Zero to $100k a Month | Being Relentless @ Sales in High End Auto Film & Detailing

Gabe: 00:00:00

You started and you jumped into a shop that had a great track record and was really well known and you were like, oh, I can do this. And then you showed up for yourself and you were like, holy shit, this is not what I was expecting.

Tyler: 00:00:13

You don't know how to put PPF on a car window tin or anything like that. Right. But you're really good at sales from.

Jeff: 00:00:18

Doing a small amount of sales, a huge amount of sales in just one month, just from having me there actually selling. That's all I was focused on 100%.

Gabe: 00:00:30

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Head over to detailinggrowth.com and sign up for a free strategy session. Hey everybody, my name is Gabe. I am the founder of Detailing Growth. I'm here with my partner Tyler.

We're joined by Jeff Joyner down at Ceramic Pro Saint Pink St. Petersburg down in Florida. He is the owner operator of Autolux.

And today we're just kind of here to talk about how Jeff kind of came up and where he's at in his journey right now. And maybe Jeff's got a few pointers for us and he can let us in on a couple of his secrets.

Or, you know, I don't know, maybe he's like just gonna like tell us to like go F ourselves and hang up. Who knows? So, Jeff, thanks for coming on the call today. We genuinely appreciate it.

You are running a super high end shop down in Florida and you really kind of came up out of nowhere. You ended up on my calendar schedule maybe about eight or nine months ago, maybe a little longer than that.

Jeff: 00:02:13

Just hit a year, three days ago.

Gabe: 00:02:17

Okay, so you ended up like before you were open. You ended up on my schedule and were like, hey, I'm opening a shop in Florida. I have nothing. I need a team to do this with.

And I don't remember what you told me or how you found out about us. You were just like, I heard you're the guy to talk to. And I was like, okay, well, let's chat.

And now here you are, a Ceramic Pro elite dealer location a year later, absolutely decimating the market down there.

Jeff: 00:02:47

Yeah. And we're opening up our second location here. Really really soon. So. That's great.

Gabe: 00:02:52

That's awesome, man. Second location in just over a year's time.

Yeah, so you, you came up and like, you were kind of like, you started with nothing with like no Google business listing, no reviews, no name in the industry, no name in the market. You know what, how did you kind of get to where you're at now?

You know, give us a little bit of insight as to like, you know, how you started and how you grew.

Jeff: 00:03:22

Sure, absolutely. So my background is the car business. I was in the car business for 12 years before I started doing any of this.

And I was in the luxury car business with Jaguar Land Rover for most of the time. And it was just getting really old, you know, it was kind of eating my life away.

There were some nights there where I was there till 5 o' clock in the morning and then, you know, you're expected to be there at 8 o' clock in the morning the next day, so. So same day.

So that was just kind of getting old and I was kind of looking and thinking of, you know, different things I can do and you know, what's kind of good in the market and stuff like that.

And I, one day we were sending a lot of our clients to an in house shop and then we were sending them to other house, other out of dealership shops as well, doing ceramic coatings and PPF and stuff like that.

And, and the thing I really noticed was it was always a hassle dealing with these companies and really it was like you were taking these 100, 200, $300,000 cars to a mechanic shop. You know, they weren't clean, the people working at them weren't presentable.

It's like they were just throwing a price out to you and you want it great. If not, kick rocks and see you later.

So I kind of thought, you know, here's a niche here for me where, you know, we can open up a beautiful shop, have high quality customer service, do really great work, and then be the client's go to person over the life of that vehicle, over their life, you know, into their next cars.

Because a lot of these clients, I mean, Tyler, I think you and I were talking the other day, what's the normal life cycle of, of a vehicle like two years now or something like that, where it used to be much.

Tyler: 00:05:13

Longer with how they're making them now. Yeah, it's ridiculous.

Jeff: 00:05:15

Yeah, yeah.

Tyler: 00:05:16

But it's good for you.

Jeff: 00:05:17

Right, right, exactly. So, so we opened up the shop kind of from nothing and from some word of mouth.

But a lot of your guys help, you know, especially with the Google business and the ads and everything like that. It's just helped us grow tremendously and pointers here and there and everything like that. I did have some aspect of how to do this.

When I initially left the car business I went to a shop in Palm Harbor, Florida for two months just so I could kind of get my wits about and everything like that and understand the business a little more. They were averaging 40 to 60 grand a month for four years straight. My first month there I did 172 grand.

