Thinkin about tossing in the towel

[guess23959]

I been laid off for 2yrs and cant find work to afford the legal stuff. I have good advertising and marketing and excellent skills just no clients and i dont want to pay for monthly insurance and legal stuff if im not getting clients. Maybe ill pick it back it up once im working again. Tough decision and this sux cause i love doing it. Oh well...

[Pureshine]

What legal stuff are you paying for? Have you made a website,Facebook page? What have you done to get new customers?

[VP Mark]

What do you mean by legal stuff?

Insurance can't possibly be that much for you.

It sounds like your having a problem with client retention. What's your post detail client follow up system look like?

At least let us help you find the underlying problems before you temporarily stop. If not they will just be waiting for you when you start back up.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using AG Online

[thebamboo23]

So you wanna throw in the towel cause things aren't going your way?

[Theo_Auto_Fines]

Clients are around. Perhaps the pricing is a bit steep for majority of your potential customers. Car show season is just around the corner and this will be your perfect opportunity to network with people that are in the car biz. Sometimes you just have to take a step back and reconfigure your ideas. I know that personally like to spend more time just hanging out with friends and enjoying the sun but due to the influx of customers I am left without a day off in almost a month now. Hang in there and count your blessings.

[hoyt66]

Wow! Very nice advice and great support guys. This forum really attracts some quality ppl!

[guess23959]

the legal stuff like having insurance, the llc, and whatnot. i dont need to be a legitamate (sp?) business, just enough to supplement my income for unemployment, and when i get my job, just gas money to get around. i had to get rid of my dental insurance cause i just cant afford. unemployment is only giving me $110/wk and that goes to my own personal bills. i read a thread on here about insurance and detailing and it got me thinking very hard. i have a website, made business cards, flyers, and put an ad on the community channel on tv that runs through functions and happenings and classifieds in the area, as well as a friend who puts car cruises together, who passes out my cards along with the goody bags. i've had clients but the only real repeat customer is my dad and what he gives me for a general wash i use for gas money to go to job interviews. a local detail shop has their prices so low that i refuse to go any lower because i work hard at what i do and supplies are not cheap. i also offer other services aside from detailing, such as general car care. i also read that 75% of businesses fail within 1yr of startup. just not sure, just exploring my options. just trying to be responsible thats all.

[c8n]

Wow... I am sorry to hear.
Just a question, have you seen the other shop's work? How does it compare to yours? I have a suspicion that it is inferior. Sometimes you have to educate your clients. You don't have to and you really shouldn't mention any names but once they know the differences, it may sway them your way. Knowing your competition is one of the keys to success in my humble opinion.

Hope everything works out for the best for you and your family.

[ObsessiveAutoDetail]

Warning: The following statement is blunt and to the point.

It sounds like you are talking yourself out of making money or you really do not want to do this for a source of income. Find something else that makes you happy.

FYI... When I'm not detailing a car... I am pounding the streets drumming up business. I am of the opinion that business isn't going to come to you - you have to go get it.

Judging by your previous posts, you have a poor attitude. A positive attitude is EVERYTHING when you are self employed. A positive attitude gets you through that week or month long stretch of no clients...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

[jgg85234]

I have good advertising and marketing and excellent skills just no clients

Obviously, something doesn't compute :confused:

Two areas to look at.

1. New customer acquisition - In this era of everything on the Internet, people think they just need a website or a facebook page. Guess what, these are just like having an entry in the white pages of the phone book or a single line entry in the yellow pages. Everybody has one.

That would be called Advertising.

Making contacts and promoting yourself is called Marketing. And, that's done in dozens of different ways.

A car with a decal about your business, custom license plates, etc. give you mobile advertising. If the vehicle outshines everything around it, people will notice that you do fine work. If you're driving around in a dirty, dented, rusted vehicle that's not going to help.

Every person you meet is a potential client. Act accordingly.

2. Customer retention - Once you have a client, you need them to become a "raving fan" of your business. If you take care of them once, and they never return, you are doing something very wrong.

I can't tell you what that is. You need to analyze your interactions and determine why they don't return. They selected you once, and your job is to keep them coming back.

Businesses that successfully grow do it by referrals. In the consumer business, that's people talking about you to their friends, relatives, and business associates.

Happy customers get you more business very quickly. I don't always know about it up front, but I've found out as time passes that many of my new customers are actually referrals from existing customers.

I have a lot of business IT customers. In fact, so many that I don't do residential computer services at all, other than helping my business customers (and their employees) on their home computers. Why do I do that? Because those employees will most likely end up at another business sooner or later, and when someone asks "who do we call?" they recommend ME.

Since I polished up my car (it was really just practice for my wife's Pathfinder restoration), many of them have asked me if I will do their cars as well. Since most of them know I'm busy 7 days a week, and nights too, I just laugh. Not really looking to make a career change.

I've referred the first of them to Wills (Windows and Wheels). I already know the quality of his work from the photos on this forum. He'll get two cars out of that referral, and most likely a lot of additional referrals from the client. So, his posts on this forum caught my eye, and it will get him some more work to do. I bet he didn't even realize he was "marketing".

Examine what you are doing. When you have a new customer, you should be re-inforcing your services.

1. Before you begin, tell them exactly what you are going to do.
2. Do the work.
3. When the customer comes to pick up the car, spend a few minutes reminding them what you did in detail. Don't just hand them the car and say "here you go" and collect the money.

Jim

[Pureshine]

I make a point to walk the car when they come to pick the car up show them what you did. The one place I show them all the time is the gas cap area. How most production shops never clean that area that show them your attention to detail.

[jgg85234]

Oh, and once you have a customer coming back, give them some business cards and ask for referrals.

Jim

[guess23959]

well being that i've been doing the business for a year, i've been detailing a good part of my life and i do every car in the driveway of my house which i know does sound and look sketchy. those of you who are giving me positive advice and whatnot, i appreciate that a whole lot but like i said it's just a hobby that i was hoping i wouldnt have to be paying insurance for or llc, or hell even taxes but just get paid straight up and like i did with my music before irs caught me out. im just glad i read that thread before i got really screwed with something. most of the things everybody listed in the previous replies, i do already but also being in connecticut, economy's bad, people like me are out of work, it also looks like detailing isnt really in demand here like it is in florida, california, or vegas where there's lots of paying customers who can afford to do stuff like spend money on getting their car done. to answer a question about the local shop, they have an edge over me because they wet sand and i do not and i have no one to teach me so i recommend a professional and lots of people admire that i dont take it on and screw something up. they also install stereos and window tint. however ive seen their work and honestly i'm not impressed, they dont take pride in their work, in fact they're rude people. i on the other hand, offer more maintenance services as well as detailing, price match, and other money saving deals and they do not. i might talk to some self entrepreurs (sp?) who have their own businesses for advice and see what they do with all the legal and tax stuff, perhaps thats a start. again, im just trying to be responsible not get in trouble.

[TopThatDetail]

Maybe try and set up some kind of packages for example a full detail + 2 washes for X amount of dollars brings the customer back and maybe you can add a services on the next wash, have your customers sell your business by offering them discounts for every referral they bring to you, maybe try and go mobile its hard for people to always come to you.:xyxthumbs:

[guess23959]

i have that. "for whatever new customers you refer me to, get 50% off your next detail, any package." i also offer gift cards (fathers day you'd think), holiday/birthday, custom services, i offer .25/mile if i go mobile but nobody has bitten on that yet. thx for the suggestion though, thats appreciated. to be honest its just a money thing, i'd have no problem getting insurance, llc, paying taxes if i had the finances to do so even though they're stupid rules in my opinion but it is what it is.