How to approach customers with Exotic cars?

jpegs13 said:
The easiest way, and trust me on this, is to ask the guy if he wants his car detailed and hand him a business card.
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And how to you suggest he does this..Should he wait in his car and wait for him to drive by and follow him? And then when he get out of his car you approach him, give him a card and see if he wants it detailed? If was you and your $100,000+ car what would you say? how would you react to this 22 year old kid?
 
I'd say think twice about what you wish for. Working on an exotic is cool no doubt, but they are a lot more work then pretty much every-other car out there. They are very low to the ground (back breakers), many have rock hard paint, and most importantly they have very intricate panels which require a lot of effort and knowledge to polish, many areas may even need to be done by hand.

As far as approaching them, I found out long ago most people don't like being approached about there vehicles, regardless of what kind of car it is. If they want work done they'll go looking for it. I also agree with the below...build yourself a reputation first and eventually the high end work will come.

If you do decide to approach them, I'm also going to assume you have adequate insurance to cover such expensive cars...if you don't, I strongly urge you not to touch such expensive cars.

Just my $.02

Rasky

ObsessiveAutoDetail said:
Exotics are almost all I do nowadays and I NEVER approach these customers... However, it did not start out that way. I detailed almost every jalopie (Urban Dictionary: jalopie) in town. I had one customer that had a rather nice Escape I had detailed on several occasions. Very nice guy, lived in my neighborhood and tipped me every time. One day he called me up long before he was do for a touch-up and wanted me to come over to look at another vehicle he had... Well, it was a 1952 Jaguar XK120 Roadster. Guard red, beautiful car. Had been to the Concours D'Elegance as well as several other shows. Anyway... I wound up doing the Jag for him and he was so impressed at my attention to detail, he gave my business cards to some of his friends and I just kept getting calls from these other people to detail their high-end cars.

I don't think anyone can really "start out" focusing on high-end or exotic cars unless you have an impeccable reputation. Just do good work and the money will follow. If I can emphasize anything, ALWAYS WORK ON YOUR REPUTATION.
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I am a manager in the restaurant business (Chick-fil-A) and I have a customer who owns a business in town. He normally drives through in his company van, but one day when driving through town I saw this really nice Porsche. Being in a smaller town, I know I haven’t seen this car before and I looked to see who was driving it. Seeing it was this particular gentleman, I made a mental note to talk to him about his car when I see him next at the restaurant.

I drive the G35 seen in my signature, and I know that his car is at least worth 4 times more than my car, but I take pride in my car and in my detailing work and I felt comfortable talking to him about my “hobby” of detailing because of my passion for cars and the work.

So when he came to the restaurant a week later, I told him that I saw him driving the Porsche a week prior, and bragged about how sharp it was. I told him I do detailing work on the side and that I am really particular about the work I do. I never asked him for business, just wanted to talk to him and share common interests in cars. I gave him a business card and told him to call if he ever needs help or has questions about car care.

This was about 3 months ago, and he called me this week asking me to come and look at the condition of his Porsche and his personal truck as well. I will be meeting with him Sunday.

I have learned from this to:

• Just be yourself

• Share your common passion of vehicles, regardless of what you drive. If you take pride in your Ford Taurus, you will take pride in a Bugatti.

• Show you have knowledge of detailing when they ask questions. Know how to describe claybaring, polishing, leather care, etc.

• Don’t be pushy! Be memorable, be respectful, and treat them like a friend. Just because they don’t hire you same day, doesn’t mean they will not hire you in the future.

I just like you wish to work on higher end cars, but since this is my passion, I enjoy working on DD anyways because of the potential for drastic turnarounds. Hope this helps and good luck to you sir!
 
A.P.A.D. said:
I am a manager in the restaurant business (Chick-fil-A) and I have a customer who owns a business in town. He normally drives through in his company van, but one day when driving through town I saw this really nice Porsche. Being in a smaller town, I know I haven’t seen this car before and I looked to see who was driving it. Seeing it was this particular gentleman, I made a mental note to talk to him about his car when I see him next at the restaurant.

I drive the G35 seen in my signature, and I know that his car is at least worth 4 times more than my car, but I take pride in my car and in my detailing work and I felt comfortable talking to him about my “hobby” of detailing because of my passion for cars and the work.

