How To Educate Folks About Detailing Misconceptions And Myths? (Newbie Questions)

[Eldorado2k]

Coca-Cola to clean windows with I have not heard before. But as a rust remover it used to be working great at. I think that the recepie has changed a bit so it's not so effective any more but who knows. Maybe use it as an iron remover LOL. The sticky mess after the sugar though could be hard to remove. We used to cover a bicycle with a bottle of Coca-Cola at the evening. And in the morning rinse it off and the rust was completly gone. So have seen it worked. Also bolts and nuts in a bath of it worked great. Wondering if it where citrus acid in it and that's why it worked great to get the oxidized iron particals desolveing. And since it's acidic based it could work good as glass cleaner and on water spots on it. Just a thought.

It still works great, however the new and improved method is to use Diet Coke because it doesn’t contain sugar so it’s not sticky like regular Coke. Add some aluminum foil to scrub with and rust be gone.

[Eldorado2k]

While we’re on the subject of educating customers... I say it’s best to Not educate them on squat! Here’s my reason why and this has happened several times...

Potential customer calls you and hits you with their extraordinary messy situation... You respond, “ok yea, I can handle that”
Customer says “oh really? Cool, how are you going to do it”?
That’s when you make the mistake of telling them... And low and behold, they text you a day before your scheduled appointment to inform you that they’re going to cancel on you.

Never again am I going to tell a customer how I’m going to solve their problem. They’re just going to have to trust me. I ain’t giving away my techniques for free so they can try and hack it.

[UncleDavy]

While we’re on the subject of educating customers... I say it’s best to Not educate them on squat! Here’s my reason why and this has happened several times...

Potential customer calls you and hits you with their extraordinary messy situation... You respond, “ok yea, I can handle that”
Customer says “oh really? Cool, how are you going to do it”?
That’s when you make the mistake of telling them... And low and behold, they text you a day before your scheduled appointment to inform you that they’re going to cancel on you.

Never again am I going to tell a customer how I’m going to solve their problem. They’re just going to have to trust me. I ain’t giving away my techniques for free so they can try and hack it.

That happens in other industries as well. The customer tries to fix the problem himself and makes a bigger mess of things. That customer will probably call you back and you will have to repair the hack that they attempted.

[Eldorado2k]

That happens in other industries as well. The customer tries to fix the problem himself and makes a bigger mess of things. That customer will probably call you back and you will have to repair the hack that they attempted.

You’re probably right about possibly making a bigger mess of the situation, but I doubt they’d call the same person back to correctly fix their problem. That’d be embarrassing, and most people would just call another detailer to avoid that.

Plus some people might be able to half arse the results based on the tip they got from you and live with it.

[Eldorado2k]

I had it happen just a couple of days ago... It happens the same way everytime it happens. Nomore!

[lovenhim]

Thanks for all of the help folks. Remember, I am not a pro and I do not do this for a living. I am wondering how in the world do I educate my "redneck" family members about the basics of auto detailing while dispelling the myths, bad habits that lead to all the false information, and lets face it.....the plan ole' wives tales. My aunt and uncle are retired truckers and old school bikers. They picked up a lot of bad habits when it comes to washing, waxing, and cleaning a motorcycle, car, or tractor trailer. When my aunt found out that I used a retail level Mothers clay bar kit on her Subaru before I used a cleaner wax by hand on it....she got nervous. Somehow and somewhere they have heard about horror stories about such an item. I again am not a professional at all but I have been using retail grade clay bar kits on and off for a while. I have maybe done five or six family or personal cars with a clay bar and have never had any issues.

The Coke on the glass thing came from both the trucker and Harley biker thing. Coke and newspaper is always the ticket. It will cure what ales ya. LOL Oh, that and toothpaste to clean up foggy plastic headlights. These are the people that use household kitchen products to clean a car with. If there is one thing that I have learned from Mike Phillips and from this forum it would be......work slowly, think things through, work smart, and always use the least aggressive approach to get the results that you want. That is not how my uncle works. He has the junkyard dog approach, the "why buy that overpriced washer for the drain plug when I can make on myself" approach, and finally the "go hard or go home" approach. Oy Vey. LOL

While we’re on the subject of educating customers... I say it’s best to Not educate them on squat! Here’s my reason why and this has happened several times...

Potential customer calls you and hits you with their extraordinary messy situation... You respond, “ok yea, I can handle that”
Customer says “oh really? Cool, how are you going to do it”?
That’s when you make the mistake of telling them... And low and behold, they text you a day before your scheduled appointment to inform you that they’re going to cancel on you.

Never again am I going to tell a customer how I’m going to solve their problem. They’re just going to have to trust me. I ain’t giving away my techniques for free so they can try and hack it.

[Farmallluvr]

While we’re on the subject of educating customers... I say it’s best to Not educate them on squat! Here’s my reason why and this has happened several times...

Potential customer calls you and hits you with their extraordinary messy situation... You respond, “ok yea, I can handle that”
Customer says “oh really? Cool, how are you going to do it”?
That’s when you make the mistake of telling them... And low and behold, they text you a day before your scheduled appointment to inform you that they’re going to cancel on you.

Never again am I going to tell a customer how I’m going to solve their problem. They’re just going to have to trust me. I ain’t giving away my techniques for free so they can try and hack it.

I know your pain,,now when I feel I am being phished for info so THEY can do it themselves I generally give them some form of misdirection because I am an A-hole like that
This happens a lot with pricing and I won't even give a quote with laying eyes on the car in person

[Eldorado2k]

I know your pain,,now when I feel I am being phished for info so THEY can do it themselves I generally give them some form of misdirection because I am an A-hole like that
This happens a lot with pricing and I won't even give a quote with laying eyes on the car in person

So if they call talking about how they’ve got salt in their carpets you say “oh yea, I got this secret trick, I just sprinkle sugar on the salt then spray it with warm water and 10min. later it vacuums right up” lol.

[Farmallluvr]

So if they call talking about how they’ve got salt in their carpets you say “oh yea, I got this secret trick, I just sprinkle sugar on the salt then spray it with warm water and 10min. later it vacuums right up” lol.

it's more along the lines of "I have this secret trick,I sprinkle it with baking soda and then pour vinegar on it,,don't worry about the foaming action ,that helps lift the salt out "

or Pine Sol removes pine sap

[BillE]

Re: Original post

Ya been talking to wife's family? Sometimes, ya just fix ignorance.

Bill