Why Detailers Keep Losing Customers & Why Exceptional Work is Not Enough In Auto Detailing & Auto Film
In this episode, I break down the biggest misconception in the detailing industry: the difference between being good at the work and actually building a brand. Most shop owners think that doing exceptional paint corrections and flawless PPF installs automatically creates customer loyalty. They believe that if they just focus on being the best technician, everything else will fall into place. But here's the reality: exceptional work is just the baseline. It's the minimum requirement to stay in business.
What actually creates a brand is the relationship you build with customers between transactions. I walk through what happens in most detail shops, why customers forget about you after 14 months even when they loved your work, and the economics of customer acquisition versus retention. If you've ever felt like you're on a hamster wheel constantly replacing customers who drift away, this episode will show you exactly why that's happening and what you need to do differently.
The math is simple: maintaining relationships with existing customers is the highest leverage activity in your business, but most shop owners never do it because it doesn't feel productive in the moment.
Chapters:
- 00:04 - Understanding Brand Building vs. Customer Retention
- 03:31 - Building Relationships Beyond Transactions
- 06:31 - Maintaining Customer Relationships
- 09:46 - The Importance of Customer Relationships
- 12:40 - The Importance of Maintaining Customer Relationships
- 17:16 - Building Real Relationships for Sustainable Growth
Takeaways:
- Most detailing shop owners mistakenly believe that exceptional work alone establishes a brand identity when in fact it does not.
- A brand transcends logos and aesthetics; it encompasses the emotional relationship clients have with your business.
- Building a lasting brand necessitates nurturing relationships with customers beyond the immediate transaction of service.
- The economics of retaining existing customers is significantly more favorable than acquiring new ones, underscoring the importance of relationship maintenance.
branding for detailers, customer retention strategies, building a brand in detailing, detail shop marketing, customer acquisition costs, emotional connection in business, maintaining customer relationships, repeat business tips, transaction vs relationship business, detail shop success, brand loyalty in detailing, effective communication with clients, marketing for auto detailers, customer experience in detailing, importance of follow-up, growing a detail business, referrals in detailing, customer engagement strategies, relationship building in business, sustainable growth for detailers
Transcript
Most shop owners think they're building a brand when they're really just processing transactions.
Speaker A:And I think what makes this even more painful is the economics of customer acquisition versus customer retention.
Speaker A:Attracting a new customer costs you a significant amount of money.
Speaker A:You might spend money on advertising.
Speaker A:They believe that if they just focus on being the best at paint correction or the best at PPF installation, everything else will take care of itself.
Speaker A:That's not what makes someone choose you over the shop down the street, who also really does good work.
Speaker A:SA Foreign hey, everybody, it's Gabe.
Speaker A:Welcome back to the Talking Paint podcast.
Speaker A:Today I wanted to talk about something that completely changed how I think running a detailing business should be.
Speaker A:What builds a brand that actually lasts beyond just being good at your craft, meaning just being good at the job in your shop.
Speaker A:I think there's a massive misunderstanding in our industry about what a brand actually is and how you build one.
Speaker A:Most shop owners think they're building a brand when they're really just processing transactions.
Speaker A:They think that doing exceptional work automatically creates a brand.
Speaker A:They believe that if they just focus on being the best at paint correction or the best at PPF installation, everything else will take care of itself.
Speaker A:So a brand is not your logo.
Speaker A:It's not your color scheme.
Speaker A:A brand is not your Instagram feed or your website design or the wrap on your van.
Speaker A:Your brand is how people feel about you when you're not standing in front of them.
Speaker A:Your brand is what they say about you when you're not in the room.
Speaker A:Your brand is whether you're the first shop they think they need or they should call when they need something, or whether they have to sit there and try and remember your name.
Speaker A:Your brand is the emotional relationship that somebody has with your business that goes beyond the functional transaction of paying you to do work on their car.
Speaker A:The reason this matters so much is because detailers genuinely don't understand that exceptional work is the baseline.
Speaker A:Doing incredible paint corrections and flawless PPF installs, ceramic coatings, those are all minimum requirements to stay in business.
Speaker A:That's not what makes you special.
Speaker A:That's not what makes someone choose you over the shop down the street who also really does good work.
Speaker A:You're operating in a market now where there are other people who do really good at what you do.
Speaker A:They may not be as good, but maybe not with your level of attention to detail or perfectionism, good enough that 98% of customers would walk away happy with the result.
Speaker A:So if you're banking on being the best technician as your competitive advantage, you are Genuinely probably standing on a pool of quicksand, really shaky ground.
