Does anyone barter their detailing?

M

MMasz

New member
I live on a barrier island with little/no competition as far as detailing work goes, but I'm new and want to get my name out there without spending a whole lot on advertising. I've picked up a few clients in my neighborhood so far- (word of mouth) A local hardware store was inquiring about my taking care of his business' p/u truck. I was considering arranging some sort of barter agreement in exchange for some free advertising on his premises.



I could offer reduced to free fee service for the advertising.



Any advice appreciated.
 
for free work he better be doing a whole lot of advertising for you...



if you offer 1/2 off detail - do the inside for free, but charge the outside, then you should ask to just lay out some literature for people to pick up on their way out...
 
Yes I agree with toyotaguy just charge him 1/2 price.Don't just start giving away free work for nothing.
 
I swapped an exterior detail for a PC. My neighbor worked as a tool salesman at the time, he got the PC at his discounted price price, I got the PC in trade for the detail. As a matter of fact, his was the first car I used the PC on! :buffing:
 
Many years ago I traded weekly washes with a customer for cd's from their pawn shop. I traded washes for a Delta 88 once. My mobile work truck was traded for ($800 in service, I've used the truck going on 5 years). My last generator was traded for. The generator was last thing I traded for which was about 3 years ago.
 
MMasz said:
A local hardware store was inquiring about my taking care of his business' p/u truck. I was considering arranging some sort of barter agreement in exchange for some free advertising on his premises.
Click to expand...



Sounds like a good idea. Sometimes using a barter situation like this can help to establish a long lasting customer relationship. Do it and then see what happens. If you start to get a few calls from new prospects, then you know it is working. Just think about how many people are going to notice how clean the hardware store truck is being maintained. That type of visibility is always a good way to get new business leads.
 
Maybe you could get the owner of the store to let you have a little sign put on his truck tied with brochures in the store.
 
Ive done quite a few free details/paint correction. I did them for the word of mouth. Worked everytime.
 
I did a freebie for Christmas 2 years ago and today they're my best customer! They had one "detailable" car then and 5 now.:)
 
A timely thread, for me. I just joined a 'formal' barter group (imsbarter.com), did a $300 Suburban to start with. I'm curious to see how it works out...



This certainly not a recommendation. I do not have experience, yet.



I'll follow up.



Jim
 
Be careful and think about what you are bartering for. Ask yourself if it is worth it, and if the other party knows the value of your services. I recently did 2 full details and realized during the work that I wasn't getting enough for it.
 
I once arrived at a customers house to do a few small things for a couple of his cars. I saw that he had a 36 inch television just sitting in his garage and told him that I would trade one complete detail for the TV if it worked. He said that it did and the only reason they weren't using it anymore was because they had upgraded to HD. He agreed that my proposal was fair and I did a complete detail on his sunday driver porsche and he gave me the television. Great deal for both of us.

My only advice is make sure you know who you are dealing with beforehand, that way if the deal goes sour you can work something else out.
 
I'm not a pro but I have exchanged auto detailing for work done to our house such as electrical, plumbing, and other items. It worked out well for me. Bartering does have some good potential especially when you are first starting out. In my case it was no bucks and no talent for the work that had to be done around the house. I used what talents I did have to exchange services.
 
I had a couple of friends tell me if they got me 5 others to detail I could do them half off and I said no way, it's worth way to much but if they got me 10 cars I'd do one of there's for free.........haven't seen any other cars from them yet??



If I'm going to work my butt off and do a freebie for someone it better be more then worth it for me.
 
I have a client who owns his own diamond company. We nearly worked something out prior to the holidays, but it was just "too" much. I was to have gotten the item for cost + 10%. I would say never pass the offer up, if you trust your barter partner.
 
Over the past year I have bartered interior cleaning only on a Ford SUV that does have dog fur all over the place for free food. Yes, my wife and I both like their food and we also like the owners. This works great for both parties. Tuesday I was refreshing the interior like I do every two or three weeks and had a brainstorm concerning this deal. Would they agree to let me post a tasteful advertisement on the windows of the SUV for my business if I did a makeover on the exterior? They do not get the exterior cleaned to this point and they park the vehicle in front on their business.

They agreed…now I need help for a couple of different static cling advertisements that are short and sweet.

Examples could be;

Would you like your vehicle to be polished similar to this…Call..blah, blah...NOW.

Your vehicle could look this nice…Call…blah, blah…NOW.

I will attach and remove this static cling ad so if the vehicle gets dirty I am not advertising…have your vehicle polished and it looks like dirt.

Al.
 
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