“You sound like this really isn’t worth it.” A conversation with a potential client (at the time) who reached out to me excited about ceramic coatings.
To be honest I am not the best at selling ceramic coatings, at least not to people who are really not that interested in that kind of protection. I will not say that it is an insult or compliment, for obvious reasons. As a person who has a responsibility to put his or her best foot forward, I am constantly looking to improve in my sales process ETHICALLY. But my struggle is in part intentional due to my focus of managing expectations. Especially during these times I am very sensitive to overselling or letting someone oversell themself on coatings. I also have a list of clients who have booked multiple cars and been highly recommended in the past several years. They are happy to share that YEARS later the service still exceeds their expectations.
Let us rewind the clock back 20 years.
What if I told you this 6-month sealant would not (before social media) prevent scratches or may not last the full six months on the car that you are going to put 10,000 miles into. You were told it will last at least a year by someone eager to sell this to you. That is fine? Now, let us go back 5 to 10 years. People wanting to make a protection product look good (marketable) as possible for the coating supplier, emphasizing polishing the paint to perfection. After a few months you got that bad taste. Numerous people have said, “forget this! I am going back to waxing!” Buyers remorse did not happen because everything idealized was not received, it happened because of the level of investment.
The Snake Oil Question Is Really A Question Of Is Ceramic Coating DETAILING For You
Did you falsely assume ease of cleaning as little to know washing, or even just rinsing the car off? Or did you appreciate, as someone who enjoyed already washing his or her car, that less dirt stuck and accumulated on the surface of your car?
Did you falsely take scratch resistance as a crutch or an excuse to treat your car nearly the same way, to act surprised the swirls and scratches came back? Or did you appreciate that a less porous surface with dirt that does not stick, many a surface that is easier to wash safely?
Before ceramic coatings were common, were you someone who got their car detailed once and looking for ceramic coatings to unrealistically solve all problems? Or were you someone who got their car (paid real money) detailed every six months, and actually washed the car in between?
How someone answers those questions can easily determine if he or she falls under the category of ‘coatings are great’ or ‘coatings are a scam.’ In general, but particularly in detailing, a source of consistent consumer dissatisfaction is a byproduct of not holding customers accountable. I had multiple clients tell me they were sold by my willingness to not tell them what they wanted to hear.
From paint sealants that were popular 10 years ago to coatings today, it is often about perspective! In spite of that, through all generations the most underappreciated part of the detailing experience is the ACTUAL LACK OF APPRECIATION FOR THE DETAILING EXPERIENCE. The effort to and quality of a detailing process always makes what you use in the end better.
What is real? Is it worth it? The truth is coatings and more importantly authentic (i.e high-end) detailing is often NOT for a majority of people. As a business owner in a niche industry, I would love to say otherwise. The issue is most people only care about detailing because they were told something exaggerated or even false about a coating that marginalized what detailing really is. People who are genuinely interested in detailing, often love coatings.
Quite a few people are proud to say that the wax they put on their car once a year, that did not last a month, is evidence that ceramic coatings are a scam. What this person is really communicating is the cost differential may not be worth it for him or her. But to dig deeper, it is the detailing coupled with reasonable maintenance washing that this person was never interested in. He or she may have once been disappointed, looking for validation for a ‘magic pill’, while marginalizing the importance of the detailing process. I have seen many complaints and 1-Star reviews of other businesses over water-spots, which upon investigating I can tell the customers were properly instructed but willfully negligent. I am not the biggest fan of warranties and some of the claims made by companies. But from my experience in the industry, I have a good idea when many of the consumers who complain about water-spots, never read the multiple warnings about water-spots along with the tutorials on how to address them. It is easier to blame the bottle and detailing business for the consequences of parking by a sprinkler and expecting there would be no issue whatsoever. There is no product that will keep the surface from water spotting after baking in the sun and washing your car three to four times a year. There is also no product safe from a tunnel wash. Paint Protection Film provides real protection from swirls, but the film can be damaged in other ways. Rock chip protection is a lie. Even with Paint Protection Film, it is not bulletproof. I can limit the accumulation of swirls and water-spots with or without a ceramic coating. From experience with and without a coating on my car, I would take the coating. It gives me more time, less frequency of issues, and more options when bird droppings, bugs, and water deposits are on the car longer than they perhaps should be without totally detailing the car. This is not an issue with the product, but an issue with the end user’s lack of interest in detailing. THEY WERE PULLED INTO THIS WORLD FOR THE WRONG REASON, BECAUSE OF A PRODUCT NOT THE SERVICE.
Don’t define whether an experience is worth it to you by people who are unwilling to budget for such services or do not care about their car like you do.