Speaker A:What actually creates a brand, what actually makes someone choose you and stick with you and tell their friends about you and come back year after year, is, is the relationship.
Speaker A:And relationships don't get built during the transaction.
Speaker A:Relationships get built in the moments between them.
Speaker A:All the times when someone is not actively paying you money, all the times when there's no immediate financial incentive for you to reach out or stay connected or even think about them.
Speaker A:So I'm going to walk you through what usually happens in most detail shops so I can show you where the disconnect is.
Speaker A:Somebody finds your shop, maybe they saw you on Instagram, maybe they got a referral, maybe they found you on Google.
Speaker A:They call you, they book an appointment, they drop off their car, you do exceptional work.
Speaker A:They pick up the car, they're blown away by the results, they pay you without hesitation, they shake your hand, they tell you they'll be back.
Speaker A:They might even post about you on social media.
Speaker A:That transaction created a moment of intense, positive feeling.
Speaker A:They loved the experience, they loved the result.
Speaker A:And in that moment, you are the greatest detail shop they have ever worked with.
Speaker A:In that moment, they fully intend to use you forever and tell everybody they know about you.
Speaker A:And then they leave and you never talk to them again.
Speaker A:Days turn into weeks.
Speaker A:Weeks turn into months.
Speaker A:Months turn into years.
Speaker A:During that entire time, you haven't reached out, you haven't checked in, you haven't sent them a message or made a phone call or sent them a card, done anything to remind them that you exist.
Speaker A:You did the work, you got paid, then you completely disappeared from their life.
Speaker A:Now, from your perspective, you did your job, you delivered exceptional results.
Speaker A:You gave them exactly what they paid for.
Speaker A:You held up your end of the bargain.
Speaker A:The transaction is complete.
Speaker A:Why would you need to reach out to them?
Speaker A:They know where you are.
Speaker A:They know your number that needs something.
Speaker A:They can call you.
Speaker A:That's not how human psychology works.
Speaker A:That's not how relationship works.
Speaker A:That's not how memory works.
Speaker A:That's not how a brand gets built.
Speaker A:What happens from the customer's perspective is that immediate, intense, positive feeling starts to fade.
Speaker A:The memory of getting their car detailed becomes less and less vivid over time.
Speaker A:After six months, they can still remember you.
Speaker A:They remember having a good experience.
Speaker A:They remember being happy with the result.
Speaker A:But that emotional intensity is gone.
Speaker A:The relationship is now dormant.
Speaker A:After a year, they're starting to forget details.
Speaker A:And if you ask them about their detail shop, they would probably remember that they use somebody good.
Speaker A:But you're not at the front of their mind anymore.
Speaker A:Now, after 14 months, which is probably really common point in time frame between services for a lot of customers, you're basically a distant memory.
Speaker A:They might not even be sure it was your shop or a different shop become this vague positive memory rather than a specific business that they have a relationship with.
Speaker A:So when that 14 month mark hits and they're thinking about getting a ceramic coating on the car that they just trade in, what do they do?
Speaker A:They don't call you because you're not at the front of their mind, because the relationship is dissolved, because you haven't been present in their life at all for over a year.
Speaker A:So they start from scratch.
Speaker A:If you are a shop that's doing a high amount of ceramic coatings, you're doing paint protection, film, you're going to go through supplies and you're going to burn them up.
Speaker A:What if I said that a shop that's doing $80,000 a year could save 15 grand on just microfiber towels by switching to one new vendor?
Speaker A:And that is why this podcast is brought to you by Auto Audi, the home of the detailers club.
Speaker A:Auto Audi is a huge operation that you can sign up for online.
Speaker A:It is a one time 50 per year fee that gets you access to the detailers club where you will find the best prices and the best service and the fastest shipping speed in the entire industry.
Speaker A:I have been using Autoality in my shop for the entire time I've been running it.
Speaker A:Even while I was mobile, I was using Auto Audi.
Speaker A:Sign up for the detailers club@autoality.com they ask their friends for recommendations.
Speaker A:They post in a car group online asking who's good.
Speaker A:They search Google for ceramic coating near me and they start calling shop shops all over again.
Speaker A:There's a very real chance that they're going to end up using a different shop.
Speaker A:Not because their work is more exceptional, but because that shop is the one who answered their phone.
Speaker A:That shop is the one who showed up in search, that shop is the one whose name their buddy recommended.
Speaker A:You had that customer, you won them over, you created that amazing experience, you earned their trust, you did exceptional work, they were thrilled.
