Any Last Minute Help / Tips?

[MDetail]

So here's the story ... I have been working to restore my buddies 88 Rx7 w/ original paint. (It's actually coming out pretty nice btw.) And in the process alot of people see the change, and want me to do their car(s). Now I JUST started detailing with a pc. And JUST started wanting to detail for $$$ (mostly to bring in some extra money incase the performance install side doesn't go as planned, but also because I can't stand to see bad paint on a car.)

A guy walks in today ... long story short, he wants to sell his lift to us. He takes cars, fixes them up, and re-sells them. (He used to be the tenant in the biling we are in now.) We talk for a bit, he asks me generic price quotes for wash wax etc etc. Then he wants me to take a look as his headlights. After I talked to him a bit about what could be done, he sets up an appt. for tomorrow morning!!! (Mind you we haven't fully moved in, so I havent had time to fully make our price structures, upsell options etc) so I'm kinda playing this one by ear. If he likes my work he is going to be sending me alot of cars to detail in the future.

I don't know if you can help me with any tips, or any words of comfort. But to be frank, I am a bit scared to be doing my first job for $$$. I dont know if its fear, excitement or both. Any of you guys feel this the first few times? I hope everything goes well tomorrow Thanks for your help!

 

[Brenton]

If you think he really is a talker, or someone who'll send work your way, give him a good price and take a while to do the job. In fact, you can use your first few months at the shop as a learning curve, using clients' cars to practice on (not the paintwork mind you, or don't risk the paintwork). I learned a ton when I first started, and did extra things on many cars to increase customer satisfaction.

 

[MDetail]

I told him I would do it for free. I didn't really see just the headlights taking too much time. I was planning on learning new stuff for a while, such as price ranges (which sites such as this, and ocd have helped ALOT on) order of attack, which I have also learned alot about lately. I don't imagine I will stop learning anything anytime soon. BTW guy No show for today, but I was kinda glad, there is ALOT of work to be done around the shop for move in.

 

[budman3]

Yeah, I figured if he was a talker, and you charged him $75 and if that was a low price chances are he will tell his friends that you can get a good detail there for cheap and theres a chance that you'd be stuck on that price which would mean loss of money on your part. Same with the freebies though. But asking a customer what they would pay is the only way to find out what people would pay in that area. Good luck with everything.