I originally posted this survey to my blog on Appliedcolors.com, but it’s very relevant to my audience here, so have a read:

Is your pricing competitive?

This might be the toughest decision an auto detailer makes. Price yourself low and you’ll be busy…but will you make money? Set your prices high, and you’ll make a healthy profit on each car, but just how many cars will you service?

We asked 47 detailers for quotes.

Review responses in this table.

Businesses we found on Google and Yelp in major cities across the USA were sent this email:

Subject:
“Full detail Saturn 4 door”

Body:
I’m selling my car and need a quote on getting my car detailed inside
and out but not the engine.

The interior is a little gross from my kids and the paint is scuffed
up a bit in some spots. What do you think this would cost and how
long would it take?

Erica

The email included these pictures:

Average quote: $215

Highest quote received: $399.
Lowest: $100.

Average time of service: 4.1 hours.

Longest estimate: 7 hours.
Shortest: 2 hours.

Average response time: 86 minutes

Longest time to respond: 10 hours.
Shortest: 10 minutes.

56% of shops didn’t respond at all.

This was alarming. We were expecting roughly a 25% non-response rate. Good news for the “good shops”: half your competitors are lazy.

What it means to you: 2 lessons.

Price matters: don’t be the high bid, and don’t be the low bid.
Imagine yourself as Erica. Your car might be worth $5000. A bid of $399 is not appropriate relative to the value of her car. But with an average quote of $215, $100 is suspiciously low. And she would be right to question that quote: it can’t possibly be a thorough service. She’s going to choose the bids near the middle, read online reviews, and probably call 2 shops before you finalizes an appointment. A few times a year, check in on your competitors’ pricing to be sure you’re where the customers are: the “middle” of the market.

Respond to every email within 3 hours: no exceptions.
Let’s face it…a lot of emails are tire kickers. When I ran Ace Car Reconditioning, only 20-30% of them became customers. But not responding is unacceptable. And responding late–anything past 3 hours–says to the customer “you’re not important to us.” Think of the last time you needed a plumber, electrician, or accountant. Did you hire the late responder? Be sure that all emails reach your cell phone. Check every 2 hours. Every email gets a response, every time.

Robert Keppel
Author
“How to Start a Modern Car Detailing Business”:

“Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell, and advertise.”
Laurence J. Peter
Author of the “Peter Principle.”

Search advertising gives small detailers the reach of BIG detailers.

Detailers hate advertising because they operate on such thin budgets, but you’ll notice one thing: the shops that stay in business–year after year–advertise the most. The “old way” favored the big shops: $4500 phone book ad kept you front and center, year after year.  Who ever looked at the “basic” entries?  But Google Adwords now sells the king’s seat–”front and center” on the first page of their search engine, for $1-$2 a click.

How Adwords works for a small Colorado detailer.

Allan Schlepp runs Pro Mobile Detail in Front Range, CO part-time. He bought my course in early 2010 and quickly set up a Google Adwords campaign. He pays around $1 a click to show his ad when people search for these terms:

detailing, auto detailing, car detailing, mobile detailing, mobile auto detailing, mobile car detailing

In these cities:

Castle Rock, Highlands Ranch, LIttleton, Englewood, Lakewood, Denver, Wheatridge, Arvada Westminster

On average, Allan says he gets a job for every 40 clicks.

The math:  spend $40 to make $110.

40 clicks/job x $1/click = $40 advertising cost per job.
Average profit per job before advertising: $150 (it’s rural Colorado).

Therefore, his net profit is $150 – $40 = $110 per job. Not all jobs are full details: some interior-only, some exterior-only jobs that take 4 hours including driving. And importantly, let’s recognize the value of a new customer. About 25% will use him again ($150 profit the next time). About 15% will refer him ($150 profit there).

So, for Allan, a mobile detailer in a rural area, Google AdWords makes his business possible.

