I think any detailing business owner must gear their advertising and promotions for the winter season. Many detail business owners, especially the new ones get scared of this season, some mobile operators even migrate into warmer climates until Spring arrives. Every month of the colder season dictates a different challenge. With every challenge there is an opportunity waiting to be acted upon.
The auto detailing entrepreneur should start planting the seed in mid September or early October to promote Autumn and Winter protection and maintenance packages and services. This starts with educating the customer why he or she should consider keeping their vehicle cosmetically maintained during the Winter months. Promoting exterior services that will protect and enhance the surfaces against natures elements during the winter months is essential.
Today's clear coats are better than ever but they still need to be protected against the havoc that mother nature will end up on them. I would offer a 6 month protection paint sealant/car wash package especially in the fall. The sealant will protect and enhance the painted surface the duration of the fall and winter months. I would include a good monthly hand wash with that package. Encourage the customer to pay for the complete package up-front and receive a significant discount. Now they are committed to visiting your shop every month over the next 6 months. This gives the shop owner a chance to keep their customer's vehicle cosmetically maintained and offer other services during that period. Other offerings may include; under carriage power washing, carpet and mat soil extraction, plastic carpet protectors installed, glass anti fog treatment, ozone treatment, headlight restoration, convertible top protection just to name a few. This will be a great opportunity for reoccurring revenue to occur on a monthly basis for your business.
Once December is here you have a new challenge now competing with Saint Nicholas. If you properly promoted your Winter Protection Package I spoke about earlier to all your customers in late summer/early fall you will start seeing their faces for their monthly washes. Besides offering the extra services their vehicle may need you should aggressively promote Gift Certificates and even a "Gift Basket of Car Detail Products" they can purchase and give as presents to family and friends. Auto detailing gift certificates make great gifts plus you just added a new customer to your data base! Your Gift Basket or "Gift Bucket" may include a 5 gallon bucket, a quart of car wash soap, tire dressing, microfiber drying towel, car wash mitt, and even a quart of express wax. Be sure you include directions, your company collateral and a coupon towards a discount or free service for a future car detail.
Once January is here introducing new promotions and services is critical. We all set new goals for the new year; eating better, getting back in shape, etc. The true auto detailing entrepreneur should also think about promoting services that will "Get Your Car Back In Shape" for the new year. Some services that are not too costly for the consumer but are profitable may include express services like express waxing, interior spruce ups, carpet soil extraction with fabric protection, interior ozone freshen up treatment, etc. These are all good money makers that will make your customers happy with the value and the service you provided.
February is know as the slowest consumer spending month of the year. People are looking for excellent values in February. They want their dollar to be stretched and go a long way. So you will want to consider promoting some free services when purchasing a profitable detail service or package. These services and packages may consist of a free hand wash for every complete interior service sold, or possibly a free undercarriage power washing with every polishing service sold, maybe even a complimentary engine shampooing with every complete detail booked. These are just some ideas to create a better value and a good reason to shop with you the month of February.
If you’re like me you are eagerly waiting for March to arrive. Winter is still here but the weather is starting to see some improvement and car owners will start to think about getting their cars cleaned up from the havoc that old man winter put on them. You should begin promoting winter clean up services and packages. These services may be custom hand washes, buff and wax services, rock paint chip repair, interior soil extraction and carpet dying, under carriage power washing, wheel detailing, etc. Keep promoting winter clean up services from March through May.
Our sales of auto detailing supplies are up! People must keep their cars longer. Cosmetic maintenance is getting to be just as important as mechanical maintenance. You must promote that the car care services that you are providing will help keep your customers cars cleaner and protected longer and increase resale and trade-in value. If you do this you should prosper and make it through even the toughest months during the slowest economic times. Cut costs, but don't cut corners! Keep promoting and advertising your business. Don't burry your head in the sand and wait for the phone to ring. Get out there and make something happen! Have a Great Winter Season.
Thanks and good luck,
Nick Vacco
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When the economy slows down many auto detailing business owners that have not prepared for slow periods find themselves in trouble and nowhere to turn. Most of the time if you have a well thought out marketing plan the slow times will not hurt you as badly.
Before we discuss what to do when business slows down lets discuss what you should be doing during all times of the year. I have found that many auto detailing business owners are not even doing the basics to generate revenues during good or bad times. Some of the "basics" include managing a data base of your customers. Having a database of customers enables you to see who your customers are, when the last time was that they used you, what services you performed and how much they spent. This information is essential especially when you are targeting certain groups of customers based on the services they have purchased in the past. Most computers have some type of database software. If yours doesn't you can easily purchase a database software package and customize the fields to meet your needs.
