Hey AG,
Long term client of mine is going to introduce me to a potential client this week. This is a small industrial service business with a small fleet.
What is a reasonable rate to charge this fleet for a first detail, as well as recurring maintenance details?
I have not had any work truck/fleet clients yet. Only personal cars so I am unfamiliar with quoting these jobs.
Feed back please :dblthumb2:
4 Vehicles.
- Van
- Single Cab Pick-up truck / External Compartments / Ladder Rack / Chrome Bumpers front and back.
- Extended Cab Pick-up truck / External Compartments / Ladder Rack / Chrome Bumpers front and back.
- Quad Cab Pick-up truck / Chrome Bumpers front and back.
Work Vehicles:
- Always are dirty inside and out.
- Expect lots if mud and brown dirt on exterior and interior.
(I expect the chevy trucks have rubber interior baseboards and cloth seats).
- Expect the cloth seats to have dirt stains as well as coffee and cigarette stains.
- Expect fouls odors and the need to odor bomb the vehicles.
- Vans and Trucks have a lot of surface area to clean.
- You can wear yourself out detailing a work vehicle.
- Expect the work vehicles to be kept in poor condition by the workers.
- Expect each work vehicle to be very dirty each and every time you clean them.
Business Advice:
- Set up a date and time appointment.
- Schedule at least one hour to walk around and inspect the vehicles inside and out.
- Take copious notes as to what you observe for each specific vehicle and write down the vehicle ID numbers to identify each one.
- Engage in a friendly Q&A with the customer regarding expectations in conversation form.
- Inform the customer that you are interested in the job and that you are the right man for the job.
- Do Not Ask The Customer At Any Time Nor Bring Up The Subject of Budget! You set the budget, not the customer.
- Briefly discuss the subject of Auto Detailing, the level of services provided for each price point, and what the differences are between an educated and experienced professional and a car washer.
- Express the maintained and added value of vehicle care and appearance.
- Express the safety aspect of the need to properly maintain the care and appearance.
- Consider offering an at cost, or one time bargain price, on a single work vehicle to demonstrate what the customer can expect.
- Consider charging more for the initial detail of each work vehicle to get it to a professional level of clean, and then charge the base rate from that point on.
- Consider offering more flexible prices based on more volume, including the personal vehicle of the owner.
- Put together a rough draft personal invoice for:
1. Estimated time to complete each vehicle. Include all travel time, set-up time, and clean-up time.
2. Cost in products, tools, and materials.
3. Consider any local laws pertaining to water restrictions and run-off.
- Negotiations.
1. Start high and make the customer earn his share of the negotiating pie.
2. You should already have your lowest price you will take in mind, but never go that low in the initial negotiation.
Walk away, and find a way to make contact again with the customer days later and casually start round 2 of the negotiations.
3. Make it clear that you are willing to work with the customer on price point, but that you are not willing to give away free work and that we all have to make a living.
4. At the end of the day, if an agreement is not met, then so be it. You win some, you lose some, but you never willingly devalue your work.