Your Adwords campaign…in 15 minutes

1. Open your account at http://adwords.google.com.
2. Set your maximum cost-per-click to $2.50.  You won’t necessarily pay $2.50 per click (depends on how popular the search term), but that should be enough that your ad isn’t buried on page 2 or 3.
3. Sponsor the terms detailing, auto detailing, car detailing, mobile detailing, mobile auto detailing, mobile car detailing in every city you service.  You may end up sponsoring 20 – 50 keywords, but this is critical because your competition overlooks a lot cities and keywords, so for these terms the page is all yours.
4. Set a daily budget of $15 and an overall budget of $200.  Any less, and you just don’t have enough data to make a decision about continuing.
5. Ask EVERY customer  how they found you.  If they say “the Internet” ask further until you can determine if they clicked an ad or found you “naturally.”

If your website is any good, it’s hard to imagine not making money on an Adwords campaign.  Businesses (most of them small) spend $28 billion each year on Adwords…and that figure grows 15% a year, so there’s abundant evidence that it works.

 

Are reconditioners using their Smartphones for business?

These new phones (Droid and iPhone) are EXTREMELY handy for detailers, PDR techs, and other reconditioners for GPS, scheduling, photos, videos and more. I wanted to find out how many reconditioners own these phones, and more importantly, if they used them for business.

The results

Method

Posted polls in the following forums:
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-make-money-detailing-cars/45771-poll-use-your-smartphone-business.html
http://www.autopia.org/forum/professional-detailer-general-discussion/139432-use-your-smarthpone-business.html
http://www.doording.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/73739/post/new/#NEW

Conclusion.

Smartphones are surprisingly POPULAR among reconditioners. Roughly 90% of responders indicated that they do use their phones for business, compared to 49% of all business owners. Some quotes:

Don’t do everything on my phone…but, it definitely keeps me on the ball with customers. Getting my emails straight to my phone is SO handy. Customers really appreciate a quick response through email. in fact, I’ve gotten regular long time customers simply because they enjoy dealing with me, and I’m so easy to get a hold of. I hear all the time about people calling, or emailing shops and getting no response. I keep all my calls forwarded to my cell, and use it all day in the shop. I update my facebook page with it, and take most of my photos. Certainly makes life easier. Oh, and not to mention…now my schedule can be accessed right on my phone. Awesome!

I do everything except for invoicing and plastic transactions. Most of my customers are young and have the latest gadgets. They can schedule an appointment on my website with the service if it’s basic (Wash and Wax and Decon), they can schedule a consultation for paint corrections. I have rules on my availability (Lunch breaks) what combinations of services they can do(2 decons a day, 5 wash and wax etc..) and add-on’s if they wish (Head light restoration with any service, permanent wheel protection with a decon package etc). I can also set it to send them a e-mail automatically or text message ( but costs like 5-10 cents per notification), booking fees, cancellation fees, no-show fees. I also update my website, so clients can see what I am working on and where.

What it means for you.

If you aren’t using an iPhone or Droid…START. Detailers and reconditioners are more organized and efficient than ever thanks to these great devices, and you can’t afford to be “behind the curve” on mobile technology.

The question of whether or not to service car dealers is a difficult one for me. On one hand, dealerships always have vehicles that need some kind of detailing work, and so can keep a reliable detailer busy. This is sometimes critical for detail shops that keep a small staff. You just can’t afford to lose any employees during the slow times – because you’re going to need them come summer or spring. A steady flow of work keeps good folks around for the more lucrative seasons of retail work through the detail shop storefront. The main drawback to working with dealerships? They want to pay less for your service.

It’s an unfortunate fact that a lot of small-business owners don’t put enough thought into their business’s story, and the way in which they communicate that story to others. I’ve seen it happen a great many times – a small-business owner attends an event or conference, perhaps at a chamber of commerce, and comes unprepared with an effective pitch. I’ll ask them, “What is it your business does?” and they’ll say, “Good question…”. I find myself standing there, five minutes down the line, and he’s still going on about his new company, and I make my way to the snack table.

 Start By Answering Some Questions

This four-part thought exercise works no matter what kind of company or product you’re trying to promote. Answer these questions, in writing, in under a couple sentences each:

 

1. What are the problems your company is addressing?

2. What is your company doing differently than others addressing similar problems?

3. Why should someone care that you’re doing it in this different way?

4. (The bombshell) What do you do?

 

If you keep your answers short, under a couple sentences a piece, you can put them together in such a way that they become a short story that takes less than 60 seconds to relay.

One Possible Pitch

Here’s a useful example of someone trying to start a mobile car reconditioning service. See if you can find each point at which this pitch answers one of the above questions.