Speaker A:They and then you let the relationship dissolve into nothing because you never stayed in touch because you didn't do any of the not fun and unglamorous work of maintaining relationships between transactions.
Speaker A:What I'm describing is the difference between running a transaction based business and building an actual brand.
Speaker A:A transaction based business is what you and most detailers are more than likely running.
Speaker A:You're constantly starting from zero.
Speaker A:You're spending time and money to attract strangers, convert them into customers, only to let them disappear the moment the transaction is complete.
Speaker A:This is fucking exhausting.
Speaker A:And it's why so many of you shop owners feel like you're on that never ending fucking hamster wheel.
Speaker A:Because you are grinding to replace customers who drift away.
Speaker A:Because nobody's maintaining those relationships, let alone having an automation set up.
Speaker A:You attract a customer, you do exceptional work, you collect money and you maintain the relationship.
Speaker A:You stay present in their life because you care about them rather than just the transaction that's been completed.
Speaker A:The result of the ongoing relationship maintenance that you're doing is that when they need another service, you're the only shop that they think about.
Speaker A:You're the obvious choice because you're the only shop that's been present in their life.
Speaker A:But maintaining relationships between transactions feels like it has no immediate return.
Speaker A:You send someone a gift basket on the anniversary of a big job and your bank account doesn't increase immediately.
Speaker A:Oh no.
Speaker A:Delayed roi.
Speaker A:So it feels unproductive and it feels like you're giving away time and energy for free.
Speaker A:The problem is that by the time you realize you should have been maintaining those relationships, it's too late.
Speaker A:By the time you realize that customer 14 months ago is now using a different shop, the relationship is gone.
Speaker A:You can't go back and rebuild it.
Speaker A:You can't reverse the fact that you disappeared from their life for over a year.
Speaker A:Bridges burnt, you lost them.
Speaker A:And I think what makes this even more painful is the economics of customer acquisition versus customer retention.
Speaker A:Attracting a new customer costs you a significant amount of money.
Speaker A:You might spend money on advertising.
Speaker A:You definitely spend time on sales calls and consults.
Speaker A:You spend energy on building trust with somebody you don't know.
Speaker A:You're starting from absolute zero with a complete stranger who might not even convert into a paying customer.
Speaker A:Keeping an existing customer costs you almost nothing.
Speaker A:It costs you 15 seconds to send a text message.
Speaker A:It costs you the five minutes to make a phone call.
Speaker A:It costs you the $50 to send a gift basket.
Speaker A:These are trivial investments compared to what you spend to attract new customers.
Speaker A:And the return is dramatically higher.
Speaker A:Because you're not starting from zero.
Speaker A:You're working with somebody who already knows you, already trust you, already had a positive experience with you.
Speaker A:So when you send a text to a customer from a year ago just to check in, there's a really good chance your text message is going to be the nudge that they needed to actually book Something you don't need to sell them on your shop.
Speaker A:You don't need to convince them to trust you.
Speaker A:You're just reminding them that you exist and that you give a about them.
Speaker A:Sending a text message to a customer from a year doesn't feel like it moves the business forward because there's no immediate transaction attached to it.
Speaker A:And those are the facts of life.
Speaker A:And you know it.
Speaker A:Because the reality is that maintaining customer relationships is the highest leverage activity that you can do in your business.
Speaker A:Every customer you keep coming back as a customer you don't have to replace.
Speaker A:Every customer who refers you to their friends is marketing you don't have to pay for.
Speaker A:Every customer who uses you for multiple services over multiple years is revenue you do not have to constantly chase.
Speaker A:And when you look at the actual numbers, the impact becomes impossible to ignore.
Speaker A:Because let's say you have 300 customers in your database from the past two years.
Speaker A:People used your shop.
Speaker A:They had a positive experience.
Speaker A:If you never reach out to any of them, maybe 10% come back on their own.
Speaker A:That's 30 customers.
Speaker A:If they spend an average of $1,500 each, it's about $45,000 in revenue from repeat business.
Speaker A:Not bad.
Speaker A:What if you actually maintained those relationships?
Speaker A:Your repeat customer rate could easily double.
Speaker A:Now you've got 60 customers coming back.
Speaker A:That's $90,000 in additional revenue.
Speaker A:You generated an additional 45 grand by doing the boring work of just staying in touch with people.
Speaker A:And that doesn't even account for referrals.
Speaker A:Because when you maintain relationships, you make people feel valued and they recommend you to their friends.