The way I designed my pay plan they didn't keep me for very long because they had to pay me so much money. But it gave me a good starting point and a little side cash to start the business good and everything like that.

So it was a struggle at the beginning for sure.

I mean, you guys know with me it was a lot of me being stressed and frustrated with because I wasn't making the income that I was used to making and stuff like that. So it was, it was tough. But we're here now and we're growing and I never want to stop growing.

Gabe: 00:06:45

Right. And I think that you know, having having the right team behind you is, you know, that's an important piece.

But for sure, I think you and I, you and I kind of talked on, on the front end of the relationship and, and I told you then that just going full board like saying I'm ready to spend, you know, three, four, $5,000 a month on ad spend out the get from day one is for a brand new business. That's something we typically don't take on and don't recommend because of how difficult it is. And like you experienced that firsthand.

And I, I think that, that when I think, when I think back, when I think back on it, I think that one of the best things you had going for you was that you already had like kind of an understanding of how to sell and you had you in general and then you had, you had an even better understanding of the products and how to sell the products themselves because that's a whole another like level of insight that you need to have.

And Jeff, I think your situation is, is really unique because I think that typically what we see is that it doesn't matter how much ad spend you, you put in is because ad spend doesn't buy market trust.

Jeff: 00:08:11

Correct.

Gabe: 00:08:11

The only thing that buys market trust is time and like time and doing the work and like building, building on your name and repeatedly executing and that's the that you can't multiply that and make that speed up. It's just something that needs to take its course naturally. And until you get it, it's a fight all the way up.

Jeff: 00:08:34

Yeah, for sure.

I mean, I think one giant thing that's helped us as a store tremendously was my wife has a lot of insight into the social media stuff and things like that. So she's always pushing me to do, you know, different videos and stuff like that. And she's smart with it.

I mean, she's, she's, I think that 25,000 followers on TikTok or something like that, and she's doing great videos of the kid or at the beach or whatever. And she goes, look, that's how people see you. So we do a ton of videos here, super high quality videos.

And Tyler, you gave, have been super helpful with kind of like scripts and what to do and what to talk about and stuff like that. And that's made a huge difference as well.

Because just showing a video of a car is one thing, but actually talking about who you are as a business and what the project you're working on is and what the features and benefits of that product and what makes you different as a shop, that's what counts. It's not who, you know, who gives a hell about the car. You know, I mean, the car is one thing, it's cool or whatever.

You know, I could have, we have GT3Rs in here right now and if I just did a video of the car, that's one thing. But actually talking about what we're doing and what the features and benefits of that are, are huge.

Gabe: 00:09:57

And I think Tyler would, would like to chime in on this one.

I think he came in thinking that, that this was going to be easy and it was like it was going to be like cake and, and like you're going to be able to cut the cake, eat it and then have seconds. You started and you jumped into a shop that had a great track record and was really well known and you were like, oh, I can do this.

And then you showed up for yourself and you were like, holy shit, this is not what I was expecting. And I think because Tyler and I had a lot of. Yeah, exactly.

Just, just like, just don't get me wrong, like selling and executing on selling is one thing, but I think Tyler and I had a bunch of conversations about, we were like, is this a good idea to take this gentleman's money? Is this a good idea for us to service you as a client? Because are you going to be successful?

And are you like, are you going to see ROI that you're going to grow on? And I think that if we tried to do this now, Tyler, I question whether it's even possible now with how search is mutated.

Tyler: 00:11:03

Yeah. And I think that's kind of what I was going to bring up. Right. The. When you were with the other company maybe and doing the sales you were doing.

The market has shifted so much even from then until now. And that's where it was so important to adapt and do those videos.

Not just vehicle, you know, not just showcasing the vehicle, but, you know, getting in front of the camera, even if it made you uncomfortable and talking about the process. And, you know, Gabe, I think, truthfully, I think it can be done. I think it just takes a specific type of person.

And, you know, kudos to you, Jeff, for going through all the nonsense that, you know, and I think kudos to us too.

But going through the fight and the grind of every single aspect of starting a business from scratch, because it's not easy, you know, to go from zero to where you guys are at now. You know, I'm not going to share your revenue unless you want to, but.

Jeff: 00:11:52

Yeah, I mean, we had 80 grand last month or 79 and a half, so.

Tyler: 00:11:56

Yeah. So doing that in a year is. Is nothing short of, you know, amazing.

