I also hear the term “franchise” being used frequently now in terms of getting a detail business started or starting an “eco friendly” car wash business. Again, some people I have spoken to seem to have a good model and it very well may work as a franchise. Some people I think are grasping at straws just throwing the term “detailing franchise” out there as a quick way to get someone else’s money and offer a plan that may or may not work. Setting up franchises is very hard work. There are many legal things to consider and it’s not easy to set one up. The plan must be solid and easily be able to be replicated over and over to be successful. Just because your business is successful, does not mean it can be “franchised”. Also, just because you may know a thing or 2 about detailing, does not mean you are a “consultant”. I hope any new people investigating the business understand these important facts.

Now before you yell and scream at me after reading these next paragraphs, and say “who the hell do you think you are”, hear me out. Sure it bugs me sometimes to see people who have far less experience, knowledge and qualifications as I do, call themselves a “detail trainer” or “detail consultant”. I have as big of an ego as anybody. It’s the same when I read how people “test” different products. We (David and I) put in hundreds of hours of testing, talking and tweaking every single sample that I receive.  And considering so many different variables in testing stuff, that it blows my mind the time and effort involved and how scientific we get in our testing. Sure, I read how some guys test something and offer a report on it, and it may help many people in an evaluation, but its still on a different level……Well, that still makes me sound like an asshole doesn’t it? Wait, let me read that section again…….Ok, I am an asshole. An egotistical asshole at that! Now that we have gotten that out of the way, and we all agree that I am a jerk, but a knowledgeable jerk, lets move on. It’s the same with being a detailing “consultant” or a “planner” or “advisor”. Even if you are doing it for free, or very little money, it can affect someone’s life, so please take it seriously or don’t get involved. And of course DO IT RIGHT!

There are various levels of help and assistance that a detailer, a prospective detailer, a novice, an enthusiast, or whatever level you are on, can obtain out here on the internet. I have written technical articles for over 12 years in different magazines. I have spoken at industry events and done training sessions at these events. I post articles on this site, my own and other sites where people ask if they can use my stuff. Now I have this blog where I still hope the information is helpful. Generally I enjoy helping people if I can. And I know many others out there in the forums offer their assistance at no charge for people who request the help. Of course I also have a DVD and I offer training classes that people do have to pay for. This is where the line breaks. People that are very serious about opening a detailing business and will actually pay for assistance to get it off to the right start, and want or need to find a qualified individual to help them. The old saying is “you get what you pay for”. Its true and sometimes people in any industry go through many “pretenders” that charge them for a service that is marginal at best. I have paid for poor service and advice in many areas where I originally thought the person or company I was dealing with was extremely qualified. Its not that their service was horrible, but I didn’t get as much as I wanted or needed.

This is my point. Anybody can call themselves a “consultant” or “detail trainer” or “counselor” or “mentor” or “advisor” in any profession, not just detailing...….you get my point. And some people may have actually done it once or twice or a few times, either for free or have gotten paid. My hats off to you if you have even helped one person get going. But please be careful about charging people lots of money for sub par services. Make sure they are trained correctly, have good equipment and products, but not more than what they may need. Don’t give then fluff just to make some money. In a poor economy, there seems to be many shady and unscrupulous people that emerge sometimes to take advantage of people……..Now again, I am not targeting anyone specifically, but make sure what you provide will really help people. Even if you do it for free, get it right. Don’t steer somebody in the wrong direction. This is their life and if they ask you for help and you are willing to provide it, then do it right.

Now I may have come off like an asshole here, but so be it. It’s my blog and hopefully good reading. So now as I step off my soap box, I do want to remind everyone that if you do need training or consulting, or planning or whatever, please check me out. I am about to offer a new plan and services for people who may need assistance but cant come to a training class and may need more one on one assistance. I hope people that know me, know of me, and have hopefully heard that I do good work will see that what I offer is worth it. So here is my shameless lead into my new service. Yes, I can offer people detailing planning, coaching, advisement, consulting or whatever the term we want to use. I think I can do it as well or better than anyone else….There’s my ego poking through again….but if I didn’t have an ego, I probably wouldn’t be any good would I?? So check out my new service on my site if you need that kind of help.

Oops, is this a blatant advertisement??? Can I do this Dan? Well, again, it’s my blog and it looks like I just did it. I sure like having a blog on Auto detailing Network….Oops another blatant advertisement. Thanks for reading and please visit us at www.kleencarauto.com

You see, I have learned so much about so much other stuff over the years. I’ve learned more about computers and websites and optimization than I ever wanted to know. But now I think I am really good at it and I can help others with websites and such. I’ve learned how to write! Literally. I never had to write much in another jobs I had, and I hated writing papers in school. Now I do it for fun and I’m pretty good at it. I’ve been writing articles for magazines for 12 years and I remember the first one I ever wrote took me about a week and needed so much correction; it took me another week to revise it. I still really can’t tell you what a conjunctive phrase is, or identify prepositions, and I have trouble seeing the difference between verbs and adverbs, but I think I use them all pretty well in my writing! That really makes me laugh. But don’t tell Stefan, the editor of The Auto Laundry News, or he may never let me write another article. Anyway, I never thought I would be doing this.

I also never thought I learn how to do a corporate presentation. But I had to for BMW of North America when I first pitched my detail training program to them many years ago. You do things sometimes because you have to. I never thought that I would understand web terms like “keywords” and “meta tags” but I have to now so I can “optimize” my website (another word I never knew or understood). I’ve learned cool computer programs like QuickBooks, Word, Power point, Excel and Photoshop. I also can do video editing. And I learned how to use You Tube! Now I tell prospective customers to look at some equipment videos on my website so they can actually see how the machines work. Technology is so cool. But if you don’t learn some of it, you will either be left behind…or pay through the nose for somebody to do stuff for you.

I also learned how to deal with Commercial real estate and what’s involved in renting and leasing. I’ve been taught how to do plumbing and run water lines as the previous shops had none or I needed them somewhere else. I have always done electrical work but now I know commercial code on how to do this. You learn EPA and OSHA stuff. You learn who is bullshitting you very fast when you own a business as well. We all learn so many things in so many different areas that we never thought we would have to know. But I am so glad I have learned all this.

So these are some of the many hats we wear as business owners. We may be better at some than others, but at some point you have to wear one of many different ones. And when you consider how many hours you really put into a business, other than actually working on cars, you may wish you still “just had a job”. I was on the phone for about 6 hours total trying to get my website fixed and not only didn’t I make money being on the phone, I know I lost money because of the state of my site. But oh well, its all part of doing business. And 2009 was a tough year I am sure for all of us. But it’s over and we hope things are turning for the better. We can only try that much harder and be constantly on top of things. The more you can do yourself; the better off you will ultimately be in the long run. Some of the things I mentioned above have saved me a lot of money and have given me much more control of my business. That’s worth a ton to me.

