OK, how do I get work?

Toy_Cam_Ed

Toy_Cam_Ed

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So far I've only had 1 job, and that was a friend of the family. How exactly do I get started getting regular jobs? (I need at least 1 a week)

So far I am advertising on Craigslist, put fliers on people's mailboxes and cars, pass out business cards when possible, and am on yp.com.

What else can I do on a very limited budget? I'm lucky to be able to afford a few hundred business cards and some fliers.
 
I got the ball rolling by doing a co-worker at a discounted rate. I had the perfect candidate, one that liked a clean car and likes to talk. So he spread the word. I also started with friends and family and word spread from them as well.


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A-train said:
I got the ball rolling by doing a co-worker at a discounted rate. I had the perfect candidate, one that liked a clean car and likes to talk. So he spread the word. I also started with friends and family and word spread from them as well.


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Click to expand...
Are you getting regular jobs now?
 
Go to every possible office building, doctor's office, etc. in your area and drop off business cards, coupons, whatever with a front desk person. You could also put flyers on cars (although I hate when people do that).

After that hit up local restaurants in the area that allow you to put up flyers, with your information.

I would consider building a bare bones website with some pictures of the one car you detailed. I usually research a company before I call them for the first time and the website will help you with that. Creating a basic website is much easier than you think and while you are in between jobs you can spend the time it takes.

Have you considered approaching a small car lot and asking if you can help them?
 
Word of mouth is the best marketing. This works well at office buildings, especially when you are set up and people come by and notice your work. Be careful of dealing with landlords and management companies. We don't allow it on any of our properties.

I would also go into rich neighborhoods, look for people with dirty cars and knock on doors.

Neither one of these costs a thing, except time.

Lastly, a one-page website will cost you about $50 a year. Just make it one page with a few pix, phone number, email and packages menu.

If AutoGeek were really saavy, it would host a domain service for detailers. Servers are so cheap these days. If AutoGeek didn't want to partition off part of its existing IS infrastructure, it could buy a separate server. Hell, that's all residual income and pure profit after a couple of months.

Many of these domain-hosting services are such rip-offs. My sister has a lawn-care company and both Verizon and ATT took her to the cleaners. This would be a service and company that auto detailers could trust. I bet that all most of the detailers want is an Internet presence that doesn't cost a whole lot.
 
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I dont do detail jobs much ,but I just speak to family members and do their cars, then friends of them want to get their car detailed. I would also try talking and doing a lottery type thing

the person would need to get their car detailed first.
You would then give them a ticket
the other ticket would be used to draw a person a month that would get half off their next detail job. Basically all it would consist of is those orange or other color raffle tickets
 
I dont have a detailing business but I do have another small business dealing with cars and how they look, I detail a little onside as well but don't need steady work. In my experience with my business though is that typically business cards dont do much when just left with someone. So you money may be better spent in other areas of your business. For the time being any work you do get, do it well and take lots of pictures, work will come, slowly but it will come. For the time being save save save because if you go "by the book" they say have enough saved to support the business for 6months to a year with zero income from the business. The way that I look at it is have enough for 3 months, because if after 3 or 4 months you can't get work then it's time to shut the doors because your either in the wrong business, or don't have "what it takes" to make the business float.
Treat people well, customer service is a lost art. Try to find older people who can know longer clean there cars, single successful parents, other business. Keep pushing yourself out there, if your timid you need to break that insecurity fast because the way you talk and carry yourself shows how your business operates.
 
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It's all about Google! You listed yourself on yp.com , good!

Build a website. It's not optional if you want to work. If you can't build an awesome website then have somebody do it. Find a friend who can do it.

Now, list yourself on the hundreds of other free website. For example: merchant circle, yelp, local.com, service noodle, it goes on and on. You'll spend weeks doing this but it's worth it

Make sure your business info is exactly the same on each one. This will help you build an online presense.

Make sure you are on all the social networking sites and update them frequently.

start photo accounts, like photobucket, using your business info.

GET REVIEWS! Clearly ask your customers to give you good reviews on google if you did a good job!

If you aren't on the first page of google places you won't be getting very many calls.

Update Craigslist every day...maybe have multiple accounts and list twice a day.

Don't sell yourself out. Keep you prices competitive with the other local guys or you'll just look like an idiot and won't get calls.

