Advice Regarding Shop Management

[garyg7133]

In a nutshell,
After 7 years of mobile weekend business, I have been in search of full time employment in the field. I've interviewed in a few places but none could reach my salary / benefit goals. I interviewed with a dealership that is creating a management position for their detailing department. I have not accepted the position yet, but if all goes well I will be doing so by the end of this week. The position covers 4 used car dealerships within about a 10 mile distance of each other. Volume is approximately 400-450 vehicle sales/month with 1 f/t detailer at each shop.

I interviewed for a detailing position but after speaking with me, the owner felt I would be a good fit to manage the shops.
My question here is - for those who are manager/owners of shops, what are your go-to products to buy in bulk. Notably, wash soap, carpet cleaner, APC and wax. Cost effectiveness is obviously a challenge but I want to try to balance cost w/good quality.

My go-to products don't all come in bulk and it will probably be a hard sell to get everything I suggest. Hoping to nail down the position this week and tour all 4 shops over the weekend. The owner, while he did mention output being important, was more concerned with the cars looking their best as he feels it sets him apart from other dealers.

[Billy Baldone]

I mostly use P&S. They work, and are affordable

[mwoolfso]

Since you will be working for dealerships I would assess if the current owners want to try different products and the cost/oz of each product used - then develop business cases that drive more cost efficiency. These folks tend to care less about quality and all about cost effectiveness. And if any owner cares more about quality, you can open up the floodgates a little bit.

[tomsteve]

These folks tend to care less about quality and all about cost effectiveness. .

cost effectiveness and making the vehicles look good until theyre off the lot. stealerships are cheap when it comes to detailing. they wont pay to remove halograms on a vehicle thats been through a scratch and scuff auto wash a thousand times. they will pay to hide it with whatever coating is cheapest and will take the least time to do.

imo- the owner left out an important part-
was more concerned with the cars looking their best as he feels it sets him apart from other dealers.
lookin their best as cheaply as possible.
they dont care about how the vehicle looks in a month-only until its off the lot.