Marketing at car shows

I have found that show car enthusiasts are usually the most anal people to do work for. they will nit-pick you to death when you are done, and almost NEVER tip.

I am not saying that I am trying to short-change my customers but some people get out of control as to what they beleive a wash and wax will correct. With about 95% of show car people I have found that it is not worth the hassle.
 
A hot rodder friend of mine recently tried to convince me to wash cars with simple green and dish sponges. I gave him the phone number of a paintshop. :chuckle:



After some explaining... he got kind of pissed off, but then we laughed it off. He called me a couple days later to help him polish up his car... then I noticed a brand new gallon of Turtle Wax* soap in his wash bucket. He never admitted that my information worked. Hard headed moth@!!@#%



I guess that from the information I recieved from here, Im going to attend car shows and cruises for fun. If I make any business, splended. But I wont concentrate any of my efforts into it.



Thanks guys!!! :2thumbs:
 
Yeah, I'd say I.A.S put it right. Most car people are going to do their cars themselves, and whether or not they actually do, they think they know how to detail cars (I can rebuild an engine, surely I can wash a car). Also, not everyone at a car show has the money for detailing- it's very likely they've put all their money into their car already, and would put any future money into more parts, not details.



It wouldn't hurt to pass out cards, etc at a car show, you never know what you might get, but I wouldn't put a lot of time and money into it.
 
I agree with most folks that 9 out of 10 show go-ers know everything about their ride and you couldn't possibly teach them anything. No debate at all from me with that.



Now...speaking from my own personal experience of running a full-time detail business for the past six years I will stand by my assertion 100% that the show scene is a very lucrative market. My caveat to this statement is that I will have my own personal car that is always in the show next to the potential customers. That makes a HUGE difference when trying to capture this market niche.



My M.O. for this is simple. I approach the prospective client...compliment his car...talk with him on the mods he has made (another HUGE marketing tool...you have to know the prospective client's car whether it be a Mustang or an Evo...and anything in between)...then begin talking detailing. I will casually get him over to my WS6 and show him what I am talking about. At that point it is a done deal.



While it is not a large part of my business (about 5-10%) it is a very high profit customer base as these folks will always purchase my larger, multi-step detail packages.
 
Noticed something rather interesting the other evening at a local car show/cruise night. While the sun was still out the painted finishes on just about every car looked great. Not a flaw or imperfection to be found. However, as soon as the sun went down and the lights in the restaurant's parking lot came on, it was an entirely different story. You would have been amazed to see all of the paint defects that became visible as the lights reflected in the finishes.
 
Frank-that is why so many here use halogen lights instead of the sun to check their work. Amazing how revealing that type of lighting is.
 
mirrorfinishman said:
Hey Scott,



When you figure what these classics are selling for now-a-days, it was very dissapointing to see what they looked like under the lights.
Click to expand...



When I was out in Irvine a couple years ago at Meguiars, we went to the Peterson Automotive Museum and I and the other detailers were absolutely stunned at how horrible all those cars with $$$$ custom paint jobs looked under the lights. :nervous2:
 
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