles he had because he could see right away the difference quality can make and for the price, it actually would work out better because they look better longer and are easier and cheaper for us to maintain for him.



Like the others are saying, our work is skilled work and regardless on how you price your services(hourly vs package) its important for him to understand that each situation requires a different level of evaluation and care to make sure its up to HIS standards. Similar to roofing, or landscaping each house and property is different, each situation and owner requires different things.



One thing I learned instantly when doing this level of work, with certain people, they are sold on words alone(which is bad considering all the hack garbage out there) and some people, absolutely positively have to see it for themselves. Documentation is your friend in a situation like this to help a potential owner understand your time, skill and materials all command a difference price than the idiot down the block.
 
autoaesthetica said:
It's tough when someone comments like that. Don't ever let emotion get in the way of your communications with him. The fact that he assumes because he might think you think he is rich is an indicator he may not have been exposed to any sorta of quality vehicle care in the past.



For the future(with him or without him) it is important to educate, provide examples(via something electronic - ipad, nook, laptop, even digicam) to help him understand that the time, effort and materials spent with his vehicles is truly for the benefit of them regardless of what each one's MSRP was.



I had a customer new to me this season who really only wanted washes and waxes. After our conversations, it was pretty clear to me he wanted them to look amazing however was unsure, and probably completely unaware of the potential his already good looking expensive cars had due to all the crappy experiences he had prior. We booked one for some light correction and base protection and immediately he stepped wayyyyyy up on the other vehicles he had because he could see right away the difference quality can make and for the price, it actually would work out better because they look better longer and are easier and cheaper for us to maintain for him.



Like the others are saying, our work is skilled work and regardless on how you price your services(hourly vs package) its important for him to understand that each situation requires a different level of evaluation and care to make sure its up to HIS standards. Similar to roofing, or landscaping each house and property is different, each situation and owner requires different things.



One thing I learned instantly when doing this level of work, with certain people, they are sold on words alone(which is bad considering all the hack garbage out there) and some people, absolutely positively have to see it for themselves. Documentation is your friend in a situation like this to help a potential owner understand your time, skill and materials all command a difference price than the idiot down the block.
Click to expand...



...and don't be super upset if he doesnt want full corrections, you can't win them all and each week I have at least 1 person become insulted that HOW DARE I ask a price "like that" on a full correction on huge hammered black vehicle that has seen death tunnel washes 3 times weekly for the past 3 years of ownership.



:D :D
 
tdekany said:
Part of me says that you did the right thing. Another part of me thinks that the customer wasn't educated enough. Wanting 3 cars looking like new and pay a fixed price doesn't equate
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That's where the education part really comes in. Most of us could do a 1-step and it WOULD look better than new. However getting the paint perfect certainly would not fit into the 1k budget with 3 trashed cars. Unless you are overbooked, turning down any job is a lost opportunity. Unfortunately many people have a bit too much pride when questioned by a customer (who have EVERY right to doubt you on all fronts). However customers that ask lots of questions and want to learn more are likely to be the ones that give you repeat business.



If I sound too far out there, its because I've been reading a book on the art of negotiation, and its really opened my mind to building opportunity and value in negotiations instead of focusing on the bottom dollar.
 
You got it Dan. Securing a booking on an opportunity to show even the potential leads many customers to that "light" of quality we all work for. Plus its a situation of conservation especially if it looks that good - you have much more room a year from then to continually improve that vehicle.
 
Just throwing this out there, but it's something to consider:



As Autopian detailers, when we hear a potential customer say to us "I want it like new," we immediately think of extravagant multi-stage full corrections and hours/days worth of work. Perhaps it would be good for us to step back and try to evaluate the customer's real expectations, and calibrate ourselves to meet those desires.



I find that more often than not, customers will say "I want it like new" because they don't know what they want, or more specifically they don't know how to ask for what they want. Turn that initial conversation into an interview of the customer to find out how they use their cars, their typical routine for maintaining them (what their knowledge of appearance care really is) and from that you can likely tell what they are really after. THEN you can start to determine if you can give them what they want within their budget.



If so, great... if not, then you can either try to recalibrate their expectations based on the budget, or try to convince them it's worth going over budget to get what they want. Of course, during that process you can always introduce them to the higher levels of perfection we can provide them and see if they think it's worth the money you charge to take their vehicle(s) there or not. You can even come to the conclusion that you don't want to do work for a particular client for whatever reason.



As a business owner/operator I don't just feel that I'm here to make money; I'm also here to do what is in the best interest of the client. I don't want to sell someone a full correction on their daily driver that sits outside 24/7 and goes through tunnel washes, because it's a waste of their money. If they insist that's what they want and demonstrate that they fully understand what that entails, of course I'll do it, but I'll do my best to talk them out of it in favor of doing less correction work and coming back on a more regular basis since that would ultimately serve them better in the long run.



Fit your services to the client, not the client to your services.
 
Agreed again. I tell people straight up, if you are looking for a vehicle to be restored to close to perfect or perfect, then they need to be committed to a lifestyle change(really) to maintain it to avoid having to redo it all again because really, you only have like 2 shots on full corrective perfection on hammered hammered vehicles and still maintaining their safety of film build.
 
Another thing is many times I get people who are tunnel wash users.