Gabe: 00:12:01

We've never seen that happen ever. Ever. Have we taken somebody from 0 to 80k a month in a. In less than a year's time, have we ever done that for anybody?

Jeff: 00:12:13

Yeah, I mean, this whole period I've only had months of growth, except one, which, you guys know, I actually switched. We don't have to talk about for what, two weeks? And it was my mistake 100%. I mean, it was, it was ownership mistake as a whole, I guess.

Gabe: 00:12:35

Well, that's. I think, I think that that's. That's important to touch on and only because we see it. We, I and Tyler, you and I have touched on this too.

Is like sometimes you feel, as an operator who's scaling on ad spend and scaling on just pure, raw push, that if you don't make a change, even if the change is just for the sake of change, you feel like you're dying and like, you feel. You feel like somebody is. Is strangling you. You feel like somebody's just stomping on your throat and like taking away your opportunity from you.

Right. And make.

And what I'm getting at is, is like the grass isn't always greener on the other side, Especially if there's the voice inside of your head that's trying to sell you it to be greener.

Jeff: 00:13:31

Oh, sure. And if there. There's so many people out here that are blowing smoke, too, I think it comes.

Tyler: 00:13:37

It comes down to for sure, the. You know, who you're. Who you're comfortable with, right? And this could be anything. This could be your. Your. Your barber that you go to.

You know what I mean? Like, you know that barber over here is going to cut hair just like the barber over here. But who do you want to shoot the shit with, right?

Like, who do you want to actually. I mean, maybe that was a bad example. I don't know.

But, you know, so who are you going to be able to grow with and be comfortable with and have hard conversations with?

Because, you know, I think Jeff, you know, from obviously working for someone else and then starting your own business, you know, I think we all know, like, it's not for the faint of heart. It's hard. And you got to deal with all kinds of stuff. Not just.

Not just lead generation, not just branding, but like the payroll aspect and just everything. So it's definitely not easy. And you want someone to be able to grind it out with and. And grow with.

Jeff: 00:14:23

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, just a sure thing. I mean, I know you guys like props, but at the same time, when I'm.

When we switched to that other company just for, I think what was two weeks? Not even two weeks. I mean, it was just. It was like everything shut off. We had no calls, no leads.

Trying to get a hold of them was like trying to get a hold of somebody that owes you money. It was. I mean, it was a joke. I mean. I mean, we went and spoke to him in downtown St. Pete, and I mean, you could tell that he's done something.

Well, whether at be lying or doing well for other businesses, I don't know, but drives a Lamborghini Huracan, and, you know, he walks the walk.

Gabe: 00:15:21

You met this guy locally?

Jeff: 00:15:22

Yeah, he talks the talk. His building's really nice and everything like that.

Tyler: 00:15:29

My business, never trust a marketer that drives a Lamborghini.

Gabe: 00:15:33

That's exactly why I only rented one, man. That's exactly why I only rented one.

Tyler: 00:15:39

Yeah, I mean, rogue. I don't know if I should say that out loud.

Jeff: 00:15:43

I. I get you. I mean, my. My business partner and I were like, okay, this is it. This is. This is really good.

This is gonna make a huge difference from us, you know? You know, detailing growth. Got us from here to here. And now this. This guy's gonna get us from here to here. And holy shit, was that the opposite.

So we obviously went.

Gabe: 00:16:05

Was it like, you, You. It was just like communication stopped and, like, it just seemed like nobody was actively paying attention.

It was like, I'm just trying to understand what the experience was like.

Jeff: 00:16:18

No, it was like we didn't even exist anymore on the. On Google. I mean, Art, he tried to. Tyler. I don't even know what. You guys both know. I'm not a computer guy. But he was. He was trying to.

He was trying to switch us on to, like, some type of weird ads that you guys laughed at.

Gabe: 00:16:38

Oh, my God. He was trying to run LSAs for you. He was trying to run local.

Tyler: 00:16:44

Big difference in strategy. Big difference in strategy.

Jeff: 00:16:46

Yeah.

Tyler: 00:16:47

And there's no. There's no need to obviously harp on anybody else's strategy because, you know, at the end of the day, over time, it can work. I think we know that.

And I think there's truth, though, to Jeff. You're. You're Your thought process there with, like, okay, yeah, they got us here and then this company. Listen, that's true sometimes, right?

