Scottish detailing day

[JJ_]

Hey guys!

I know some of you on this site have attended detailing days and since you have a section dedicated to Mikes hard work I thought I'd ask here.

Im planning a detailing day and I just wanted to ask some questions.

1. Would you be willing to pay if you were not using your own supplies. The money would also cover some burgers and drinks etc?

2. What would you like to learn from a detailing day?

3. Would you like a chance to learn hands on or be in a slightly larger class where you may not get 1 to 1 attention but will be able to try out techniques?

4. How long would you like a class to last?

5. What do you find are the most problematic areas?

If you guys can think of anything else then fire away.

[Mike Phillips]

Hi JJ_

Here's my thoughts and answers to your questions,

1. Would you be willing to pay if you were not using your own supplies. The money would also cover some burgers and drinks etc?

If I knew I would be getting quality information from qualified/experienced instructor, I would be willing to pay up to a couple of hundred dollars for a one day class. 15 years ago I use to offer one-on-on detailing lessons to teach guys how to polish paint for a charge of $150.00 After working one day with a person they would have the skills and knowledge to offer their customers professional quality paint polishing, (A multiple step process for a show car finish), and charge at least $150.00 and up for the service. So the investment for quality instruction doesn't cost a person money... it makes them money.

Plus, learning how to do something right the first time does two things,

A) It prevents a person from making a mistake. (This could cost them money)

B) It saves them time in that they get the results they wanted the first time so they don't have to do a thing a second time.

Dad always taught me if a job is worth doing, it's worth doing right the first time.

2. What would you like to learn from a detailing day?

If I were a Newbie or even experienced, I would want to learn the following,

A) How to use my hands to apply and remove products and get good results. God gave most of us two hands, it's important to know how to use what you already have before moving on to machines.

This would include learning all the basics as well,

* How to clay
* How to apply and remove a paint cleaner
* How to apply nd remove a polish
* How to apply and remove a wax
* How to apply and remove things like spray waxes

Each of the above procedures require knowledge and skill. Knowledge to understand why you do something in a certain way and the skill to do the procedure.

B) How to use a dual action polisher. After learning how to use my hands, I would want to move on to machine cleaning, polishing and waxing. The tool of choice in this present day is the dual action polisher. It takes all the work out of the job, it produces better results than a person can achieve by hand, (in most cases for most people), it's faster.




C) If there was time, then how to use a rotary buffer, as well as the usual suspects... interior, wheel & tire and engine detailing. I I find that most people want to learn how to make paint look it's best and learning all of the above in one day is a lot to learn and master in one session.

3. Would you like a chance to learn hands on or be in a slightly larger class where you may not get 1 to 1 attention but will be able to try out techniques?

A combination of both would be my preference. Most people I have met in the last 17 years of teaching people how to polish paint want to start right out in the garage working on paint. Most people don't know there is a lot of head knowledge to learn first. They need the head knowledge first, then the hands-on practical application of the head knowledge will make more sense and ingrain in their brain.

I can't tell you how many times I've either heard the comment, ore read the comment on our feedback forms we pass out after the class that goes like this...

"I learned today I've been doing it wrong for years"

I'll have guys that are in their 60's say something similar to the above comment. The point being is there are a lot of ways to do things wrong and still have the paint look shiny when you're done. But that don't make it right. Using the proper technique, with the correct product will almost always yield the best results with the least amount of work.

4. How long would you like a class to last?

Our current class starts at approximately 8:30am and go to about 3:00pm. I often stay until the last man standing. Coffee and donuts are served starting at 8:00am to 8:30 because you need a window of time for people to arrive, park their car and stretch their legs. (Some of our attendees drive in from hundreds of miles).



Also this isn't just about learning, it's very much about having fun. I point this out in all of my classes. You see, in the big picture this is a Car Thing", people coming to the class might be into Motorcycles, Boats, Planes, Trainees, Truck or Cars, but generally speaking its' a car thing, making whatever it is you're into look shiny, look better... look good.


Most car guys, and car gals have done the hard part, by this I mean, overhauled the engine, replaced the tranny, rebuilt the brakes, etc. in other words, the dirty work. There's usually no glory or fun involved in these tasks, they're just the necessary component of fixing up a car and getting it back on the road. But after the hard part is all done it's time to make the car look good, that's where Meguiar's comes into scheme of things.

After all the hard work is done, the car is roadworthy and it has been painted, now it's time to have fun, and by this I mean doing the normal car care things we do to make the paint look it's best, this includes the things outlined in the Meguiar's 5-Step Paint Care Cycle . (for the most part).

Washing and waxing your pride and joy is the fun part! And this is why my job is so fun, I get to help people do a better job of having fun.

The point being, after getting out of be early, driving to the class, wherever it's held, whether that's in Irvine, CA or some location in Scotland, people need to park their cars, get out and stretch their legs, perhaps have a cup of coffee and then while waiting for the class to start they can have some fun talking shop with their car buddies.

In the case of the forum it would be the fun of finally putting a face to an Avatar like we did here,

SoCal Welcome for Paul on November 20th!

Going to a detailing class should be fun. It needs to be fun. If you go to a Meguiar's detailing class, I promise it will be fun.