Every auto detailing business today should have a web site. Your web site reflects your business and should be professionally made. Just developing a web site is only part of it though. You must promote your web site on the web and off the web. Have your web site address printed on all of your company collateral; invoices, business cards, flyers, service menus, company signage, mobile rig, etc. Promoting your web site on the web is critical too. You want your web site to be listed on the major search engines so when someone searches for a detailing service in your area your web site will be listed in the search results. Having your web site professionally designed, programmed, and maintained will help assure that it comes up high in the organic listings on Google and Yahoo. You can also bid on key word phrases so you can get your web site listed on the top right away.
Many individuals just don't have the time to search for a detailer during regular business hours so your web site will be your "silent salesman" and it will be promoting your business even at 4AM when you are fast asleep! Keep your web site updated with car care articles, pictures of customers and their cars that you have detailed, monthly or weekly specials, and even have a blog on your web site so your customers can post responses about the great work that you did on their car.
You should also be networking your business with other business owners and professionals. One way to do that is to join a networking group in your area. Typically these groups meet weekly early in the morning. It is a great way to exchange leads with other business owners. You will be the only auto detailing business in the club so be sure you show up for the meetings and when you are given leads be sure you reciprocate and provide leads too. This is a quick way to establish good contacts and get regular business.
Joining your local Chamber Of Commerce is another way to make good contacts and promote your business. When you join your local Chamber Of Commerce you will also receive a membership roster that will list other businesses that are members. It should have a lot of relevant information about the other members like company name, address, phone number, web site, principles, etc. You can use this membership roster as a lead generation source. Be sure you attend the various mixers and bring lots of business cards to hand out. The chambers can also offer consulting services and other tools to help grow your business within the community. I really think you need to be doing all of the above so you have a good basis from where your customers are coming from and have database software so you can manage those customers.
Now when times get slow you should contact all of your past customers either by phone or by email. It would depend on how many customers you have and your support system to do this. Being that we are in the Autumn season now you may want to advertise a "Fall Special" or "Summer Clean Up Special" or "Protect Your Car For Winter" service. Gathering all of your customer's email addresses when booking their 1st appointment will enable you to keep your name in front of them all year. You can email them reminders when their car is due back in for a detail and promote express detailing services to keep their vehicle cosmetically maintained year-round.
You should keep your web site updated, constantly be adding and renewing specials, writing new car care articles, updating content, and showing off your work! Keeping your customers "engaged" with your business will keep your customers loyal. A regularly updated web site will keep your web site listed on top of the search engine's results. Anytime you email your customers have a link to your web site in the email so your customers can visit your web site to learn more about the services you are promoting in your email to them.
It is not a bad idea to also provide a free service now and then for your regular customers or new customers in order to close them on a service. I never was a big fan of giving discounts. I would rather do a little more for my customers. I think that goes a long, long way and will keep your customers coming back. When I talk about a "Free" service, that could be: A free fabric protection if performing a complete interior service, a free interior carpet cleaning if performing an exterior detailing service, etc. It takes a short period of time to do these services and costs you very little. You could use this as a "closer" to book an appointment for a customer or prospect that is "on the fence" and needs a little nudge to say "YES!"
I keep coming back to having a web site. If your web site is "making the grade" you can use it as a great marketing tool to promote your specials to new and existing customers. Every time you talk to someone be sure to refer them to your web site to learn more about your business. If you are a mobile detailer, be sure to take the time out to talk to prospects if they come up to you while you are detailing their neighbor's or co worker's car. Take a few minutes out to talk with each customer and give them an estimate. Your goal would be to obviously book the appointment right then. If that does not happen refer them to your web site by giving them a business card or your service menu. If you are working at a business you should also ask them if they have a business card. Jot down any notes on the back of their card so you can reference it later when you call them to follow up and book an appointment. Give a card out and take one back! I would make a point to talk to at least 10 new faces a day if you are a mobile detailer. For every 10 prospects you talk to and hand out a card eventually you should obtain at least 2 new customers. Let's say you do this every day at least 5 days per week; that equates to 10 new customers per week, 520 new customers per year. It really works, you just need to put the ball in play and make it happen.
