strange people

P

pampos

New member
Something strange happened today...A third person told me that some of my customers were complaining about my prices,but they are more than 100% happy with the results....The most strange is that ALL OF THEM are super car owners,and they asked for the job without asking how much it will cost....My mistake that i didn't tell them how much it will cost,but i they supposed to knew what i am doing and what my prices are....I have a price list there for every one to check my prices....That third person suggest me to use an AIO product and some wax because they are not appreciate my job,and to have the full correction as an extra job....The huge problem is that they were comparing my prices with other ''detailer's'' cheap job and prices....

Is that happened to any one else before or it is another ONLY IN CYPRUS thing??

What do you suggest me to do??

Also according on what have you seen until now from me,what do you think ids a fare price to charge??

Thanks guys....
 
pampos said:
Something strange happened today...A third person told me that some of my customers were complaining about my prices,but they are more than 100% happy with the results....The most strange is that ALL OF THEM are super car owners,and they asked for the job without asking how much it will cost....My mistake that i didn't tell them how much it will cost,but i they supposed to knew what i am doing and what my prices are....I have a price list there for every one to check my prices....That third person suggest me to use an AIO product and some wax because they are not appreciate my job,and to have the full correction as an extra job....The huge problem is that they were comparing my prices with other ''detailer's'' cheap job and prices....

Is that happened to any one else before or it is another ONLY IN CYPRUS thing??

What do you suggest me to do??

Also according on what have you seen until now from me,what do you think ids a fare price to charge??

Thanks guys....
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From my experience, the people with the money are the ones that will 1. complain the most and will try to get you lower on your prices.



What to do...Either educate the customers as to why you are more expensive vs. the other guys OR offer an express style detail.
 
Danase said:
From my experience, the people with the money are the ones that will 1. complain the most and will try to get you lower on your prices.



What to do...Either educate the customers as to why you are more expensive vs. the other guys OR offer an express style detail.
Click to expand...



I am thinking of that....Just to have as a standard detailing the express one , and the full corRection as a special one....The problem is that i don't want to lower the standard of my quality....
 
It happens everywhere. If the subject comes up with one of your actual customers (not as hearsay) explain to them why your prices are higher (longer hours, better results, much more work, more experience required). If that doesn't satisfy them (and it normally does), let them use the other guy. They will be back.
 
pampos said:
I am thinking of that....Just to have as a standard detailing the express one , and the full corRection as a special one....The problem is that i don't want to lower the standard of my quality....
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Well you don't have to lower your standard. If you want to only do full correction jobs you can do that. But if someone wants an express job and is happy with it and knows what they are getting it's not like you're ripping them off. I started doing express jobs last year and I get more express work than anything. Plus a lot of the customers like the turn around time better on the express detail. Also a lot of customers can not tell the difference between a $300 or a $100 detail so why not have them as your customers instead of letting them go to a competitor.
 
RaskyR1 said:
Meguiars D151 is good, I like M66 too and find it a little easier to use. ;)
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I was thinking of AG SRP :lol

I hate it when i am importing all my stuff paying twice the value of the products instead of buying the cheap/awful local products (except of a small range of Meguiar's) just to give the best possible service to them,and they don't appreciate it....:sadpace::sadpace::sadpace:
 
You do good work and I wouldn't lower my standards. Just do the express detail like it was suggested. I too like D151 and M66. I do lean more towards M66 though.
 
Hemin8r said:
You do good work and I wouldn't lower my standards. Just do the express detail like it was suggested. I too like D151 and M66. I do lean more towards M66 though.
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That's what i am going to do....

Thanks guys all of you....

if there more ideas keep them coming....

:thx:thx
 
pampos said:
That's what i am going to do....

Thanks guys all of you....

if there more ideas keep them coming....

:thx:thx
Click to expand...



I had a customer who would have me detail his customers cars. I never charged him what I should have and when I charged him $200 bucks for a 14 hour exterior detail I think that he felt that was too much. Hesitantly he paid me. I haven't heard from him since. Not sure if that's a good thing but you shouldn't have to kill yourself.
 
Hemin8r said:
I had a customer who would have me detail his customers cars. I never charged him what I should have and when I charged him $200 bucks for a 14 hour exterior detail I think that he felt that was too much. Hesitantly he paid me. I haven't heard from him since. Not sure if that's a good thing but you shouldn't have to kill yourself.
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that's strange too....CHEAP PEOPLE.....
 
prices up front!!!! if they want to haggle, then you can cut out some services...like doing a two step instead of a three step, a full exterior with NO interior, etc. Just have to make sure they are happy with the job they are expecting and you both agree on the terms. Scott's pre-detail written document thread is a prime example! Have them sign it and if you go under on the time, then discount it!
 
Like I told you on AG



It's really simple, you need to educate the customer on what you do and the differences between you and the competition. You MUST accomplish this by whatever means necessary. If after you do this they are still not satisfied with your services relative to the cost they pay, they are not customers you would want to include in your target audience (at least not in my business model)





If you don't know EXACTLY what the differences are you should take that as your homework. Before I started detailing for $, I went into the main shops in my area, I acted as if I was a potential customer, I asked for a tour of their shop, I asked what products they used, how long it took them from start to finish etc etc.. From all my visits I was then able to determine my approach..



Some choose to undercut the price of the competition as their marketing strategy, I choose to surpass the quality. I am the most expensive detailer that I know of in my area and I am ok with that... so are my customers..



I tell my customers right off the bat that of they are looking for the cheapest guy, I am not the one for them....
 
MotorCity said:
Like I told you on AG



It's really simple, you need to educate the customer on what you do and the differences between you and the competition. You MUST accomplish this by whatever means necessary. If after you do this they are still not satisfied with your services relative to the cost they pay, they are not customers you would want to include in your target audience (at least not in my business model)





If you don't know EXACTLY what the differences are you should take that as your homework. Before I started detailing for $, I went into the main shops in my area, I acted as if I was a potential customer, I asked for a tour of their shop, I asked what products they used, how long it took them from start to finish etc etc.. From all my visits I was then able to determine my approach..



Some choose to undercut the price of the competition as their marketing strategy, I choose to surpass the quality. I am the most expensive detailer that I know of in my area and I am ok with that... so are my customers..



I tell my customers right off the bat that of they are looking for the cheapest guy, I am not the one for them....
Click to expand...



that's awesome to be that upfront with them

:xyxthumbs
 
Thanks again guys....I know mostly what they charge and i know also the level of the correction that they do...Some of them have the same prices with me,and most of them have lower prices than me...But the level of correction it is at least awful,at least what i have seen until now....I have two kind of customers..My customers,and the customers that i get from the other guys on the garage /(super car owners)..

My customers are more than happy with everything(level of correction/price) because they came to me to try something new,because they were not satisfied with other detailers...The 95% of the other customers,are only happy about the level of my job but not from the prices.....They said to the third person: He do an amazing job,but he is very expensive.....This is also my fault that i didn't explain to them the differences,and why other guys are cheaper than me,but i have those problems ONLY with super car owners....Some of the other customers(my customers) they said that it is not cheap but it worth it,and some other were surprised of my prices,because they said i am cheap for that level of work...
 
pampos said:
I am thinking of that....Just to have as a standard detailing the express one , and the full corRection as a special one....The problem is that i don't want to lower the standard of my quality....
Click to expand...



My personal principle is, I won't do express detailing on 1st time cars, except for cars that I've detailed before, and coming back for mthly reapplication of LSP.

The reason is simple.



After completing express jobs, I know the customer won't be perfectly happy.

The owner will still scrutinise the paintwork and looks a bit dismal when he sees those swirls and defects still there. This customer definitely will not recommend you to his buddies.



Also, while you're doing the express job, if an interested passer-by walks to you and inquires about your services, he will definitely scrutinise the job you're doing and see that the results are only average. Not good for a 1st impression.



