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  1. #11
    Super Member Coach Steve's Avatar
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    Re: The Importance and Value of Weekly Maintenance Customers

    Quote Originally Posted by sudsmobile View Post
    We have a handful of maintenance, maybe $1000/month (some people skip a month here and there). It's really all I want. We try to pick and choose pretty carefully. My best customer lives 5 minutes from me. We wash their 2018 Lincoln Navigator and 2018 Mercedes GLC43 every Saturday. $100 a pop, $120 with tip. The first time took us like 3-3.5 hours, although I charged a bit more. Now, less than two hours because the vehicles are cleaned weekly and are typically pretty clean inside. They are literally our favorite and best customer. The cars are ALWAYS in the driveway with the keys in them. Someone comes out and pays us about an hour into it and we lock the cars and leave the keys in the garage when we're done. Total interaction with the customer, 30 seconds. LOL
    This is a prime example of the importance of the trust that's developed by the customer not only in your abilities and the results you produce consistently, but also in your moral character. Let's face it, vehicles have gotten stupid expensive, so to have someone leave the keys to their vehicles for you is a huge leap of faith. In my case, it goes a step further. In the case of the customer I illustrated above, I almost always go get the vehicle and bring it back to the shop. I enter the garage door code, back out of the garage, hit the door controller inside the vehicle and off I go. There are lots of times that the customer is out of town when I do their vehicles so having this kind of access is good for both of us. Regarding getting paid, I've got the majority of my customers using a money transfer app of some sort which makes that whole process quick and convenient. Customers who use the same bank I do are really appreciated because they just transfer the funds from their account to mine and there's no fees - even if they pay by card as long as the card is issued by that bank.

    Quote Originally Posted by DMW View Post
    I'm also in AZ. Who do you use for DI water and is it a tank that you swap out once it loses its effectiveness? How much does it cost you and how long does it last?
    When I originally decided to explore ways to stop the madness associated with trying to dry a vehicle before spotting occurred, I bought an On-The-Go Dual Bed system which was great and it produced pure water with zero mineral content which was no small feat considering the water here in Chandler, AZ averages 750-800 PPM on any given day. The problem is that the higher the mineral content, the fewer gallons of pure water you get no matter what DI system youre using. In the case of the OTG system I bought, the media was depleted and needing replacement after only 150 gals. The replacement media was about $100 with shipping. That's roughly $.70 per gal. Not only is that expensive but with the volume of vehicles I do, I had depleted the media in less than a month. Luckily, my buddy Paul who owns LSNAutoDetailing, also here in Chandler, AZ told me about Purtec Industrial Water. They're based in So. Cal., but they have a plant in Gilbert that services the entire valley. They have several size tanks to choose from which produce increasingly more DI water as the size increases. In my case, I chose the 14" tank which produces about 1150 gals. of pure water based on the mineral content coming out of my tap. It's $75 for the tank which they drop off and pickup, and $15 per month for the service. Doesn't matter if I take a week or 2 years to deplete the tank, the price is the same per tank. That's a much, much lower price per gallon and the time saved by not having to deal with getting every drop of water off the vehicle before spotting is priceless!

    Quote Originally Posted by RTexasF View Post
    Great article. I treasured my maintenance customers. Not only did they account for approx 1/3 of my income they constantly spread the word. That resulted in jobs more profitable than the norm so it worked for me. As mentioned previously I offered them an occasional freebie after "X" many referrals that resulted in work for me that was profitable. Those freebies consisted of a wash n vac which generally took one hour or less. They were scheduled when time allowed.