Word of mouth is good, but it's not the majority of my business.

The first thing everybody does when looking for a service is go to google. Don't forget it.

It will take 6 months to a year to get optimized. Good luck!
 
statusdetailing said:
Build a website. It's not optional if you want to work. If you can't build an awesome website then have somebody do it. Find a friend who can do it.

Word of mouth is good, but it's not the majority of my business.
Click to expand...

99% of my business is from my website and word of mouth referrals. I do this part time on my weekends and days off. I also hired my dad to fill in my availability for maintenance washes, etc on week days.

I just rolled out an online booking system and just booked my first job today completely online without ever speaking with the customer first. It's through ClickBook and it was free to set up. Technically you don't even need a website to setup the booking system. It's working great. I hope to become full time detailing next year.

Good luck in your pursuit!
 
Word of mouth is best! I was doing about 3 a week, then all of a sudden a Shop manager at a local dealership saw my facebook page and since then I do 4-6 cars a week @ $100, it pays my rent, cost of material and utilities !
 
:iagree:Word of mouth!

FB helps as you can have your friends and family "Like" the page once you hit 30 you will get more views and others outside your circle will start seeing your FB posts. I took it a step further and got a blog to show my work outside of the forums. As the word spreads and you show your work they will come.
 
Thanks for all the great ideas. I just got a call from a guy who saw my ad on craigslist. I have to do 2 cars for him tomorrow. Let's hope this continues.
 
paskett said:
Word of mouth is best! I was doing about 3 a week, then all of a sudden a Shop manager at a local dealership saw my facebook page and since then I do 4-6 cars a week @ $100, it pays my rent, cost of material and utilities !
Click to expand...


I just want to offer some constructive criticism. 4 to 6 cars a week at $100 per car will eventually catch up to you, financial and most importantly, physically.

Market correctly and you'll have dealers calling you. I have 3 dealers right now, who all want me to do 4-6 cars a week, but I don't because it's absolutely exhausting work.

Dealer work will destroy you eventually. A regular retail customer will pay twice that and their cars are almost never as dirty as a dealer car.

I'm glad you are working, but just be careful and don't burn yourself out.
 
If you need an inexpensive website, me and my wife also do those as well.

Let me know.

Ken
 
Word of Mouth.
I do this as a hobby on the weekends and I been busy for the last 2months. I just posted my work on FB then friends contacted me then they refer other people. For me one or two cars per weekend is good since its a hobby I like the challenge and the extra cash never hurts.
 
I work in a pretty exclusive industry so I don't deal with this type of problem a lot. However getting business is getting business and the best way is word of mouth.

Now how do you get that in the detailing world? Well first you have to actually detail someone's car to have them spread the word. So how do you detail someones car? That's the big question. How about offering a promotion to start out with like free interior cleaning for an external detail? You can always jack up your prices a little and they wouldn't know.

You have to get some people interested to try you out and every big retailer knows that people love promotions especially when they think they're getting something free.

If this works and you make a million dollars I expect a check in the mail or at least a detail with a free interior cleaning!:xyxthumbs:
 
statusdetailing said:
I have 3 dealers right now, who all want me to do 4-6 cars a week, but I don't because it's absolutely exhausting work.
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Tell me about it. And at my age (49), I don't think I could handle more than 2-3 cars a week. Since I have a night job at a grocery store, I just need enough to pay rent and have a little left over.

The only thing that worries me though, is that my right shoulder and my back are very "sensitive" to physical labor. I really need to be careful or my detailing career may be over before it really starts.
 
I think if you don't have any word of mouth than a website is a must. Mine only cost about $140 a year. People Google everything. make sure your website shows up on Google. Google should send you a customer or 2 a week.
 
I know a dealer can be a pain, but they bring me mostly 2011 and 2012 vehicles with under 5000 miles. I put about a hour and a half in each, then I'll have on average 2 other vehicles a day averaging $130 to $200 each, which is where my real money comes in at.
 
paskett said:
I know a dealer can be a pain, but they bring me mostly 2011 and 2012 vehicles with under 5000 miles. I put about a hour and a half in each, then I'll have on average 2 other vehicles a day averaging $130 to $200 each, which is where my real money comes in at.
Click to expand...
What are you doing to these vehicles? It took me 5 1/2 hours to properly machine polish the car, complete interior work, tires, etc.
 
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