My little “episode” with my website has just clued me in that I really need to be on top of everything and aware of things I need to keep doing. When business was good, little things didn’t matter so much. I got a little lazy and slacked off a little. Now I have detailed notes on what to do next year with this SSL thing and when to renew it. I am trying to take that approach to 2010 and beyond and hopefully we all will. I know just trying harder may not make us all more money, but the flip side is that if you slack off or quit trying, where will you end up?

To visit our detailing website servicing Alpine NJ and surrounding areas, please visit www.njautodetail.com or our training, products and equipment site at www.kleencarauto.com

Sometimes it’s easy when you have a website to just forget about it. It’s always there. I have worked pretty hard to get stuff on there and set up a store and such. And when it’s working, it’s a wonderful thing. People can view what you offer all over the world and at any time of the day. How cool is that? However….when there is a problem, it can be a nightmare. Welcome to mine

When you have a store set up, you need what’s called an SSL certificate. An SSL certificate is digitally "signed" by a certificate authority that web browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox) already trust. This allows the web browser to verify the identity of a secure site before sending private personal information, such as bank account or credit card numbers. I used to just have my web person do all this crap for me and never worry about it. But then when it expires, you need to get a new one and install it so people can safely purchase items. This seems easy but to anyone but a computer geek, it’s not so easy. That’s why I used to just have my web person do all this, but I like to have more control over things and also save some money by doing it myself. I did this last year myself and it went fine. But you can’t have an online store without one these days. You see, when an SSL certificate runs out, a visitor going to check out on somebody’s store will get an alarming error message that says….hey don’t buy here, this site is unsecured. So a customer gets out as quickly as possible. Well, I don’t want that to happen to me, so I remind myself to renew it around January 1^st. It happens that it runs out on the 10^th.

However, we have been moving and fixing up a new shop. We were doing all kinds of stuff to get ready for a January detail training class so I wasn’t concentrating on much else the last few weeks except getting this shop ready. When I finally remembered I needed to do this it was the day before the SSL was to expire. Great, I am just in time. I like to make a call and make sure I know exactly how to do this before I go exploring into my web hosting administrative program. I call the web hosting company and I tell them I need a new SSL (they never reminded me). I asked them how to go about getting a new one installed and asked them to walk me through the process. I wanted to do this myself because again, I like to control my own stuff and actually learn more cool computer stuff. The web host company says do this, then this, then this, paste the code (I actually do know what that means) and it’s done! Great, I am thinking. I did it with one day to spare. But it couldn’t have been that easy, could it? It wasn’t of course. Something happened where I never got emailed the very important code. They said I would receive the code in 24 hours. I never got it. Luckily I didn’t forget. I called back. I got put on hold forever then I had to explain everything. They say its installed and working fine. I asked “Are you sure?” I was supposed to paste a code in, after I received an email containing the code, and I never got it. They said it was OK. It wasn’t. I tried to buy something off my site and I got this gigantic red error message saying my store is unsecured. Holy shit! What’s going on? Nobody can buy anything. The old SSL had now run out and the new one wasn’t up there. But the key thing here is that I (and nobody else) had to stay on top of this. I tried to see what a customer would see and I didn’t like what I saw. But the web hosting company never actually checked. I guess they were too damm busy or they just don’t give a shit, or they think like computer geeks and not smart business people. That’s the problem also. So I inform them it’s not installed. So another day had gone by and I was making another long and exhausting call to tell them they were wrong.

They give me a ticket number (kind of like a repair order) of the whole issue so I can call back and reference if needed, but they said they would look into it and get back to me. This started Monday, the 11^th. By Wednesday (after not hearing from them of course) I call back. I tell the entire story to somebody else who puts me on hold to read the ticket. I am on hold and on the phone for another hour. They tell me that there was a “free” SSL installed but it had a different domain address (that’s why it’s free) than what a visitor gets taken to in my store. Luckily I understand “domain” names, and URL and such. This “free” SSL would mean a visitor checking out of my store would manually have to type in the URL or domain into the address bar to get to that secure part of my site!!!! I am so appalled that these idiots would actually think that a customer would ever do this, or know how to do this. So I calmly (well…. not really) explain that this is not what I want and that 99.999999999 % of everybody on the planet would never do what he explained to me. So I told him that I needed an SSL so your average customer can just buy a fucking product without being a computer geek! The way I figured out I still had a problem was by seeing all the error messages when I try to buy something. My question to these technical geniuses was, why can't you “pretend” to be a customer and see what I am seeing and every visitor to my site would see. Its not rocket science to check it out, right? Was I asking too much?

So this guy (another technical support guy) says I need to purchase an SSL so a customer can buy something “easily”. No shit Sherlock. I am WILLING to pay for it. Just tell me how I can fucking do it. He tells me this and that, and by now I am an expert at navigating the administrative part of the web hosting site. I buzz through it and BUY the new SSL as I thought I had originally done. Again he says I will get an email with the code that needs to be copied and pasted in the box before it’s installed. OK no problem. But now it’s Friday evening the 15^th. I have just taught a class for the last 2 days and I am tired and this is the last thing I wanted to do, but you do it because you have to. So I get the email with the code. I go back into admin (I know exactly where I need to go now because I have dome it like 5 times) and I paste the code in exactly how they told me to and I click “next step” to finish the process and end the nightmare. Oh, but not so fast. A big red error message comes up that states the code is not for that domain name. What??? You are kidding me right?? But I can’t proceed so it’s on the phone again. It’s now Saturday the 16^th at 6PM. Like I need this shit. I go through another explanation to another technical guy who puts me on hold and I end up on the phone for another hour. They again say THEY will take care of it and install it themselves without anymore issues. I am hopeful (what else can I be?) but not really confident. I don’t ask for a phone call back (I know I won’t get one) but I wait for an email saying it’s fixed. I do get that email early morning on the 17^th. Great it’s fixed! But the first thing I do is go to my site, pretend to be a customer and try to buy something and go to checkout. It’s still fucked up! This time I get an error message that states that the SSL was posted for another websites’ address. What??? These guys installed it, not me. How did they fuck it up again?? Now I am really pissed off. It’s Sunday and the only saving grace is that they are open 24/7. I guess they have to be if they fuck up this many times! I have a couple of different domain names that point to my site (now I sound like a compute geek) but that means that my site looks the same with 3 different names that can be typed in. So I am assuming that they posted the SSL to the wrong domain. That’s my hope anyway.