So when he came to the restaurant a week later, I told him that I saw him driving the Porsche a week prior, and bragged about how sharp it was. I told him I do detailing work on the side and that I am really particular about the work I do. I never asked him for business, just wanted to talk to him and share common interests in cars. I gave him a business card and told him to call if he ever needs help or has questions about car care.

This was about 3 months ago, and he called me this week asking me to come and look at the condition of his Porsche and his personal truck as well. I will be meeting with him Sunday.

I have learned from this to:

• Just be yourself

• Share your common passion of vehicles, regardless of what you drive. If you take pride in your Ford Taurus, you will take pride in a Bugatti.

• Show you have knowledge of detailing when they ask questions. Know how to describe claybaring, polishing, leather care, etc.

• Don’t be pushy! Be memorable, be respectful, and treat them like a friend. Just because they don’t hire you same day, doesn’t mean they will not hire you in the future.

I just like you wish to work on higher end cars, but since this is my passion, I enjoy working on DD anyways because of the potential for drastic turnarounds. Hope this helps and good luck to you sir!
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Very well put Jon!! :dblthumb2:
 
FUNX725 said:
That would be me!

In a few more years, maybe less, I'll be turning over the detailing of my vehicles to a younger pup.

I've been diligently searching for my replacement...But the ones I've interviewed want to charge way too much...IMHO!! :D :laughing::laughing::laughing:

:)

Bob
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If I lived closer to you I would of loved an interview. I would have a hard time paying for something I have done my whole life as well. Taking care of your cars and then buying products, and all of a sudden having someone else do the work!


A.P.A.D. said:
I am a manager in the restaurant business (Chick-fil-A) and I have a customer who owns a business in town. He normally drives through in his company van, but one day when driving through town I saw this really nice Porsche. Being in a smaller town, I know I haven’t seen this car before and I looked to see who was driving it. Seeing it was this particular gentleman, I made a mental note to talk to him about his car when I see him next at the restaurant.

I drive the G35 seen in my signature, and I know that his car is at least worth 4 times more than my car, but I take pride in my car and in my detailing work and I felt comfortable talking to him about my “hobby” of detailing because of my passion for cars and the work.

So when he came to the restaurant a week later, I told him that I saw him driving the Porsche a week prior, and bragged about how sharp it was. I told him I do detailing work on the side and that I am really particular about the work I do. I never asked him for business, just wanted to talk to him and share common interests in cars. I gave him a business card and told him to call if he ever needs help or has questions about car care.

This was about 3 months ago, and he called me this week asking me to come and look at the condition of his Porsche and his personal truck as well. I will be meeting with him Sunday.

I have learned from this to:

• Just be yourself

• Share your common passion of vehicles, regardless of what you drive. If you take pride in your Ford Taurus, you will take pride in a Bugatti.

• Show you have knowledge of detailing when they ask questions. Know how to describe claybaring, polishing, leather care, etc.

• Don’t be pushy! Be memorable, be respectful, and treat them like a friend. Just because they don’t hire you same day, doesn’t mean they will not hire you in the future.

I just like you wish to work on higher end cars, but since this is my passion, I enjoy working on DD anyways because of the potential for drastic turnarounds. Hope this helps and good luck to you sir!
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Very useful information given here! Thanks A.P.A.D.
 
From my sales experience (past seven years) ask them questions show interest in their car or anything they want to talk about and very important only talk 20% of the time let them have the other 80% but don't leave awkward silence.... you have our number so feel free to give me a call and we will of course back up your work so you have at least one reference to provide to them if requested.

Flawless Reflections Auto Detailing
www.flawlessreflectionsdetail.com
 
Bacon said:
And how to you suggest he does this..Should he wait in his car and wait for him to drive by and follow him? And then when he get out of his car you approach him, give him a card and see if he wants it detailed? If was you and your $100,000+ car what would you say? how would you react to this 22 year old kid?
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Go up to the house, ring the bell and hand him a card.
That's how some 20something kid got a job detailing BOTH my $100,000+ cars :dblthumb2:
 
Offer to detail his daily drivers first. He is not likely to trust someone he doesnt know with his baby. Once you have proven yourself, then he will be comfortable with you working on his exotic.
 
