I need advice!

D

Dynamik

New member
Hello all, I'm a new member, but I've been looking around the forums for awhile and finally I made an account. To be honest I've learned everything on this forum and I hope to become a well known detailer in my area. A couple days ago I did a detail job for one of my managers. What I did for him was wash, clay, interior, and two coats of wax. He definitely was pleased, but I got the feeling he didn't appreciate what went into making his vehicle look like how it did. All I got was good job period, maybe I'm just looking for more of an expression, but do you guys feel the same way? And how do you overcome it?



Now, I have a couple details coming up and I was debating on whether I should raise my price or not on my future details. My manager paid $120 for his Yukon Denali, do you think its overpriced or could I bump up the price for that size? Then for my car price I'm looking at $100. The total area I'm servicing to has about ~45k average income, however, the area I live in has a higher income mainly professionals in their business.



I hope in the near future I will have these customers turn into full details like one stage polish or even two stage. I've polished my family's vehicles and my own cars which provided great practice. I'm still honing in my skills with the makita, but I think I have a good grasp on the PC (a lot easier on the body as well :D).



Sorry for the long post.



Here's some of my past work on my cars



Process for Civic -

  • Wash w/ Meg's Gold Class
  • Clay w/ Auto Magic
  • Quick re-wash
  • Polished w/ PC LC Orange Menzerna SIP
  • PC LC Black Menzerna 106ff
  • 1 Coat of NXT 2.0
  • 1 Coat of P21s carnauba wax



Ditto on M3 except only polished with 106ff.

Suggestions?



Before





After









No befores





 
I was thinking on adding in coupons to the restaurant I work for like a 10% off exclusive to those customers that bought a service from me; I'm trying to give the customer a little incentive. Then in return for handing out coupons and driving customers to my managers business I would get a commission. Has anyone done this and if so was it worth the hassle?
 
One of the biggest things I've had to learn is to really value the work I do regardless of what people, some customers, coworkers, girlfriends/spouses think. As far as pricing your work, check out the competition in your area. What do they charge for similar services? Go with that pricing for a little while until you build up word of mouth. When your reputation is getting you work and you start getting booked up then you should charge more. Simple supply and demand.



I am not a big fan of coupons and discounts. Especially with this type of work. You've got to view yourself as a highly trained artisan. Sell your customers on the service you provide not on the price. Have confidence in your pricing. Look a customer in the eye with confidence and tell them about the high quality service you provide and at the end tell them the price as a matter of function. Again with confidence. You may consider working a discount in for referrals or customer loyalty; but, you don't have to.



Tim
 
XL Advantage said:
One of the biggest things I've had to learn is to really value the work I do regardless of what people, some customers, coworkers, girlfriends/spouses think. As far as pricing your work, check out the competition in your area. What do they charge for similar services? Go with that pricing for a little while until you build up word of mouth. When your reputation is getting you work and you start getting booked up then you should charge more. Simple supply and demand.



I am not a big fan of coupons and discounts. Especially with this type of work. You've got to view yourself as a highly trained artisan. Sell your customers on the service you provide not on the price. Have confidence in your pricing. Look a customer in the eye with confidence and tell them about the high quality service you provide and at the end tell them the price as a matter of function. Again with confidence. You may consider working a discount in for referrals or customer loyalty; but, you don't have to.



Tim
Click to expand...



Thanks for the advice. As far as the coupon I'm not going to advertise the coupon in my package, but give it to them after I finish their vehicle as a token of appreciation. After thinking about it I might do this later down the road when I have a good amount of customers.
 
I detail as a side job. I can't fully give up working full time to do it. I don't think I would stay busy enough and winters here in Michigan is not busy enough for details.

I think $120 is too low for an SUV. I charged $180 for a long time and I just raised my prices this year. $200 for a car. $250 for trucks & suv's.

So far the demand is high and I'm doing well.
 
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