So another call, another long time on hold, another explanation telling them what happened and how unhappy I am. Luckily I had enough self control not to curse them all out. There is still yet another technical, computer geek problem. I won’t go on to explain that. But I finally got some kind of manager person to help me but it took 4 more days to get it fixed correctly. I was on the phone every single day with these guys for a week and a half trying to get to the bottom of it all. Who knows how many people tried to buy something and backed out when they saw a big red unsecured error message? I know I would have. They didn’t quite seem to understand that so much….or care so much. I learned a bunch of new computer stuff from this mishap as well as a much more important lesson. You really need to stay on top of things yourself. If you get lazy and assume somebody else is taking care of it….you could get screwed.

Why did I share this story? I debated about telling you readers that for a week and a half my store was unsecured. That’s not something people want to hear and I didn’t want to advertise it. It’s not good for business. However, it will bring me to my next article about how many other jobs you do (and hats you wear) as a business owner. You always need to stay on top of things. Always! You can’t assume people know what they are doing until they prove it to you and you can trust them. You need to learn different things and be aware of so many other issues that are involved in owning a business. Yes, we got into detailing cars and hopefully you love doing that. But if you think that all you will ever do is detail cars if you own the business, you better read this again! There are so many things that you need to be aware of….other than detailing cars. You can save so much money, learn so many new things, develop new skills and broaden everything in your life by getting involved in other operations of your business. Sometimes you don’t have a choice. I will talk about that in the next blog. I hope you had a few laughs. It wasn’t really that funny to me but maybe it made a good story. Thanks for reading

To visit our detailing website servicing Alpine NJ and surrounding areas, please visit www.njautodetail.com or our training, products and equipment site at www.kleencarauto.com

I am sure many of you have customers who are draining. They may always want discounts. They may be very picky about everything but are unwilling to pay a premium price for high expectations. They may want such things as a loaner car while theirs is being worked on. They may want odd time appointments and request or demand that the car be done at an exact time. They may be unrealistic on how the vehicle should turn out even “after” you point out things that cannot be corrected. They also may want the challenging and more involved operations such as wet sanding, headlight restoration and paint touch ups for instance, included with the regular price. I could go on and on but I am sure we all have these customers. The difference sometimes is that the demanding customers may be problematic sometimes, but some are more than willing to pay the premium price for their expectations. Those are the ones I keep but kind of cringe when they call. The ones who seem like they are never pleased or perceive that they are not getting value for your work…..yes, should be fired!

Cutting ties

Those that expect the most and want to pay the least should be considered a bad investment and may have to be let go. By doing this, it may very well free you up to pursue new customers and pamper some of the better ones. These new ones can be “trained” by you to be a great detail customer. You see, all of us have problems with cancellations, expectations, and pricing. We all have made some of these mistakes at some point. We all have booked a job at too low of a price just to get it. We all have given some customers much more than the job deserved, and we all have put up with un-needed cancellations based on weather or a sudden change in the customers’ schedule. How many times has a customer cancelled an appointment because it “may” rain that day or the next day?

That was one of my pet peeves. I have a shop where work is done indoors, so obviously the weather won’t affect the work being done. Rain will NOT make the car look like it was NOT detailed if it happens to rain the next day. But customers want to enjoy the detail job for many days and not have it rain on the car so they become weather forecasters and cancel appointments based on the potential for some rain. Well, if a customer does this to me once….I book the next appointment about 3 weeks later no matter what. If they do it twice…..they are fired! That pissed me off more than anything. If you cancel a doctor’s appointment within 24 hours, many will still charge you. That prevents cancellations. But, back to training the NEW customers.

Once you have had experience with problem customers you can turn new ones into trained puppies! I tell them you may need the car the entire day. I tell them up front I don’t appreciate cancellations based on weather. I carefully explain how well the car will look no matter what and a little rain will just wash off the dust and the car will look great after the rain stops. There is no need to cancel because it may rain the next day. I inform a customer that YES; there is sales tax on a detail job. I make sure they know what will be taken care of and what cant be taken care of, as well as, what may be optional for an extra charge so we are both on the same page. I always “read” the customer on what they expect and how anal they are. If they are very particular and very anal, that’s fine. But then they will pay for that. Some customers already know how they are. The ones that don’t and still want a deal are the ones you should not take on in the first place. But this is a tough thing to learn

My buddy “Joe”

I talked about my buddy “Joe the detailer” in a previous blog. “Joe” is mobile and likes to get every job he can. The problem with being mobile is that he never gets a chance to see a car before booking an appointment. A customer called him last week and wanted to set something up. The customer seemed a bit anal over the phone as he was asking what processes “Joe” uses and that he needed the car to be “wheeled”. When he asked “Joe” what kind of products he used, “Joe” replied that he uses only the best. I use Optimum. I always appreciate that when “Joe” talks about the Optimum products. So the customer says that his “old” detailer was the best and that he used Optimum and helped develop some of the products. So “Joe” says to this customer, you must be talking about Kevin from Kleen Car. The customer says yes, Kevin used to do my cars for years but now he is too busy training guys and working for BMW of North America so he cant do my car anymore…..You see, this is partly true. I use that line when I need to “fire” a customer or I just don’t want to work on their cars anymore. This guy was a very nice guy and I actually like him. We always chat a bunch when I picked up his car and when I dropped it off. Sometimes too much chatting but that’s my fault as much as anything. In any event this guy is picky but I knew it from the beginning. He would sometimes question things that I had told him would not come out such as deep scratches or chips, etc. before I started the job. I would carefully explain all this and he sometimes would still want to know why they didn’t come out better when the job was done. This is always a pain in dealing with a customer but it has to be re-enforced to them or they will drive you crazy. Eventually the guy purchased a new car and I had told him how to take care of it and he didn’t call me for a while. I did get busier training and such, so I really didn’t have too much time to dedicate to him as he needed pick up at his job which was a bit far for me and all the chatting, and I never really charged him that much so it made sense for me not to do his cars anymore. No hard feelings that he called “Joe”

“Joe” tried to go over the car with him before the detail and he told him what would come out and what would not come out well. From what he told me he charged him a fair price for the car but the slight “issues” that were discussed “before” the job came up again “after” the job. I knew exactly what he meant. Again, we have all come across customers like this. It’s not so bad to have a picky customer. Sometimes that makes us work that much harder and keeps us on our toes. But when the expectations go beyond time involved and price, it’s not fair. These will be the customers that will make you cringe and wish you never had them in the first place. So “Joe” called me after the job to let me know what I already knew about this customer. In the end he was happy but it seemed a little stressful. These situations have to make you think about either raising his price to make sure you can thoroughly take care of all the little issues, or sometimes you should just let them go.