Keep organized, keep your name in front of your customer base, go after new customers through networking, asking for referrals, and thinking out of the box! The auto detailing business owner that just sits back and doesn't take the pro-active approach will not prosper. The ones that keep many irons in the fire, follows up with all leads, taps their past customers, and are always working on keeping the pipeline full of new possibilities will reap the benefits. Operating your own profitable auto detailing business is just like playing baseball. Putting the ball in play will force something to happen. Just standing in the batter's box and hoping for a walk will do nothing except make your business financially vulnerable during the slow periods. Every car is a potential customer! They are there for the taking. Your success is based on a well thought-out and organized plan to go and get business, do a superior job for the customer, gain repeat business, and get tons of referrals. This is the name of the game.
Thanks and good luck,
Nick Vacco
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Most auto detailing service providers these days are satisfied just booking daily appointments for basic auto detailing and hand washing services. If this is what you are doing you are leaving a surprising amount of money “on the table.” There is a lot more profit to be made in the auto appearance industry today. Basic hand washing, buffing, polishing, interior shampooing and detailing are only a fraction of the services that you should be providing. There is an array of “value added” services that you can easily provide that will not eat up your bank account with inventory and additional supply costs. These services can be performed in a reasonable amount of time and generate additional profitable revenues on just about every vehicle you detail.
I highly recommend that you perform what I call the “Vehicle Walk Around.” The walk around should be performed on every vehicle that you plan to detail. The best time to do the walk around is during the customer interview. The customer has stopped by your shop to get an estimate on getting his car detailed or he is dropping it off for a pre arranged phone-in appointment. You may have already given a "price range" to detail this customer’s car and now you are firming it up based on what the customer wants, and what you are recommending the vehicle needs. Always "listen" to what the customer is asking you to provide, then propose a solution. Once that is confirmed you can then evaluate the rest of the vehicle and make recommendations of other services that you can provide. Your customer may have originally contacted you because his puppy vomited on the back seat and he needs it cleaned and deodorized. You solved that, now it’s time to up-sell to a complete interior detailing with ozone service and maybe even an exterior polishing service, too.
Besides offering basic exterior detailing services you may want to consider adding; rock paint chip repair, headlight restoration, plastic trim restoration, glass water spot removal, even wheel restoration. Except for the wheel restoration the initial investment is low for the other reconditioning services mentioned. Just about every vehicle that has been driven for a few years will have many of the above issues. Rock paint chips, cloudy head lights, plastic door handles and mirror trim that are oxidized or discolored, acid rain spots on the glass, are all easy corrections to be performed and can generate very profitable extra revenues besides the basic detail service. Depending on the part of the country your business is located the average charges for the services described above can add up to be a very strong invoice total for you. You can generate an additional $25-$100 per restored headlight, $60-$90 for a complete paint chip repair, $20-$50 restoring plastic door handles and mirrors, $30-$60 for glass water spot removal. This is real money that many of you are “leaving on the table” because you don’t know how to perform these easy to do reconditioning services. These are easy to do and most of the supplies will only cost you a couple of bucks per car!
Have "Vehicle Evaluation" sheets printed up and use one during each customer interview. Walk around the vehicle with your VE sheet attached to a clip board and check off what you think the vehicle needs to make it look good as new again. The exterior portion of your VE sheet may have these items listed: Oxidized Paint, Environmental Fallout, Cloudy Headlights, Rock Paint Chips, Faded Door Handles, Faded Plastic Trim, Spotted Glass, Medium to Deep Scratches, Dull Chrome, Soiled/Stained Convertible Roof, etc. Just check off what you think it needs and determine what you will need to charge the customer for these value added services. Do the same thing for the interior; Foul Odor, Faded or Badly Stained Carpets, Cigarette Burns, Vinyl or Leather Tears, Heavily Soiled Seats, Soiled Headliner, Pet Hair, etc. You can easily remove odors once you have cleaned the interior with an extractor by using an ozone generator. Smoke odors, musty odors, pet odors, etc. You can purchase a good ozone generator for about $400 and it will last for years and pay for itself quickly. Most detailers charge $50-$75 to provide ozone odor removal.
Provide carpet dying for faded floor boards and mats will only cost you a few dollars in supplies, take anywhere from ½ hour to an hour to do and can yield and extra $60+ per vehicle. Once properly trained you can repair most rips in vinyl and leather in less than 20 minutes and charge $50-$100. Carpet and upholstery cigarette burn repairs take only a few minutes and you can charge $10-$20 per repair. Again, your cost on the products used is a lot less than a gallon of gasoline!! Cigarette burn repairs only costs you pennies! There is a ton of money to be made in this business. You should strongly consider offering these very profitable auto reconditioning services. Whether you have a shop or are a mobile detailing operator the products used to perform these services will not take up a lot of space and are initial low investment.
