How are you guys dealing with this?

H

HiMyNameIsSean

New member
Today, I stopped at a gas station and the guy behind the counter see's my company shirt, and asks me a little about my business and we get to the question, how much for my infinity outside. I tell him It'll be roughly around 150 for inside and out. He tells me I'm crazy, he can go down to _____ shop and get it done for 90 dollars, and they'll be done in 2 hours. These are the 5 or 6 detail shops in my area, all the same way, so everyone is already set on paying 90-125 dollars for a "full detail". I tried to explain to him that I'm doing different work than this shop, but he's convinced they "do it all " .



I just started this business, and it looks like this is going to be my biggest hurtle to overcome. How would you go about handling mass amounts of people interested in a detail, but don't understand what actually goes on at these shops. I'd really hate to have to succumb to pumping out 5 cars a day at 100 dollars and doing a half *** job, but thats what its looking like.



Thanks for any input,

Sean
 
Actually I have ran into this a few times with my customers. Best thing to do is have a sheet showing what all is included under your package. Tell your customer that, if he was interested take it to his shop and compare the work they get to the work you do. Now granted I do now know the work thats included under your package. But if you do way more work for only slightly more than your competitior then your good, but you may be doing less work for more money than them.



Example. My mid grade package is $139 for...



Washed, Interior Vecummed, Inside and Out Windows Cleaned & Leather and Plastic Panels/Dash Cleaned and Treated, Clay Bared, Paint Compounded with Hand Pads, Paint Sealant, Then Waxed.



I have gotten plenty of business with that package. Made sure I shopped around and am beating all competitiors with that price. Sometimes you just have to work for less, best way to get a customer base. Hell that packaged when I first started my business I charged only $90. Now that I have a customer base and return customers I charge a bit more and they are willing to pay for it, for the work done.
 
Simple... Go grab a bottle of brand "X" cheap crap that they use down there. A dirty pad and a couple of stained up nasty terry towels. And then grab your stuff. and show them point blank



"This is what THEY use on your car to get it done so cheap and quick"



And then "This is all the products I use in making your finish truely detailed properly"



If that visual dosen't convince them then nothing will and you don't want them as a customer.
 
That 150 dollars would have been something like, wash/clay/something like D151 via white pad, tires wheels and wells cleaned and dressed, and a basic interior with spot removal. it would of taken me about 3 or 4 hours depending how bad the car was.



Jake, I wanted to take that route, but I hate bashing the other shops, even though they're hacks, I won't bash anyone else's business. I tried explaining that the work the local shops do are different than my work, but he wasn't hearing it. I'm thinking about getting pamphlets made up with a few cheaper packages and up selling people with nicer cars or more money.
 
Ah, yes... what I am starting to find out now with price shoppers is that less is more. Can't really explain it , but once you figure it out, or whatever, it's like seeing through the Matrix.
 
i deal with it all the time..there is a detail and window tinting place in town that does cheap qwick details and two car wash places that offer a "full" detail for 79.95...all they do is wash the car...apply glaze and wax by hand that they pump out of a 55 gallon drum...the crap feels like oil on the paint, not to mention when they spray the armor all on the tires its leaves spots all over the side of the car. someone at work is a loyal customer to them..i brought a handheld halogen light to work and shined it on the fender of thier car...they **** their pants when they saw the swirls..this was the same day the detail was done.



all i have to do is show someone what a detail job i do looks like compared to the "discount" place. that usually gets them but they still dont understand why i charge so much and why it takes me at least a full day for a detail job.
 
you can bash the other hacks and still be tactful about it. It's up to you to point out the truth. Sometime that's a sour pill you have to swallow to do it. Certian people want the quick in and out service and cheap price those shops offer. That's seriously why there's so many of them around. You have to ask him simply put "what kind of customer do you want to be?" SO him the truth as to why those shops get away with being so cheap and so quick. Then show him what it really takes. Then ask the question again. If he's still just in it for the money saved and not the quality then there's not much else you can do except to do an IPA wipedown in front of him on his car that he just dropped his $100 and show him flat out that he did nothing more than waste his money.
 