Rule of thumb to let them go

If a customer is late paying that’s a big problem. We all want to be paid for any job and to float money is just bad business most of the time. If a customer is constantly canceling and making you reschedule him, or other people to fit him in, that’s a big problem. If a customer wants to pay the least but expects the most, that a big problem. If a customer is very high maintenance, pushes boundaries and takes up your personal time with unreasonable requests, that’s a big problem. And if you cringe when that customer calls and possibly causes you to lose sleep the night before the job, that’s also a big problem. What can be done about all these problems? Fire the customer!!

It sounds so bad and looks bad to read on this screen, but sometimes this is actually a smart business decision when you think about it. But a smart thing to do is screen new customers better and train them to be good customers. It’s not so hard. You may not get everyone but you should know your target market and concentrate on those people. I know that each one of you while reading this has thought of a few customers that you would like to fire! Even if you don’t fire them, try to “train” them to be better customers.

To visit our detailing website servicing Alpine NJ and surrounding areas, please visit www.njautodetail.com or our training, products and equipment site at www.kleencarauto.com

His house is beautiful and clean…. but the cars….forget about it! He always plans to get it cleaned but then something comes up and the garbage just piles up even more. Just like a typical NON detailing customer.

So he came back here last week was in town for about 10 days. Since he had a bunch of things to take care of while he was here he rented a car. He came by to see me the day after he got into town and in the one day he had managed to have stuff piled on the seats and the floor and there was garbage in the car already. He gets a hair cut weekly but he can’t keep a car clean for 10 minutes. Go figure. But that’s a typical car owner. Even an organized military car owner. My high ranking brother who is extremely organized and is on top of every detail, but he is one messy dude and treats his cars like crap. His military uniform is spotless, all the creases are perfect, the badges and medals are placed perfectly and the shoes look like a mirror, but the cars are a mess.

Go after this type of customer

He is more than willing to get his car detailed. But when you look at the type of person he is, you see why you don’t get too many of them to actually do it. He is a busy professional. He works long hours. He doesn’t really search out where to get his car detailed and it’s not at the top of his list most of the time. He honestly doesn’t really know what a good detail is worth. He asks me what I would charge and when I tell him he is not at all surprised or put off by a high price. Customers (or right now a NON detail customer) like him need to be found by we, the detailers. He absolutely knows his car is in dire need of detailing. He knows what the service is and what it will do for the vehicle, so he doesn’t need to be sold on the benefits. But he is not actively searching as he doesn’t have the time. He, and non detail customers like him, need to be found. He is probably not going to find you

I am not an expert at marketing by any means. I have made tons of mistakes in advertising over the years. But in dealing with the types of people I deal with now, and working with a wealthier clientele, you have to go after them and recruit them so to speak. When you have a person like my brother who will get his car done if you find him, you won’t really have competition. As I said, he is not shopping for the cheapest price. He isn’t shopping for detailing at all! So if you find him and market to him and make it easy for him to use you (being mobile, pick up and delivery, loaner car, etc) chances are you will get the job. Then, once you have him as a customer he is easy to keep. Just do a good job, keep reminding him when its time to do it again. With my brother, he will probably have the car messy a week later so a couple of months is a good time frame.

I have seen this with the people I deal with in Alpine NJ 07620. These people are extremely wealthy but time is the key. They are always busy. They want to keep their very expensive and ultra luxury cars clean, but they need a detailer to kind of pamper them a little. I know we are now in December and the holidays are here and people are not really thinking about doing their cars. But it’s still a good time to try instead of complaining about how slow it is and how “nobody” wants to get their cars detailed and “nobody” wants to spend any money. I know there are people out there who will be grateful that you found them. Sure you may have to spend a bit of money to go after them, but when you “go after” a person who currently is a NON detail customer, you aren’t competing against the guy down the street or the cheapo guy, or the car wash express detail. YOU are the only one looking for the business buy “going after” a specific customer.

There are many more people like my brother who want to get their cars detailed but either don’t know anybody to do it, or don’t have the time. When you present yourself as the solution, chances are they will stay loyal to you and you will never have to compete with the cheapo guys. Every town, every city, every state has busy professionals that have dirty cars and would love to get it professionally detailed.

I will steal or borrow this last line from Dan Ekenberg who has said this many times to me in conversations. Since its holiday time and many of us may be going shopping a bit more and spending some time at a mall, be perceptive. Dan has done this many times. Check out all the cars in the parking lot. Look to see how many of those cars look perfectly clean and detailed. Probably less than 5% if that, will not be in need of some kind of detailing. So out of the 95% that need to be detailed, “Go after” the ones who may be good customers. I am sure you will see the BMW’s, Mercedes, Lexus, and other high end cars. Why aren’t these cars being detailed? Is it because the customer can’t afford it? Not likely. Now just figure out the best way to make them your customer.

So even though it’s slow for everybody in December and as the weather gets worse in some areas of the country, we can try to figure out how to get the 95% of the cars and NON detailing customers into our shops in some of the down time we will all have.

So thanks to Colonel Tim Farrell for being such a messy car owner in helping me develop this article. And thanks to all the military personnel in all branches of service who bravely serve and protect our country.

To visit our detailing website servicing Alpine NJ and surrounding areas, please visit www.njautodetail.com or our training, products and equipment site at www.kleencarauto.com

Now I have been through this dance before and it’s a pain in the ass. Before getting into a fixed location there are many things that need to be considered. You have to look at the size of the building, square footage, the location (neighborhood, and if it is a good detailing area), rent cost, parking, work that needs to be done, and an often overlooked, but major issue. Does the building have a floor drain and will the owner and municipality allow you to install one?

This is huge. Years ago when I first needed a building and before steam and waterless washing had come into play, it was critical to have a floor drain in the shop, especially in the Northeast. I have seen some detail shops where they wash cars outside or even run a car through the local car wash before bringing it in to detail. There are huge problems in either washing outside or bringing a car to the local car wash. You can easily figure them out so I will continue. I lost out on some nice buildings because either the owner would not allow a floor drain to be put in or the town would not. You see many years ago, before all this new regulation, auto shops would sometimes drain fluids and let them run down the drain like anti freeze, transmission fluid and oil. So any auto related business coming in would sometimes scare an owner. I also ran into shops where the owner had capped off and cemented over floor drains just so there would never be any hanky panky. So a shop that did not have a floor drain was basically a deal breaker for a detailer that wanted to do things right and be compliant.

When I finally found a building (after over a year of looking) the shop sure enough did not have a floor drain but the owner and the town would allow one to be put in….at our expense of course.