    I concentrated on teachers/professors/real estate agents. They all meet on a regular basis so I had constant work with no advertising at all. Word of mouth is powerful if you get the right group.
    That's another huge benefit I didn't even touch on in my original post. The income generated from the referrals by my maintenance customers is great. During my initial conversation with a prospective customer, I always find out how they heard about me, whether they volunteer the info or if I ultimately ask and those who were referred to me by a regular customer always say something to the effect of, "Bill Smith told me about you and says great things about you. I trust Bill's advice and I saw how nice his vehicle(s) always look so..."
    I don't advertise. At all. All of my business is either repeat or referral. When your livelihood depends on this type of business model, it's beyond vital that your performance and the quality of the product you deliver be as flawless as possible with every vehicle you service. Word of mouth will literally drive or kill a business. And, when that business is a service that depends on disposable income to survive, your customers and potential customers have to have a good reason to spend it on you. We've all read the different articles that present stats on reviews and the people who tend to write them. something on the order of 78% of people who have a negative experience will write a negative review while only about 35% of those who had a positive experience will.
    A customer's first impression has lasting effects!

    Quote Originally Posted by LSNAutoDetailing View Post
    Great article Steve! You hit the nail on the head, getting new customers is always great, but getting repeat and regular maintenance customers is really the pinnacle of where at least I am striving for. There is nothing like creating a maintenance plan, and having your customers stick to them. Steve can attest, as he lives a few blocks up from me, that doing a full correction and coating here in AZ in the summer is NO FUN! Steve, if I recall our hottest day last summer was 119?
    Yeah, but those were the "official" temps. There were numerous days that the thermometer in my backyard exceeded 120° I honestly don't know how our mobile brothers do it. Twice this past summer, I saw a mobile guy setup in the parking lot of a business working on their clients' vehicle while I was out driving and went to the nearest conv store and bought them a big, ice cold drink and took it to them. I'm sure they had an ice chest or water cooler and weren't dying but It made ME feel better and allowed me to show them some indirect appreciation for the work they do and the conditions in which they do it.

    Quote Originally Posted by LSNAutoDetailing View Post
    The last few customers I had they were not single day events. Full paint correction, coatings, wheel coatings, plastic coatings, engine bay coatings... Those are multi 8-12 hour a day jobs, mainly had to work at night to avoid the heat. The prep work, and post-work to make sure you didn't end up with high spots is insane. Even take glass cleaning. We're a husband and wife team and approach the glass at the same time, I do the outside, she does the inside (Interior Gal)... We reference each other while working on the same piece of glass, so we can spot anything we missed.

    But once you've done all this work and the customer has paid for it, it's really important to explain that it doesn't have to be like this all the time. If you come back every 3 months for a DD, or every six months for a garage queen, we can keep it looking like this in a fraction of the time and cost. I explain, if you let it get too far, you're back to a full detail again $$$$.

    Besides, a good maintenance is anywhere between 4-6 hours for us. That includes the sprucing of the interior, Exterior gets Reload, and the attention to deatil to make it look as perfect as possible all the while NOT having to bust out the DA's, Carpet Extractors, Tornadors, Air-Compressors... all while being profitable. Maintenance is important for the customer after making the huge investment in the car, and with the initial full correction/coating detail. Why not take care of it.
    That's exactly right and is why I don't mind doing a whash & vac for the price I charge my regulars. Their vehicles literally don't get dirty between washes so that's more than half the battle.
    Agreed! Educating the customer provides them the opportunity to save themselves some pretty serious cash. Example: I have a semi annual customer that brings me their vehicle after 6 mos or so of infrequent automatic car washes and bird bombs left for weks at a time, etc. And, every time I service the vehicle, I have to start from scratch and do a full-on 3 step correction and everything that goes with prepping the surface for it. And, each time, I explain that it doesn't have to be so expensive, blah, blah, blah but what are ya gonna do?