Many individuals are keeping their vehicles longer today. The buy cycle today is about 8 years. The cost associated with purchasing a new vehicle has sky rocketed and you will need excellent credit. Good, clean and professionally reconditioned, pre owned vehicles will bring in big bucks at the auction block. Car dealers will be very interested in hearing what you have to offer. Private car owners will also listen more closely to what you have to say and offer them. Increasing resale and trade-in value of their vehicle will be more important than it has ever been in the past. You must take the pro active approach though and be thinking out of the box. Invest in purchasing these very affordable products and be trained on how to provide these services.
Once trained, develop a comprehensive Vehicle Evaluation sheet and have a procedure on how you will execute your “walk around” and show the vehicle owner the features and benefits of having their vehicle “reconditioned” versus just having it detailed. You will reap the profits, make the customer happy, and grow your bank account. You must think this way today if you are going to survive. The auto industry will be drastically reshaping itself within the next six months. You can sit back and watch others increase their bottom line or you can move forward now and be prepared for what is about to happen.
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Submitted By Jason Fung
of Detail King
When starting an auto detailing business, there are many things to consider. One of the first decisions that an entrepreneur needs to make when starting their auto detailing business is whether they want to have a mobile operation or a fixed detailing location. This can be a tough decision because there are many positives as well as negatives to both options.
Mobile Detailer Operation:
Advantages of a mobile detailing operation as opposed to a fixed location:
Disadvantages of a mobile detailing operation as opposed to a fixed location:
Fixed Location:
Advantages of a fixed auto detailing location as opposed to a mobile operation:
Disadvantages of a fixed auto detailing location as opposed to a mobile operation:
When starting an auto detailing business, these are all things to consider. The ideal situation would be to have both a fixed location and a mobile detailing operation at the same time because then you would have the best of both worlds. You would be able to get the benefits that come from being a mobile detailer as well as having a detail shop. It is not always feasible from a monetary standpoint to have both a fixed detailing location and a mobile detailing operation right from the start, so most people have to choose one way or the other. However, as your detailing business grows and it becomes time to expand, it is often advantageous to acquire the other option whether that is a fixed location or a mobile detailing unit.
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Before detailing a vehicle, evaluating it with the owner is important to do. There are a few reasons for this. First, you want to make sure that you document or bring to the attention of the owner, any existing damage on the vehicle before you start working on it. If you walk around the vehicle with the owner and point out any imperfections (dents, dings, rust, scuffs, scratches, etc.) you will be covering yourself so that the vehicle owner cannot blame you for something that was previously damaged or that they did not even know was damaged. It is sometimes even necessary to wash the vehicle prior to evaluating or giving a price in the case of an extremely dirty vehicle.
Sometimes the vehicle owner will not always be present when you do your "Walk-Around" evaluation prior to detailing. In this case, still go around the vehicle and look for any dents, scratches, cracks in plastic, etc. Then you want to call the owner if you come across anything and confirm that they know about it before detailing. Also, if you come across something while you are in the middle of detailing that you were unable to see before, call the customer right away to let them know. You don't want to tell the owner after you are done with the entire detail that there was a dent, ding, scratch, or crack because this can sound like you are being deceitful and if they really did not know it was there they might try to blame you for the damage.
Another reason for the "Walk-Around" evaluation before detailing, is to help you determine what the vehicle needs, which will help you to price the job and determine how long it will take you to complete the detail. It is good to have a list of things to look for and check for both the interior and the exterior of the vehicle. Here are some things to look for in your evaluation:
| Interior | Exterior |
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Each of the items on these lists will cost you time and chemicals. You need to make sure that you charge what you are worth and not cut yourself short. This is why you want to evaluate what the vehicle needs prior to starting the detailing process and prior to giving the customer a price. Knowing exactly what the vehicle needs will enable you to show your customer what you will be doing and why you are charging the price that you give them for your detailing service.
The "Walk-Around" evaluation will also give your customer options of what you can do for them. If you have a customer who does not want to pay the price for your detailing services that you quote them after seeing the vehicle, you can ask them which detailing services/items on the list they might not want to get done so that you can help them reach the price that they are willing to pay. This will be beneficial to you as well as them because if they decide not get everything done and knock a few detail services off the list, then you do not have to work as hard or as long. Also they will not have to pay for services that they are not as concerned about. This is much better than just dropping your price to accommodate what they want to pay. If you drop some services as opposed to just dropping your price, then you are still getting what your work is worth.
