My New Guarantee: Satisfaction or Your Detail Is Free

RTexasF said:
As always a 30 minute talk with an owner, both to get a feel for them and to discover what they wanted/expected, was always done. Once I had a good feeling about the individual the phrase was used a a closing tool. It was not mentioned to every customer. If I had a bad gut feeling I would decline the work or take the job but not mention the guarantee. I think it can snag some work but has to be used with some common sense.
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This x10.



Your way or working it was better than mine. :chuckle:
 
Let your work do the talking, your not going to blow away your competition by saying satisfaction or its free. It sounds like your doubting yourself and not confident. It should always be satisfactory.
 
I think it will round up cheaper work for ya. From my exsperiance people who have the pockets don't care about a guarantee. They want results.
 
I guarantee my work, as I'm sure most on here do, but not with money back, with results.





When you are done with a customers car and they are happy, politely ask them to refer you to their friends and hand them a few business cards.



Word of mouth advertising will suit you much better in the long run.
 
Also to me, a company that offers a money back guarantee on a service, makes me think they have had quality issues in the past.
 
Just make sure you keep don't dump the bucket of wash water till they pay. If they don't, it goes back on the car...lol.



IMO, this is a great idea if you do production work, not for a detail here and there.
 
I like "Satisfaction guaranteed or double your dirt back" better.



Seriously though an offer like this will not bring out good customers, it will bring out scam artists. You will get burnt. The people who will respond to this kind of gimmick will look for any reason not to pay. Be more positive in your approach.
 
IMHO its a Double edged sword.



You have current clients. Who are satisfied, A satasfaction guaranteed Will just boost some more confidence in you. Knowing they haven't had a problem in the past why would one start now.



But on the other edge you have a new or plausible client coming your way. You meet with them and ask what they want. Exceed their expectations. But will find any little thing to get out of paying you.



"Satisfaction guaranteed or the next one is one me" Is a little better. Because if they weren't satisfied and you corrected it. You still get paid for the first detail. And if it was that bad, Why would they call you back for the second free detail?



Winter time in the great North is always a BEOTCH for detailers. I want my car to shine. If its a garage queen. It sits in the garage for the winter. If its my DD i might just skip a few details because I know all the road slop, and such is gonna be all over it again tommorrow.
 
I'm not a pro, but wanted to chime in ... People are jerks. There are stories on here about others skipping out on invoices (including a huge thread about an RV).



If you give someone the chance to get their money back, at least some of them will say it sucks and demand it free. If you advertise this special on craigslist, you'll get a ton of business, and none will want to pay when you are finished. That's my prediction, but I'm not a pro.



As said above me, "Satisfaction guaranteed or the next one is one me" is probably the best way to go. Heck if you feel like someone is scamming you by demanding the second one (like they just say they hate it without any support) then you can do a half-assed second attempt. Don't have to say the second one is guaranteed.
 
Gig103 said:
As said above me, "Satisfaction guaranteed or the next one is one me" is probably the best way to go. Heck if you feel like someone is scamming you by demanding the second one (like they just say they hate it without any support) then you can do a half-assed second attempt. Don't have to say the second one is guaranteed.
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If the first one isn't up to expectations I don't know how many customers would want to give you a follow up job; and ideally any touch up work should be a given. If the customer isn't satisfied with your work, you should be back there ASAP to rectify it- if there's nothing to fix/correct or they're being overly particular at the price they've paid then there's nothing you can do. Providing a worthwhile service should be a professional's foremost concern, if your work isn't up to par and the results were under your control you should be bending over backward to make it right- with our without 'advertising' it.



Just use 100% of your potential and charge accordingly, you won't need to give anything away.
 
It's going great actually! The calls I get weekly have gone up about 150%. I truly do think it's giving me an upper hand on my competition. Once again to the doubters, I could care less about the guarantee side of it....I put the guarantee in place to increase the number of customers I get monthly. No matter how you look at it....it works. Not everybody is going to ask for the free detail, and all the new customers you got from the guarantee that paid...will outnumber the ones that want the free one 10 to 1. Just be ready to turn down some jobs if you feel like their going to ask about the guarantee before you start. To me it shoots red flags if they talk about the price or seem like nit pickers.
 
MaksimumAuto said:
It's going great actually! Not everybody is going to ask for the free detail, and all the new customers you got from the guarantee that paid...will outnumber the ones that want the free one 10 to 1.
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:wow: I hope you don't really mean this? If 1 out of 10 people aren't satisfied with your details, you need to up the quality of your work big time. That's a terrible loss ratio. You shouldn't have any really.
 