    Quote Originally Posted by LSNAutoDetailing View Post
    I have one more piece of advice, if you're not using some sort of CRM, do so! I use Zoho free CRM. I can enter in all the customer contact info, notes, and even upload attachments such as the VIF, Pictures. I can create events, and tasks with reminders. So I can create a task to "Call John on x date". It also gives you a process to follow to stay in touch with your customers.
    I didn't start using a CRM until a few years ago, mainly because I was too lazy to take the time to install and learn the software. After doing so, I can't help but wonder how much money I lost by not using it earlier. It keeps track of everything and, like you stated, it alerts you when to contact customers based on the criteria you set so that customers you haven't seen in 4-5 months that are due for sealant, are put on the list of those you need to call to get scheduled. Everything you do on the administrative side of your operation can be taken care of in a nice, tidy program that provides you with every imaginable statistic and figure related to your business. I will admit though, that while everything has gone virtually digital and has essentially negated the need for paperwork, I still print out every customer invoice and either hand it to them as I shake their hand and thank them or leave it on the pass seat for them. I've yet to have a customer tell me they don't need it or tell me to, "you cana just toss it, I don't need it."

    Quote Originally Posted by LSNAutoDetailing View Post
    Again, great article Steve. Hope you've got to use some of those samples!
    Thanks, buddy! I appreciate that.
    Still using them with outstanding results!

    Thanks to everyone who commented and/or Thanked/Liked my post.




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  3. #12
    Super Member Coach Steve's Avatar
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    Re: The Importance and Value of Weekly Maintenance Customers

    I'll add one more piece of advice that helps to maximize your profits from a time-spent standpoint. Always, always ask the customer to remove everything from the vehicle that doesn't fit in the center console or glove box prior to having their vehicle serviced. When you don't have to first, box or bag everything up before you can get started, it makes a big difference in not onl;y time saved but your overall attitude toward that job. If they show some sort of resistance, just explain that everything inside the vehicle is going to get wet during the process and you'd hate to have something get damaged by the chemicals, water, etc.

    Because I employ this step with every customer prior to getting the vehicle in, I honestly can't remember the last time I had to package up a customer's stuff before I could get started.

    This also eliminates the discovery of questionable/embarrassing/illegal stuff and the resulting conversation with them. The most disturbing item I've ever found was a suicide note stuffed under the backseat of a car. My customer had just bought the car used from a dealer and had no connection to the author but it still freaked both of us out a little bit!




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  5. #13
    Super Member JustJesus's Avatar
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    Re: The Importance and Value of Weekly Maintenance Customers

    Lengthy OP, but I took the time to read it all. Your math, it made sense in the end.

    I've just about closed on my one and only maintenance customer. I have a regular 9-5 desk job, so I'm not exactly pushing or looking for wash/detail customers.

    The customer is my friend's girlfriend. Her brother used to do the cleaning for her, but they don't live close to each other anymore. And my friend has better things to do.

    Long story short: Since I meet with this guy at least 2x a month, fitting his gf's car into my schedule is easy. While he is out picking up our dinner, I'll clean the exterior of the car. He'll vacuum it on his own time. Oh, and this maintenance schedule actually starts with a dirt cheap, almost free, decon and light polish followed by a sealant application. And I'm happy to do it for this guy. When I did his 4Runner, THAT job became a nice poster child (err, car) of what I can do! It brought me some paint correction business.

    Everyone is happy.

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  7. #14
    Super Member LSNAutoDetailing's Avatar
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    Re: The Importance and Value of Weekly Maintenance Customers

    Quote Originally Posted by Coach Steve View Post
    I'll add one more piece of advice that helps to maximize your profits from a time-spent standpoint. Always, always ask the customer to remove everything from the vehicle that doesn't fit in the center console or glove box prior to having their vehicle serviced. When you don't have to first, box or bag everything up before you can get started, it makes a big difference in not onl;y time saved but your overall attitude toward that job. If they show some sort of resistance, just explain that everything inside the vehicle is going to get wet during the process and you'd hate to have something get damaged by the chemicals, water, etc.

    Because I employ this step with every customer prior to getting the vehicle in, I honestly can't remember the last time I had to package up a customer's stuff before I could get started.

