Just because you guys on DB are some of the nicest guys I ever met, here's my advertising idea for the summer. It's extremely easy and you barely need to do anything. Just tell everyone that for every job they get you, you will give them a percentage of the profit. Mine's at 10% and it's doing awesome. So for instance, say they get you a $300 job, just fork over $15(5%) or $30(10%) to the person who gave the referral for getting you the job. All they have to do is tell someone who needs a detail to contact you, and all you have to do is give them a small amount of money for getting you a job. It will contact more people than you ever could, since maybe one random friend of yours has an Uncle with a nice Ferrari or something. Anyway, you can use it or not, just wanted to share. If you guys have any good ideas, post em' up! :mounty:
Nice idea for sure. I was thinking about doing something where every referral they get, they get a free wash (no wax, interior, yada yada).
That is a great idea, I have been offering 10% off coupons and free follow up washes for detailing jobs. I was also thinking about referral bonuses as well, but my profit margins are a little slim because of my goal to undercut any competitor. If I were to do the referral rewards, it would be limited to a certain number of referrals max per person. Also, I am going to send out a fresh wave of coupons but they are date restricted i.e. expires by xx/xx/xx to try and spur new demand within a defined timeline (my summer job, no point in these offers if people choose to use them when I go back to college).
Yea I figure money would be more tempting and appeal to a lot more people. On a $300 job I estimate I use about $50 worth of product, so making 220 instead of 250 isn't that big of a deal. I would rather have the work since times are a little slow but picking up a little. Also, if they repeat next year or a couple months later, then it's 100% profit :thumb: Maybe give them an option, 5% or a free car wash. BTW those Surf City reviews are nice ha, I'm picking up a lot more of their line whenever I'm in a pinch and can't order.
Im selling towels with my flyer in it, make a few bucks doing that and giving the customer % off when they buy the towels, win and win for me.
I personally think giving money for referrals is a very bad idea. I ONLY give referrals to businesses that I know will take good care of my customers. Putting a monetary value on a referral makes you or others give referrals to the ones who pay you, not the ones who will do the work the best. In the end, your customer's satisfaction is the reason for giving a referral, and truly the only thing that really matters. John
I have to agree with the above as well. IMO if someone really cares about the work you do they will refer you at some point or another, and they wont expect anything in return except consistent good work. My best customers (the ones who refer me more than any others) never look for anything in return, I just make sure I go the extra mile on their cars when I do them and of course cut them a little break on price simply because of their loyalty. To be honest the guys who are looking or are quick to take referral cash are absolutely going to get sloppy and just give your name to any and everyone. What we do is based on targeting a somewhat niche market (those who care about serious car care). I feel if you did the whole referral thing you would absolutely get a bunch of bullshit calls and people complaining your prices are too high simply because they dont understand nor appreciate the work being done. After a few customers spread my name around last summer I got maybe 20 emails from friends and co-workers of theirs, most of which clearly were NOT car people. ...I sent back 20 rejections due to price and time issues with details Getting your name out is great, in the beggining its super imporant but for me its getting you name out to the right people that I would be concerned with. I always said I'd rather have 50 loyal top paying customers than 200 bs type customers, or the 1 and dones I call them. Just my 2...
WOW, how are you using $50 worth of product?? I also agree with Dave and Jon, My customers refer me due to the level of service I provide and not for any other reason.. I tell prospects right off the bat that my services are not for everybody...
If you guys are questioning my work I'll post some up... I'm still in the beginning stages of my business and I'm finding it pretty hard to attract new customers, so I'm trying what I can. To clarify, I am telling friends to give my name to car enthusiasts and such and they will be rewarded. I don't mind denying a couple people here and there as long as I get a decent amount of work from it. I'm going to try it, and whether or not it works effectively or if I just get a bunch of BS, I'll post the results in the thread. BTW I'm all ears for ideas for attracting new customers. I don't believe I have enough customers to effectively pass the word of mouth, and I feel it would be in my best interest to attract new customers anyway I can. After I establish an effective customer base, I'll use word of mouth as the primary way to advertise my work.
Good shit. Do you like the stuff you've tried so far? I've yet to test their LSP's but from what I've heard I might be let down, but the stuff I've tried is pretty good.
I agree basically with both sides of the argument to a degree. After a while I think it should be based on the quality of your work, but there's no reason in the beginning stages, especially if you are trying to make money, to add a little incentive to your customers. After a period of time, or whenever your client base builds up, I would ditch the incentives but for now it's not a bad idea.
