Thinkin about tossing in the towel

[guess23959]

I've been detailing on weekends since the mid 90's and haven't ever wanted for work. One thing that's helped me is instead of giving business cards to buddies that go to car shows to hand out, I actually detail my car and take it to the car show and hand out the cards myself. In fact most of my business has been generated by my daily drivers. I often get asked who details my car- all I have to do is hand them my card and introduce myself. Just by doing that I am booked on weekends through August!! I've done this in NC, SC, Hawaii, Cali, Colorado and Japan and it has worked great. I didn't even have a name for my business until 2 weeks ago. I know if I can do this and have this level if success part time you can too OP!!

1- thank you for your service for all you do. you are the man, (i always recognize military personel.)
2- thats all i want this to be to begin with, just a weekend thing to keep me busy, along with my music. if i can be successful sooner rather than later or sometime in between i'll be happy.

[jgg85234]

C'mon guys, there's opportunity everywhere. There's people, and there's automobiles. Some of those people have money, and some have cars they are proud of.

Your job is to find out how to mingle with the people who can help you.

The Arizona economy died in 2007, and I lost about 60% of my business revenue in the course of about 4 months. The franchisor decided to change the name of the company, after I had worked so hard to make the name recognizable. Simultaneously, they decided to use the advertising money (in my case about $15,000 per month) to run national ads, rather than the local ones we were running. Their advertising campaigns did not have the oomph that my local ones did. Couldn't get out of the franchise deals, unless the franchisor cancelled me.

I personally went down about $700,000, the franchisor cancelled my agreement, and they took over the business. They promptly lost the rest of the customers.

I had a non-compete agreeement, that said I could not contact any of the existing customers.

I had to stand myself back up, or go completely bankrupt, losing everything.

The AZ economy was almost totally built on the construction industry, which died in the downturn.

I had to go and find new customers.

When I had the GOC franchises, my business customers were construction companies, insurance offices, real estate offices, etc. They were all dead market segments.

I figured out who I could find as customers that weren't affected by the downturn.

Now my customer base is heavily loaded with

Collection Agencies

Process servers

Bankruptcy Attorneys

International Associations (not really impacted by local economics in any one place).

Companies that sell products to national chains like Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, and grocery stores.

There's always ways to find customers. You just have to research the demographics, income levels, business growth, etc. and you can find people who you can do business with.

Go to local Chamber of Commerce meetings. Join a BNI networking group.

Figure out how to get around people who are winning in the current economic climate.

Jim

[silverfox]

I take my car to all the local car shows. I'm not concerned about winning anything, but to enjoy being around other car crazy people.

Many folks ask me who details my car. I tell them that I do it myself. I've had many offers to detail cars from people at car shows. I'm not talking about other car show participants... I'm talking about the average joe attendee who doesn't have a car in the show but is there because they love cars. It's not unusual to get a few thousand people attend a local car show.

I turn down most offers because I only do this as a hobby on weekends and I like doing other things on my weekends besides polishing paint.

However if I had to put food on the table through detailing I think I could do it.

[tuscarora dave]

Obviously, something doesn't compute

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

This is a great post!!!

To the OP. I haven't read through the rest of this thread yet but will ask...Do you any sort of portfolio put together with photos of your work, services you offer, perhaps a coupon or something? A 3 ring binder full of before and after photos and some information about yourself and your business and what you have to offer can go a long way.

Also work on your rap. That is...practice what it is that you'll say to people to get their attention just for a minute so you can wow them with your portfolio presentation. To sell it you need to know it.

Do you have a digital camera? You may have to buff out Aunt Millie's Cadillac to get the money for some printer ink, photo paper, document protectors and a 3 ring binder, but it seems that right now would be the time to put such a thing together, with all the time you have on your hands being on unenjoyment and all.

Get creative, start screaming from the rooftops!! I AM DETAILER!!!!! but when the people look your way, willing to listen...you can't rely on words alone because talk is cheap and too many people do it...You need to have something that they can see to help them to trust you.

If you only knew how many people I meet that fancy themselves "an auto detailer" and have no rap or anything else to show that they really know anything at all. I just want to tell them to prove it!! I typically just shoo them away like an annoying housefly. I suspect John Q. Public is much too busy to make time for such annoyances as well....that is unless something outstanding catches his eye....

