Can you successfully have 2 business models under 1 roof?
- Thread starter Busy mind
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FUNX650
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Scott@IncrediblyDetailed
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It depends.
I find that washes aren't that profitable unless I've seen the vehicle before or they are willing to listen to the benefits of claying and so on so I can up sell them to an appropriate package that will make a big difference in the appearance of their vehicle. Most people looking for the cheaper wash don't maintain their vehicles and it takes more labor and more chemicals to wash their vehicle, and if they are willing to pay for the extra labor then it's worth it.
It also helps on how you define wash. Are you going to de-bug the front end? Remove tar, sap, etc? or is where they need a "detail"?
I define wash as using ONR and following it up with a quick detailer or spray wax for drying. I'll use a light clay towel on the front end but I won't be scrub to remove excessive bug and such and make that clear to the customer. Managing expectations is very important and explaining why you're different from the average shop is very valuable. I think the cheaper wash will get people in the door so you can up sell from there.
I find that washes aren't that profitable unless I've seen the vehicle before or they are willing to listen to the benefits of claying and so on so I can up sell them to an appropriate package that will make a big difference in the appearance of their vehicle. Most people looking for the cheaper wash don't maintain their vehicles and it takes more labor and more chemicals to wash their vehicle, and if they are willing to pay for the extra labor then it's worth it.
It also helps on how you define wash. Are you going to de-bug the front end? Remove tar, sap, etc? or is where they need a "detail"?
I define wash as using ONR and following it up with a quick detailer or spray wax for drying. I'll use a light clay towel on the front end but I won't be scrub to remove excessive bug and such and make that clear to the customer. Managing expectations is very important and explaining why you're different from the average shop is very valuable. I think the cheaper wash will get people in the door so you can up sell from there.
Rsurfer
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- Jan 26, 2007
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Some will only pay the minimum and then there are some that will pay a little more for a premium wash. So maybe a basic wash, a wash and wax and then a premium wash. Choices are always good for business.
VP Mark
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I would say unequivocally no.
But for the sake of debate, we need some further information.
If you are talking about quick wash in terms of doing minivans and daily drivers in bulk, no, you are not going to be able to mingle those business models together.
You should only have one business model, you should be laser focused on what you do and do NOT do.
If your business model is to do high end vehicles and provide high end details, but to offer maintenance washes for those customers who have previously purchased a high end detail, that is different.
That is offering quick washes as a supplement to your current services, which fits into your business model of offering high end details.
I, like many others, tried the "be everything to everyone" business model when I first started, and it does NOT work. You are trying to reach out to every market at the same time, and will quickly start to distance yourself from many of those markets. A guy with a really nice car that will pay hundreds if not thousands to have it professionally detailed and coated does not find confidence when he is researching your business and finds your "$25 quick wash" section on your website.
Edit: A+ to what Scott said, you have to be careful when offering wash services. Often people take very poor care of their vehicles, and think a hand wash will fix all of its problems. Those vehicles often need heavy degreasing, serious wheel and tire cleaning, and tons of bug removal which requires pre treatment. To get a really good wash on nasty vehicles it can take an hour or more, require a lot of chemicals, and you can end up in the whole quickly.
But for the sake of debate, we need some further information.
If you are talking about quick wash in terms of doing minivans and daily drivers in bulk, no, you are not going to be able to mingle those business models together.
You should only have one business model, you should be laser focused on what you do and do NOT do.
If your business model is to do high end vehicles and provide high end details, but to offer maintenance washes for those customers who have previously purchased a high end detail, that is different.
That is offering quick washes as a supplement to your current services, which fits into your business model of offering high end details.
I, like many others, tried the "be everything to everyone" business model when I first started, and it does NOT work. You are trying to reach out to every market at the same time, and will quickly start to distance yourself from many of those markets. A guy with a really nice car that will pay hundreds if not thousands to have it professionally detailed and coated does not find confidence when he is researching your business and finds your "$25 quick wash" section on your website.