Forget about it, some people will never be happy or understand the extent of what results are possible.



I sometimes get calls for price quotes after people read my site which has my prices posted. I received one of those on Tuesday this week.



A customer called looking for a $250 job on his daughters Audi. I was about to refer him to a local guy I know who handles that type of work when he tells me he lives on "x" st, which is walking distance from my house.



I told him its not my thing but I'd help him out as he is a neighbor and not to expect much. (Not the best sales tactic...)



He arrived at my house at 7:58am, 2 minutes early, a big plus to me.



The exterior was hammered. Interior was just untidy. I gave it a thorough wash, aggressive clay, and a Poli-Seal + Opti-Seal combo with the PC. Took me 4 hours with 2 broken toes on my left foot.:sosad Optimum is not only cost effective, it leaves behind dripping wet results on silver paint.



The owner came to pick the car up and was extremely gracious and pleased with the outcome. It exceeded his expectations.





DSC_1946.JPG






Lesson to me: Stop turning away everyone NOT looking for a $1000+ correction. I need to explore other avenues. I maintained a $60/hr rate and had a great time on Black Friday. This is where the skill, years of experience, and technical product knowledge come into play. Its knowing how to make the most with what you have.
 
jdoria said:
I gave it a thorough wash, aggressive clay, and a Poli-Seal + Opti-Seal combo with the PC. Took me 4 hours with 2 broken toes on my left foot.:sosad Optimum is not only cost effective, it leaves behind dripping wet results on silver paint.



The owner came to pick the car up and was extremely gracious and pleased with the outcome. It exceeded his expectations.







Lesson to me: Stop turning away everyone NOT looking for a $1000+ correction. I need to explore other avenues. I maintained a $60/hr rate and had a great time on Black Friday. This is where the skill, years of experience, and technical product knowledge come into play. Its knowing how to make the most with what you have.
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Yep, you could have even stopped with the Poliseal and I'm sure he would have been just as happy. All too often autopians thing people want perfect paint. Most people just want their car cleaned well on the inside and a little more shine on the outside. If a customer comes to you ASKING for paint correction, then yeah, its time for a full detail, but most people could care less.
 
SoCalB6 said:
Ah, yes... what I am starting to find out now with price shoppers is that less is more. Can't really explain it , but once you figure it out, or whatever, it's like seeing through the Matrix.
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To be fair, isn't that true with all people when looking to buy something (not just a detail) from the market? I don't buy designer clothing, it may be better quality but I just can't justify the price difference so I buy the cheaper stuff. I am starting to buy more and more stuff from Harbor Freight. Yes, I know the quality of their merchandise may not be the best but it gets the job done and I like the price. People are the same way with their cars' appearance. To some people, those extra steps we offer do not justify the price difference unfortunately. What is obviously worth it to us is not to them.
 
happens to me all the time. there is probably 4 or 5, not including myself, "mobile detailers" in my town. I had a lady call me today, said she wanted her honda accord to have "the works" as she called it. i quoted her 65.00, she kind of hesitatd and said ok, that sounds good, i will call you in the morning to set up arrangements to come do it.



Point is, IF she wanted me to do it, she would of set up the arrangements right then, second, im sure she was thinking, "i can get it done somewhere else alot cheaper".



I made sure to tell her before we hung up, everything that was include in my full detail.. wash/wax/windows/interior,vac,wiped down/dressed/tires/wheels/engine compartment cleaned..



now.. i'm not as advanced as many of you, i have a orbital buffer, or i hand wax, i am hoping to get to the level you guys are at one day. I want to learn everything i can about all that you pro's do!!
 
yakky said:
Yep, you could have even stopped with the Poliseal and I'm sure he would have been just as happy. All too often autopians thing people want perfect paint. Most people just want their car cleaned well on the inside and a little more shine on the outside. If a customer comes to you ASKING for paint correction, then yeah, its time for a full detail, but most people could care less.
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It is a disease.



