High School Detailer: How to convince I'm better than a Dealership

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Dukedude0017

New member
I'm a high school student, and my main problem with detailing is getting customers. Anyone that has came to me was very happy, and most get me referrals, but outside of that it's nearly impossible to find people. A girl in my class' mom owns an 07 BMW 5 series, and I know she likes me, so I asked her if she'd give her mom a business card for me. Her response was simply, "Why would she come to you when she can just get it done at BMW?" I didn't really know how to answer, because she probably wouldn't have understood me anyway. I even offered to do the car, then have her mom pay me what she thinks my job was worth just because I knew she could refer clients to me with higher end cars. No luck. What can I do to prove I'm not just a kid with a bucket and a sponge?
 
I ran across the same problem, actually I still have the problem every once in a while. For me I just let my work speak for me, do good before and after shoots and let your potential clients know the products and techniques you use when detailing. If they give you their time you need to sell yourself.



Good Luck

Brandon
 
Tell her to get it "done" at BMW and fix what they do ;)



That is my strategy for an Lexus IS member who thought I was charging too much. Though you may get the people who are ashamed to admit they were wrong so thats another factor....
 
I mean I don't have the answers for the girl my age, because she'll think it's pointless. And as a high school student, people won't want to shell out cash for a detail so it's priced cheaper, but then when they see the cheap price they expect turtle wax and a windex wash.
 
few simple words...."let me show you"



do a sample section of the hood/fender...let her see the before and afters...ask if she wants the whole car to look like that...
 
Dukedude0017 said:
I mean I don't have the answers for the girl my age, because she'll think it's pointless. And as a high school student, people won't want to shell out cash for a detail so it's priced cheaper, but then when they see the cheap price they expect turtle wax and a windex wash.
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Charge more and for the students make a discount ...This is a hard part of the job...I have the same problem here...I had a lot of customers that they paid twice for detail their cars..They didn't want to bring it to me,they paid an other guy to do it,and they brought it to me to fix it :lol

The best advertise is your job...Show some pictures to her,try to explain her no matter if she will understand or not,and if you think that she will bring you customers do her car for free and suggest her if she don't make a good job,that you will pay someone else to fix it....

But with some people it doesn't worth it to try at all because they know what they think and they cannot accept or try anything else,no matter how bad is what they know now....
 
I actually am doing a half-hood polish for a different student to show her parents to see if they're willing to throw me the cash to do the rest of the car haha. Thanks for the suggestions. Someone called me from two hours away on a reference today so I had no problem charging him more than I usually charge people
 
What you're encountering here is actually called the sales process and you are the very beginning of it. Who you are currently speaking to is not the prospect, it's a relative of the prospect. And what's the point of selling her on your services? You're just kind of wasting your breath. You have to get through to the prospect. Handing the prospect a card is a flimsy sales tactic. You're not convincing her. She might visit your website and that is about it.



The entire sales process is about convincing prospects that they need you and your services. Forget about your competition. That's a side show and the more you talk about your competition, the less likely you are to earn a sale.



You're a salesperson first, and a detailer second. Remember that.



Hope this bit of advice helps. :)
 
Never thought about it that way. I'm assuming the best tactic would be to do a test panel, but by the sounds of it, they'd be afraid to let me touch their car. I think I might as well let this one be happy with their swirled up dealership detail.
 
One simple process that I use is a flashlight. I had a customer with a black Caddy that was very glossy. This customer was praising the dealership about how well they did their car. All I used was a flashlight (which showed "swirl-city") and then I had a new cusotmer. With many...seeing is believeing. Yes it was as simple as that.
 
Dukedude0017 said:
I Her response was simply, "Why would she come to you when she can just get it done at BMW?"
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I could send you all the pictures I have of cars hammered by Moritz BMW I've had to fix... ;)
 
You raise a question EVERY detailer here battles with on a daily basis! People need to be burned by a bad dealership detail inorder to go anywhere else unless you have a few minutes and pictures to prove that the dealership they frequent truely messes cars up.



Its amazing the profit potential dealers have for bringing detailing inhouse but it seems that most do such a half assed effort in staffing and training that they lose their customers and even their advisors that are worried about the final outcomes.



tip - start with the advisors themselves (in a nice and discrete way) they are the epicenter for all the customers they have had inwhich their dealership did not perform a quality detail!
 
i used to have the same problem. im a freshman in college and this is my 2nd year detailing for clients. i have been doing it now for 3 years. i started with a PC and a few polishes and CG 5050 wax and a few other things here and there. now my buisness has grown much more than that.



i have learned it's all about how you market yourself. i started getting a lot of clients when i would go to car meets and show off my car and how nicely detailed it was. i would make sure my car was PERFECT before i went.



that would get me a few clients from each meet, but that wasn't enough.



then i started posting before/after pictures up on A LOT of forums online. make sure you aren't trying to sell your service, rather just showing off a car you did, because then admins of forums get mad.



the forums are now where i get most of my buisness from.



also it helps to leave about 10-20 buisness cards in each car you detail, so that way the customer can hand those out to people. it took about a year to get the clients coming on a regular basis, but once you get that going you should be good. for instance right now im booked halfway through november, doing 2 cars a week.
 
lol dont bash, but i jusit started working for BMW to wash and detail their cars

and they get LOTS of business, my back hurts LOL
 
mrgrape said:
lol dont bash, but i jusit started working for BMW to wash and detail their cars

and they get LOTS of business, my back hurts LOL
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Wow, we might get the inside scoop now... does BMW hand out these to wash cars with?



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Back to the OP's question... I think it might help if you price your details higher and offer a coupon, that way people percieve a higher value. I know its not easy, I did the same thing in high school, I can't remember many people that we got face to face, our most sucessful method was fliers on mailboxes in the nicer neighberhoods. We had a nice flier and people didn't know how old we were until we showed up and it was too late :LOLOL
 
i had a similar incident with a prospecting customer. they kept calling me every few days asking for my rates. finally they asked the golden question. "why should i pay you that much when the Mercedes Dealer charges $xxx.xx?" i replied back "Do you want to trust your car to someone that gets paid by the hour? they are just trying to get the day done. i take my time and use all quality products and make sure everything is perfect, otherwise its not done untill it is perfect." enough said. next morning the car was waiting for me to detail it
 
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