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Submitted By Jason Fung
of Detail King
Networking groups are a great way to get exposure for your detail business. The main advantage of being a member of a networking group is the captive audience that you get. Members are business owners and upper managers representing their company including accountants, lawyers, doctors, real estate agents, insurance agents, bankers, plumbers, carpenters, painters, landscapers, etc. There are many service-related businesses that are members of networking groups. These business owners have personal fleets of vehicles, service vehicles, work vehicles, etc. and they all need taken care of.
Networking groups only allow one member of each type of business to join their group so that members are not competing against each other for business. This gives members exclusivity of their services. For example, there will only be one accountant, one detailer, one carpenter, etc. for each group. Most groups meet once a week early in the morning before the workday starts. Basically, you are able to exchange leads with other members and get new business.
Some examples of networking groups include Le Tip, BNI (Business Networking International), York Business Exchange (Canada), etc.
The Chamber of Commerce is another great group to belong to. When you join, you get a membership roster that is a list of the current members with information about their type of business, background of the business, contact information, etc. There are periodic mixers and also a monthly newsletter where you can insert a flyer to advertise to other members. Other benefits include helpfulness with health insurance, business consulting, and other various discounts and perks that members are eligible for. The Chamber of Commerce usually meets once every month.
Joining the Chamber of Commerce or a networking group is much more beneficial than just "rolling the dice" with a newspaper ad that statistically has a shelf time of 2 hours. You are guaranteed leads as soon as you join because there are many professionals that have vehicles that will need cleaned. Membership fees are normally based on the number of employees that a company has as well as the size of the company. For the networking groups, there are usually also breakfast dues. The benefits of being a member far outweigh the costs associated with your membership.
Promoting Your Auto Detailing Business:
Company collateral is another important part of marketing and promoting your business. Flyers, business cards, banners, signs, etc. should be professionally made and printed to give your business the professional image that you need to convey. Flyers should not be printed on plain white paper, but instead on colored paper, which is catchier and more professional. If you print a flyer on white paper, even if the writing is in color, it will look like a homemade flyer and could give you an unprofessional look.
For mobile detailers, you should make an effort to hand out at least 10 business cards each day. When you are setting up for a detail at a customer's home or their place of business, you should go to a few of their closest neighbors and introduce yourself, hand them a business card, and let them know what you will be doing before you start detailing. Also invite them to come over and take a look at your work so that they can see the before/after results.
There are potential customers everywhere you go, whether you are at a gas station, or in a parking lot, so don't miss out on the opportunity to gain a new customer. If you see a car that you would like to detail and the car owner is there, go up and introduce yourself and hand them a business card. Also, you should ask for their business card in return. This way, you can follow-up with them in the future. You can also take notes about their car and your conversation, on the back of their business card. If the car owner is not available to talk to, place your business card on cars that you want to detail just above the drivers door handle between the weather stripping and the window. This is much more effective and professional than placing flyers underneath windshield wipers.
A sandwich sign is also a very good for mobile detailers to promote their business. Setting a sandwich sign up at the end of the driveway where you are working, or in a parking lot of a customer's business will help you attract attention to what you are doing. If you have a banner for your shop or a sandwich sign for your mobile business, your logo should be noticeable and your phone number and/or website should be big and bold. You do not want to have fancy lettering or lots of designs cluttering up your layout. Keep it simple with only important information and make sure people can read it. A canopy is another good way to attract attention especially if you are mobile and detailing in a busy parking lot.
These are only a few of the many things that can be done to help increase business. We have monthly seminars with an entire day devoted to marketing, prospecting, advertising, and growing your business. For anyone that is interested in learning many more ideas and more information about growing your business, you should consider coming to a Detail King seminar.
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Mobile detailing is auto detailing that is provided to a customer at the customer's specific location.
Whether it is at the customer's home or work the successful mobile auto detail operator would essentially be a "detail shop on wheels."
Providing mobile auto detailing "on-site" is very convenient to the consumer and the services offered should be priced accordingly. Services can range from a superior hand washing to a complete exterior buffing and waxing and interior steam cleaning and detail.
The conventional auto detailing "shop" has been in existence for many years. Mobile auto detailing has always been popular on the West Coast and in Florida due to the climate.
This business is relatively easy to start-up because of the low initial investment. The demand for auto detailing has greatly increased making it an attractive business opportunity for the new entrepreneur.
The average price of a new automobile today is over $23,000 and reports show that the "buy cycle" is now every eight years. People are keeping their cars longer and "cosmetic maintenance" is now regarded as being just as crucial as "mechanical maintenance."
