Perfections
New member
Flash Gordon said:
There's a lot of truth to this.
New Video and Website & Introduction
- Thread starter ReflectionsADS
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There's a lot of truth to this.
David Fermani
Forza Auto Salon
Flash Gordon said:
Not if you do it right. There's alot of money in maintenance washes. Why give money away to some hack car wash that's going to destroy all your hard work? If you and your client truly cares about preserving the vehicle, it's a valueable add on to your menu.
I'd rather have a few clients I can take care of all their care care needs instead of a bunch where I'm just doing the hardcore detailing on.
imported_dfazekas
New member
video = inspiring
ReflectionsADS
New member
David Fermani said:
David Fermani said:
Flash Gordon said:
dfazekas said:
Thanks for the info fellas. I've removed pricing from my site so that may inspire a few more inquiries. I don't mind the just the washes, but I don't want to get wrapped up into being just a wash guy. Hopefully to counteract this, I've taken TS advice and finalized some before and after pics to go up on the site and loaded those. I was worried that pricing being available on the site would give any potential clients the opportunity to make a decision without speaking to me first. This way I can accurately price those maintenance washes.
Flash: I hear you on the starter package and even at $75.00 for the "mini detail" I felt like I was losing here- I'm seriously reconsidering my pricing structure. However, I don't want to eliminate the maintenance washes- they give me "busy work". This helps since I'm just starting in this market.
Thanks Dave and DFAZ. I love that initial opening with the bucket and grit guard- When we started this video shoot, he shot every aspect of what we do (in most cases) and tried to incorporate that and show it accurately. One of my favorite shots!!
Thanks again!
-John
David Fermani said:
If I had a fixed location where ppl brought their cars to me, or was strickly mobile and had 20 cars sitting in front of me it might work, but being 50% mobile and 50% pickup/delievery to much time is wasted driving back and forth or waiting on the customer :hairpull
The problem with only having a few customers you service is that they die. I've been to 3 funerals this year alone :nervous:
johngs4 said:
My starter package is what I was telling you about earlier (1 step polish & wax + thorough interior cleaning) $175 -$250. I need to clear $45 an hour to make it worth my while. Otherwise, I'll just stay home and annoy everyone on the detailing forums :typing:
Don't feel like you have to be giving everyone a deal all the time or you won't make it :boom:
David Fermani
Forza Auto Salon
Flash Gordon said:
It really depends on the area and kinds of cars you service. Take a stroll on any detailing forum and you get swarmed with all the details of high end and exotic cars. I'd be willing to bet hardly none of these detailers do regular maintenance washes on these vehicles? I'd also be willing to bet that most of these car owners have multiple cars too. They all need to be washed, so why not offer this extra service? They've obviously trusted these expensive vehicles with these detailers and I imagine are being charged a good amount of money to detail them? I'd be also willing to bet that if a service plan was set up to do regular miantenance of these vehicles at an affordable price then it could turn into a great avenue for additional business and you'd also be locking in your clients for the long term because you're seeing them on a regular basis. If you could do atleast 6 maintenance washes per day at $75/each (or more) once or twice a week you would not only be breaking your back less, but increasing your chances for customer retension. These types of people love to be serviced and don't mind paying extra for the convenience of it. After a while, you could grow this even further and hire a person to do the washes and branch out to more clients.
Unless you have a client that choses to wash their car in the most anal way, they're going to end up sending it to someone who's going to swirl their car up. They then need to keep taking it back to you to freshen it up all while grinding down the paint reducing the life term of the paint. How long is that going to last? It's a double edged sword and in some case I don't think it makes detailers appear that responsible.
imported_dfazekas
New member
^ What he said. I maintain, probably, 90% of the cars I do correction on. Staying connected with clients is very important to me, and that's probably the most effective way to do it.
Can't tell you how many well paying jobs I've gotten because of those regular maintenance washes.
Can't tell you how many well paying jobs I've gotten because of those regular maintenance washes.