 

“I own ‘Green Clean for Every Color Car”, an environmentally conscious mobile detailing service that goes an extra mile for the earth on your behalf. Normal mobile detailers will leave a slick of oil and lead chemicals in their wake – leaving you with a clean car and a guilty conscience. By collecting the runoff from our operation and recycling it in our shop, you can feel better about the impact your regular detailing has on the world you live in. Also, we buy carbon offsets for not just our side of the operation, but for your vehicle’s next 30,000 miles. This means that, by hiring us, you get a clean car, clear conscience, and a tree is planted on a reserve in Costa Rica. That’s how we’re different and better than the others, while maintaining just as good a service quality and price.”

 

Right off the bat – your first words – should be in the form of a sentence that could be published as a headline. This means it should be under 140 letters in length, and it should tell all. It’s got to be short, it should sound catchy, and it needs to be memorable. Take the time you need to hash out your headline. Trust me, it’ll help.

Beyond the Successful Pitch

Telling the whole story in under a minute allows you to use your listener’s attention for other things – an illustrative anecdote (“I cleaned Al Gore’s car once and it was a greener process than he thought possible”) or something interesting about your background.

 

Avoid the most common mistake a small business owner makes by learning to pitch the story of your company. If you can snag their attention in less than 60 seconds, people will want to keep listening.

Filling a position at my detailing shop is a process. Years in the business have shown me the best in employees as well as the worst. There are those that “milk the clock” and those that I’d be lucky to have working for me around it.. Now and then someone will turn out to be a bad fit – but time has taught me some ways to get a pretty reliable idea for what kind of person an applicant will be in the workplace. I took pride in my team and in the system I use to hire them. Here are 7 things you can do to make the best choice in who you hire.

1.  Let friends and acquaintances do the work for you.

I guarantee you know someone who knows someone who needs a job when you have an opening. Let their judgment be your guide. Getting a good reference from a friend is perhaps the best way to hire in this industry.

2.  Find employees you can train.

Not everybody is trainable. Experienced detailers can be a mixed blessing. They don’t always just wind up and go on their own. Odds are, you’ll have to re-learn them how to do it your way. I’d take a hard-working, quick-learning employee with no experience and a good reference over a hot-shot veteran detailer who thinks they know it all any day. If they say they’ve got tons of experience and the ability to prove it, you’ve got to wonder why they haven’t already opened their own business.

3.  A good “help wanted” ad does a lot of the hiring work for you.

Let the application process be a trial on its own. Good employees know how to follow instructions – so provide some from day one of the hiring process and see how people do. Particular requests contained in your want ads thin the stack of resumes before you read even one. Have them reply to a specific email different than the one attached to the Craigslist ad, for example. Request that they not call you. Using this want-ad-as-test tactic allows applicants who think they’re too good for the rules to show you from the outset.

4.  Require resumes and references.

If they can’t come up with someone who will vouch for their workplace performance, be wary. Your ideal employee will almost always have someone who will take the time to speak highly of them. Your ideal employee will be someone who you’d be happy to vouch for in the future. A resume allows the applicant more freedom than a standard application. Resumes are easier and more pleasant to read than a stack of papers with filled in blanks.

5.  Make some kind of written contract.

It doesn’t have to be in legalese, but it should be something you can easily reference in order to settle a dispute. Once you’ve interviewed them, formally or otherwise, and you decide they are probably going to be a good fit, send them an employee manual and a document containing your business’ policies – performance expectations and consequences. Don’t be afraid to state the obvious in writing. If in doubt, write it out. I.e., there should be a section that says “be on time”. The employee should sign the documents, bring them to you, and you should keep them on file. This keeps most people honest. Ambiguity has great potential to make both employee and employer uncomfortable.

6.  Probation.

No matter how much of a god-send they seem to be, the first month and a half should be a trial period for a new employee. During this time you should pay special attention to their performance and trainability. Most flight accidents happen on take off. Same with a new employee’s career in your workplace. Make sure you’re performing the necessary checks and diagnostics for the duration of these ninety days and, of course, onward in time. The over-confident, cumbersome ones will show it quickly. Listen to their co-workers’ reports and observe the dynamic between them. If they’re working to a standard you’re unhappy with and don’t seem to “get it” when you help them learn new things, you’ll probably want to let them go.