Edit: A+ to what Scott said, you have to be careful when offering wash services. Often people take very poor care of their vehicles, and think a hand wash will fix all of its problems. Those vehicles often need heavy degreasing, serious wheel and tire cleaning, and tons of bug removal which requires pre treatment. To get a really good wash on nasty vehicles it can take an hour or more, require a lot of chemicals, and you can end up in the whole quickly.
Busy mind
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I should define what the term "successful" means to me. It would be a business type which holds a strong reputation in the community, provides my financial needs, allows me to share my passion, and improves the lives of everyone involved.
My concern is if I'm doing the quick wash, (similar to a $30-40 hand wash and interior vacuum/wipe down) then I won't be able to capture the higher end market. I'd like to have enough volume work for the bread and butter, and then I take care of the specialized detailing.
Standing out from the crowd is difficult when the majority are used to the production washes that would make most of us cringe.
This is why I wanted to hear others thoughts on this. I'm curious if I can carry over my good reputation to a higher volume car wash type and still get the specialty detailing jobs.
I follow a few on social media in my area who appear to have their shop full of brand new cars receiving coatings weekly. They will easily have $500k worth of cars at once. It seems that the owner would have a high labor expense for higher trained employees and would rely on servicing more of the customers that I only get every once in a while.
On the other hand with the quick wash concept, the labor expense could be lower but it's servicing a different market.
Anyways, I want to keep doing the motorcycles, old school cars, and vehicles that have proud owners, but the work isn't consistent enough and weeks of 16 hour days catch up quick. I'd say it's a strong hobby level for me as I'm learning more, but I'm trying to figure out where I can go with this so I have an action plan.
My concern is if I'm doing the quick wash, (similar to a $30-40 hand wash and interior vacuum/wipe down) then I won't be able to capture the higher end market. I'd like to have enough volume work for the bread and butter, and then I take care of the specialized detailing.
Standing out from the crowd is difficult when the majority are used to the production washes that would make most of us cringe.
This is why I wanted to hear others thoughts on this. I'm curious if I can carry over my good reputation to a higher volume car wash type and still get the specialty detailing jobs.
I follow a few on social media in my area who appear to have their shop full of brand new cars receiving coatings weekly. They will easily have $500k worth of cars at once. It seems that the owner would have a high labor expense for higher trained employees and would rely on servicing more of the customers that I only get every once in a while.
On the other hand with the quick wash concept, the labor expense could be lower but it's servicing a different market.
Anyways, I want to keep doing the motorcycles, old school cars, and vehicles that have proud owners, but the work isn't consistent enough and weeks of 16 hour days catch up quick. I'd say it's a strong hobby level for me as I'm learning more, but I'm trying to figure out where I can go with this so I have an action plan.
Success has many different meanings to many different people, but lets be honest with ourselves here; the ultimate goal at the end of the day, is to be financially independent. No? I know that when I look at my business, it's business model, it's goals, I strive 100% to be financially independent by 45. That means, retired, living off of passive income in 19 years.
Being successful has a lot of different meanings. I think the most successful people have done exactly what you're wanting to do. Jobs, Gates, Jordan, etc. They've all created incredible businesses, great reputations, satisfied their financial needs, have created a business and EMPIRE off of passion, and it's immensely improved the lives of others. When we take a look at how these guys did it, it's really pretty simple... And the more you learn, and read, and understand business, it becomes second nature. It becomes the driving force called AMBITION. These guys woke up before everyone else did, they got to the grind stone before everyone else did, and they didn't leave until after everyone else did. It really is simple. Put in the work, and the success will come.
How does this apply to you? Do what you want to do. What is it that you REALLY want to do? Go with that. Failure is a lesson learned. PLAIN AND SIMPLE. People can tell you everything you want to hear, things you don't want to hear, but until they've tried and tried, have failed, and failed again, their word is just that. I look at failure as a learning point in my life. In my career. In my quest to continue building my empire. Success is a finicky thing. You have to want it. You have to be willing to put in the work when you don't want to. You have to want it so bad that it makes you sick.
Good luck to you.
The answer is yes, anything you want to do you can if you work hard enough at it.
Me, I'm not into the coating game anymore. With that aside we service customers from $30-$600. Our $30 washes feed our detailing services through an opportunity for an upsell and our detailing services feed our washes through a maintenance program and discounts.
