{"id":38451,"date":"2024-04-23T00:00:35","date_gmt":"2024-04-23T04:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/?p=38451"},"modified":"2024-03-25T12:20:48","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T16:20:48","slug":"owning-a-high-end-detailing-business-part-2-what-does-being-an-expert-professional-detailer-mean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/owning-a-high-end-detailing-business-part-2-what-does-being-an-expert-professional-detailer-mean\/","title":{"rendered":"Owning A High-End Detailing Business Part 2: What Does Being An Expert Professional Detailer Mean"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What do I do for a living? I clean and cosmetically repair, and protect expensive delicate surfaces not designed for aggressive chemicals.\u00a0 Due to marketing of wash services and miracle detailing products, customers and professionals have unrealistic expectations for how long this service may take, the cost of goods to provide this service, and the thoughtful skills required for good results.\u00a0 These vehicle surfaces are often razor thin and uniquely respond to different cleaners.\u00a0 When I apply protective products, you cannot see them.\u00a0 I am in an industry where many owners of detailing supplies will sign off on protection and durability claims based on ambiguous and often false information.\u00a0 I am competing against people who do not get the consequences of this and customers who do not understand or are so jaded by misleading information that they have formed prejudices against me and generalizations about the detailing industry.\u00a0 In addition to the service I provide, I operate a business that is commonly overlooked by all parties as a business that occupies a significant amount of my time and energy.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-29353\" src=\"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/20190830_095227-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Brush-Interior-Cleaning\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/20190830_095227-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/20190830_095227-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/20190830_095227-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/20190830_095227-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/20190830_095227-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Yes, I am the owner of an auto detailing business and professional detailer.\u00a0 You can gain so much of an advantage over your competitors by just being an expert and doing all of the things that communicate professionalism.\u00a0 As so many people believe this to be unskilled labor performed by people who they believe work for them (aka not a real business) until things go wrong.\u00a0 It is also important to have processes which you protect yourself as well.\u00a0 That is also part of being the professional business owner.<\/p>\n<p>If you are someone looking to get into the detailing trade, meaning running a serious business, read carefully.\u00a0 There is something very ominous about the low barrier to entry world of a detailing business, that few people talk about.\u00a0 There is no real vetting for people getting into the detailing industry.\u00a0 When I started, I read through the forums and write ups of high-end detailers&#8217; processes.\u00a0 I read the instructions (imagine that).\u00a0 Spoke with brand representatives and chemists.\u00a0 I have gone to several trainings (paid and not paid).<\/p>\n<p>People pay me for peace of mind not just the 50\/50 shot, which is also great.<\/p>\n<p>An example of working with someone for the first time.\u00a0 Customer says, &#8220;I was on the phone with a few other businesses, they seemed like fly by night.\u00a0 So, it should be about.&#8221;\u00a0 More.\u00a0 &#8220;Someone said like $200 less and it looked great, but you sound like you know what you are doing.&#8221;\u00a0 How much energy do you invest in learning the why a product works a certain way?\u00a0 Why don&#8217;t you?\u00a0 You are supposed to be professional, the expert.\u00a0 You want customers to show you that level of respect, what have you done to earn that?\u00a0 Your 50\/50 shot does not make you a professional or an expert at what you do.\u00a0 I booked a detail multiple times because I told future clients what I could NOT or may NOT be able to do something.\u00a0 And I gave a detailed explanation as to why.<\/p>\n<p>Client asked me, &#8220;what kind of products do you use?&#8221;\u00a0 10 seconds into my natural conversation, &#8220;oh ok, I just wanted to make sure you were using professional products.&#8221;\u00a0 A lot of your future clients no it does not take much for someone to call his or herself a detailer.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-26221\" src=\"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/20180805_135706-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Polished-Black-Car\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/20180805_135706-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/20180805_135706-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/20180805_135706-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Owning A High-End Detailing Business Part 2: What Does Being An Expert Professional Detailer Mean<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":42414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1412],"tags":[2812],"class_list":{"0":"post-38451","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-running-a-detailing-business","8":"tag-running-a-business"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Owning-A-High-End-Detailing-Business-Part-2.jpeg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1kPO7-a0b","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38451"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42412,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38451\/revisions\/42412"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.detailedimage.com\/Ask-a-Pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}