Mark Barger’s Southern Illinois detail service, VisualPro Detailing, gets attention. The bright graphics on his truck and trailer, and the design of his beautiful website say: ”You can trust your car image to me.” When we talked to Mark he was very candid about his experience jumping into car detailing full time, revealing. Read the [...]
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What you missed at the 2013 Mobile Tech Expo
The largest annual convention for mobile appearance techs was held on a Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in late January in Orlando, FL. The MTE is a huge opportunity to: Learn about new products that improve your business. Learn new ways of doing business from valuable seminars. Build valuable relationships with vendors and other techs. Take [...]
Photographing Your Reconditioning Work: 5 Tips
I’ve had customers tell me they chose my recon business solely because of the before and after photos on our website. Our competitors talked for days about how great they were. We SHOWED them. And they called us. Uses for your photos. Website. Have a “gallery” page where you showcase your work. Sprinkle in some [...]
7 Ways to Prepare for the “Spring Rush”
Are you ready for “the rush?” In my first years I didn’t handle the yearly spike in business that came around April: I overbooked my schedule and made some sloppy mistakes. Equipment would break but we had no backup. We were understaffed and couldn’t get customers scheduled for 5-6 days out (customers called the next [...]
The dirty work of car detailing…water damage.
There are great perks that come with running a detailing business. You sometimes drive (well, maybe a few feet) the cars you daydreamed about in highschool: Ferrari, Lamborghini, GT-R, etc. Good fun. But for every “cherry” project there’s just as many “dogs”: flood damage, water leaks, mold, vomit, pet urine, fire damage, etc. Your task [...]
Hiring a Good Detailer: 7 Tips
Harvard grads aren’t lining up to work at my detail shop, so I’ve been through my share of clock milkers, late-shows, no-shows, and those with an “eye for detail” like a cave bat. And though I still draft an occasional dud, I’ve greatly improved my hiring process over the years. Here’s 7 tips. 1. Ask [...]
The Art of Saying No: Detailing Jobs I Declined.
One of the most difficult lessons of the detailing business is that you’re better of turning some jobs away. It’s a skill you learn in the transition from busy to profitable. Here’s 3 memorable examples. 1. Wholesale car auction: I received a call from the manager of a local auction requesting that we begin reconditioning [...]
"How Much to Detail My Car?" How to answer this critical question.
Most calls to my detail shop start with this question. My success converting these “feeler” calls into appointments–we’ll call it “batting average”–might be the most important skill I have as a detailing business owner. Here’s three simple tips that have greatly improved my “batting average” over the years. 1. Speak slowly, clearly, and confidently. Believe [...]
Reduce Car Detailing Times 30 minutes: 4 tips
So you want to shave off some time while detailing your car…well, here are some tips to help you do that without sacrificing quality (there are other ways, but here are 4 that I personally use from time to time): 1. Dress plastic and rubber PRIOR to car washing. Using water based tire dressing like [...]
Auto Detailing Trailer: A $2000 BluePrint
Auto Detailing Trailer: A $2000 BluePrint Don’t rush out and buy a new trailer full of new equipment. Why? More than half of these get sold within a year (slow business or lack of owner interest) for a 60% loss! Buy used equipment and–should you sell within the year (or even years after that) you [...]
Testimonials
“Great Color Matching”
"The kit is compact and we get great color matches. Well worth every penny."
“A great addition to any detail operation. We own two kits.”
“The system was easy to learn and apply…I’d recommend it to dealers and wholesalers regardless of how large or small they are.”
“I am very pleased with the results to date. Customers are easy to come by they too seem very happy with the service.”
“This system is perfect for us. Lots of money saved on vendors.”
“We have found your touchup kit to be very easy to learn and use… We’ll need another kit or two soon.”
“Our detailers do our touch ups onsite with the Applied Colors kit. It’s worked out great on our used inventory. We no longer wait for specialists who charge us $50 a car.”
” My customers are thrilled by the results and the relatively small fee. This kit has paid it self over and over again and comes highly recommended.”
“If any of you are looking to purchase a paint touch-up kit, I’d highly recommend the kits offered by Robert at Applied Colors.”
