Anyone in business knows that it is experience that makes the difference between success and failure. And the ability to change your thoughts, ways of doing things, and business set-up is the most fundamental needs for success in any business.
In your detail business you are paid for two things-what you know and what you do. The ability to sell your detail services comes from what you know. In detailing there should be an emphasis placed on diagnostic selling; that is, trouble shooting the vehicles cosmetic needs. It is considered good business to charge for one's ability to trouble shoot a vehicle's needs.
One of the largest problems in the detail industry is that detail business owners do not sell by diagnosing the needs of the car. It is easier to simply charge one flat rate for a detail. Detailers are hesitant to tell a customer that the needs of the vehicle will cost $200 to $300, for fear of loosing the sale. They prefer to say it's just/only $150 for a full detail. Why, after so many years of complaining about low prices are detailers afraid to charge customers for their detail work? Could it be that they do not have confidence in their ability to accurately diagnose the vehicle's needs?
Personally, I see this all too often. Whenever you have a problem customer it is because the real problems with the vehicle were not presented at the onset. It is easier to cop-out and say, well, I sold the customer what they wanted.
The surest way to raise your reputation in the detail industry in your area is to charge for your knowledge. If you do not place a high value on yourself, rest assured no one else will either.
The auto detail industry has labor rates that are lower than any other auto service business. Car washes pay higher wages than most detail operators. The detail industry also suffers from a lack of qualified technicians, and the reason you cannot find qualified technicians is because owners do not charge rates that are sufficient to attract good people.
You Get What You Pay For
Low prices mean low wages. If the detail industry does not raise its prices it will continue to be unable to find competent personnel. Auto dealers do not help this problem when they refuse to pay more than $75 to $100 for a complete detail.
Unfortunately when you ask the auto dealers to pay a higher price for detailing (still lower than the consumer prices), they often refuse. They refuse for a number of reasons; your price is higher than the average rate in the market; they can't afford it; they can get the work done cheaper by another shop.
As long as there are dealers with attitudes like this and as long as there are detail business owners who are not willing to charge the dealer for "what they know," the industry will continue to have a pricing problem and a shortage of good personnel. In fact, if this keeps up at its current pace, this problem could reach crisis proportions within the next 10 years.
If you give your customers everything they desire then you have earned the right to charge them for the detail work you do. You could have a labor rate of $75 per hour, which would be higher than the average in this industry. But if you give the customers what they want you will get and keep the best and most loyal customers.
Writing the Detail Service Ticket
The customer's first contact with your detail business is critical. You must ensure that the customer's impression of your business reflects the kind and character of your detail service.
The shop or van/trailer must be well equipped, attractive and clean. If in a fixed location, it should be located for easy access to the customer as they drive by or into the lot.
Tasks x Volume = Staffing Required
Today's consumers require a lot more attention than consumers did in the '70s. So you need to staff your detail business with enough people to meet the consumer's demands. The formula is simple, detail jobs x hours = staff requirements.
We conduct a lot of training classes every year. In the sessions, we have the detailers tell us the amount of time required to perform all the different detail jobs to establish the time.
When you work with a customer there is a proper way to write up the service order. When you write up a customer order certain tasks must be performed. (See Side Bar)
When we conduct time studies with our clients, we show how you can easily spend 15 to 20 minutes writing up one customer properly. I would suggest to you that 15 minutes is the minimum time. If you get a problem customer or a problem vehicle it may require more time.
If you take an eight-hour day and divide this by the number of customers you take in, say 15, this gives you up to 32 minutes per customer. That is more than enough time to diagnose any vehicle, answer the customer's questions, and not be rushed. But if you are also detailing, how much time will you have to spend with each customer? Not much!
Another thing that suffers is quality control. Instead of doing it themselves, most detailers just wait and let the customer do it for them. You can also drop the pickup and delivery service. In my opinion, these are some of the reasons that detailers loose potential sales and customers. They have no time to take care of them and not enough good people to help, because prices are too low.
As long as you focus on expense control instead of focusing on how you can better satisfy your customer wants and needs, you will continue loosing sales and customers. This control of expenses at all costs is costing you thousands of dollars in lost sales every year.