Selling Towels :shead: I agree 1000% While your idea sounds very noble(I actually tried it myself when I first started)the clientle your trying to attrac isn't intrested in a $15-$30 finders fee What you might do is when you have delievered there vehicle and your sure they are happy with your work is to ask them if they know anyone else who may be intrested in your service. And if so, to "Please" spread your name around to there family/friends :loud: You might offer them a free wash or something, but I beleive you will find they will decline the offer :hmph:
Thanks man, that's exactly what I meant. As far as the Surf City stuff, I'm not picking up any of their LSP's unless there are rave reviews. All their other stuff is top notch though. I forgot to text you later but that day I told you I tried it on a mostly clean wheel, 2 more people showed up right after I finished the first one, and the one Range Rover had some bad brake dust that the Beyond Steel took care of very well. It got everything out except the real dug in and burnt specs. I was comparing it to soap and water on the one side, and Beyond Steel on the other. The soap and water failed to remove a good amount and the extra broke up once agitated. I believe it is slightly mild, but still cleans very effectively. It sounds like you think I'm offering this to my clients... which I mean I am (or a percentage off the next detail or wash). However, the main target is my non-customers, friends with beaters that can't afford or don't want details. For instance, I know my friend's Dad has a nice Mustang he's about to sell to buy a new Z06, and offering him say $30 can make it go from: "Hey Dad, my friend has a detailing business." or "I forgot" to "Hey Dad, my friend does detailing, here's a write-up of a ____ he did, maybe you'd be interested?" and "Hey, Dad, I know you think your new Corvette is going to be brand new, but here's another brand new car that my friend just worked on that had some damage from the factory/dealer." This is what I mean by the incentive, not for people to go randomly asking for details to make money, sorry if I didn't explain it clearly enough. It's alright ha, no worries :thumb: I do see your point though, and will drop the incentive as soon as I get a better customer base.
i know this is a very old thread but there is some good info in here. When the market is down and people are slow since a lot of people don't want to justify spending the $$ to get their car detailed it's hard to find new and creative ways to attract customers to keep busy. Any new information anyone wants to post up regarding this matter? Funny thing is i was just searching for some threads on Corvettes and some how got lost in this thread LoL.
It definitely worked for me, got me a couple of jobs this summer. When my friend's ask about my detailing business or how it's doing, I'll usually have a write-up or some pictures saved on my phone and show them my most recent work, usually some of the best before and afters. After that I'll tell them about the deal when they say hey, my Dad is getting a new 911 turbo next week, then I tell them I'll give them a small cut and send a link of my work to their facebook. They go home, give the person the business card and show them my work and then the client can make an educated decision. Instead of "I forgot", I'll get "Hey, I showed my Dad your work but he doesn't think the car needs it yet". It may not be for everyone, but it worked for me. BTW Vtec, what info are you looking for on Corvette's? I'm working on a 2003 Corvette right now lol.
good deal man. i may try that out. any info you got. ill be tackling a black 08 c6 in about a hour how's the paint or clear coat rather? its black which sucks but that's ok lol.
Everyone has made some strong and valid points. Me and my partners use free washes as a reward for a referral that leads to a detail. And we always give our customers a few business cards when they pick up the car to hand out to friends. We don't mind doing the non-enthusiast details. They are simple and we work with the customers budget (ex: wash, clay, 1-step polish-wax, lsp, quick interior wipe down). We also educate the customer too, in hopes their appreciation for detailing/cars grows, which then leads to return business which puts more money in our pockets. For example, we talk to the customer and find out what they use the car for, daily driving or weekend fun car, work vehicle etc. And we tailor the detail to suit the situation. For a daily driver, we don't recommend a full correction, as its tough to maintain properly and most people don't have the patience. We instead recommend a basic detail that will bring the paint back to life and restore the smoothness, depth, and gloss. These type of customers are more common, people like us that frequent these type of boards are a special group and with competition so thick its hard to find customers that appreciate and understand what goes into a high-end detail. and for a customer that brings us a collector car, or an exotic, we won't take the job unless we have free range to do what is needed to bring it to nothing less that 100%. So bring a blank check in a sense...lol The easy budget details keep a nice flow of cash coming through, this is very helpful when you are starting out. The high-end details are few and far in between when first starting out. If you want to detail only exotics, you're going to have to develop that part of the business. you can't rely on just one market either. Also the more work you have, the more time you have to perfect your skills or develop your techniques and discover nifty tricks to help solve issues that arise during a detail. Also we've developed packages for those selling or trading in their cars, to make it look as good as possible to squeeze every last penny they can out of the car. We've developed our client base to reach not only the general public, and exotic car guys, but also the tuner-segment of the car market. These guys spend so much money under the hood, yet use OTC stuff on such well built machines. Why not match all that "go" with an equal level of "show". also working out contracts with dealers, and other automotive businesses are other money making markets. and lastly retail, distributing product is a great way to earn some money also, and its not back breaking like detailing can be...lol
Hard as a rock. You'll need wool to hit the deeper scratches, even the DD yellow/powergloss doesn't cut enough to start affecting the deeper scratches. My current combo is Tuf-Buf Black Wool/Powergloss and then I'm thinking Green/Powerfinish. Good luck lol. And great info Dangler :mounty:
