Just bought a Car Detailing business

M

mperozzo

Pays attention to detail.
Without much knowledge in the industry, I recently purchased a fully-functioning car detailing business in Centralia, WA on Sept. 1, 2005.

The previous owner had hired and trained me for 1 month. The business has been around for 10 years and peaked about 2 years ago with 2 cars/day.
Since then they owner has gotten another job and plans to go on the mission field (this is why the business was for sale).

Dedicating less time to the business, she began scheduling only 2-3 cars per week. I've owned the business for 2 weeks and have not seen an increase from 2-3 cars per week despite creating and handing out 100's of business cards and submitting the business to every business listing I can find.

Just last week the only other detail shop in the "Twin Cities" of Centralia and Chehalis went out of business. The owner sited family problems and a new restaurant ownership opportunity an hour away.

I feel like the time is NOW to promote this business FULL TILT and monopolize the Car Detailing industry in my area. I've already hired another employee
and am ready to detail 2 - 3 cars per DAY!

How can I expand? I need some practical ideas. Are there companies that you have worked with to detail fleets? What marketing tools and strategies have actually worked?

In a "Twin City" community of over 50,000 drivers, how many cars should I expect per week?

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
michael
 
I'm not an expert, but I know the recent fear and trepidation of starting up (Aug 8 start date).
Where I live works word of mouth, but I've gotten the most number of first calls from my ad on my Jimmy, a sandwich board, and the website they point to. I just did a $1000 direct mail promotion, lands this week, so we'll see about that. I was able to take the price down $400 by detailing the promo guys two cars.
About 80% of my work is on account, wholesalers. Since I specialize in exterior, this is mostly car lots. But any fleet operator is good: police, government, taxis, car lots, contractors, etc. They get 10-15% off, but I hope will give business in the winter months when others are less likely to.
Just ideas.
 
I would go and talk to the local car dealerships in your area...The tradein's can be a source of income....They are not the higest price margins but you get a good volume, at least that what is working for the local detail shops here in NO CA.....DO you still have contact with the owner of the shop that closed...what happened to his customer base?
 
See if you can put a sign on the out-of-business's lot pointing customers to you. That way they won't have to "search" for a replacement.
"Signs" on company vehicles seem to catch my eye more if they don't look like a travelling billboard. Just the name and phone# (or web site) seem to be more appealing to me. Makes me think it's an independent, privately owned company.
 
Word of mouth is your best advertising. A list of previous clients would help because you could call them and let them know of the ownership change. I've got some business tips on OCDetails.com that might help give you some ideas on how to grow. I think a couple cars a day is extremely doable. I was doing a couple cars a day as a part time detailer without any real skills.

Handing out business cards and flyers usually results in a very low rate of return. It is not the most effective means of advertising. More effective than all the banners and commercials in the world is one satisfied customer telling another person about you. Give customers your business cards and have them do your advertising for you. That is much more effective.
 
Flexin said:
Do you have a list of past customers? If so I would start contacting them.

James
Click to expand...

Yes, I do have every reciept copy of all past customers. The previous owner is also still with me. I've hired her to train me and my other employee. What
do I want to communicate to past customers? My first thought was that they
might be skeptical of new ownership, thinking, "There was nothing wrong
with the old ownership, why the change?"

Any more thoughts?
 
If the old owner has been hired by you then I would ask her to call the loyal customers who will question the change to explain things to them. It would sound better coming from her. If that option is available to you then you should use it.

Don't expect your business to just pick up where the old one left off. If you are just learning the business then you should expect a learning curve of sorts. I don't know anybody who isn't better at what they do now than they were 5 years ago. I'm in my 8th year in this business and I'm still painfully aware of how much I don't know. Learn what you can while you can from the previous owner and then look for other training opportunities to teach you more. If this is going to be your bread and butter then you can't ever learn too much about your trade.
 
Join your local Chamber of Commerce and network like there's no tomorrow. It sounds like the pervious owner let the business go and in doing so may have chased business away . That being so I would do everything I could to make changes and let it be known that new owners are ready to serve past customers as well as new ones . Perhaps a name change , some sprucing up of the shop. Also you should think about taking some follow up detailing training , there's plenty of 1 day and multi day classes that can help you . Check with your chemical supplier's to see if they offer any type of training . Good luck
Regards
Jerry
 
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