Cost and installation of a floor drain

After sourcing out the correct pieces and knowing the law as to what needed to be installed, the concrete floor needed much cutting and digging. This job really sucked. We rented a saw and cut and cut and cut…and then jack hammered and jack hammered and jack hammered…and then dug and dug and dug. It was a huge mess and a big undertaking. Laying the actual drain was easy. The pipes fit together like a puzzle and they laid in the ground and were covered back up and cemented back over. The only thing that needed access was the oil separator which needed cleaning every so often. But…..the job was far from done. The drain was now in the floor in the shop but it had to run into the city sewer line. The pipe had to go through the side of the building and into the ground outside and connect to the pipe that ran to the street and into the sewer system. Once it was correctly figured out where that pipe was, a backhoe had to come in and dig up the ground. Of course, what they were digging was a part of the parking area that had nice asphalt already, but now that was ruined. And of course the city pipe was not a few inches down in the ground, but a few feet….more like about 8-10 feet deep. A licensed plumber had to connect the pipe and it needed inspection by the city plumbing inspector before the ground could be filled in. Then the blacktop had to be re-paved before the job was totally finished

All told it took a month to get it done and a cost of about $8000. That was with most of the concrete cutting, jack hammering and digging done ourselves. And the plumber was a family friend so that cut the cost a little bit. It was also done about 6 years ago so figure the cost now. It’s a job I swore I would never ever do again because of time, aggravation, the amount of work involved, the mess, and of course….the cost!

This new old building…buy a steamer or a pressure washer?

Back to the building we are moving into. Sure enough it does have a floor drain….and lucky enough it has the drain in the exact spot where I want to prep and wash the cars. How lucky! But even if the drain doesn’t work all that well or the water doesn’t flow in the direction I really want it to, I don’t really care all that much. You see, I don’t really need a floor drain. I don’t want to wash cars with high pressure water and regular soap anymore. If you know me at all, you should know I have a steamer for everything and the perfect polymer car wash product. So I won’t even set up a power-washer most likely. In that other building we set up a car wash type pressure washer that needed a dedicated 220 volt circuit and we set it up all the way in the back room to be out of the way. We had to run pressure hose all the way to the front and then and set up 2 hose reels for washing. That wasn’t cheap either.

This new building I wont do that. No pressure washer will be here at all. Even with the floor drain. Even in an area of the country where we are not in a drought or under any kind of water runoff laws, there still won’t be a pressure washer. If this building did not have a floor drain, it would not have been a big deal at all. This time a building with no floor drain is not a deal breaker. And it should not be for you either.

You see there are ways to get a car clean without tons of water. Many of you are doing that already. We all know about the great “waterless” or polymer type products to get a car clean. However it does make sense to help the process along by having some steam, preferably at a higher pressure to help move things along. I know everybody is more in tune with steam and now steam washing and it’s great that more and more people are aware of this. We know the benefits. For those of you who are still a little in the dark we will provide a link to an article I previously wrote on steam washing at the end of this article. So you already know what my choice is. Of course my choice to prep and wash cars will be a steamer. But the questions will still remain….What kind of steamer?

What kind of steamer to put in your shop?

If you are not going to have a floor drain and therefore not going to be using a garden hose or a power washer to wash the vehicles, then your choice of steamer will be pretty important. Of course you should be using a “waterless” product to wash the cars but as I have written about before, you will need some assistance with some steam. We know the small units won’t do a great job on the exterior of the vehicle for obvious reasons. That leaves the larger, more powerful vapor steamers, where the water content is low but the pressure, volume and heat are higher. Or, the other type of higher pressure steamer where there is slightly more water content involved, a propane operated unit with even more pressure and more water content.

I am going to use the propane steamer for this application. I want a little more water content and I want the highest pressure possible. I will be using our LW250 steamer

The floor will only get slightly wet and there will be very little water runoff, but it will go down the drain anyway, so I don’t care how much water content there is with this unit. It’s the perfect way to be green while still having great heat, good pressure and the ability to really blow embedded dirt out of cracks and crevices and get wheels really clean with a longer wand and super heated steam.

I can also advertise the green factor and the use of steam both inside and out. So while a steamer like this, or even the high power vapor unit like the Vapor Chief 180 will be more expensive than a power washer or obviously, a garden hose, I can be green and if the shop didn’t have a floor drain, it would not really matter. I don’t want to spend upwards of $10,000 again to install a floor drain. You should not have to either. There are other effective options.

 To visit our detailing website servicing Alpine NJ and surrounding areas, please visit www.njautodetail.com or our training, products and equipment site at www.kleencarauto.com

I love these questions because it brings up real life situations and what to do, or more important, what not to do. In my class, I teach perfection. I want them to know how to be perfect and get everything out so that a student will develop and “A” game and be a great detailer. But this is in a controlled situation and setting with multiple people working on the vehicle with basically no time limit. And I am the customer. I am demanding perfection so they know exactly what I want, and I am telling them that a particular area can be a little better or I point out things that cannot be done better and how to explain it to a customer. But when these students get out on their own they then have to realize that there is nobody helping them and if they decide to produce perfection, they need to ask themselves….How long is this going to take? How much am I being paid for this job? Does this customer really expect true perfection?

You don’t need perfection on every job

If a detailer is going to give a show car back to a customer on every job for an average price, 2 things will happen. He will be absolutely loved by everybody for such great work at what will amount to a very lowball price, and he will also soon be out of business believe it or not. You can’t spend 8-10 hours on a car trying to be perfect while you are only getting paid for maybe 4 or 5 hours worth of work. It just doesn’t add up. If you give a customer a show car he should be paying a show car price. If you are giving him a great job in a 4 or 5 hour time frame, the job should be excellent but maybe not show car perfect. Never should the 2 be intertwined if you still want to make money.

In most cases a detail customer will expect a very good job both inside and out, but not expect perfection. The detailer also should be ready to explain exactly what he is going to provide for the agreed upon price. If there is a disagreement in what the customer wants as opposed to what you were going to charge, then adjustments need to be made. Most of the time a professional detailer can provide an excellent detail in an average time frame and still be profitable. Here's the problem.

A detailer runs into a demanding customer that expects perfection. It shouldn’t be a problem if the parameters of the detail are discussed before a price is given and the detailer knows what the customer wants. If I know a guy is going to be a pain in the ass and I know the car has the potential to be perfect or close to it, I will inform a customer what it will take to get the vehicle to that point. This is where I may need my “A” game. As long as I have an “A” game to give and I know how long it will take, the customer has the option of paying for perfection or settling for just a very good detail but maybe not every single mark in the paint surface will come out. When a detailer does not recognize a customer that is demanding or expecting perfection, he will give that customer his “normal” detail but the customer may be dissatisfied because he was expecting perfection. Even if the detailer understands that the customer wants perfection, if he does not have an “A” game to give, he will be in trouble.