Lastly, after finishing the express job, and the car is sitting in my shop waiting for collection, many people might drop by and these young, Internet-savvy guys who've read and memorised everything about detailing, will start to inspect the completed car. Yes, they're swirl hunters!!! They'll see that the defects are still there. You can't possibly stick a big sign that reads

" This car has just been done using Express Style, and the defects are still there"!!!!



In short, doing express jobs, IMO, is not good for a professional business image. I want all my completed cars to be advertisements for my establishment, where the owner will be very happy and recommend to friends.

Don't do things half-heartedly just make ends meet, because way in the future, this might be detrimental to your professional image.
 
gigondaz said:
My personal principle is, I won't do express detailing on 1st time cars, except for cars that I've detailed before, and coming back for mthly reapplication of LSP.

The reason is simple.



After completing express jobs, I know the customer won't be perfectly happy.

The owner will still scrutinise the paintwork and looks a bit dismal when he sees those swirls and defects still there. This customer definitely will not recommend you to his buddies.



Also, while you're doing the express job, if an interested passer-by walks to you and inquires about your services, he will definitely scrutinise the job you're doing and see that the results are only average. Not good for a 1st impression.



Lastly, after finishing the express job, and the car is sitting in my shop waiting for collection, many people might drop by and these young, Internet-savvy guys who've read and memorised everything about detailing, will start to inspect the completed car. Yes, they're swirl hunters!!! They'll see that the defects are still there. You can't possibly stick a big sign that reads

" This car has just been done using Express Style, and the defects are still there"!!!!



In short, doing express jobs, IMO, is not good for a professional business image. I want all my completed cars to be advertisements for my establishment, where the owner will be very happy and recommend to friends.

Don't do things half-heartedly just make ends meet, because way in the future, this might be detrimental to your professional image.
Click to expand...



That's the problem....I don't want to make the express service for that reason...it is like doing nothing on the car...As they don't understand they will say that the car have been polish and i don't want to create a bad reputation....From the one side i want to do only full paint correction jobs but from the other side i need customers...

Even if i was a customer, i would never pay anything for doing my car knowing that the swirls are going to be still there....

I prefer to stay as i am,only full correction jobs, and have less customers,than building a bad reputation like other that i am laughing with the results...
 
pampos- One more thing I'd consider: if you're *only* hearing these "complaints" second-hand, maybe the customers aren't *really* unhappy with your prices. They might just be whining about how expensive it is without *really* having a problem with it.



I know plenty of well-off people, and they often b!tch and moan about all sorts of expenses, none of which *really* bother them and none of which they're even remotely considering cutting back on.



I often see it as a defense mechanism, like "hey, I'm not soooooo rich that I don't care about my expenses, so I'm just a regular guy after all". It's the flip-side of the guys who say "whatever it costs, hey, I don't care...I'm loaded" (a perspective that's not too en vogue right now ;) ).
 
Accumulator said:
pampos- One more thing I'd consider: if you're *only* hearing these "complaints" second-hand, maybe the customers aren't *really* unhappy with your prices. They might just be whining about how expensive it is without *really* having a problem with it.



I know plenty of well-off people, and they often b!tch and moan about all sorts of expenses, none of which *really* bother them and none of which they're even remotely considering cutting back on.



I often see it as a defense mechanism, like "hey, I'm not soooooo rich that I don't care about my expenses, so I'm just a regular guy after all". It's the flip-side of the guys who say "whatever it costs, hey, I don't care...I'm loaded" (a perspective that's not too en vogue right now ;) ).
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Maybe it is what you said my friend,but i felt very very sad,because i am trying to offer them the best possible job,the best price as i can, and they didn't even asked me why is so much(if they think so) and what did i did on the car....

I learned my lesson,i will NEVER book other customer without checking/explaining/show and give a price to them,as i am doing with my normal customers...The problem was with some of the common customers with the mechanic....My customers were and are very happy with the results and the prices...Some of MY customers were calling back weeks later just to told me how amazing was the car still looking :D

That's why i surprised with those people reaction....And believe me,i don' think that a 15 hours detailing on a very hard CC full of RIDS and everything you can imagine, $350 are too much....

Am i too expensive and i don't know it???

I want to keep all the customers happy with any way......
 
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