What maintenance programs keep your customers coming back?

R

ReflectionsADS

New member
I've spent months working my packages and offerings for my customers but now I need a plan to get them to come back. What types of regular maintenance plans (and benefits for using them) do you offer to your customers?



Important Note: I am a fixed location so I'm pretty positive this will eliminate most of the packages offered by mobile detailers due to inconvenience of dropping the car off to me.



Initial thought but still hope to receive your feedback:

  • Quarterly "Spruce Up" for the service they most recently received
  • Semi-Annual Interior/Exterior service
  • Monthly Wash/Wax Refresher



Included with these, I would offer a prepayment offer of some sort to receive the money up front and service later.



What do you do to keep these customers coming back for more than just a yearly detail?
 
Here's some tips,



1st and most important, be the best interior guy in your area



2nd, you'll have people that like to get their car detailed every 6 months or once a year, be sure to know what kind of customer you have



3rd after you've done a detail, make sure to tell them about your maintenance program to keep it looking great, and if they accept, when you wash their car ask if there's any problem areas or if you spot 1 stain go ahead and spot treat it. Of course this doesn't mean shampoo the carpets for free but something that'll take about 30 seconds will let the customer know you care about keeping their car looking good



4th after that make sure to ask them, if they've liked your work to please pass the word around, word of mouth is your best advertisement and will keep your customers thinking about you,



5th build relationships with your customers, ask them questions to make them feel like they are part of the whole detailing experience
 
Perfections said:
Here's some tips,



1st and most important, be the best interior guy in your area



2nd, you'll have people that like to get their car detailed every 6 months or once a year, be sure to know what kind of customer you have



3rd after you've done a detail, make sure to tell them about your maintenance program to keep it looking great, and if they accept, when you wash their car ask if there's any problem areas or if you spot 1 stain go ahead and spot treat it. Of course this doesn't mean shampoo the carpets for free but something that'll take about 30 seconds will let the customer know you care about keeping their car looking good



4th after that make sure to ask them, if they've liked your work to please pass the word around, word of mouth is your best advertisement and will keep your customers thinking about you,



5th build relationships with your customers, ask them questions to make them feel like they are part of the whole detailing experience
Click to expand...



Thanks Perfections, this is really great information. I am a constantly talking to customers about issues that they may or may not have noticed with their car and that has definitely gained me a lot more interest about coming back for semi-annual service. I'm hoping that I can treat these customers more than twice a year, but I'll have to focus on some of your tips to making these customers more frequent visitors.
 
Great question, Johng.



Right now, my focus has been on trying to offer the absolute best packages, services and customer interaction. I feel that by offering "the whole package", -that- will have my clients call me back when they feel they need something. Educating them on proper car care means they will take care of what they feel comfortable working on and call me for what they don't feel comfortable with. I used to offer maintenance washes and have gotten completely away from it. When you visit someone every 2 weeks they ask for extras. When visiting someone every 6 months to 1 year they naturally want more than just a basic this or that.
 
Customer’s show loyalty when they receive a service they value and enjoy; it’s as simple and as complicated as that
 
Jean-Claude said:
Great question, Johng.



Right now, my focus has been on trying to offer the absolute best packages, services and customer interaction. I feel that by offering "the whole package", -that- will have my clients call me back when they feel they need something. Educating them on proper car care means they will take care of what they feel comfortable working on and call me for what they don't feel comfortable with. I used to offer maintenance washes and have gotten completely away from it. When you visit someone every 2 weeks they ask for extras. When visiting someone every 6 months to 1 year they naturally want more than just a basic this or that.
Click to expand...



I definitely offer packages that my competition around this area do not offer. I've done my research on them and they have what I feel is generic enough for anyone to enjoy one time, but nothing that says "keep coming back." I am constantly evolving myself, website, and services for my customers. I don't see anyone offering maintenance packages for their customers, but perhaps again, this is due to being a brick and mortar vs mobile. I'm convinced that this will make a difference. I believe you have hit the nail on the head when you say that offering the best services and customer interaction will keep people coming back.