Hi Shawn, I suggest that you try getting some work with some of his neighbors who aren't necessarily driving "exotics" and allow the word of mouth make the sale for you. If the owner of the exotic car hears of the high quality that you provide, he/they just might open a line of communication with you, and then you can tailor your sales pitch to suit the needs of both parties involved.

Below is an actual communication between an exotic car owner and myself that I still had lying around in my email acct. He opened up the door and then I pitched the situation, just being myself. He is now a great customer and has since referred me to some of his family and friends.

I just thought this might be helpful if posted in the interest of how to be clear, honest and confident in ones abilities.

Hi David, myself and 2 co-workers would like to have our vehicles cleaned / detailed here at our workplace located at [blank] S. [blank]th St., Harrisburg. One is an SUV, another is a pick-up and another is a car. What is your price for each vehicle? We are looking for full service, the best cleaning package available. Thanks!

Hi Joe, Thank you for your interest in my detailing. I would like to have you look over a few threads here so that you can see what type of detailing I do. Most folks who say they want the best package do not realize how much time is involved in providing the best possible results. To be profitable, I need to be at around $40 per hour. Some of the best detailing that I have done has taken up to 20 hours to complete. When a majority of car owners think auto detailing, they think what is mainstream which in the detailing world is called "production Detailing" and is typically priced out so much for a car or so much for a truck or SUV. Unfortunately in the world of production detailing there are many many hack detailers and you spend $200 or more and sometimes what you get are results like the one in this link below. Please click this link and take a look at the vehicles shown that were done by production detailers and then read the rest of my reply with a few links of my work.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-detailing-101/36445-buffer-trail-holograms.html

In the world of true auto detailing you get what you pay for. A lot of the production detailing shops use cheap bulk products and cheap unskilled labor to push out as many cars as possible in a day’s time by using glazes and fillers to simply hide the condition of your vehicle's paint and the result after a few washes and the fillers are washed away is often times what you see in the above link.

I use only the newest and best technology in car care products that contain no fillers. I actually correct the paint on the vehicle instead of the smoke and mirrors approach of the production detailers. Below are two separate links to some of the paint correction jobs that I have done and below those two will be a link of what my interior work looks like when finished.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...ck-gmc-yukon-denali-paint-semi-corrected.html

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/show-n-shine/30090-2001-black-z06-corvette-paint-correction.html

At my $40 per hour the Yukon took 15 hours and the Corvette took 20 hours. The Corvette represents my best work. The Yukon is simply great work however I could have taken it further and made it perfect. I don't mean to be arrogant but do the math and let me know if you still want my best work.

Now I can come out and simply Wash the vehicle then clay the paint to remove the bonded contaminates that a wash will not remove (this properly preps the paint for wax) wax the car and clean up the interior and if they aren't too bad to begin with possibly keep the car at around 5 hours and the truck and SUV at around 6 to 10 hours depending on the condition of them. This is basically what I did with the Range Rover in the link below.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/show-n-shine/31207-range-rover-sport-quick-detail.html

High quality comes at a high price. Sorry for the long winded reply but I need to convey the fact that I am not your average detailer with average prices. I may or may not be the detailer for you.

Let me know and thanks again for your interest in my detailing.
Respectfully, Tuscarora Dave's Mobile Auto Detailing

Hi David, thanks for the reply. My primary vehicle is a Range Rover which I use every day so I suppose a "production detail" would be best. I wouldn't want you to spend more than a few hours on it. I keep it very clean but from time to time like to give it a nice detail to make it really shine.

My other vehicle however is an Aston Martin, DB9 which I wouldn't mind you spending some time on. I drive it 2-4 times a month only. Can you set up an appt. for the Range Rover here at my work-place and if all goes well we can get the DB9 done as well. I'm at work Mon-Sat. so any day is fine.

Thanks again.
 
Wow thanks Dave! I have also had long winded emails like that with people who contact me who want to get their car 'detailed' and not knowing what all entails. I really need more of a portfolio. Thats one thing I'm missing, I usually don't take to many before, during, and after pictures of my details.
 
I've found that the portfolio of stunning before and after photos is what sells more jobs than anything else. The word of mouth opens up the door and the photos seal the deal. I have tons of photos. If I wanted to detail something next week, all I'd have to do is start talking to folks with my portfolio within arm's reach and I'd be detailing next week.
 
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