That's true, if I'll be completely honest. Like, there's people that leave us and then they still continue to grow, which is great.

Gabe: 00:17:13

Like, we just touched on somebody today, right?

Tyler: 00:17:16

We want that. But, you know, if your time has come, cool.

But you also have to, you know, be willing to put in the new work that's required to get to that next level.

Gabe: 00:17:27

Mm.

Tyler: 00:17:27

You know, sometimes people can fill that void, other times, you know, not. So, you know, this could have been one of those situations.

Jeff: 00:17:34

Yeah. I mean, you know, we noticed for sure, we noticed it was a mistake quick.

And obviously now we're going to be working with you guys on the second shot. Plus, Tyler, you and I talked today on a separate business as well.

Gabe: 00:17:46

Okay, that's awesome.

Listen, you know, I think I want to jump over towards, like, what is it that you thought was going to be one way that turned out to be the complete opposite? Are there some things that you originally, like, you thought was actually going to be different than it is?

Jeff: 00:18:10

I still don't know how to work a computer properly. No, but the back end side of things is so much different. I'm so used to selling, selling, selling, selling.

And I love closing deals and I love working with clients and everything like that and, you know, making people happy in the business as far as clients go. But yeah, the. The back end side of things and hiring and I've dealt with salespeople my whole life.

You know, I was sales manager for Jaguar Land Rover. But dealing with technicians is a whole different thing. You know, it's a lot more feelings and stuff like that. With salespeople. It's like, you suck.

Let's go.

Like, let's not suck, you know, and figure it, figure it out and move on with, with, with technicians, speaking to them, you know, it's more about becoming, you know, friends, but still a boss and somebody they can look up to and everything like that.

Gabe: 00:19:18

Well, let's, let's, let's talk about that. Like what, what is it that, what is it that you thought was going to be one way with text that ends up being completely different?

Jeff: 00:19:31

I think that I needed to approach it okay. I mean, I'm used to looking at what somebody's doing on a day to day basis from sales and, and looking okay, this is not working.

We need to be doing this like, hey, this sucks.

Gabe: 00:19:46

That sucks. Right? Like, yeah, that doesn't work that way with installers for sure.

Jeff: 00:19:50

No, no. So I mean with salespeople and a lot of.

I have zero technician, you know, you don't want to hand me a buffer or a knife or something, I'll probably cut myself. But with, with this stuff, with the sales aspect, you know, I can go in and close the deal for another salesperson.

I can't go and put PPF on the car for the guy because he's taking too long or because he keeps messing something up or something like that.

I can only get angry about it in my own head, which I learned, you know, getting angry at them out loud doesn't do anything but make them more frustrated and slow down and everything like that. Or they might do it wrong on purpose or something. Something wrong on purpose. You know, hopefully you don't come across that. But people are people.

Tyler: 00:20:47

I think there's something really important here. Real quick, Gabe. So like, you know, Jeff, you just said like you don't know how to put PPF on a car or window tin or anything like that.

Gabe: 00:20:55

Right.

Tyler: 00:20:55

But you're really good at sales. So I think, you know, people that might be stressed out about, you know, maybe they are good at doing the work but not good at sales like you.

You clearly found people, you know, that complimented you. Yeah, right. Like you focused in on what you were good at and you got people that were really good at what they were good at. Right.

The marketing side, the tech side, whatever it might have been. And I think that's important for anyone to know, like, just leverage other people that are good at what they're good at.

Jeff: 00:21:24

Yeah, I mean, I, I, I. My shop manager and head technician, angel, he reached out to me one day about kind of doing side work and stuff for us.

And I'm not super keen on side work stuff.

I like having somebody that's there every day so you can learn what they're doing and everything like that and kind of understand them more and understand the process, and then they're more there for you rather than just trying to get something done, then you never hear from them again or whatever.

But angel approached me and I said, look, man, I'm not down for the side work stuff, but if you want to come work for me, I'm, I'm happy to, you know, bring you on and see what you can do. And, man, that was kind of a godsend because he, he's an amazing technician. Awesome guy. He, he's not here for himself, which is awesome.

You know, he wants to help the business grow. He's always giving me ideas because he had a successful detail business in Miami.

And then I think he, he, he met his wife, his current wife, and they moved up here. They live in Wesley Chapel, which is just north of here.

But he drives an hour and 15 minutes here every single day, and he's here on time, and he doesn't bitch. And I mean, he just does an amazing job. And he actually ended up teaching his wife ppf, and now she's one of my employees, too, and his neighbor.

