How Fleet Detailing Draws More Customers
How Fleet Detailing Draws More Customers
Managing a mobile detailing business requires a unique blend of technical skill, business acumen, and customer service expertise. For car detailing entrepreneurs considering the franchise model, understanding the intricacies of running a successful operation is crucial.
Today we have the pleasure of speaking with Stefan Gautron, the owner of Starfleet Mobile Detailing, who has mastered the art of managing a thriving mobile detailing business. Stefan will share his insights on effective management strategy, growth opportunities, and the benefits of adopting a franchise model.
Join us as we dive into the essential aspects of managing your mobile detailing business.
Starting Out in Mobile Detailing
Alright, so question number one that we have for you, Stefan, is: can you start by telling us about Starfleet Mobile Detailing and what inspired you to start your own mobile detailing business?
Well, when it comes to detailing, I think everybody that likes cars gets involved in detailing at one point or another in their life, especially when they’re younger. There is something with car detailing that is quite gratifying. So those that usually get into detailing, they like finding gratification almost instantly. It only takes a couple of hours, three hours maybe four, to really make a difference in a car. When you have a car that’s pretty bad and then you make it look almost brand new, it’s pretty satisfactory for someone, and it kind of motivates you in what you do.
But obviously it’s not for everybody. It’s hard work. A lot of people might think that anybody can car detail, but that’s far from the truth. If you’re just going to be, you know, dusting your car, cleaning the windows, do a quick vacuum, that’s not really car detailing. It’s more of a do-it-yourself maintenance on your vehicle, which is fine. But when it gets to a point where it’s really bad, you have to have special tools and chemicals. So that’s where the professionalism comes in, and that’s where it’s important to know what we’re doing as well, because different chemicals will react differently to different surfaces. Sometimes we’re talking about cleaning it, but it’ll react in a way where it’ll damage surfaces, right? So it’s important to know what you’re doing. Detailing is kind of a mixture of a cleaner and a chemist, because you are using different chemicals and you know you have to know what they do, right? So it’s kind of a mix of both.
What inspired you to start a mobile detailing business? Well, I came into detailing basically out of necessity. I had to get out of construction, and so the opportunity… I knew somebody who had bought a car wash outfit, and it was a good investment. I thought I’d look into it myself and found something that fit my budget. Fortunately I did get it when I did, because I think the business would have hit hard times, especially with Covid, just the way it was run. I think the concept wasn’t ideal, and so I was able to take this business and elevate it to something unique. So that’s why we franchise, because we’re offering something unique and think that we can help a lot of people out.
I think the biggest misconception from people that get into detailing is that they could just grab a few tools, watch some videos, and then kind of do their buddy’s cars and then their parents’, and next you’re detailing and then making big bucks. That’s just part of it. Like if you can make it successful, then good for you, but that doesn’t teach you how to run a business, doesn’t teach you how to market yourself, doesn’t teach you public, you know, customer relations. It’s really just one of maybe 10 components. So what happens is a lot of people that we’ve hired in the past, they tell us that they tried it out on their own and they failed. So they obviously like the work; they just don’t know how to run a business. And franchising kind of answers both, and that’s why if you get in with the right franchise, you can be successful.
Key Factors in Starting and Managing a Mobile Detailing Business
What are the key factors to consider when starting and managing a mobile detailing business?
Well, when you start a business of any kind, you have to have a plan. You have a business plan—what are you trying to achieve, how do you think you will get there, like finances, your market. There’s a lot of things to take into consideration, which a lot don’t, because sometimes we feel that, oh we’ll just kind of wing it, should I go see what the response is. I think that could work for certain things, maybe to find out if it’s something you like to do, sure go ahead, you do that. But if you ever want to make a success of it, you have to really get some training in administration, how to do estimates, how do you incorporate—like there’s so many things that are involved in running a business if you want it to be successful. You want to have all your T’s crossed and your I’s dotted. You don’t want to be running something that’s kind of out of your garage, and then something goes wrong and then it goes all down the drain. You gotta have your insurance in place, and really to grow, you have to instill confidence in your customer, and that’s a lot of factors that come into play.
Ensuring High Quality and Consistency
Now the next question is: how do you ensure high-quality service and customer satisfaction consistently across all your detailing jobs?
