Marketing ????

Go to exotic and antique car shows and sell your services to the owners of cars, if you can get just one person to use you from one show the word spreads quick. I met a guy at an antique car show with an 83 ram 150 who let me work on his car, now I handle all the cars for his mopar club. 1 car turns into 20 pretty quickly.

Also if you go to shows before they start with your detailing supplies and let people know what you do, they will always want you to touch up little things they missed at home. If you can help someone with a little tire shine, or cleaning their windows; give them a card and they will probably give you a call down the road.
 
thats A good idea. Thanks for the advice.how can I find out about all the shows in my area? we normally just go to the big shows, Im going to start going to all the small shows and cruise nights as well.
 
Streamlinekusto said:
thats A good idea. Thanks for the advice.how can I find out about all the shows in my area? we normally just go to the big shows, Im going to start going to all the small shows and cruise nights as well.
Click to expand...

Google it, in my area there is a big show about every 2 months, and small shows about every week. I try to have on of my customer's cars in every show even if it takes paying their fee to get them there. There are 4 mopars in Sarasota with my 6x 1" company sticker on their corner window, it gets noticed all the time and gets people interested in who keeps the cars as nice as they are.

You may want to make a few vinyl stickers varying in size from 6 inches to about a foot long and see how many buddies you can get to rock them. Just give you friends a cheap wash once a week to put them on and they will give you business especially if they have nice cars. It really all about word of mouth, if you do good work people will sell it for you, if your work is on the same level as the detailer down the street you will struggle. Also the better products you use, the better your work will be. Don't be the same as everyone else around, be better.

Good luck with everything, If you have a website I would like to see what you do. Do you have any before and after pics?
 
Hey Jon, I noticed on your site you have "minor dent removal," where did you learn how to do PDR and how hard is it to remove the small door dings and such, I was thinking about learning the trade.
 
2011wahoo said:
Hey Jon, I noticed on your site you have "minor dent removal," where did you learn how to do PDR and how hard is it to remove the small door dings and such, I was thinking about learning the trade.
Click to expand...

I learned how to do PDR from a friend who works in a body shop and does a lot of dent removal for customers on a tight budget. Door dings are typically pretty easy to remove providing the metal hasn't been creased in any way. Creases normally means leveling from the inside and that will cost the customer a pretty penny.

Ultra Dent Tools is the company I buy my tools from, mainly the taps and such. Their tools are a little pricey. You can get a decent PDR kit for about $300. It will normally have a double sided hammer, a few poppers, taps, glue and Tbar, and a few bar pushers.

I also recommend the lanka rock chip repair kit for add on services. With it you can do really nice touch up painting.
 
Yeah I think there is a local cruise night this weekend. I'm gonna go and give it a try. should I maybe offer a free touch up or something, to get some attention ?
As far as before and after photos, I hardly remember to take pics , but when I do its always after I start the job.I know I really need to work on that. Well anyway , than for all the advise you guys have come up with some great ideas,I like the idea of giving sticker, I guess even starting a care club would be good for business, I also do body and paint repair, custom paint rims ect, and think I should use that to set me apart from the competition. what do you think?
 
Streamlinekusto said:
Yeah I think there is a local cruise night this weekend. I'm gonna go and give it a try. should I maybe offer a free touch up or something, to get some attention ?

I also do body and paint repair, custom paint rims ect, and think I should use that to set me apart from the competition. what do you think?
Click to expand...

Do whatever it takes to get more business even if it isn't the conventional detailing you like doing. You can set up a website to advertise and have fliers with your services listed for people to look at. For instance, if I ran into you and you gave me a flier with wheel painting listed, I would most likely hire you. I want my wheels painted black professionally but do not have the time to let it sit at a shop for a few days. Sell yourself and your services and display confidence in your abilities.
 
I leverage the online classifieds when I need new customers. Check this thread out for some ideas. You can gear it toward any group you want. I just gave an example of a generic type ad to attract any and all customers. You could write it specifically for car show attendees as well without difficulty.
 
Streamlinekusto said:
I put together one of those free google websites. I know it needs work , so I'm open for suggestions .HOME OF STREAMLINE KUSTOMZ AUTO BODY,DETAILING & PAINT(504)252-9626 (New Orleans mobile detailing)
let me know what you think. :buffing:
Click to expand...

Not gonna lie, its definitely in need of some work. I would suggest getting a before and after wheel painting on the car. The picture of just faces painted would turn me away if i were considering your work. The rims would just look better wheel tires on them.

Also, you may want to add some decent before and after pics of the cars, maybe your next customer you could get some of those. Take lots of them, because the right picture is hard to get, and you can just throw out the ones you don't like. I'm still learning to take good before and afters.

Your design at the top of the page is not readable, can you get a better one?

Overall it is a good start and a way to advertise your work, just keep working on it and it will start looking good as you get the hang of it. I would like to see your services more clearly stated, and that would be my first change. Down the road you may want to get your own domain name and make a site with weebly.com or another free site maker, they have great templates that make life easier.

Keep up the good work, you made a step in the right direction.
 
Streamlinekusto said:
I put together one of those free google websites. I know it needs work , so I'm open for suggestions .HOME OF STREAMLINE KUSTOMZ AUTO BODY,DETAILING & PAINT(504)252-9626 (New Orleans mobile detailing)
let me know what you think. :buffing:
Click to expand...

It needs a lot more pictures. The ones you have showing there make me think you haven't detailed anything for five years. When you post pictures you should not have the date on them. That is a camera setting you'll want to make sure is off. Watermarking them is good, but not time stamping.

Your logo at the top was stretched to fit whatever dimensions the site wanted you to use. The original logo is 199px × 143px but the site scaled it to 608px × 200px. That is why you can't read it. You will want to redesign something that will fit in that box.

The site needs to be spell checked. There are some spelling errors here and there. For example, on your tail light painting you have Finish misspelled. You have 'Freshen' misspelled on your What We Do page. The word A doesn't need to be capitalized either. I would recommend writing all of your copy in a word processor that automatically spell checks and notifies you of grammar mistakes. Or enable the spell check function in your browser if you have that. I know Firefox does it. Having poorly written copy will cause people to think that it is someone very young and uneducated running the business. It isn't always an accurate assumption, but people will make it anyway.

I know it is still under construction, so hopefully some of the suggestions you are getting here will help. I would strongly recommend that you not use the site for advertising until it is completed and all of the template fields are completed. Regardless of where it is hosted, a completed website with pictures of your work and a price sheet is a valuable marketing tool. You are off to a good start, but you need more examples for sure.
 
That's great advise. thanks for taking the time to look over it and finding all of the grammar errors. I do plan on changing allot. I want to put the rim painting process but I never remember to start taking pictures until I start the job.I'll get it though.anyway I have to go, Ill check in later .
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top