help on summer detailing job...

G

greathuskie

New member
as of right now, i detail cars out of my home. i only charge 75 per car, which i know is low, but im afraid to raise the price and scare people away, because i know people are cheap!



i take pictures of every car i do, and i get compliments all the time, so its not the cleaning that i have a problem with. its the whole business side of it.



i dont know how to get customers at all, besides word of mouth but i dont do enough cars now to get a good client base going and to have them refer people to me. i guess in my area this just isnt a very profitable thing, people all do the drive through car wash scratch machines.



is there anything you guys recommend to every new detailer who picks cars up? i have plenty of business cards and i was thinking of raising my price to 100 dollars. i would also like to set up a website with pictures of the cars as well as information about my detailing and putting them on my new business cards...



sorry if this post sucks, been drinking a little tonight :nana: .



anyways, any help i can get is appreciated, this is all money i use for college. help me :bawling:
 
I was pretty much in the exact same boat you are this time last year. I've been detailing for three years and also started out of my garage and at times business can get *very* slow for me - case in point is this week and last week, when I've only had a discounted minivan (in exchange for some free advertising) and a motorcycle. Don't get me wrong, there are weeks when I have 8 or 9 cars (which is a lot for a one man operation IMO). Last June I had to move my operation to a used car dealership because someone reported me for working out of a residence (they're pretty strict here).



Anyway, as far as a website goes I think it is a very valuable tool to help promote your business. A lot of people would rather go to a website and browse at their own pace than call right away for more information. Three things I can suggest off the top of my head are having an online portfolio of your work, an Internet Specials page with printable coupons, and not having prices listed online (I think this gives people a reason to call and you a chance to sell yourself).



The remainder of my advertising is done through business cards at a couple of other local businesses, bi-weekly ads in "The Braintree Advertiser" which always seems to get people to call, and the equivalent of a PowerPoint slide commercial on our town's cable channel. I also put up a flyer on the bulletin board above the urinals at my gym with those pieces of paper you can tear off with your name and number on it. I've also tried mailing letters inviting people to try my services to random houses or to houses in nice neighborhoods, but nothing ever came of that.



I've never put flyers on cars before though some people often suggest it - I might give that a shot this year but I need to figure out how people feel about others leaving stuff on their cars and also if there are laws about distributing flyers like that, in an office park for example.



I know there are a lot more marketing gurus on the board that have a lot more ideas than me so hopefully they'll chime in - just figured I'd put in my $.02 since I was in a similar situation.
 
magictouch24 said:
I was pretty much in the exact same boat you are this time last year. I've been detailing for three years and also started out of my garage and at times business can get *very* slow for me - case in point is this week and last week, when I've only had a discounted minivan (in exchange for some free advertising) and a motorcycle. Don't get me wrong, there are weeks when I have 8 or 9 cars (which is a lot for a one man operation IMO). Last June I had to move my operation to a used car dealership because someone reported me for working out of a residence (they're pretty strict here).



Anyway, as far as a website goes I think it is a very valuable tool to help promote your business. A lot of people would rather go to a website and browse at their own pace than call right away for more information. Three things I can suggest off the top of my head are having an online portfolio of your work, an Internet Specials page with printable coupons, and not having prices listed online (I think this gives people a reason to call and you a chance to sell yourself).



The remainder of my advertising is done through business cards at a couple of other local businesses, bi-weekly ads in "The Braintree Advertiser" which always seems to get people to call, and the equivalent of a PowerPoint slide commercial on our town's cable channel. I also put up a flyer on the bulletin board above the urinals at my gym with those pieces of paper you can tear off with your name and number on it. I've also tried mailing letters inviting people to try my services to random houses or to houses in nice neighborhoods, but nothing ever came of that.



I've never put flyers on cars before though some people often suggest it - I might give that a shot this year but I need to figure out how people feel about others leaving stuff on their cars and also if there are laws about distributing flyers like that, in an office park for example.