Because these classes are about 7 hours long, it's a situation where you have to provide a lunch with cold drinks because your audience is going to get hungry. How to pay for this is going to be a case-by-case situation for anyone conducting classes. I'm fortunate here at Meguiar's because Barry and upper management understands how important providing education is for our company. I order 3 Pizzas for most classes and the price tag for this is around $130.00 Cold refreshments runs about $22.00 and donuts and coffee about $20.00 That's $170.00+ for each class.





But when you get results like this,

I did it all by myself! I love Scratch-X.

And you multiply that by the number of people that attend a class, and then factor in how many people they're going to help by showing them skills they learned, and passing on information they learned by attending a one-day class, then it's easy to see the impact is powerful and enduring.

Just to note also on this topic. The classes we teach are educational in motive. People that attend our classes can take many of the skills we teach, and the knowledge we impart and use it with any companies products, not just Meguiar's. Education is the primary focus at Meguiar's. At the end of the class we do enable our attendees to make purchases of the products they have learned about at this class, but there is never any pressure as it's a convenience we offer them while they're there and they have someone knowledgeable to ask questions about the products they want order. It's completely up to the person whether or not they want to purchase anything and it's always the last thing of the day.


One more note... I know a lot of people that attend our classes have not rebuilt their car, or any car, but instead have purchased a new car or a car that someone else has restored so they haven't done all the hard dirty work typical of a lot of people in the car hobby. That said, they still are at these classes for the fun part. That is learning how to wash and wax and clean and polish their pride and joy.

5. What do you find are the most problematic areas?

If you guys can think of anything else then fire away.

A couple of comments here...

Most people struggle with removing defects out of their car's finish either by hand or machine.

Most people have wrong information about what paint cleaners and other products designed to remove defects out of paint are, how they work and how to apply them.

Most people don't understand the role of a pure polish

Most people are confused by car waxes and/or the waxing or protecting steps. People coming from the Real World just don't know that much about car waxes in general and how to choose and use the right wax for their applications. People coming from the Cyber World are confused because of all the different "Opinions" shared on the topic of waxes, or paint protectants, for example the idea of layering 70, 90, and even 100's of layers of wax onto an automotive finish.

Besides the above, people struggle with removing a scratch out of all kinds of thing, such as glass, chrome, pebble textured plastic, clear plastics, stainless steel, etc. This caused me to write this little article to try to simplify it.

What it Means to Remove a Scratch

The above topic comes up at every class I've ever taught. Here's some common things that I see all the time,

* People struggle with fixing rock chips
* People struggle with cleaning complex/ornate wheels
* People struggle with cleaning dirty leather
* People struggle with how to apply interior care products
* Some people struggle with tire dressings
* People struggle with cleaning glass without streaking
* People struggle with cleaning glass that needs more than a spray-on cleaner

* Newbies struggle with Clay, Paint Cleaners and Cleaner/Waxes, trying to mostly figure out which ones they have to use, if they have to use all of them and then the order in which to use the ones they've decided to use.

Other issues when it comes to teaching a class is keeping the class fun, lively, interactive fast-paced but without leaving people behind, on-track, and trouble-free.

In the garage, talking between small groups is always an issue and the larger the group, the more likely there will be small groups talking. This tends to interrupt the other people in the garage.

Chitter-Chatter among small groups never bothers me as I'm used to it and if I choose so, I can talk over them. The real problem is it distracts those that are trying to listen and learn and for this reason I'll stop the class and let the people talking have their conversation while the rest of usu watch and listen to them. Usually doing this once will fix the problem as it is usually isolated to one or two people in any single class.

**LIVE** hands on demonstration on attendees cars is fraught with potential risk, if you decide to make this a part of your class you need to choose your demonstration cars carefully.

**Demonstrating** in front of large groups of people is very powerful as long as your demonstration is successful. By this I mean that the before and after has to have impact. People have to see a dramatic difference. Two things take place in a demonstration,

1) You teach technique - Vitally important
2) You show results from your technique and products

If you blow the second one, the first one becomes useless.

Performing a live demonstration in front of 2 people is very different from performing a live demonstration in front of 50 people, if you make a mistake in front of 2 people it's not so bad and you can usually recover if theirs' a good reason why the demonstration didn't work as expected.

If you make a mistake in front of anywhere from 20 sets of eyes to 50 sets of eyes, it's going to be pretty hard to recover no matter what you say or do.

The important thing here is to have confidence in your products and your abilities. Being seasoned at both detailing cars and performing live demonstrations will go a long ways in being able to recover without losing credibility. Truth is.. mistakes can happen, knowing how to do everything within your means to prevent mistakes is the first priority, after having done this, if a mistake happens, then it all comes down to you and what's really inside you. Do you have the right stuff?
























Hope this helps... I hope others that have been to a Meguiar's detailing class, or any detailing class can chime in and add their comments from their insight and experience.

[JJ_]

wowee!

I have a lot of reading to do on this thread, but that sort of info is exactly what im looking for.

No wonder you do so well Mike you truly are a one in a million type of guy, I dunno who would write that up when they also have so much other things to be getting on with, amazing!

Great source of info thanks VERY much.