One of the most difficult lessons of the detailing business is that you’re better off turning some jobs away. It’s a skill you learn in the transition from busy to profitable. Here are 3 Memorable examples.
1. Wholesale car Auctions or Dealers
I received a call from the manager of a local auction requesting that we begin reconditioning wholesale cars for them ASAP as they had heard good things about us from a mutual business contact. I met with the manager and from the get go it was obvious we were on a completely different page about pricing and turnaround time. He claimed he had 100 cars a month for us but these cars were in poor condition. He requested our best effort but understood the cars wouldn’t get the treatment that our retail customers received. He told me that whatever I could not “buff out” the “cherry wax’ would fix. ( Read our facts about waxing blog) His budget and expectations did not intersect. Add to that a 30-60 day wait for payment, and this quickly became a big fish i had to tossed back in the sea.
2. “Here’s my budget. Do the best you can.”
These customers always forget to add ” Do the best you can to meet my expectations of 100%”. I had a lady call in and inquire about our services for her badly neglected ford focus. After having a look together at her car and suggesting either a full interior shampoo or full detail due to the amount of time it would require to properly detail the car she assented that she didn’t what to spend more money, and this was merely a treat for her car as she hadn’t cleaned it in 5 years. Looking at our services list she picked our cheapest service and exclaimed I’ll take that one. The service she was requesting included nowhere near the work it would require to even give her interior a proper vacuum and wipe down let alone leaving energy for the car wash. This scenario is a no win situation. You either do a great job and eat the significant extra time and effort free of charge or try and whip through the job within the time constraint of what she is willing to pay and try and make it presentable. I know from experience that never works because despite a customers assurance of do the best you can for x amount of dollars they rarely are and where the #1 source of complaints for me early on at my business when we would try and do what the customer’s wanted. I will usually either offer the correct service and if they dont want it or cant afford it I’ll refer them to the local drive through car wash that will tackle jobs at a volume over quality mantra. and avoid the headaches for myself. Example the 3 1star reviews on yelp. thank you Groupon!! Bottom line 2 Adults rearly agree on the meaning of do the best you can!!
3. NO experience necessary”
I have at times been asked to do jobs that i really didn’t have the experience or training to properly handle. In these cases you might be able to turn out an acceptable result but most likely will spend an unacceptable amount of time for what you are being paid. Worse yet, you can damage your reputation by failing on an overly ambitious project. Customers will respect that you won’t tackle something you aren’t equipped or trained to handle and if the opportunity continues to present itself you can take the time to get training and proper equipment to ensure a satisfactory result. to illustrate this, I recently had to completely wet sand and polish a vehicle that had been improperly sanded by a body shop. The customer was furious and tarnishing the reputation of this place by the awful experience he had with them. Lesson learned is don’t tackle jobs you shouldn’t be doing without proper training and experience.
There is a subtle art to delivering these words, especially in the midst of any critical negotiation with a new or long term client. Be sincere, and remember that this will not be the last opportunity you will receive if your conversation goes will.
