What do you have (besides your flyer) to show these perspective clients? Do you have any before and after photos? 50/50 photos can be pretty convincing as well. In my experience most people associate auto detailing with washing and waxing (unfortunately). I find that most people are not willing to spend a couple hundred dollars on something that they do not understand so the visual aids (photos) can be a big help in educating them on what service it is that I am offering them. The question I ask myself is this, How will I lay out my presentation to them as to convince them that they "want" my services? What people "need" is reliable transportation, they do not "need" a swirl free paint job. So back to the question at hand....How will I lay out my presentation to them as to convince them that they "want" my services? I try to keep my own car in a condition of being a "rolling example" of the quality of my workmanship (inside and out). I try to park my car close enough to theirs so that I can show them the difference between a nearly perfect finish and a neglected finish. I also found (in my experience) that I can offend the perspective client by telling them that they neglect their car, so wording is important here. I say neglect to you guys because you understand neglect Vs. detailed, joe customer does not want to be told that they neglect anything (especially if they spend time in washing and waxing their own vehicle). I try to use such phrasing as this " I see that your car is shiney and I know that takes work to achieve but if you will just take a minute to look at the reflection of the sun in your paint, (see the scratches?) now take a look at the sun's reflection in my paint, (see the difference?) We can take your car's paint to a whole new level of shine"!! I am careful not to use words that offend such as neglected or hogged up or looks terrible. I think you get my point here. I also look around as I approach their door, Is the property kept? Is there trash laying all around, is the grass mowed and the flower beds weeded, giving quick thought to this type of stuff can say a lot about the person you are about to speak to. It provides you with an opportunity to compliment the perspective client and gives you fuel to develope your presentation. Such as this...Mr. Jones, I see that you keep a beautifully maintained home and that is what I am offering for your car, a beautifully maintained car. People love to be complimented on their hard work. Think about this for a minute....A person who goes to work every day, comes home to raise children, keep a clean house, keep a beautifully maintained yard, a freshly sealed driveway, clean siding on the house etc..needs to have excellent organizational and time management skills to achieve all this (whether they do the work or farm it out). So they are probably more likely to purchase a service from someone who also has great organizational skills as well, ie. the well laid out portfolio of your photos and the way you look personally and the way you speak to them. You only get one chance to make a first impression as they are everlasting. So put your presentation together and run it past some of your elder family members or neighbors, (if you run this past another proffesional you will most likely recieve tips on how to better present it), develope your rap (what you are going to say) and practice it. Expect lots of questions and know how to answer them. If you take all of this into consideration, dress well and conduct yourself like a proffesional your percentage rate will be a whole lot better in your door to door efforts, It will also help with developing much needed word of mouth advertising. But remember you still need to achieve excellent results on the car once you have "sold" the customer. Just a few thoughts out of my own experience, Hope it helps you out. I have a regular job and do not wish to detail that much but I am convinced that if I took this approach and talked to 20 people daily I would be way too busy detailing to keep my regular job, thus opening up a whole new set of challenges. TD