Due to more vehicles being produced, higher sticker prices, people keeping their vehicles longer and the busy schedule of the consumer; mobile auto detailing could provide for an attractive business opportunity for an aggressive entrepreneur.
Getting Your Business Started
Just like any other new business start-up there are certain procedures that need to be followed to be legal and operate within your state's and municipality's laws and regulations.
You must apply for a fictitious name. Most operators start out as a sole proprietorship and choose a name to call their new mobile detail business; DBA (doing business as) "King Of The Road Mobile Detailing," for example.
It is now very easy and not too expensive to incorporate as an "S" corporation. Incorporating and operating your business as a "Sub Chapter S" gives the small business owner the legal benefits of being incorporated and be taxed as an individual not the higher taxing of a "C Corporation."
After you decide on the name your are going to call your new mobile detailing business you will want to open a business checking account. You should also inquire with your bank about getting a credit card for business purchases.
Many of your customers will also want to purchase your services with their credit card. Your bank can arrange for you to have a "merchant account" so you can accept Visa & Mastercard sales transactions.
You want to make it as convenient as possible for individuals to do business with you. You should also check with your local municipality and the towns that you will be operating in to determine if you need a merchant license. Merchant licenses are not that expensive and many municipals require it. It is a good idea to have one especially if you plan to target local industries and businesses.
Many if not most states require that you also have a sales tax license and charge sales tax with each transaction. Your State Department can provide the necessary information and applications. Most states will allow you to operate and charge sales tax while you are waiting for your sales tax number once you have applied. Having a sales tax number will also enable the business owner to purchase automotive supplies and be exempt of the sales tax.
It is strongly suggested that you be organized and do things right from the inception of your new business.
I would recommend that you select an accountant and have this person assist you with the proper filings of your all of your licenses and applications. You should also check with your local government office to see if they have certain regulations regarding mobile car washing.
Many cities now require that you capture the dirty rinse water so it does not run-off into their sewer systems. There are reasonably priced environmental water capture mats that will secure the rinse water until you can properly dispose of it and detail supply companies that offer environmentally friendly cleaning and detailing products.
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As you probably have heard GM, Ford, & Chrysler have extended their Employee Discount financing program. If you own and operate your own auto reconditioning business there are many opportunities awaiting!
First, these new car dealers are selling more cars than ever before. GM had the biggest gain in new car sales last month in their history. Many of their larger dealers are seeing more used car trades than ever before. I spoke to a GM mega center in Pennsylvania that sold 1000 new units last month and took in 900 used cars on trade. These trades will either be sold to wholesalers, sent to the auction or the dealers will keep them and retail the nicer units. Now what this means to you the auto detail business owner is that there could be more of an opportunity for increased revenue. You may of already seen an increase in your business, or you maybe you haven't yet. These dealers are taking in so many trades right now they are getting backed up with inventory. Each of these trades needs evaluated to determine how it will be resold. The nicer units will be checked-out in the shop and then these units will be cleaned and detailed and sent to the auction or kept to re sell. Because of the large amounts of trades the dealers are receiving and the time it takes to check them out mechanically, and receive the titles you may not see these details for 3 weeks or more. Now could be the Calm Before The Storm! So you need to prepare yourself accordingly. Even if the dealers have their own in-house detailing shop they will have overflow. If you have the time and want this revenue you should prepare a game plan to go after this potential used car reconditioning business.
Secondly, there is an additional opportunity with the new car that was sold. If you are not offering a Protection Package you should be! A protection package would consist of Paint Protection (polymer paint sealant), Fabric Protection, & Leather & Vinyl treatment. The new car dealer's profit margin and the salesman's commission is very skinny with this employee pricing sale. The dealer and the salesperson needs to make more profit on each unit. You may want to offer the dealership a protection package. The average price to the dealer for a protection package for a new vehicle ranges from $75-$125. The car is new so it will not take you as long to complete as a used car would. Typically to apply a protection package to a medium size vehicle should take no longer than 1.5 hours. If it were me I would advise the dealer to have you protect every new vehicle they have in inventory and have them place an addendum next to the MSRP window sticker. Many dealers will mark this up to $295-$395 or more. Most dealers will discount it and some may even give it away to close the deal so it can help them a few different ways. Lets say you protect 10 new vehicles per week that is $4,000 of new revenue per month and the work is easy! I have a customer who buys our products and just introduced this to a dealer that was not providing a protection package and they went for it! They committed about 25 vehicles per week, that is about $2500 per week in revenue that this detailer did not have. Hello!!!! Look at this opportunity here.
You can also promote this protection package to the retail customer who purchased the vehicle and maybe was not offered this at the dealership. This means you may have to do some additional advertising promoting this to the public. If you have a web site (and you should) update your site with this package. Your pricing should be lower than what the dealer is asking. The dealer customer can finance that package within their monthly payment so a $395 price tag from the dealer would only increase the payment by about $7 or $8 per month. Your retail cost to the customer may be $195 for the whole package.
Finally, you can advertise a Sell Car Package to your existing customers and to the potential consumer. The Sell Car package would prepare their vehicle to trade. If you take a look at the Black Book which many used car managers use as a guide when they apraise trade-ins you will see that a Clean car can bring upwards of $1200 or more. You need to promote that fact to the potential customer. Your used car reconditioning package which would include exterior, interior, trunk and engine detail may cost the customer $150-$250 but they could net an additional $1000 on their trade. You should also consider offering paint chip repair and carpet dying, too.
There is a great opportunity right now. The business owners that "think out of the box" will prosper with the opportunities outlined above. And of course many will just sit back and complain how slow business is without taking the lead. What will you do? Detail King offers Paint Sealant, Fabric Protection, Leather & Vinyl Treatment and can help coach you on how to promote these services to your customers. Give us a call at 1 888-314-0847 or visit our web site; www.detailking.com.
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Know your prospect:
If you are seeking to acquire commercial and fleet accounts for your auto detailing business research the company to educate yourself and demonstrate that you've taken the time to learn something about what it does or sells. In the event you cannot find much about it before you first make contact spend some time determining what the needs of the prospect is. This is called a performing "needs analysis." The needs analysis will better assist you with how well your selling and closing process goes. You need to know something about the prospect and how the services you are going to provide will help them.
Demonstrate an interest in your prospect's needs:
You will get further if you try to understand the challenges the business faces and how your services can make their company shine. Many company's that own fleets of vehicles have them for various uses. They could have a fleet of Lincoln Town Cars that the company officers all have, they may need them detailed and cosmetically maintained on a regular basis. You may want to offer them some type of VIP plans in which you see the vehicles on a regular basis for weekly hand washes and monthly mini details. The business could also have service vehicles and delivery vehicles that need power washed potentially once a week and interior cleaned once a month. There are many possibilities that is why it is critical to learn about your prospects business. Are the fleets bought or leased? How soon is the lease up? Will the vehicles coming off lease need to be detailed before they are turned back into the leasing company? Know what you need to know so you too can be successful.
Strive to form a relationship, not make a one-time sale:
If all you have to sell today is apples and your customers want oranges, don't try to force them to buy something they don't really want or need. Ask them what they might be looking for to help keep their fleet "standing tall" year-round and how you might be able to increase their fleets resale value when that time comes. Even if you are not seeing your customer weekly or even not monthly stay in touch. A simple phone call works just fine to see if anything is needed to be serviced. They may have just added new vehicles to the fleet and are in need of your "protection package." Regular periodical emails also good to keep your name and business in front of them. You may of added a new service or accessory to your line-up let your present customer base know about it. The entrepreneur that "thinks out of the box" on how to best serve his or her customers needs year-round will prosper the most!
Fleet accounts can be any size business with executive cars, pick-up trucks, delivery vehicles, service vehicles, vans, even aircraft. Know your customers needs and how you can help them achieve the very best image so they can shine just like their vehicles will. Appearance is the key here. We are all about appearance in this industry. You must convey this message to your prospects & customers and demonstrate how the services you provide could help their image and possibly even their bottom line.
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Face to Face Cold Calls
Mobile detailers should attempt to talk with at least ten new prospects per day, regardless of how many detailing jobs you have booked for the day. You want to keep the "pipeline" full of potential customers. One way to do that is talk to as many potential customers you can each day. Give as many cards and flyers out to as many people you speak to. Most importantly when you talk with a potential new customer try to get them to their vehicle so you can review with them your services and how the services will make the appearance of their vehicle look new again.
I know of many mobile detailers who just pass out flyers and stick them under the windshield wipers of cars. Some sell a few jobs from that but the success rate is nil. Other more successful entrepreneurs actually will target certain businesses that have high-end cars parked in their lots. Typically you would go into the business, ask who owns that "black Mercedes" in the parking lot and ask to speak to them. You would of already taken a good look at the car and made some notes on how you can improve it's appearance. Once you introduce yourself to the owner of the Benz, get him outside to his car with you and show him what you can do to correct any cosmetic problems and add protection and value to his vehicle.