TOGWT said:
Customer’s show loyalty when they receive a service they value and enjoy; it’s as simple and as complicated as that
Click to expand...



I believe this is very true! The complexity for me is wanting to grow as quickly as possible and retain 100% of my customers- two things I may have very limited control over.
 
I've done maintenance programs, still have a couple of customers (doctors who work at the same location) who use it and have for 17 years now. But I don't offer it anymore, seems that regular reminders for people when they are next due for a detail keeps them coming back.



The biggest thing is to be active on the internet without focusing on your business. Help people out on forums, you'll be known as the detail guy and people in your area will end up hitting you up for your business information, people out of the area will mention your name when someone in your area asks about detailing.
 
Scottwax said:
I've done maintenance programs, still have a couple of customers (doctors who work at the same location) who use it and have for 17 years now. But I don't offer it anymore, seems that regular reminders for people when they are next due for a detail keeps them coming back.



The biggest thing is to be active on the internet without focusing on your business. Help people out on forums, you'll be known as the detail guy and people in your area will end up hitting you up for your business information, people out of the area will mention your name when someone in your area asks about detailing.
Click to expand...



Thanks for the response Scott. Can you expand a little further on what you mean about being active on the net? Are you talking forums such as these and other car forums? I have a Facebook, Google+, Twitter, etc.. but they are of course related to my business, not myself. How are your reminders sent out to your customers? Email, Phone, Mail, or combination of all the above.



I've been struggling with "record keeping" and absolutely have to get better at getting full customer information. (This weird because all the companies I've ever worked for have demanded that I get all the information that I'm lacking on my current customers). My goal is to start keeping full records with all cusotmer information including vehicle information and services. Same as I would with any other business I've worked for.
 
I run a detailing forum on another site, have since 2001. Its a site that started off as part of a car forum, spun off into its own site in 2000, so for 13 years there, everyone knows what I do. I answer detailing questions, we even have a detailing crew thread. I post my click and brags there but never give out any information on my business in them. Its more to show the members there what I work on (like I said, at its heart, its a car forum) and what I used and did. Never really expected to get any business there, that wasn't the intent. But it just sort of happened. They have several Dallas area members, plus enough Phoenix members to make two trips there a year well worth it. And since everyone there knows what I do, if detailing comes up on another forum so does my name. I don't even have my information in the pro detailer list I have there. But I do have a lot of Autopia members listed. I'm actually a meme over there, if someone makes a vague post about anything, at least one person will respond "nice details, Scottwax". Some there even made this gif for me:



scottwax_1.gif




They also made the buffing gifs that Meguairs uses in their forums, but originally they were made for me.



Join a car forum for the car you drive. Post in the detailing (or show and shine) forum. Don't do hard sell, don't like your business in your signature (probably violates most forum spam rules anyway) but if allowed, have it in your profile. If you come across as genuine and are willing to help fellow members, they will find you, trust me.



As far as reminders go, I go through my e-mails once a week, searching for customers whose cars I took care of 3-4 months ago and drop them a note. I have others who contact me regularly. I ask people what works best for them.
 
Scott-



Thanks for all the info! I am a car forum junkie anyway and just like here- I lurk and never really post. So I'm going to take your advise and start to post to topics there (without advertising). I'm glad to hear that your site is doing so well, would you PM me the address so I can check it out?



It seems like my reminder program is the same as yours, so I'll continue to do this. Problem for me is, I've only been open since August, so hard to convince people who are new to getting their cars detailed why it is important to continue to do this even in the Winter!



Thanks again, yours and everyone else's help is always greatly appreciated!
 
my maintenance is either a complete detail (wash and wax and interior spruce up (not a deep cleaning)), or a one step which is a clay and polish, then wax with light interior...one is every 3 months, one is every 6 months, and one is double the other price!
 
toyotaguy said:
my maintenance is either a complete detail (wash and wax and interior spruce up (not a deep cleaning)), or a one step which is a clay and polish, then wax with light interior...one is every 3 months, one is every 6 months, and one is double the other price!
Click to expand...



That seems pretty easy to keep track of, in terms of service to provide. How do you keep track of the last time customers have received a service and when they should be seeing you again?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top