Armchair detailers are a dime a dozen, you need to have something to show potential clients that you're not just a sheep, but the shepard....Or the real deal, or the best darned detailer in the area etc. etc. call it what you will.. There are a million people out there tooting their own horns with nothing tangible to back up their story...You need to figure out how to position yourself ahead of the average guy.

What can I do?.. What can I build that will show them I am the real deal?.. where do I start?... If money is tight, don't sit back looking at the total financial requirement of your project as a whole... (don't be paralyzed by projection, but take baby steps) Instead... get out there and nail that one detail job that will buy that camera, or that wash and wax that will purchase an ink cartridge. Never sit still...always be doing something....anything to work toward your goal.

[guess23959]

This is a great post!!!

To the OP. I haven't read through the rest of this thread yet but will ask...Do you any sort of portfolio put together with photos of your work, services you offer, perhaps a coupon or something? A 3 ring binder full of before and after photos and some information about yourself and your business and what you have to offer can go a long way.

Also work on your rap. That is...practice what it is that you'll say to people to get their attention just for a minute so you can wow them with your portfolio presentation. To sell it you need to know it.

Do you have a digital camera? You may have to buff out Aunt Millie's Cadillac to get the money for some printer ink, photo paper, document protectors and a 3 ring binder, but it seems that right now would be the time to put such a thing together, with all the time you have on your hands being on unenjoyment and all.

Get creative, start screaming from the rooftops!! I AM DETAILER!!!!! but when the people look your way, willing to listen...you can't rely on words alone because talk is cheap and too many people do it...You need to have something that they can see to help them to trust you.

If you only knew how many people I meet that fancy themselves "an auto detailer" and have no rap or anything else to show that they really know anything at all. I just want to tell them to prove it!! I typically just shoo them away like an annoying housefly. I suspect John Q. Public is much too busy to make time for such annoyances as well....that is unless something outstanding catches his eye....

Armchair detailers are a dime a dozen, you need to have something to show potential clients that you're not just a sheep, but the shepard....Or the real deal, or the best darned detailer in the area etc. etc. call it what you will.. There are a million people out there tooting their own horns with nothing tangible to back up their story...You need to figure out how to position yourself ahead of the average guy.

What can I do?.. What can I build that will show them I am the real deal?.. where do I start?... If money is tight, don't sit back looking at the total financial requirement of your project as a whole... (don't be paralyzed by projection, but take baby steps) Instead... get out there and nail that one detail job that will buy that camera, or that wash and wax that will purchase an ink cartridge. Never sit still...always be doing something....anything to work toward your goal.

yes i have a website, business cards, flyers, ads on craigslist, ebay classifieds, and other misc services offered sites, marketing on manta, local community events channel on tv, i get announced during shows and cruises to "go see the black grand prix with the cards in the wiper blade" or they get handed out, in 1yr i think i've done alot plus what customers i've already had. i appreciate your advice and other people's as well, very thoughtful and uplifting.

[tuscarora dave]

yes i have a website, business cards, flyers, ads on craigslist, ebay classifieds, and other misc services offered sites, marketing on manta, local community events channel on tv, i get announced during shows and cruises to "go see the black grand prix with the cards in the wiper blade" or they get handed out, in 1yr i think i've done alot plus what customers i've already had. i appreciate your advice and other people's as well, very thoughtful and uplifting.

Great!! Sounds like you've been very busy chasing what it is that you want to do!!

I can't tell you how many times I see a really cool car (all swirled out) at a gas station somewhere and reach in my back pocket to find that I left my packet of business cards on the end stand at home, or see a person getting into a wheelchair accessible van in a Walmart parking lot, and think to myself....Damn...if I only had one of my wheelchair lift repair fliers with me...

Beyond the car shows and internet surfers...there are potential clients everywhere... I pass up opportunity everyday because of not being properly armed with the the material to sell on the fly at the drop of a hat. I go up and give them my rap anyway... Do you see opportunity everywhere you go? Are you armed with something to reel in a new customer in a gas station parking lot or mall parking lot?

[guess23959]

oh absolutely, vistaprint gave me this little mini-wallet looking thing to keep business cards in but small enough to keep in my actual wallet, i keep it on me at all times. (i did 2 orders at vistaprint so far for business cards alone)