For example a guy with a giant supercharged XF jaguar. Basically all the swirls bother him, the local tunnel place does a crappy job leaving wax residue everywhere(and not correcting anything) and he wants them gone. We talk about pricing and time required, then we talk about the commitment to maintain it afterwards and I think after he started to cool his jets about the large figured, he was a bit too lazy to take the time to wash it properly...aside from the fact that I think he believed that a 2-3 day correction was supposed to cost like 200 dollars(lol).
 
autoaesthetica said:
aside from the fact that I think he believed that a 2-3 day correction was supposed to cost like 200 dollars(lol).
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Yeah, you'll always get those idiots, no matter how hard you try. They don't take the time to think about it that three 8-hour days for $200 works out to just over $8 per hour. No way anyone can run a business for those prices, I don't care what industry it is.
 
That same guy, before I went out for the consult asked the price - I said without me looking at it with just the info you have volunteered, knowing the damages car washes do and the size of the vehicle he was looking between X and X. Get there, confirm basically what I had quoted and he was like ''fff, whoaa, I was thinking like 250?" I just replied with sorry, that is what kind of time is required(I didn't even acknowledge the price he said because I knew where it was going). I gave him an option of topside heavier correction since he wouldn't see the heavier stuff on the lower portions if it wasnt removed.



Instantly he became like condescending going from "Hey man, bud etc.." to "buddy boy, chief" LOL.



- OK sport, well if you have any questions on anything at all or you would like to book a correction please let me know and we can go from there.
 
should have offered to do a demo on the car to SHOW him what the difference is between a one step and a three step, or a two step. Then sell him on the better protecting sealant that you use, and how you are more thorough, etc.



You can only tell people so much, especially when they "know it all"



another question I would have asked him: "what makes you think $1000 is enough, or not enough for this type of work, where did you get that figure from?" That way you can gauge if he knows what he is talking about
 
Thanks for all your replies guys. I do appreciate them and I do see a lot of value in what you guys have said.



Charlie, you hit the nail on the head. When I hear a customer say "like new" to me. I am imagining pouring over the car, qtipping air vents, popping out seats, wheel removal, etc. I should think harder as to what they really want and cater my services to that.



This guy just caught me off guard because I truly don't see $$$ signs when o do get a customer who is well to do, I honestly think to myself, wow these cars are gonna be a blast to detail. I've only done a limited amountnof exotics and to be honest I had so much fun detailing them the money was almost an afterthought a lot of the time.

The gtr was a gorgeous red and I was just imagining how could I could get it to look.

I may give him a call back and apologize for my behavior and offer him an accurate estimate and maybe do what mike suggested and do a test spot for him and try and demonstrate the process involved to return these cars to MY standards of "like new"



I really appreciate you guys input.
 
I would approach this swiftly and careful, chances are he is looking or may have found someone.



I would apologize for the situation as a whole, and let him you think you both were on different pages and that you want him to know it has nothing to do with the sticker price of the vehicles themselves.



I would express to him you would like the chance to educate him on the differences of your services and you ultimate goals for each individuals' vehicles. Also, you could call and as your customer up the street if he would be willing to vouch for you or even let this guy inspect(if it gets this far).
 
Most of my customers have already seen my work based on referrals from past clients and know they want to hire me. The rest find me on sites like Yelp where they have little idea of what I can do for them except they saw some positive reviews that they don't know for sure if they are real or not. A smaller percentage drive by my shop and stop by to see what we do.



Obviously with each type of potential customer, educating them about what we do is key. There is one local mobile detailer here that charges $1200 for his hack work and customers pay for it because they say he's a nice guy. However "niceness" only goes so far especially when their paint is properly evaluated and shown that the lack of gloss, depth, or strange reflections they are seeing is due to entirely wrong correction methods for their car resulting in buffer trails, holograms, swirls, etc.. A fair amount of our work is correcting other detailers hack work.



There are some customers that you will never win over because they refuse to be educated. But often I've been able to turn people around by showing a genuine concern for their paint and even telling them the "cold hard truth" about the condition of the paint, how it became that way, and what I could do for them and then backing it up with a test spot. Some people have used that spot to test for longevity and came back a month later realizing that it didn't fade in a few days. I think most people that know me know that I don't beat around the bush when it comes to evaluating paint and they appreciate that.



There of course is a difference to being mobile and having a fixed location. The customers that prefer mobile over fixed location tend to value convenience more than anything and with you at their house, they feel that getting the most for their money in one day is important and they know you don't want to drive out there on multiple days.



I agree with everything that's already been said. Stick to your prices, educate the customer, find out their expectations and what they deem as "new" as most people do NOT have the same eyes as a quality detailer, so a clean car with gloss might be enough for them, keep a positive attitude, and trust your gut. If the situation feels wrong, then don't be afraid to walk away. I've had my share of customers with unrealistic expectations that made the job very unpleasant both during work and upon delivery.



Good luck!



Richard Lin





autoaesthetica said:
I would approach this swiftly and careful, chances are he is looking or may have found someone.



I would apologize for the situation as a whole, and let him you think you both were on different pages and that you want him to know it has nothing to do with the sticker price of the vehicles themselves.



I would express to him you would like the chance to educate him on the differences of your services and you ultimate goals for each individuals' vehicles. Also, you could call and as your customer up the street if he would be willing to vouch for you or even let this guy inspect(if it gets this far).
Click to expand...
 
Lotuseffect said:
...I may give him a call back and apologize for my behavior...
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I guess it's easy for me to write off your customers :o but I think that guy has issues and that if you apologize he's likely to just think he was right about you all along. I'd just take it as a learning experience and move on.
 
If you do choose to contact this customer again, perhaps it would help educate him to provide him a link to this thread. He will see that you felt just as insulted as he did, but that your intention was to never insult him, as he did, but to provide him the service he wanted at a fair price.
 
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