Don’t just give them your “A” game every time

Another problem that detailers bring on themselves is that they give away an “A” game detail on every job. Will the little old lady who is not paying a show car price and just wants a clean car notice that you took 2 or 3 extra buffing steps to make the paint perfect? Will she appreciate it? Can she see it? It’s great that many guys have a good eye for paint and want to make things perfect. It may be that compulsion to detail that got you into this business in the first place. But you always have to remember that this is a “business”. Most of the people you will deal with will not be able to see true perfection or truly appreciate it. However I see some guys that want to impress their buddies on the forums so they “brag” about how long it took to detail this car and what was involved and how many buffing steps there were…..then they mention how much they got paid for the job! Sure the customer loves you but you are giving away an “A” game detail and actually “losing” money!

I know exactly when to stop. I carefully “interview” the customer before I ever give them a price to see what they are really looking for. I have no problem keeping a price down if they just want a clean car and I know I can still be very profitable per hour. That’s still win-win. I also have no problem with a customer who is very demanding and is looking at the little imperfections from 2 inches away and complaining about how bad the car looks….from 2 inches away!! Now I know what I am in for and he is going to pay for what he expects and I have no problems giving him the appropriate price for that expected perfection. If he complains about the price, I very professionally inform him how long it will take and exactly what’s involved with creating perfection or a show car if that’s what he is implying. I also am happy to inform him that not too many detailers can even handle his high expectations. If he thinks the price is too high (and its usually sticker shock high) we settle on a happy medium but he is informed he must back down on his expectations and I tell him exactly what he will be getting.

So what I tell my students when they finally get the hang of making a car look perfect is that you don’t have to do this on every car. An “A” game will not be needed as often as you may think. But here’s the point. If you give them “A-“ or “B+” you will still produce great looking cars and still make money. If you have that “A” game, use it when you need it, and make sure you make money with it. If you don’t yet have an “A” game, it’s never too late to develop it. You never know when you may need it and that’s what’s separates the truly great detailers from the guys who are just “cleaning” cars.

To visit our detailing website servicing Alpine NJ and surrounding areas, please visit www.njautodetail.com or our training, products and equipment site at www.kleencarauto.com

If you happened to glance at a recent entry I made here, I was talking about detailing some really nice, really high end cars, that are really easy to do, and really profitable. But as with everything, there is always a flip side and the opposite of anything. Sometimes you have to eat some crap to keep the peace. This is a tale of doing a friend a favor but hating every minute of it.

In any profession you will always end of doing “favors” for friends and relatives. If you possess a certain skill, you will always have to work on something for very little, or no money, because it’s your friend, brother, cousin, neighbor, co-worker, in-law, etc. Be honest, you know you have to do it but don’t you hate it?? I HATE working on these people vehicles because you have to do your best job for the lowest amount of money…and sometimes possibly for free.

Its sucks more when the car is a piece of crap that should have been traded in on the cash for clunkers program. My buddy who is my printer and who I have known for 30 years, tried to do me a “favor”. His friend has a daughter who was getting her drivers license and wanted a family vehicle cleaned up so he could give it to her. My buddy took it upon himself to get me the job instead of just passing my phone number along. He tried to broker the deal and do me a “favor”. He though I would be happy to do this car. Now I have known him for 30 years and he knows what I do, but he doesn’t really know the detailing business. We don’t discuss detailing at length because he really isn’t a car guy so to speak. He would be a typical customer that thinks every car is the same and the work involved is equal and every car can be detailed for about $150 or less He took it upon himself to tell his friend how good I am and that his car could not possibly be in better hands. So my buddy thinks he is helping me by setting the job up himself. His friend wants to know “how much do I charge” for this type of work. Of course I have not talked to this other guy or have seen the car, or for that matter know what kind of vehicle it is and all the other vital stuff we all need to know before accepting a job and giving a price. My buddy decides to tell him a “ballpark” price of about $150……Now I know nothing about nothing at this point until my buddy calls me up and asks me to do him a “favor”. He tells me this sob story about how the vehicle has been in the family for years and they want to keep the car in the family and the girl really loves this thing and so on and so on.  My buddy tells me that he wants me to do the car as soon as possible and has convinced his friend that I am the guy for the job. I still don’t know what kind of vehicle it is and what it looks like, etc. But he has already brokered the job for me

So I am kind of annoyed as I was kind of on vacation for a few days and was doing some fun stuff but now I have to do this job because she gets her license in a few days and she wants a clean vehicle to drive. My buddy just casually asks me what I usually get for a detail….any detail. He says he told the guy about $150 RIGHT?????  I almost hit the roof when I hear a price like that on neither a vehicle that I know nothing about nor a customer I know nothing about. I said what planet are you on? Why would you tell a guy some random price when I need to know what it is first of all and second I want to see it. Then, I will give the price or possibly choose not even to do the job if it’s a piece of crap. So just like any other customer, my buddy says the car isn’t too bad. It’s a light colored SUV and is pretty clean. I ask what kind of SUV? What color is it? What year is this thing? Has it been sitting around waiting for her? What kind of job is this guy looking for? And you told him $150???? ARE YOU CRAZY!!!! I have no idea what I am getting into here

So he knows I am pissed and I really just want to give him the number to the cheapo detail guys around here. I tell my buddy that I am busy and I need a day and a half to even consider working on this so I can do other stuff and work on this thing when I want to. So after I calmed down a little, I figured I would just use this thing as a test car. We are working on some new optimum products and I am always testing samples, so I figured I could test samples on this vehicle and at least be productive and get some data on the samples. So I told him I would do it. I figured how bad can it be if it’s not too old, light colored and in good shape like he said it was.  So I figured I would put 4-5 hours into it if I had to, get some testing done and make some quick cash. Yes, it far less than what I would charge, but  now I am roped into doing my buddy a favor……I wouldn’t have even minded if it was HIS car, and for HIS daughter. But this was a third party who I never met. But a favor is a favor and I am technically doing this for my buddy. So we all have to do favors.

Now my buddy is the guy who is getting the prime SPRINGSTEEN tickets for next months shows. So I have to kind of work with him here. We have seen over 50 shows together over the years and he gets great seats. We have sat next to Bruce’s relatives in the family section. We have been in the first row in front of the stage many times, so favors do get repaid!!! He knows the ticket head of tickets at the Meadowlands in Jersey where Bruce is playing Giants Stadium this month and she also gets us tickets to Madison Square Garden, and basically any other east coast venue that we want to travel to. These are VIP tickets. So a favor is a favor. I just had to remember that

But……this SUV was the biggest piece of carp I have ever seen. It had been sitting under a tree for months so washing it was a pain. The wheels were horrible, the door jambs were horrible. It was 14 years old. All the trim was faded. There were scratches all over it. There was some tree sap also, lost of bugs and tar……You name hard stuff to clean, this truck had it. That’s the outside. The inside was of course horrible as well. The seats were filthy, the carpets, floor mats, etc. all horrible. I found receipts from 1999 under seats and in the glove box. It’s the type of vehicle you curse your way through from start to finish and you never get any kind of satisfaction because the vehicle just had no potential to look good.

