People Who Talked The Part – A Message To Business Owners

These are real statements from people who claimed to be interested in my services from my distant past.

“You will find that I am the easiest person to work with.  I would not let someone tell me how to (run my business or do my job), I would tell you how to detail.  I tried recommending you, some of these guys are so cheap.”  A new customer volunteered all of this information to me.  Guess how our future interactions went?  I experienced a lot of dissent with my suggestions, haggling over prices, doing the opposite of my instructions.  Our business relationship included numerous inquiries and a occasional booking, that led to a last-minute announcement of a loss of interest in my services.  This was a somewhat successful business owner.

I remember stopping what I was doing, frantically driving to someone’s home for an emergency detail, to find this person changing his mind once I arrived.  “Thank you!  I will definitely use you in the future.”  Never heard from this person again.

There is also the wealthy business owner who complained about not finding a replacement for his previous detailing service provider.  I had made a real effort to set expectations and inform him about pricing transparency.  He said he did not really (thoroughly) read.  Proclaimed he could not afford it, but ‘we’ll see.”  Although he sub-communicated on the phone his concern about finding detailers who provide low quality (lack of attention to detail) services, he told me about his one reliable person.  “I had a guy who would do all of this for $100 to $125, but he stopped showing up.”  Both husband and wife were hostile with their body language, but what was most telling was how his wife treated me.  Beforehand she offered me Gatorade.  After he came home.  His wife stared at me with disdain.  It was one of the most uncomfortable experiences I have ever had.

By the way, my prices are significantly more now, then they were at the time of these stories.  These are all people who lived in better neighborhoods than I lived in.  They drove much nicer cars than I could afford.  The most recent example, were likely a top 2% percent wage earner in the town.

I tell these stories because many of you have or will experience similar challenges.  You operate in environments which have people who think and act like the individuals that I described.  Some of the changes I made in my business minimized my involvement with these individuals.  To ‘keep showing up’, stay firm in regards to your rules and boundaries.