    This also eliminates the discovery of questionable/embarrassing/illegal stuff and the resulting conversation with them. The most disturbing item I've ever found was a suicide note stuffed under the backseat of a car. My customer had just bought the car used from a dealer and had no connection to the author but it still freaked both of us out a little bit!
    Wow, disturbing find Steve. I think I would have a heart attack if I saw something like that. I've said many times, don't kid yourself. Your clients and potential clients READ THIS FORUM. Your on-line presence shouldn't be any different than in real life. Steve can attest, I'm pretty much the same in person as I am on the forum. When you come onto this or any forum, you are the representative of your company.

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  9. #15
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    Re: The Importance and Value of Weekly Maintenance Customers

    Steve and Paul, do you guys have any pictures of this DI setup that you are using? I'm local to the valley as well and water spotting seems like an issue that I constantly have to deal with. I'm trying to understand how this setup would work, is it a tank in the garage that gets fed to a pump or something that gets installed in between the water spout that you would use to do all your washing?

  10. #16
    Super Member Coach Steve's Avatar
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    Re: The Importance and Value of Weekly Maintenance Customers

    Quote Originally Posted by Duy View Post
    Steve and Paul, do you guys have any pictures of this DI setup that you are using? I'm local to the valley as well and water spotting seems like an issue that I constantly have to deal with. I'm trying to understand how this setup would work, is it a tank in the garage that gets fed to a pump or something that gets installed in between the water spout that you would use to do all your washing?
    Picture a large helium or acetylene tank with an inlet and outlet at the top. That's it. 14" in diameter and about 5' tall. Single tank. You can either run a hose to it or, you can do what I did and run a dedicated line with a shutoff valve and threaded disconnect. Here's my setup...
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails The Importance and Value of Weekly Maintenance Customers-tank-jpg  




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  12. #17
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    Re: The Importance and Value of Weekly Maintenance Customers

    Awesome I understand it now. No issues with running a pressure washer with the tank correct?

  13. #18
    Super Member Coach Steve's Avatar
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    Re: The Importance and Value of Weekly Maintenance Customers

    Quote Originally Posted by LSNAutoDetailing View Post
    Wow, disturbing find Steve. I think I would have a heart attack if I saw something like that. I've said many times, don't kid yourself. Your clients and potential clients READ THIS FORUM. Your on-line presence shouldn't be any different than in real life. Steve can attest, I'm pretty much the same in person as I am on the forum. When you come onto this or any forum, you are the representative of your company.
    Truer words have never been spoken. The biggest reality check I ever got was when I was contacted via email by someone wanting a quote and during our conversation, I learned that he was browsing this forum and saw in one of my posts that I'm in the same town as him. Every post I've ever made here flashed through my mind all at once trying to think if I'd ever written anything.... ahem.... unprofessional or sophomoric and at the same time, I could feel the color draining from my face. Luckily, I had nothing to worry about.
    And regarding Paul's demeanor and overall character, he's as genuine and honest as they come.
    (is that how you wanted it worded, Paul?)




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  15. #19
    Super Member Coach Steve's Avatar
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    Re: The Importance and Value of Weekly Maintenance Customers

    Quote Originally Posted by Duy View Post
    Awesome I understand it now. No issues with running a pressure washer with the tank correct?
    None. There is a slight reduction in flow but not significant enough to be concerned about. I'm very fortunate in that I live literally less than 1000 yds from the water distribution plant here in Chandler so my water pressure is phenomenal! I'm talking about pressure so good that it pins me against the back wall of the shower in the morning!




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  17. #20
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    Re: The Importance and Value of Weekly Maintenance Customers

    Quote Originally Posted by Duy View Post
    No issues with running a pressure washer with the tank correct?
    It works great with a a pressure washer.

    I just got my Puretec tank set up over the weekend. What a game changer! It was actually enjoyable/relaxing to wash my wife's black car on Saturday. No foot race to dry it before the water spots dried.

    I'm in the process of re-configuring my PW set up with a new hose reel, gun/wand/cannon and separate supply hoses with QD's so there is no set up time to use the PW. When I want to use it I'll basically snap the gun on the hose and go.

    BTW, huge thanks to Wills, Paul and Steve for answering all my questions and convincing me to switch to DI water. Only wish I had done it years ago!

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