Wow. Put a shop out of business.

R

ruining

New member
Well, I opened up in a small town a few months ago, and just learned today that I put the other shop in town out of business. I've been just doing this as a hobby to supplement my income for a while. I'm not sure I'll be able to keep up with demand.



I also gained a pretty big account today. I'm starting to do jobs for a local car lot and credit union. I'm happy that I'll be keeping busy, but I'm not really in a position to devote 100% of my time to this right now.



Anyone near the Olympia, Wa area willing to take on a few jobs?
 
Yeah. That wasn't really my goal. I think he mostly put himself out of business. I've heard some pretty nasty things about his customer service.
 
Are you sure the shop did not go out of business for other reasons? The shop could have been in the red for some time. It would have to be a really small town if your part time operation caused another shop to close. Is there any other detailing operations in this market?
 
There are no other detailing shops in this market. The town population is around 8,500 people. The other shop would hire people for minimum wage and just let them go at it. I had a couple customers say that they had work done there and when they complained about the zebra striping from the polisher, the guy just gave them attitude and told them that their vehicles weren't really worth the effort. I've had body shops recommending people to me for quite a while, also.



Also, they bid a job similar to this one out as $900. I bid $250 without knowing what they wanted to do the job.



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People just got tired of paying so much to be insulted, I guess.
 
ruining said:
.... and when they complained about the zebra striping from the polisher, the guy just gave them attitude and told them that their vehicles weren't really worth the effort. ....
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Like you said, they put themselves out of business.



And by setting the bar high, you're doing the customers and the detailing profession a good service. Keep it up! :up





PC.
 
truzoom said:
Congratulations! The other guy can only blame himself for doing subpar work.



Are you doing many full details?
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Well, I've been trying to only schedule 2-3 jobs a week. All of them have been full details except one I did today, which was exterior only.



Thanks for the congrats, guys. I guess I'll hit up the northwest message board if I have trouble keeping up with demand.:think:
 
Congratulations bro. Do keep up your standards and always try to raise them to the plateau whereby it can't be improved any longer, i.e your work is constantly at it's 110% best.



I'm sure since there's only you doing this job there, with you doing your optimal on every detail, whether big or small, soon enough you'll be doing this as your full time job! And furthermore, you enjoy it and it makes good money too!



Warning : Never put a low price 1st and then later on you jack it up. Unless the finish & result you turn out is getting better, i.e like the durability of the LSP you used is getting longer etc. It'll be a hard time for you to do so later.



Don't forget to set packages, like a normal detail ( just plain polish and wax ), then something better like a 50% paint correction etc and so forth. Invest in a good PTG reader, like Deflesko's and the ETG brand, these two works very well. The Defelsko Positector series is very2 good, very consistent readings and reads both on metal and non - metal surfaces ( like fibreglass, Lotus bodywork is fibreglass ). This will make people see that you are a real pro in detailing, plus, it's a safety net for you as well.



And if you're going to get any extra hand ( especially on job - to - job basis ), make sure they understand you're the boss ( in a friendly way ), and that they can listen to you, especially what to use, how to do etc. So that the work will always be at the levels you're used to detail, i.e the best there is.



Do give out a free MF and some QD in a small spray bottle, for customers to safely remove bird poop etc. Customers love this!
 
You can take advantage of this situation.



Hire someone to come over to give you a hand. You will be able to finnish the cars in half the time and you can ensure they do a good job.





This allows you do two jobs a day instead of one. Plus as the other person may get a third of the income you'll technically earn more money for the same amount of work.



If work continues to rise then slowly increase the prices or reduce the number of steps in the services you offer.



You should aim as close to Paul Daltons $5,000+ detail as possible. Eventually you might do only one car a week but get $1000 for the job and do highly specialised work. You can then outsource the work.



I'd definitely register your business and get an employee on board to help.



You could even hire a guy to drive around doing basic wash in between full details. Wash , blacken the tyres and apply a spray wax.
 
Thanks for the input, guys. I love hearing new ideas. I've been thinking about it over the last couple of days, and it's time I start putting some effort into the business. I've been just using it as a hobby shop, mostly. I'll keep just doing the detailing myself for now, then in the spring, hire up some help. I've got lots of experience at selling and managing 5-20 people, so I don't think that aspect of the business is going to be too big a struggle. Up until now, I haven't even had business cards made. I just have a sign out front that says "Auto Detailing Now Available".



Thanks again for the ideas, guys.
 
Congrats on your success! I am in a similar situation here in Portland and I felt bad about hurting another shops business that I was close to. They are not out of business yet but I think they are close, as they used to be there all week and saturdays, and now I only see them a couple days a week and most of the time the shop is empty. Meanwhile Im less than two miles from them and I am slammed with retail, wholesale, and accessories business.



Bottom line, I guess you get out of a business what you put into it. There is plenty of work out there for all of us. I dont know about you but Im HUNGRY and always looking for more!!! :)



If I can send anyone to you that I hear from in your area I will do it. I would love to see another new small business do well and grow into something great!



Good luck, and keep us posted on your progress! Can you PM me your info?



...........................................................Chris :D
 
not to go too far off subject, but was that a road paint job? How do you get off road paint? Ive seen some pretty bad wheel wells and I never knew what to do about it ( dont know why I never thought to ask before....)
 
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