I finished the car about 12 and they arrived to picked it up at 4:30pm.



As I was bored at home, I went into my garage about 4pm and hit the car with another shot of Opti-Seal, jambs and wheels included. :think:
 
you should of left him a card and tell him to call you when they hack his paint. you can tell a customer that if a shop does it for less money and isn't correctly done, that you would have to remove even more clear than was necessary when you would of done the job right in the first place. you can let them know the term, "you get what you pay for" definitely applies to car care and your attention to detail and expectations are very high compared to others. once you proven yourself and the customer see's it, i'm sure the money issue won't be much of a problem anymore once they know what you do and how you do it...
 
My motto I have with things I love, "perfection is good enoughs worst enemy". Me personally I do this for fun and spare change. I don't offer polishing or paint correction as of now. I still manage one car a week. So I'm happy
 
Funny thing is, I gave him a card almost right away, and as I was leaving he gave it back to me, and I said you might as well hold onto it, and he goes no man your crazy, 150 dollars is crazy. Anyways, I'm really getting stressed out over this, and I think I'm thinking to much about it. Im just gonna sleep it off.
 
Just let your work speak for it self. All it takes is the right customer to tell his friend who tells his friend who tells her mom who tells her friend.... and on and on
 
I understand that part of the job involves "convincing" people that your services are well-worth the cost, but sometimes I just smile, nod, and say "I bet those people do better work, for less money and less time"

or "Take it down to the local car wash and you might like their work". Sometimes I actually get a kick out of sending potential business elsewhere. :up
 
Most people could care less about swirl free paint. There are many that love and will pay for a perfect finish, but most people have zero to little knowledge about their cars paint. Easy thing to do is; drop your standards (I know this is a hard thing to do) give him a price that is approx the same as the shops in the area, and spend two hours on the car. Of course if you have someting more important to do, just turn it down. But its easy money for about two hours of your time.
 
Scottwax said:
I carry a photo-album of my work with me.
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Yes, I was just going to say that!!! A good digital picture frame may work best if theft is not an issue.



Sometimes, being a good detailing-business owner means more than doing quality work. To be a successful businessman, which is what you are if you operate a business, you must know how to market yourself, assess the competition, know where your niche customers are and find them. There are probably a lot of good detailers around, but certainly not all of them are good businesspersons. What good is your skills if you don't know how to market them to potential clients or customers? This is especially true if you are starting new. Everybody has to go through this phase in their career. A new MBA graduate is going to have to know how to do a good interview (marketing onself to potential employers) in order to land a decent job. Having the knowledge and skills is nothing if you don't know how to market yourself. Enough business-model talks.



Anyway, I would not badmouth the competitions. I'd tell my potential clients what I could offer him that the competitions probably couldn't. On "another" detailing forum, there's a person that keeps boasting about his xx years of experience s/he has, in an attempt to discredit other people whom s/he hasn't met before. I wouldn't recommend this detailer to anyone regardless of his experience and skills; nobody likes to deal with a boastful elitist. One's character speaks much about his/her work ethics. Soo. in a nutshell, do not bash your competition to uplift yourself. That's just my humble opinion as a consumer.



As a side job (I own a marketing company organizing consignments for various manufacturers ranging from fresh produce to silicone chips), I perform bolt-on modifications for enthusiasts in the Porsche and BMW community. I install mostly intake, exhausts, coilovers and big brake kits for my clients. I do ocassionally get a few emails from potential clients asking me if I could install something for them cheaper than I'd normally ask. Most of the time, I explain to them that some tuning shops may not have access to the correct torque specifications for their cars. This is true. I have seen some porsche lugs torqued to an ungodly setting. I, on the other hand, have a database of this information which I've acquired on the internet. I also explain to them the steps I take to ensure a safe and durable installation of their mods, the proper tools I have, etc. Most of the time, I am able to talk these people into hiring me. Just be honest in what you could offer to your potential client and you should get the job.
 
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