I know there are a lot more marketing gurus on the board that have a lot more ideas than me so hopefully they'll chime in - just figured I'd put in my $.02 since I was in a similar situation.
Click to expand...



thanks alot. im doing about 3 cars a month right now, as i didnt ever advertise the first half of the summer.i will look into doing the printable coupons and putting the paper up above urinals and whatnot. would be interesting to try atleast.



i dont know anywhere i can do the powerpoint type thing. im going to have to get my online portfolio up and running, but i dont have any webspace, so im gonna have to try and find some as well as a domain name or something. any suggestions there?



ive only got 7 weeks left of summer so i think the rest of this summer is going to be a result of word of mouth and whatever i can pull off, but next summer im going to have to do alot better. over the winter ill get my website up and running and looking good for next year, including a picture page and an email contact form.



anyone else used any really successful methods for advertising?
 
I definitely don't think that it is too late to advertise more for the rest of the summer, though I guess I'd stay away from expensive options if your volume is low and time is tight. I use Yahoo! Small Business Web Hosting which includes more than enough webspace and a domain as well for ~$12/month. If you aren't willing to pay, just search Google for free webhosts and use a forwarding address from my.dot.tk or www.cjb.net . You won't have your own domain but it will most likely be a lot shorter than what the webhost gives you.



If your town or city has its own local cable channel, they probably offer advertising similar to the PowerPoint type thing I mentioned. Give them a call and find out.
 
What are you doing for $75? No wonder it is not profitable for you. Charge what your competition is charging; the high side of the middle is good. As far as marketing, unless you want to spend some money, it is all up to your hustle skills. In other words, talking to people and promoting your business. I am running an add in the local phonebook. It is paying off nicely so far. This may not be an option since you are doing this part time though. Check out some of the threads started by TurbomanGT; he is a marketing genious. Hope this helps, but you need to raise your prices.
 
the problem isnt it being profitable, it is (though im not making as much as id like)



the problem is me getting people to come to me to do their car, i have no idea how to find them. im going to raise my prices to 110 bucks soon for the whole car.
 
what are you doing for 75 bucks???? the whole car??? if so, you are undercharging....maybe do a comparison of the processes of your competition...if you are doing more than them, then raise your prices and if customer question the price hike, point it out...for 75 bucks, its a wash, vacuum, windows, trim, tires, exterior wax/polish one step and thats it...takes about 1.5-2 hours depending on the size of the car....if you are spending 5 hours on it for 75 bucks, that is undercutting your profits/hourly wage!



try a jump to 115 bucks and see what the response is....maybe throw in something new that you didnt do before like a carpet cleaning with a scent to it, or a sealant wax instead of just a topper wax (poorboys ex compared to nxt), or offer an additional coat of wax with the price increase (two thin layers instead of one thicker layer)....
 
toyotaguy said:
what are you doing for 75 bucks???? the whole car??? if so, you are undercharging....maybe do a comparison of the processes of your competition...if you are doing more than them, then raise your prices and if customer question the price hike, point it out...for 75 bucks, its a wash, vacuum, windows, trim, tires, exterior wax/polish one step and thats it...takes about 1.5-2 hours depending on the size of the car....if you are spending 5 hours on it for 75 bucks, that is undercutting your profits/hourly wage!



try a jump to 115 bucks and see what the response is....maybe throw in something new that you didnt do before like a carpet cleaning with a scent to it, or a sealant wax instead of just a topper wax (poorboys ex compared to nxt), or offer an additional coat of wax with the price increase (two thin layers instead of one thicker layer)....
Click to expand...



I have always been under the impression that you should wait around a week for one layer of natural wax to cure before you add another. I'm also almost positive that the thickness of the layer is moot because once you start taking the wax off only a little bit stays on the car regardless of how you applied it (hence the saying less is more). Someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, I just don't like to see others waste their time.
 
im more worried about making money at all. however with such little time left theres not much i can do besides prepare for next year, so im going to start doing that



im gonna get new business cards made, though i dont kno whwat to put on them, as well as try and get as many customers as i can so ill have some work for me for next year.

any ideas on how i can set up customers this year so i can get them next year?



im going to raise my prices to 125 a car for now, and ill raise them next year if i get a decent client base going. basically all im worried about now is GETTING a client base, i dont know how to do it. next year im going to put about 2-300 dollars into it at the beginning of the summer, and hopefully that will set me up for the rest of the year.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top