So this thing took me a while to get it to look decent. It could never be really good again and forget like new. It was a difficult job that was no fun, for very little money and no satisfaction. These are the jobs that you should pass on. These are the jobs that you let the cheapo, discount detailer work on and let him lose his shirt….and his will to live for that matter. In this case, it was a third party referral, that if I would have talked to the actual customer and had seen the vehicle, I still would have passed on it even if he was willing to pay 3 times the amount. We all have worked on jobs like this and have all had the same experiences with hopeless vehicles. The key thing is to either limit them as much as you can, or eliminate them if you really want to make money.

Even if you say, well I have employees that will do these jobs and I don’t pay them too much money so I will still take on work like this. It’s still not a good idea. Do you think anybody wants to work on a piece of crap vehicle that is a low paying job and will eat time and eat at an employees morale? I generally will never touch a vehicle like this, even if I had an employee working on it.

I know we all have to do jobs like this every once in a while for various reasons. They are never fun, never profitable, and both you and the customer will never get the true satisfaction of a great detail out of these hopeless vehicles. So try to limit these if you can, and let your friends and relatives know that there are only so many favors you can do for them! Unless of course……Bruce Springsteen adds some more shows, and you just have to be there in the best seats!

To visit our detailing website servicing Alpine NJ and surrounding areas, please visit www.njautodetail.com or our training, products and equipment site at www.kleencarauto.com

Last week I saw in article in my local newspaper and also in the New York Daily News that stated that a small town about 4 miles from where I live is the wealthiest zip code to live in according to Forbes.com. The median price of a home in Alpine NJ is 4.1 million dollars. That’s the “median” price. There are homes on the market and recently sold for about 10-15 million. I enjoy riding through this small town on my way home on my bike. Its proximity to NYC without actually being in NYC is what attracts athletes, movie stars and celebrities. You can get to the city from Alpine in about 10 minutes with no traffic and have the luxury of privacy, tons of property and outlandish houses. Of course many parts of NJ and Manhattan are on that list and probably some neighborhoods close to you as well in different areas of the country. There are wealthy neighborhoods everywhere and expensive cars in all of them.

But it’s funny what you see when you can go through wealthy neighborhoods, especially on a bicycle, so I know it very well. I regularly see Bentleys, Ferraris, Maseratis, Maybachs, and all sorts of expensive stuff. The cool thing is that many of these people use some of these cars as everyday drivers. But even though everyone is beyond wealthy in this town, it’s still not easy to get them to detail their vehicles. Many people will not bring these cars to a shop unless they absolutely trust the person working on the car. Many people will not allow somebody else to drive the vehicle either to bring it to their shop. The only way to market to these people in this town is through direct mail and until recently the town was so exclusive and private that there were no house numbers assigned to the homes. The mail carriers just knew the peoples names and what street they lived on, and that’s how mail got delivered, or many people just had PO boxes. So it was impossible to market to these homes and advertising was treated as junk mail and never got delivered. It’s not easy getting to these very wealthy people to tell them about your services. But I love the town (who wouldn’t) and I need to get back home, so I always ride through various streets to just check the neighborhood out, and check out the nice cars, and sometimes stop and chat to people.

Take for example a Maybach I see almost every day on my bike ride. It’s always parked outside. Sometimes there is a cover on it but most times it’s just out there on display in the front of the property. I always wondered why this car was always outside. It could be raining, snowing, etc but the car was always there. I never saw anybody outside when I passed by and I swore if I ever saw somebody I would ask about this car and of course who, if anybody, does the detailing. One day I was riding by and I saw a guy close enough to the edge of the property where I could ask him this question without him thinking I was stalking the place. I told him what a beautiful car it was but wondered why with a 4 car garage in the back that a $400,000 vehicle was sitting outside all the time. He told him the dealer, the local Mercedes dealer who I know very well, had applied a special “coating” that would last for 5 years. He didn’t remember what they charged him, but on a car this price what’s the difference. I told him who I was and what I did and told him that this “coating” really wasn’t a bulletproof shield and that this car really should be detailed. He said he takes it to be washed at a hand car wash in a neighboring town, but would never let them “detail” it because he didn’t think it needed it because of the special “coating” and because the guys and the place did not look top notch. So he asked me a few questions such as where I was located, how long I have been doing this, but didn’t really interrogate me. He asked if he could stop by one day to see my place before he committed to me doing his car. He stopped by a few days later and I happily showed him some stuff (but he didn’t understand most of what I was talking about). But he did know that I was professional and that he thought he could trust me. He only asked about how much it would cost at the very end of the conversation and did not blink and eye when told the price.

So I lucked out by actually seeing this guy one day and getting to talk to him. The car had typical light webbing and scratches consistent with every day use. And the car was used almost every day. It was a pretty easy detail and fun to work on. It was certainly profitable also and the customer clearly could see a huge difference when it was completed.

So, jobs like these are pretty rewarding and hopefully profitable but not to the point where you are just ripping somebody off because they have a very expensive car and live in a multi million dollar house. But not every detailer is going to get these cars. You have to work for them. They don’t land in your lap as wealthy people are very guarded in who they will deal with. Now my initial visit with this guy was on my road bike. I was in a bike outfit and certainly did not look like a car detailer. However as soon as I started speaking with him, I had him interested. I guess I was playing a salesman, but I really wasn’t looking and hoping to get this car. I was just curious as to why it was always outside and what his reason for that was. I also have a customer in this same town that has 2 Maseratis. He drives one and his wife drives one…..every single day, no matter what the weather. And yes, these cars are also kept outside most of the time. I just love it! He found me one day searching the web. Most of my high end customers however I had to direct market to. This costs more money, but it’s hard to get these people any other way, especially if they are really not into their cars. Many people simply bring these very high end cars back to the dealer for detailing when they get the car serviced because they trust the place and it’s kind of a one stop shopping experience. And many of these people simply will not let the car go to a place they do not trust or that looks kind of shady.

So many detailers, including me, and some top end guys in many other wealthy areas of the country, never get these cars. But the dealers do and many times the customers are not nearly satisfied with the level of work. Now when I receive a call from this town, I don’t name drop (that’s so tacky!) but I street drop!! I will tell a potential customer that yes, I have a client (always use the word client, it sounds more high end) on Rio Vista, and a client on Hoover, and we do many clients on Timberline and Margo, off of 9W. And some of these people are a pain to deal with and some are a pleasure. Some will let you drive a $300,000 car and some won’t. Some want the car done the same day and other tell you to keep it until it’s done perfectly. Some are very picky and some are not. Some will still bust balls on the price and some wont. You have to get to know them and what they want. But working with cars like this and people like this should be profitable. We all want to be high end. That’s always what people coming to my classes tell me. But it’s not as easy as it sounds.