Me, I'm not into the coating game anymore. With that aside we service customers from $30-$600. Our $30 washes feed our detailing services through an opportunity for an upsell and our detailing services feed our washes through a maintenance program and discounts.
Driven Auto Detail
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- Mar 17, 2006
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Just curious, why you wouldn't offer coatings if you were at one time?
FUNX650
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- Dec 1, 2010
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I'll repeat what I said at the onset:
includes this "two under one roof" aspect.
And why not have "the two" just be
the starting point---pointing the way
to future growth?
Bob
Especially if your Master Business Plan
includes this "two under one roof" aspect.
And why not have "the two" just be
the starting point---pointing the way
to future growth?
Bob
Busy mind
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- Dec 1, 2014
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My main hesitation is that by offering the quick wash services, others who want the higher end work may be turned off. I've had a couple customers come to me because they wanted someone who operated a boutique style business.
At this point I honestly haven't figured out how to differentiate myself from the dozen of budget shops in my area. I get a lot of interest but when I discuss pricing and how long it will take, the enthusiasm disappears from the customer. I do my best to educate the customer but half way through, I can tell my words are falling on deaf ears.
So my options seem to be; stay boutique and apply my efforts to doing fewer but higher paying jobs or be happy with low to medium jobs but have to higher employees.
Honestly, i'm not convinced they live up to the hype for the long term in our environment (Hawaii).
My business is in a kinda country- middle class demographic and 99% of my cars are daily drivers. I found that i'd have to hard sell any coatings versus waxes and sealants. And I truly have never seen any of the coatings live up to the hype when I've tested them on my car.
Our UV index is over a 10 year round, the salt air is relentless year round, and our tap water is SUPER HARD.
I was an opti-coat installer like you, but stopped offering it about 2 years ago when they changed their warranty. They claimed to me that I can apply OC to single stage paint, and that it would act like a clear coat.. but it failed on a few cars miserably (White Toyotas) and soon after- they changed the warranty to say it will not cover single stage paint (After they told me it was application error). They also changed their warranty to basically read that in the event of a claim, the detailer is responsible for the labor to fix the issue, while OPT supplies replacement OC. To me, that's not a real warranty and I honestly cant be on the hook for labor for 5 years when the product does ultimately fail well within that time.
So basically, I feel that in the sale of a service/coating that'll cost $500+, one cannot help but over sell the benefits of a coating to the point that customers might actually think they can get away with not waxing or maintaining their car for the long term.
Oh and the Hard Water.. I just hated seeing a coating customer come back with hard water spots 1 month after application. No matter how much I tell them to stay away from allowing tap water to dry on their paint it still happens, they park near sprinklers, or their neighbor hits their car with water while doing the lawn, or they washed their own car improperly.. whatever. I always felt on the hook because I upsold them into this expensive coating and now its ruined. And I never found that Spotless or MDR removed any hard water spotting that was anything older than a few days and hasn't fully baked on under the sun.
So now I just stick to a product like Wolfs Hardbody.. It's slick enough that it doesnt need to be topped with something else, its pretty cheap for the amount of cars you can do with a bottle, and its also cheap enough that I can keep the cost down for the customer so I dont need to do as much convincing and over selling. Honestly, Wolfs Hard body has outperformed OC, and a few other coatings I've tested on my own car. I just tell my customer it'll last 1-2 years instead of up to 3-5.
BTW, Wolfs HB fails on single stage paints too.. on those I've been using a double layer of Klasse HGSG applied every 6 mos and it's been working great to prevent oxidation.
Rsurfer
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- Jan 26, 2007
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You need to crunch the numbers. If you cannot net 25-30% more doing low to medium end jobs..forget it. The headaches and added overhead having employees IMO is not worth it.
wasodetail
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- Sep 1, 2015
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As long as you get paid a standard set of rates per hour then you will always make money
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Rsurfer
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- Jan 26, 2007
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Not if you have overhead and doing 20 cars a day to break even and your doing 5.
wasodetail
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If your doing 20 cars and still not making money then it's time to raise the rates.
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