7.  Don’t get caught in a pinch.

Think ahead of the game. The least ideal situation is the one in which you needed an employee yesterday, second only to the situation in which you need one tomorrow. Unpredictable holes in your roster should be filled with a list of resumes that just missed the cut in your most recent draft. Start the hiring process a month before you need someone. Try to predict the busiest times of the year and hire accordingly. If you get caught in a pinch, call someone who took the time to make you a great-looking resume, with a good reference, sometime in the recent past.

Take home message: Recruiting is like marrying.

Since you very well may find yourself spending more time around your crew than your spouse, take your time going through some ritual motions with prospective employees to see who’s going to be your new hire. There are some great people out there without work. It’s up to you to track them down.

You damage paint, leave carpets wet, and blast the customer’s stereo…

These are stereotypes of reconditioners, and things customers ASSUME ABOUT YOU until you gain their trust.  But you can build REAL trust and credibility with prospects if you pay attention to a few details. Read on…

Building trust and credibility as a reconditioner.  3 Tips:

1. Add RECOGNIZABLE images to your website and business card.

These include:

1.  International Detailing Association Logo
2.  NAPDRT Logo
3.  Local Chamber of Commerce Logo
4.  Autopia Logo
5.   Brands you use:  (think Meguiars)

Remember, that the goal is to appear TRUSTWORTHY at a GLANCE; nothing achieves this in an INSTANT like associating yourself with a trusted image.  something that is trusted.

2. Add your photo to your business card and website.

Every study confirms it:  photos build trust.  You’re asking a STRANGER to trust you with an appliance that sometimes exceeds $50,000 in value…wouldn’t YOU want to see YOUR face?  Women in particular are responsive to photos.  Nothing makes a personal connection quicker than a photo where you’re first discovered (website, business card, or brochure).  Get over your vanity and add a headshot to all of your marketing material.

3. Uniforms and signage.

Always, always wear a uniform the first time you meet a customer.  Could be a shirt.  Could be a hat.  Must be clean.  Must be tucked in.  When you walk toward their home, their office, or their driveway, you have to look like a PROFESSIONAL.

Author:  Scott Perkins.  Owner, Scotty’s Shine Shop.  Ontario, Canada.

Most calls to a detail shop start with this question. Converting these “feeler” calls into appointments–we’ll call it “batting average”–might be the most important skill a detailer owns. Here’s three simple tips that greatly improved my “batting average” over the years.

1. Speak slowly, clearly, and confidently.
Believe in yourself and the product/service you are selling. Customers can sense whether or not you are coming across as having their interest at heart. Showing your confidence in your product will reflect in your conversation. Knowing your product or service inside out and being able to communicate what differentiates it from your competition is key. Practice in the mirror selling a potential customer on the key aspects of your company vs. the competition. Have a basic script ready for when you answer the phone and stick to it. For example: “Thank you for calling ABC Detailing, Scott speaking – How can I help you?” Speak slow and clearly. Call your competitors and listen to how they answer their phone with how you as a customer would think of the person you are speaking with. Use the best of what you hear and avoid the mistakes you encounter.

2. Control the conversation.
Customers can ramble. You don’t have the time for this, so ask questions that give you control. Here’s two that get the conversation on track:

1. “What size car”? This reveals how much “real estate” you’re working with: an Expedition is 2.5 times the size of an S2000.
2. Why are you needing a detail? CRITICAL. No one details a clean car. You want to get to the bottom line as to why they’re paying $200+: pet hair, paint swirls, overspray, waterspots, odor, carpet stains, car for sale, etc. Knowing this information will allow you to more accurately sell your customer what they actually need as opposed to letting them steer the conversation to just acquiring prices about different packages that may or may not address their specific needs. ASK QUESTIONS!

3. Offer appointment times.
After the customer gets the information they need, let them know what’s available this week: “we have this afternoon, all of Tuesday, all of Thursday, and Friday morning available.” You’ll often name the exact time/day they were hoping for and they’ll book the appointment…without calling the next competitor on their “call list.” Spending some time in advance will easily increase the amount of sales you will make on the phone.

Original article