So that’s my story of a very wealthy neighborhood and a very high end car. Unfortunately, every car will not be a Maybach or a Bentley, and every job won’t be highly profitable. I will also have a story of a piece of crap SUV I recently had to do because my buddy thought he was doing me a “favor”. I still made some money but I had ZERO fun and cursed my way through the entire job. So be aware of friends and relatives. Stay tuned. To visit our detailing website servicing Alpine NJ and surrounding areas, please visit www.njautodetail.com or our training, products and equipment site at www.kleencarauto.com

So from this introduction of “Joe the detailer” you would assume that he is the most professional guy you will ever see and he does everything right. Oh….but you would be very wrong! He does many things very wrong and he STILL makes money. His old truck was very unsightly. It had scratches all over it and it was a mess. It was packed with crap as he is kind of a pack rat. If it’s free, he will take it, and he is proud to tell you that. He has a vacuum he found in the garbage, water tank, extension cords, and a hot plate to heat water for his cold water carpet extractor (all found in the garbage). He buys stuff on closeout to save money. He is one of the cheapest guys I have ever seen. Many times this is funny but it’s not a smart way of doing things sometimes.

Along with all the used stuff, there is the usual stuff that a detailer needs to get the job done. He does not use a steamer even though he has seen every one I have ever used or sold and I would sell him one at just about my cost. He does not take on the extremely challenging jobs such as wet sanding or heavy compounding. Sometimes I get those referrals. He wants the quick hitting jobs where he won’t run into problems. He does not have a paint thickness gage and does not know how to use one. He has never attended my class although he could sit in for free if he wanted to. We do talk about certain detailing problems as he has been around long enough to encounter most of them. I try to coach him and tell him how I would handle it and I am sure he uses that advice accordingly. His skills are good and he knows how to correctly use a buffer and he has an excellent eye for paint.

He did not have a website for a very long time and when he finally did get one, it was a one page very simplistic site. It is now finally being overhauled professionally. For a long time he did not have professional business cards, he printed them off the computer. I looked at many of the things he did as very unprofessional and cheap. But you could not convince “Joe” to spend any money, so we never talked about his way and my way. So it may seem like I am ripping him apart here and compared to many of us, and the equipment we have, he may seem very unprofessional. But as much as I am using him as an example of a guy that may seem to need some help, he knows how to sell detailing.

“Joe” starts work and is on the road by 6AM every day. He tells customers when he is coming and he is never late. He prices out jobs to make money and he holds his ground. He realizes that there are not many mobile detailers around here and he knows the convenience that this service offers. Most times the customer is satisfied although there are instances where they question the way some things come out. What makes him very effective and makes him money is the way he can talk to people. He can go into a place where he has never been and strike up a conversation with the owner and book a job almost immediately at HIS price. He hustles. He will visit ANY automotive related facility and offer his services. He demands to be paid on time. He never leaves without a check and is not bashful about telling people he does not offer time payments for dealers or larger companies. Many times, he asks to be paid in CASH or have checks made out to cash. These are things that make me shake my head but he has a way of getting away with it. He deals with many wealthy people, in wealthy neighborhoods, with high end cars and he has no trouble relating to them and gaining their trust. He should have been a politician. But it’s this personal touch that overshadows the unprofessional stuff I previously mentioned. Most customers don’t see the messy truck and used equipment. He doesn’t tell them that he does not use all the latest greatest tools and they don’t know anyway. This would hurt most guys, especially dealing with high end cars and customers, but he talks such a good game that all the other stuff doesn’t matter all that much.

Now the technical stuff that he still doesn’t know enough about and the lack of good equipment does hurt him a little as I think he leaves money on the table because of these shortcomings. But he makes over $100,000 a year! I have seen his house, I know the neighborhood he lives in, so I am sure he isn’t fibbing all that much. So the bottom line is that he makes money….in spite of himself!! He makes money because he sells detailing, he cares, he hustles and he does have talent. Imagine if he did a number of things differently??

The best salesman I know

“Joe” is the best sales guy I have ever met. As I said he knows what he is doing but he still doesn’t know some of the more technical aspects of many things. I have tried teaching him about paint technology and the important things to know about clear coat……but either he doesn’t care all that much or his attention span is not that good. I have tried to teach him wet sanding as his truck had numerous deep scratches and it was black, but when he brought it over, I did the work while he yapped on the phone and opened all my cabinets to see what I had. Before he came back to watch a little, I was done and he was amazed. If only he would pay attention he could make so much more money doing this. I give him prototype buffing pads that I either don’t like or will never reach you guys, but he doesn’t care. He will take them because they are FREE!

Anyway, that’s enough beating on my friend Joe. Getting back to why he makes money…..I also like to I like to trash car salesmen. Well, everybody likes to trash car salesmen. They do seem to be an easy target. The sleazy, lying, poorly dressed underhanded guys you just dread dealing with when buying a new car sometimes fits this very stereotype. While I have met and known some of these very guys, I have also known some great salesmen who knew their product, knew how to sell it but didn’t oversell it, and made a potential customer feel like they just had to have that car at that very moment. Many of us hear the word “salesman” and we cringe. We don’t want to deal with a “salesman”. We want to buy stuff on the internet with no sales pitch and shop anonymously with no pressure and nobody asking “can I help you?” But you know what? If you don’t try to sell a potential customer something, you may never get the job and you certainly won’t get it at “your” price. 

If all you do is take orders for middle of the road detail jobs, you will never make that much money. You will work on low end cars, deal with low end customers, and probably not enjoy detailing very much and soon go out of business. You need to sell the service! You can sell by educating them on what the car needs. You can sell by informing the customer how well trained you are and what kind of state-of-the-art products and equipment you use. You can sell by looking and acting professional. There are so many ways to do it. You guys probably already know this. I don’t have to tell you. I would tell “Joe” but he won’t listen anyway

We are all “detailing” salesmen, no matter if we like it or not. As much as you don’t like a salesman, to be successful in any business, we all have to be salesmen sometimes. I don’t like to be a salesman and I generally don’t like having to tell people how good I am and how much I know, but sometimes it makes the difference in making the sale or not. This is especially true when you have a product or service that is so much better than the competition but also much more money. You have to sell it to get it! And this is why my friend “Joe” makes money and he has stayed fairly busy even in the down economy. He does not know everything about detailing and he is far too cheap to buy the best equipment, but he knows people and how to deal with them. And he is quite possibly the best “salesman” I have ever met

Please visit our retail auto detailing site serving Alpine NJ and surrounding NJ areas at www.njautodetail.com or our detail training site at www.kleencarauto.com