ReflectionsADS
New member
David Fermani said:
I agree here and also find that I am getting as many maintenance wash/wax (which to Flash's point, I have increased the price by about 40%) as I am 1-steps. I'm sure this is a seasonal thing at this point and expect to have many winter prep's coming up soon. I find that I can do 4-6 of these maintenance jobs in a day and it's giving me the opportunity to build clientele quickly. I**Recent Honda S2000 owner hinted about Spring correction for his NSX and Lexus owner wanting work for the Porsche ** Great work will pay off in the end here. Also getting referral work this way as well- so I'm not upset about these maintenance jobs.
dfazekas said:
I haven't gotten any high end jobs yet, how did you guys break into this market?
imported_Quenga
New member
The video is good, but I think it lacks that dramatic "before and after" shot. Also, one of my pet peeves that detailers do is spray cleaners/dressings onto dash panels and steering wheels. It looks cool for the video, but it would prevent me from giving you my car...and a few of my clients would agree. The first lady I picked up through my first postcard mailing specifically told me why she wanted a new detailer. The last guy sprayed stuff on her steering wheel, stuff got behind it and messed up some electronics. Who knows if that's actually what caused it, but it ended up being a $3000 repair.
Guess how many people she told that story to? Guess how many referrals she told when I responded back that I vehemently oppose people spraying products onto dashes. While I was there on my last wash some guy walked up to me and was asking about pricing. The only other question he asked was, "you don't spray stuff onto the dash do you?". It could just be a coincidence?
I stopped worrying about getting high-end details and started worrying about getting clients. A lot of people will tell you that the guys truck, Honda or van you just washed, could have a Ferrari in his garage. But, if you can't wash his car, he won't let you touch his baby. I worked with executives at my former job and the VP of Purchasing drives a beat up truck to work every day, but he's got 2 Porches at home I'm supposed to detail some day.
Also, it's easy to sell cheap washes and quick wax jobs to a lot of people. A lot of people = a lot of free marketing. You could probably wash 10 cars in 1 day, which if you did a good job, means you recruited 10 sales people. No HR recruiter can pull that off
. Washing cars isn't fun, but it pays and it's better than staring at spreadsheets all day like I used to!
Guess how many people she told that story to? Guess how many referrals she told when I responded back that I vehemently oppose people spraying products onto dashes. While I was there on my last wash some guy walked up to me and was asking about pricing. The only other question he asked was, "you don't spray stuff onto the dash do you?". It could just be a coincidence?
I stopped worrying about getting high-end details and started worrying about getting clients. A lot of people will tell you that the guys truck, Honda or van you just washed, could have a Ferrari in his garage. But, if you can't wash his car, he won't let you touch his baby. I worked with executives at my former job and the VP of Purchasing drives a beat up truck to work every day, but he's got 2 Porches at home I'm supposed to detail some day.
Also, it's easy to sell cheap washes and quick wax jobs to a lot of people. A lot of people = a lot of free marketing. You could probably wash 10 cars in 1 day, which if you did a good job, means you recruited 10 sales people. No HR recruiter can pull that off
. Washing cars isn't fun, but it pays and it's better than staring at spreadsheets all day like I used to!ReflectionsADS
New member
Quenga said:The video is good, but I think it lacks that dramatic "before and after" shot. Also, one of my pet peeves that detailers do is spray cleaners/dressings onto dash panels and steering wheels. It looks cool for the video, but it would prevent me from giving you my car...and a few of my clients would agree. The first lady I picked up through my first postcard mailing specifically told me why she wanted a new detailer. The last guy sprayed stuff on her steering wheel, stuff got behind it and messed up some electronics. Who knows if that's actually what caused it, but it ended up being a $3000 repair.
Guess how many people she told that story to? Guess how many referrals she told when I responded back that I vehemently oppose people spraying products onto dashes. While I was there on my last wash some guy walked up to me and was asking about pricing. The only other question he asked was, "you don't spray stuff onto the dash do you?". It could just be a coincidence?
I stopped worrying about getting high-end details and started worrying about getting clients. A lot of people will tell you that the guys truck, Honda or van you just washed, could have a Ferrari in his garage. But, if you can't wash his car, he won't let you touch his baby. I worked with executives at my former job and the VP of Purchasing drives a beat up truck to work every day, but he's got 2 Porches at home I'm supposed to detail some day.
Also, it's easy to sell cheap washes and quick wax jobs to a lot of people. A lot of people = a lot of free marketing. You could probably wash 10 cars in 1 day, which if you did a good job, means you recruited 10 sales people. No HR recruiter can pull that off
Lot of valid points here. The "spray" was strictly an effect for the video and I must agree with the guy shooting the video- it did add a nice effect. I understand about that particular customer of yours as well and can't blame her for being worried about that since someone did $3k worth of damage to her vehicle.
I'm still in favor of maintenance washes/waxes- as it's getting cooler that seems to be what I'm getting, but a couple hundred bucks a day in maintenance work is fine by me! And Quenga, you're right- I love having those sales people "working" for me, it's definitely bringing in some new work!