David Fermani said:
:wow: I hope you don't really mean this? If 1 out of 10 people aren't satisfied with your details, you need to up the quality of your work big time. That's a terrible loss ratio. You shouldn't have any really.
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I was just making a point. Even though my customers are highly satisfied with my work, I still believe that you can't please everybody. If you try to, you will waste time, money, and dignity. I'm not worried about loosing reputation...it's more of a devil's advocate argument. It's not like that one unsatisfied customer will tell the whole state that he doesn't like your service. The customer isn't always right...many of them are just hairlips and you just need to tell them "good day sir". Especially craigslist clients. If any client tells me they found me on craislist...I basically try to have them convince me whey I should detail their car. Their on craigslist for a reason.....to save money. This means a lot of potential "ya'll got any coooopons n speshials?", "how about a discount", and "Instead of $250 can we do $200?"



I also strictly refuse to deal with foreign people, and no I'm not racist. I myself am an immigrant. I came here from Ukraine in 1999. I know many other immigrants from different countries. WE ARE ALL AS CHEAP AS COULD BE. I have never encountered an immigrant that didn't try to haggle the living daylights out of me. I run away from accents like the plague. I'm partnered with an Italian mechanic shop here in Baltimore and constantly Ferrari owners try to haggle down their rates. They have $250k cars and want to haggle over $50. It's just how things are in Europe and in Asia. Everybody haggles for everything. EVERYTHING. In the US it's a forgotten art. If I were on the hunt for a detailer for my car, I would feel sorry for the guy I were to choose and call. I'd haggle him...because I'm European and as you already know...we're cheap and haggle for everything.



*rant over*
 
Btw, foreign does not necessarily = race. You're a white guy, right? Irish guys are white guys(natively) and saying you won't do business with them because they are irish isn't a race issue. It's a national one.



What you mean to say is that you're not prejudice. Which you are. ;)



MaksimumAuto said:
I was just making a point. Even though my customers are highly satisfied with my work, I still believe that you can't please everybody. If you try to, you will waste time, money, and dignity. I'm not worried about loosing reputation...it's more of a devil's advocate argument. It's not like that one unsatisfied customer will tell the whole state that he doesn't like your service. The customer isn't always right...many of them are just hairlips and you just need to tell them "good day sir". Especially craigslist clients. If any client tells me they found me on craislist...I basically try to have them convince me whey I should detail their car. Their on craigslist for a reason.....to save money. This means a lot of potential "ya'll got any coooopons n speshials?", "how about a discount", and "Instead of $250 can we do $200?"



I also strictly refuse to deal with foreign people, and no I'm not racist. I myself am an immigrant. I came here from Ukraine in 1999. I know many other immigrants from different countries. WE ARE ALL AS CHEAP AS COULD BE. I have never encountered an immigrant that didn't try to haggle the living daylights out of me. I run away from accents like the plague. I'm partnered with an Italian mechanic shop here in Baltimore and constantly Ferrari owners try to haggle down their rates. They have $250k cars and want to haggle over $50. It's just how things are in Europe and in Asia. Everybody haggles for everything. EVERYTHING. In the US it's a forgotten art. If I were on the hunt for a detailer for my car, I would feel sorry for the guy I were to choose and call. I'd haggle him...because I'm European and as you already know...we're cheap and haggle for everything.



*rant over*
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Jean-Claude said:
Btw, foreign does not necessarily = race. You're a white guy, right? Irish guys are white guys(natively) and saying you won't do business with them because they are irish isn't a race issue. It's a national one.



What you mean to say is that you're not prejudice. Which you are. ;)
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Exactly good sir! :clap: My lack of prejudice(or presence of ;) ) keeps my wallet nice and full.
 
MaksimumAuto said:
Exactly good sir! :clap: My lack of prejudice(or presence of ;) ) keeps my wallet nice and full.
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Prejudice doesn't have to be a bad thing. It's the blind prejudice that's no good.



Shoot, any time I drive through a rough area of Atlanta I am VERY prejudice and cautious. Any time I deal with someone who's acting suspicious the prejudice shows up.
 
MaksimumAuto said:
Exactly good sir! :clap: My lack of prejudice(or presence of ;) ) keeps my wallet nice and full.
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I'm curious what a full wallet means to you? Could you support yourself living on your own?
 
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