I think the challenge to do that if you’re on your own—if you’re doing it yourself—the challenge is not a challenge if you know what you’re doing. If you’re a professional, you can handle whatever comes at you, and if there’s something that’s odd that you might get once in the beginning, you do some research on it. Like for example, spilled paint. How do you get spilled paint out of a rug, for example? That doesn’t happen every day.
But when it comes to hiring other people and expecting them to do the same kind of quality work that you do, there is a challenge. And that’s why we went from your typical brick and mortar to mobile, and our franchise is designed to be run by one person, because we feel that’s the way you make the most money and that’s the best way to guarantee your customer is going to be happy if you do the work yourself.
Overcoming Challenges
Okay, now what are some of the biggest challenges that you faced in managing Starfleet Mobile Detailing and how did you overcome them?
Our biggest challenge was Covid. I think that’s the biggest challenge everybody in any business has had. They’re trying to deal with the change in customer base, the challenges of getting products, and if you hire people, the challenge of getting employees that are good and that’ll stick around. So all that combined was a big challenge, and we actually overcame it. It helped us grow to what we are now as our work ethics, our standards, and just the way we’re set up. We streamlined everything. So that kind of knowledge is what we’re passing on to our franchisees.
Team Management and Training
Alright, so Stefan, how do you manage your team and ensure they’re well trained and motivated to deliver excellent service?
When you are hiring, a lot of people try to find the easy way out, right? They want to make a living without much effort. I think the key in trying to find somebody to do detailing is they have to like to work. They have to be passionate about it. If they’re just doing it for a paycheck, they’re not going to like it. It’s just too hard of work. It’s challenging because you’re bent over, you’re on your knees, sometimes cramped. You have to be passionate about it.
So the first thing what we do is when we hire somebody, we’re going to make sure that they love detailing. The second thing we look at is that they have experience. A lot of people want to get into detailing, so they come and see us and they want us to train them, and the problem with that is that we don’t know if they’re going to like the work. So we’re not going to spend a whole bunch of money—it costs money—to train them, and then after a week they say, “Well, it’s not really for me.” So one requisite is that they have two years’ experience. Then we build on that, so we know they know what they’re getting into.
Then we teach them to tackle the problems, because a lot of what we come across are problems, right? So I mentioned earlier spilled paint. We had a guy who spilled diesel fuel down his truck inside. He was carrying the lawn mower in the back seat area, he put the seat up, whatever, and the fuel leaked. And of course, it’s fuel that’s mixed in with oil, so it’s very similar to diesel in that sense, and so the challenge is trying to clean that out. A regular detail shop has no idea how to handle any of that. And we do things like mice remediation. We have some vehicles, for example, somebody calls us and mice got in there and they have a nest, so we go in and we sanitize everything, try to get the smell out. We have some special chemicals to do that. Those are some examples of what we teach our hires.
Importance of Marketing and Customer Outreach
Okay, now let’s talk about marketing. Can you discuss the importance of effective marketing and customer outreach for a mobile detailing business?
I would say that the biggest headache for not necessarily a detail shop, but for a person who’s trying to go out on their own—somebody that wants to break out into mobile detailing on their own—the biggest challenge is going to be marketing. It’s an industry in itself. So you’re trying to start a business detailing, and at the same time you want to learn how to market yourself and do your website, do SEO, do ads. You’re going to go nuts. It’s just too much to handle. You work close to an 8-hour workday, and then every evening you go home a couple hours you work on marketing.
So that’s why in our franchise, when you invest with us, that’s one thing you don’t have to worry about: marketing. Because that’s the reason why you’re getting into a franchise. You try to minimize your risk but also minimize your workload. You don’t want a burden; you want something that you’re investing in that’s going to make you good money, but also is going to free up some time. So when it comes to marketing, that’s why we take care of all that. We have a team that’s dedicated to do that. It’s more cost-effective as well, because if you try to hire somebody to do marketing for you, that one-man show, it’s going to take too much money for you to do that.
So by us handling all that, there’s more power in numbers, I guess you could say. By saying that, you don’t have to worry about it. Otherwise, it’d be another video series of just how to market. It’s that involved.
Role of Technology
Now let’s talk about technology. What role does it play in managing your operations, from booking appointments to tracking customer satisfaction?
