Does detailing suffer from the public underestimating how much work goes into it?

[Craig Encinitas]

GMC Yukon owner: How much to detail my vehicle?

Me: $300 and it will look stellar!

Owner: I’ll get back to you.

Me: (thinking) No you won’t.


I know the guy from my regular job. He recently bought a new black BMW and isn’t worried about getting that detailed. It’s the 15 year old SUV he wants done.


I’ll leave it at that, because twice, I’ve had people contact me about getting their old car done and aren’t concerned about their new one. None of my business, but it completely reveals how little people know about what we do and what it takes. And that it’s best to protect a car when new.

I can explain it, but that’s not what they came to me for. Now if the car needing cleaned up is out in the parking lot...well let’s go out and take a look and see what we can work out. Having a Scangrip pen light handy will reveal what’s going on and then I can go into what it takes to polish that out and protect the finish.

But also, explaining the ins and outs of
paint correction is like speaking a foreign language. I try and keep it simple. “We do this right, and it should look good for _____ length of time.”

If they still think it’s too much, then that’s not the kind of customer I want to attract.

 

[PaulMys]

GMC Yukon owner: How much to detail my vehicle?

Me: $300 and it will look stellar!

Owner: I’ll get back to you.

Me: (thinking) No you won’t.


I know the guy from my regular job. He recently bought a new black BMW and isn’t worried about getting that done. It’s the 15 year old Suburban that he wants done.



I’ll leave it at that, because twice, I’ve had people contact me about getting their old car done and aren’t concerned about their new one. None of my business, but it completely reveals how little people know about what we do and what it takes.

I can explain to them it’d be wise to protect both their vehicles. But that’s not what they came to me for.

Same type of people who come to me when their lawn mower/leaf blower/snow blower won't start.

"It ran just fine when I first got it!" or "It was running just fine last year".......

Most people do not think into the future about anything material. They will plan for retirement, college funding for their kids, etc. But will skip such easy tasks as to drain the gas from their $1,000 yard machine even though it is clearly stated in the manual(s).

This carries over to paint care.

"Hey, the dealer put a "Wax" on it, so it's good to go..........

 

[FUNX650]

I would agree that, to some degree,
people devalue it because
“He/she is just cleaning my car".

Yep—ever now and again—it seems that
the old chestnut: “glorified shoe-shine boy”
must rear its ugly head.


Bob

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

And guess what - it's not their job to know. It's your job to know and educate them. And it's when you have the ability to educate a potential customer as to what it takes to fix their neglect - including how long - that's when they can understand the price.

Really nice post by dgage - I cut out a lot of great stuff just to chime-in on his last sentence.

Part of being an expert is putting yourself in a position to succeed and that means being discerning with who you choose as clients.

Totally agree. I call this

Evaluate the customer


You, meaning collectively "we" - need to evaluate a potential customer to find out what's going on inside their head. I start by first asking,


How do you normally wash your car?


Their answer tells me everything I need to know to move forward in the conversation.

It also means being honest with yourself on the type of work you enjoy doing and the work you don’t enjoy. Try to identify the type of work you don’t enjoy doing and stay away from it. That is the easiest way to ensure success and happiness for yourself.

Copy that. I don't like like cleaning up gross interiors so I don't do them. In my car detailing classes I teach and stress this aspect of car detailing. It's starts with knowing what you want to do and what you don't want to do. I would say most people NEW to a detailing business have not run this train of thought through their mind thus they don't have a plan to deal with turning down work they don't want to do.

If someone says,

The interior of my car really needs to be cleaned.



As soon as I hear the word NEEDS that's a red flag. A couple more questions to find out why it needs to be cleaned and if it's something that's really gross or something that is a garbage dump, then the answer is,


I would LOVE to detail your car, (clean your car's interior), but my schedule is full. Here's the name of my friend Jim, he's great at interior detailing. Give him a call.


Simple process - a person just has to learn how to implement it.




Back to the main topic - most car owners, that are a DIFM or Do-it-For-Me type customer, the majority don't have any clue as to how long a full-meal-deal detail takes and all the moving parts involved.


Has anyone reading this ever paid attention to how much focus I put on Production Detailing on this forum, on my FB page, in our videos? (If you haven't - it's a LOT)


Real simple - quit doing Show Car Detailing, (that's multiple step detailing), and have a one-step PACKAGE (one-step detailing), for the masses.

 

[pilotpip]

When you are in a fringe service business, no matter what it is, people are going to try to discount your work. Be it a skilled trade, service, or all of the above.

I only do this for fun, and for myself. I didn't have a lot growing up, but I never went hungry. My mom instilled me with a desire to take care of my stuff because we couldn't always afford a replacement.

One of the few people I've met that really didn't care how much it costs, as long as it's done right, is the owner of the airplane I fly for a living. We were chatting one day while waiting for the airplane to be fueled during a trip to the west coast and cars came up.

I was a little sunburnt because I spent all weekend detailing my truck and wife's car.

He asks me if I think $1000 is fair for a coating.

My response was "well, they'll spend several hours using special equipment to correct the paint and prep it for the coating, then they have to apply it, make sure it's buffed out, and depending on the product it may need to be cured with a special UV light."

He didn't bat an eye and said, "I've never really thought about it like that, sounds like I'm the one getting the deal."

Then I got to see what new car he was asking about: A GTC-4 Lusso, at his vacation home.

As others have said, for most people a car is simply an appliance. That's why you see nothing but econoboxes and crossovers that look alike these days.