Speaker A:They post about you on social media.
Speaker A:They become advocates for your business.
Speaker A:Each of those customers could easily send you two or three new customers over the course of a year.
Speaker A:That's another 120 customers.
Speaker A:Another 180,000 in top line revenue.
Speaker A:So simply by maintaining relationships with existing customers, you can generate 225extra thousand dollars in additional revenue per year.
Speaker A:Revenue you didn't have to spend any advertising money to get.
Speaker A:They came from people who already trust you.
Speaker A:Revenue that required minimal effort.
Speaker A:Beyond being a human being who stays in touch with other human beings, you're making your business drastically harder than it needs to be.
Speaker A:Because you're having to constantly chase and buy new growth in customers instead of nurturing the gold sitting in your pipeline.
Speaker A:The shops that build brands this at an extremely deep level.
Speaker A:The relationship that they build becomes an asset that compounds over time.
Speaker A:They understand that when a customer who uses you once is worth something.
Speaker A:But a customer who uses you five times over five years and refers three friends is worth exponentially more.
Speaker A:Those shops take it seriously because they treat it as a part of the actual service delivery.
Speaker A:I think what's most interesting to me is that the actual tactical execution of this is simple.
Speaker A:You just need to be a human who thinks about other human beings and reaches out to them.
Speaker A:Because when another GT3RS comes through your shop and you remember the last one you did last year and that customer, and you send them a text that says, hey, man, got another GT3Rs in the shop today.
Speaker A:Made me think of you.
Speaker A:How's yours treating you?
Speaker A:That takes 15 seconds, cost you nothing.
Speaker A:And it completely changes everything about that relationship.
Speaker A:Now, instead of being a shop they used once, you.
Speaker A:You're the shop that now thinks about them.
Speaker A:You're the shop that cares.
Speaker A:You're a shop that stays present in their life when it's been six months since someone got a ceramic coating from you.
Speaker A:You're building a business that stands behind its work even when there's no immediate financial incentive to do so.
Speaker A:Because when somebody spends $7,000 with you on a full body PPF and you send them a $50 gift basketball a month later, thanking them for their business in the context of a $7,000 job, that's less than 1% of the revenue.
Speaker A:But the emotional impact is huge.
Speaker A:Because they're not used to a business following up with them after the sale with genuine appreciation.
Speaker A:They're not used to being valued beyond the transaction.
Speaker A:Gift basket makes them feel special.
Speaker A:You just have to do it.
Speaker A:Just have to overcome the resistance that tells you it's not important.
Speaker A:You have to overcome the discomfort of reaching out when there's no immediate transaction to justify it.
Speaker A:You just have to overcome that little voice in your head that says you're bothering people or being salesy or wasting time.
Speaker A:That voice is wrong.
Speaker A:Because you are not bothering people by staying in touch.
Speaker A:You're not being salesy by checking in without trying to sell them something.
Speaker A:You're not wasting time by investing in relationships that will pay dividends for years.
Speaker A:What you're doing is building a real brand.
Speaker A:You are creating emotional connections that go beyond functional transactions.
Speaker A:And you are making people feel valued, remembered, and cared about you, staying present in their lives so that when they need what you offer, you're the only option that they consider.
Speaker A:That's how brands get actually built.
Speaker A:Not through logos, not through color schemes, Instagram posts.
Speaker A:So remember that over time, the boring work becomes the foundation of everything.
Speaker A:Suddenly, you're not grinding anymore.
Speaker A:You're not constantly chasing and buying new growth.
Speaker A:You're not on that stupid hamster wheel.
Speaker A:You're running a real business built on real relationships that generate real sustainable growth.
Speaker A:That's what building a brand actually means.
Speaker A:And it starts with sending one text messages to one customer you haven't spoken to in a long time.
Speaker A:Everybody, thanks for listening.
Speaker A:This was a really important one and I hope you got some value out of this.
Speaker A:Listen, I'd like to invite you to join the Detailing Growth Detail Shift newsletter.
Speaker A:The link is in the show notes and in the YouTube video description and if you feel like you're ready to start working with a crew that's going to show up for you and your business and help you make data driven decisions instead of just making choices based on hope, Me and the crew at Detailing Growth want to work with you.
Speaker A:We want to help you.
Speaker A:And at the end of the day you need to be able to generate money for your business and you need to be able to not have to work in it for the rest of your life.
Speaker A:So if you're looking to start working on growing the business and setting yourself up for systems so that the business can run without you in it every day, Detailing Growth wants to work with you.