Yeah, so we have a software that we use, and it’s basically management software. It does everything. So basically, we do our invoicing, estimates, we do our bookings, our calendars in there. You have communications, you can call through the app, chat. It records everything. And then it also automatically sends text messages of when we’re going, to the person, when we’re done, if they’re happy, if they can give us a review. It’s just an all-in-one. It’s a wonderful tool. It even has a feature that you can add on for a franchise—if they want to do that—they can add on an answering service. So there’s a live person that picks up the phone and basically does your job for you, so that you can keep working on whatever you’re doing.
So it’s really an all-in-top-of-thing. It’s really—it’s been a blessing for us. And the funny thing is before Covid, there were hardly any companies that did that. Only two or three companies that were good anyways that did that, and now there’s like dozens, dozens of companies. But we’ve been working with the Housecall Pro for the last four years.
Logistics and Scheduling
Now let’s talk about logistics and scheduling. How do you handle logistics and scheduling to maximize efficiency and minimize downtime in your mobile detailing business?
So we have a calendar in our app, so our phones… we have a web-based, browser-based site for running the business, but we also have it on our phone. So it’s a little bit more simplified version of Housecall Pro, and then that helps us schedule live. So your calendar shows you all your jobs. On each job it tells you the address, it even has a link to Google Maps. It keeps track of your time on the job, time to go to the job. It’s just all-encompassing. So you know exactly where all your time and energy is going, where you’re wasting time.
Also, it helps you keep track of your jobs. You post the pictures, the before and afters. Everything is tracked, so there’s really no room for error. If there’s a complaint, you go back to the job, the pictures are all there, you know how long it took you on the job, you have a place to put your notes. It’s really a wonderful tool, and so that helps us really minimize any type of issues with scheduling conflicts. No shows on either our part or on the customer part.
Could you imagine going to somebody’s house and they’re not home, they forgot? I mean, that’d be horrible. But the app helps you eliminate that issue because it sends text messages, so they know the night before, they know the morning of. There’s really no excuse for them not to be there.
Considering the Franchise Model
Awesome, I love that. Now what advice would you give to car detailing entrepreneurs considering a franchise model for expanding their business?
Well, the ones that reach out to us are ones that have already tried and failed. Not that they’re not good detailers, but they basically have taken on too much, and now they’re looking for a solution. And that’s what we’re there for. We’re offering them a solution to make their business successful. Sure, it takes some investment, but that investment really is what pushes you to be successful. If there’s no skin in the game, as they say, any little challenge can come up and you can just give up. But when you’re investing in yourself, because that’s really what you’re doing, so instead of going to like university and spending your 80,000, 100,000 in trying to get these diplomas, you’re investing in yourself. You’re buying the franchise, you’re getting the training, you’re getting all the tools to be successful. And then after that it’s just a matter of going out there and doing the work and the best job you can do. Then people recognize that, and before you know it, you grow. And it’s really not that difficult as long as you have the right tools to do it.
Franchise Benefits and Support
Now let’s talk about the franchise model and how it’s benefited Starfleet Mobile Detailing, and what support do you provide your franchisees to ensure that they’re successful?
Well, when it comes to franchising, all the components are involved. Obviously you have to get trained on how to do the work, but you also have to be trained on how to use the software, and that software basically keeps you sane. Because obviously when you’re a one-man show, when you’re just an owner-operator, you have to wear many hats. And so what we’re enabling that person with—by using the franchise—is to wear all these different hats without really being overwhelmed. Because when you don’t have the right tools, you do become overwhelmed. It just becomes too much. Your 8-hour workdays become close to 10, 12, and before you know it you burn out.
So we’re really helping them achieve their goals, their dreams, but without losing their… really, most people don’t like their work for a lot of reasons. And it’s just too much, they can’t handle everything, all the pressure that’s put on them. So we are there to support them. If you have a question, call us up, we can answer it. But we also give them all the tools to help solve their issues. We do trainings, we strongly encourage them to join the IDA, which is the International Detailers Association. And then there’s a whole bunch of videos to help them advance their skills. So it’s not like we train you and that’s it. There’s always something to learn more. And of course the technology changes, the chemicals change, everything gets new advance. So it just keeps you at the edge of your competition. As you improve, you speed up, you get more time you can dedicate to your family as well. So it’s not all work.
Conclusion
Awesome, well thanks so much for spending time with us today and sharing with us all the information that you did today about franchising and how to properly manage a mobile detailing business.