corona

[Corona]

Hello....

I need some advice. I live in South Florida and started my mobile detailing business back in June of this year. I have a brand new rig...brand new tools...but hardly any business. I have only been able to make my expenses one month out of the five that I have been opened. Myself, family and friends have marketed my new business with business cards and brochures. I did not invest in a website as I was trying to keep expenses down just starting out. I know that it takes time to grow clients....but at this rate...I will go under financially. Is anyone else having this trouble in South Florida? I love what I do and have gotten many complements on my work....but at this rate I am thinking about closing up shop...any ideas????

Thanks,
Casey

[Explicit Details]

Re: corona

You need to get a website up and work on search engine optimization, Google Adwords, etc. Hosting is only about 5 bucks a month with Godaddy and if you use their Wordpress hosting, use a nice Wordpress template, you can get a pro looking website up in a day without knowing much of anything about web design. I resisted getting a website at first and was in the exact same situation as you, I got almost nothing from flyers, cards, etc. Within a week of getting my site up, and with one Adwords ad I got more calls than I did in the previous 3 months without it. Put up a site, learn how to market it and you will get calls.

edit: I'm not endorsing any of the companies I mentioned, just stating the ones I used.

[Chris Thompson]

Re: corona

I live just outside of Ocala. It was very hard to get rolling here as well. Believe it or not, it actually got a bunch of business from Craigslist. It gave me a chance to give people a "short lecture" about what detailing is and what it isn't.
Here is what I would recommend, get your hands on the nicest vehicle you can and detail it like crazy. Take it and your rig to a local car show/cruise in and set up a display. Then get out and talk to EVERYBODY about what you do and what makes you the best. Many of those people at cruise in's show their cars. Tell them that you do "show car prep" and explain to them what all is involved. (swirl removal, glazing, brightwork, etc)
The biggest thing is that you have to get out and meet people.
One more thing, whenever you have a happy customer, ask them "do you know of three people who would use these services?" As long as they are happy, they will almost always give you names.

[mpm]

Re: corona

Hello....

I need some advice. I live in South Florida and started my mobile detailing business back in June of this year. I have a brand new rig...brand new tools...but hardly any business. I have only been able to make my expenses one month out of the five that I have been opened. Myself, family and friends have marketed my new business with business cards and brochures. I did not invest in a website as I was trying to keep expenses down just starting out. I know that it takes time to grow clients....but at this rate...I will go under financially. Is anyone else having this trouble in South Florida? I love what I do and have gotten many complements on my work....but at this rate I am thinking about closing up shop...any ideas????

Thanks,
Casey

Sounds like you have to much overhead. I started out three months ago and purposely kept it small. I'm still small but I make a paycheck everyweek and its growing with repeat customers calling me back. Mostly wash and vacs with an occasional wax thrown in. What I've started telling my regular customers is if they get me four new customers I'll do their car free for them once. Easy to remember "Get me four and you get it free." I regularly knock on local business doors with the speech and a flyer to leave with them. You have to continue working the buisness everyday if your not doing that already. Try the dentist, doctors, strip malls, beauty shops, etc.... but get permission to work on the property first. I don't have a website but would like one.

[Superior Shine]

Re: corona

Good advice here! When I started I had more time than money so............ I hit the street. I ran promotions. I gave away (or greatly reduced ) details, etc....

I have been in business for over 20+ years and I haven't found anything that will open the flood gates of customers. It will take a lot of hustle to slowly build your clientele base.

[HCAD]

Re: corona

Casey, I'll second the encouragement given from Explicit Details above, I'm also on the web with GoDaddy and because I've kept their banner ad I don't pay ANYTHING for hosting the site. If you're not computer savvy, find a friend who is. Buy them a twelve pack or something and get yourself a website. Transient areas like Florida are bound to have tons of people that just don't know where to go for things, so they Google it.

Biggest peice of advice on the website ... think hard about your domain name (website name). It may be one of the most important things you do. Plenty of reading on the subject available too. Read up.

Good luck!

[Jimmy Buffit]

Re: corona

I did a Google search for auto detailing in Wesley Chapel,FL.
You have plenty of competition, some offering 'complete' details for $149.95!

Does your rig have signage? Look into sandwich boards...
But, really, no website? Get that fixed real soon...

Good Luck.