Detailers – An Example Of Humble Beginnings And A Sobering Reality

I cannot speak on the level of genuine intent or motivation of all people who have influence in the auto detailing industry, obviously.  Even when someone is sincere in their concern about someone charging at a rate that will allow for business growth and a higher quality of life, there is often push back.  There is a ‘easy for you to say’ attitude, or assumption we never started at the bottom.  Detailing is one of the main industries where there is significant push back within and outside (consumers) about charging a certain ($$$$) amount.  For many of us, it is just about bringing an awareness of the importance of treating your operation like a business (return for the pain of being the boss).

We often tell ourselves this irrational fairy tale that our low priced but high effort work will organically expand our business.  The reality is there is a certain dollar amount that we often get to that a certain consumer group will never have a genuine interest in the business we aspire to grow.  Honestly a higher concentration of that low buying demographic will be predatory in how they treat you.  But an even greater percentage will be loyal only to that price over you/business.  When you have no choice but to raise your prices even marginally, you will lose those people.

There is a cold realization that comes with changing prices at some point.  Many of my old clients have provided value to my business, which I am grateful for.  Many have said nice things on social media about me and left reviews.  But many of those customers will likely never be able to afford or be willing to pay the prices for my services currently.  This became a reality years prior, even before inflation really affected cost.  This is something for you to think about.   New detailers frequently hold on to this cheap customer loyalty fairy tale, when they convince themselves to build a business on a low price and subsequent customer base.  This is not even one of the contextual points many of the veteran detailing owners make when we suggest raising prices.

$500 was the cut off for this client many years ago.  Not mentioned was my attempt at cleaning up the engine bay.  This car was totally neglected from a detailer’s perspective.  This is a common story for consumers who likely are not and never will spend much on a detail.  In fact, a detail will often be treated like a once in a lifetime experience.  Many of these people genuinely are appreciative clients, who spoke very highly of mine and other detailers’ efforts.

With respect to content creation, this car was also another step in legitimizing myself in my area and beyond.

Source:YouTube