You may even want to bring out some polish and hand polish a small section of the car's hood to show your potential customer what you can make the entire car look like. You can do the same thing with the interior; clean a section of the carpet or seats and show the customer the difference that your professional services will make. If you can do this at least 5 times per day to new potential prospects you should "book" at least 3 new details. This takes longer to do than just passing out flyers, but your closing ratio is considerably higher. Take the extra time to cultivate new prospects that would be more inclined to purchase your services and show the prospect the features and benefits of your offering.
Profitable Car Dealership Opportunities
Many auto detailing operators are satisfied just to obtain business at the car dealership from the used car manager. Although there are many more opportunities at the dealership that most operators do not pursue. The opportunities await at the service department and the body shop. For instance, many new car dealerships have clean-up shops but they are not "true" auto detailing bays. Typically the dealership does not have the space, the equipment or the expertise to operate an effective auto detailing business. That is where you come in; offer your professional services to the service department.
Scenario:
A service customer brings in their $50,000, 12 month old Lexus for service, if offered an auto detailing at the car dealership where they purchased their Lexus there is a good chance they will pay $200-$250 for a complete detail. But, if the service advisor is not confident that they can offer a professional auto detailing service to that customer, they won't, and there is revenue lost that the dealership could have easily obtained if they offered the service. Also, the service department may want to offer auto detailing services but is not confident that the "wholesale" detailer that cleans the dealerships used cars will do a "retail detail" on their service customers car. The service advisor also does not want to have his "clean-up" or "get-ready" guys attempt the job, the detail probably will not be up to par. So they don't even offer it and the customer takes it down the road to someone else to spend his money- maybe you, maybe not.
If you offer your "high-end" auto detailing to these "high-end" auto dealerships you and the dealer both win. They generate additional revenues that they need badly and you get additional business. If they are selling the detail at $229, you may charge them $129, this beats the $85 used car dept. detail, and typically these high-end service department details are much easier to do. The dealer makes $100, and if they can do this 5-10 times per week (at least) there is an extra $25,000 - $50,000 that the service department has generated in new business that they do not have to touch.
In turn, you have just generated an additional $25,000 - $50,000 in new business. You need to formulate a plan and offer your services to the new car dealerships and show them the revenues that they can generate. Show them the long-term profits. You must make an agreement with them that you will not solicit your services to their customers after the first detail. The dealership will want repeat business with this new profit center. Some very savvy entrepreneurs actually set-up a shop at the dealership and obtain all of the clean-up and detailing jobs. This will take a real commitment from you though. It can be done. There are also opportunities from the dealerships auto body shop especially if you offer heated extractor services and odor removal.
Promoting Your Business On The Web
The Internet is here to stay, and is an excellent way to showcase your business. Many times customers will look for your web address to learn more about your business before they contact you. Because you are a local business you really need not worry about web site ranking initially. If customers decide to use a search in their area for a local detailing business your web address should come up if you used the correct title, description, key words and introduction paragraph.
Mainly these prospects will want to learn more about your services and the Word Wide Web is an inexpensive way to do it. You do not need an elaborate web site. All you really need is a home page, a service page or two, and possibly a photo album of cars you have done with their owner standing next to their newly detailed car. You should also have a form so your customer can book an appointment online - you will need to check your email a few times a day to confirm the appointments.
To promote your web site is easy. Just put your web address on everything! That's right everything; your van or truck, trailer, business card, service menu, flyers, yellow page ads, newspaper ads, virtually anything that has your business name on it. Be sure to set-up a counter on your web site so you can see the amount of visitors to the site.
If you are planning on having a yellow page ad many yellow page advertising companies will offer you a free web site with your display ad.
If you are on a tight budget you can call the local Art Institute or Technical Institute and have a student build your web site. These students usually know the latest technology and can build you a nice web site for a very attractive price. As your business grows you can build-up your web site more. It is important to have a web site when you open so you can have the leading edge over your competition especially if they do not have one.
In summary, talk to as many people you can every day about your business. Hand out flyers and business cards and attempt to review your services with the potential customer at their vehicle. Offer your services to auto dealership service departments and body shops, there are additional profits here.
Also, if you do not have a web site - get one! Being on the web is an important part of your marketing plan and will help grow your business quicker.
You also want to educate yourself as much as possible in this industry. Gaining more education in this industry can be obtained by attending educational seminars. You want to know as much as you can, this will assist you in obtaining more business and enable to grow your business faster.
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