Gabe: 00:22:52

That's awesome.

Jeff: 00:22:53

He's one of my employees, and he's really good at ceramic coatings and paint correction and everything like that. Now he's learning tint too, so it's, it's been really good.

Gabe: 00:23:06

I think that's the way to do it. That's the way you have to do it, though. Like, you have to cultivate. You have to cultivate from your core values internally, cultivate your people.

And if you get the right people, they'll do exactly that. They will further reciprocate those values and bring in more people that reflect them. And that's a really unique skill to find those people.

And what is it, what is it that, that drew to, Drew you to angel for you to feel like that?

I mean, I'm assuming that when you originally started, you weren't expecting him to, like, sprout up other people to help you and come up with those ideas, but did stand out about angel that made, made you pick, made you pick him. And I'm asking this because somebody recently said, how do I pick the right teammates? And I think this is a perfect opportunity to ask that.

Jeff: 00:24:01

Yeah, I mean, I kind of brought him on as just an installer at first, and I had another PPF installer off the beginning, and he did a nice job and everything like that, but he took a really long time and I ended up, he and I kept him on too, but this guy ended up going back to Vietnam for like two and a half months and then he just came back.

But we ended up just parting ways because I'm like, after seeing angel work and everything like that, I said, I said, look, we can't be working this slow. So, yeah, we ended up doing that.

Gabe: 00:24:40

But what was it about angel? Like, like that stood out? Like, okay, work speeds, one piece. What is it that stood out about his character?

Was it something that you noticed when you think back on it?

Jeff: 00:24:53

Off the rip? It was off the rip. It was more about the installs and stuff like that because we were growing so, so rapidly.

I, I needed more people, I needed stuff to get done. But I knew this guy was, I, I, he had a big Instagram page and stuff like that and quite a lot of followers and stuff.

So I looked at all his stuff and he's done high quality work. And he was actually doing some stuff for Ceramic Pro in Tampa, like side work stuff. And I called them and they had a good experience with them.

So yeah, so we brought them on. But I mean, after a few weeks it was kind of like, hey, Jeff, I recommend you do this to the business and this to the business.

And, you know, this worked well for us in Miami. And some of the things I took and some of the things I didn't, but I mean, he's, he's there, he's been there to help and has done a really good job.

Gabe: 00:25:50

So do you think the takeaway from that is to is you made, you made a decisive and like action based decision because this person was ready to execute.

Jeff: 00:26:01

Here's the thing with the, the people I've hired. I've only had good experiences with the people that have came on as a salary employee.

And I know you might not agree with that, but I have not had good luck with anybody that's been fully commissioned or wants to just do side work or anything like that. And I think one of the biggest reasons behind that is that they're, they're working for you.

You know, they want to be a part of the team and everything like that. When it's just doing side work, they don't care. They just want to get it done and get paid and go.

Gabe: 00:26:41

They're not invest.

k in our shop that come in as: 1099

If you just take who's available, that's how you end up with crappy work and comebacks and people who aren't going to support you. Right. So I think you experience, and like, clearly you experience that. You kind of mentioned, you know, people just being out there for themselves.

But if you can pick the people that, that are actively showing up for you and showing up and executing for you, if you can enable those people to do more for your business, they will continue to put in because they feel valued.

Jeff: 00:27:32

Yeah, I mean, I think one of the biggest things in this business is there's so many ups and downs in it, especially right at the beginning, that you got to have a good support system.

So, you know, you guys are a great supportive system from the marketing side and everything like that, and kind of giving, you know, pointers and everything.

Gabe: 00:27:54

I mean, you and I had plenty of. You and I had plenty of personal conversations too. And that's the other piece of this. And like, you got to have somebody that you can. You.

Your support system internally has to be transparent.

And if, because if you can't have the car conversations and like, lay that out on the line with people who you work very closely with, then there's no point. There's no chance. You trust them to execute for you.

So, like, if that relationship isn't there, I feel like, like, because if Tyler or I saw you were calling us on a weekend at 10 o' clock at night, we're answering that phone because we both know that you're the guy who's like, got a family. And like, if somebody's calling that late, it must be a very serious problem. And, and like, that is not an.

Tyler: 00:28:41

Invitation, by the way.

Gabe: 00:28:42

Yeah, it's not an invitation to call us at 10 o' clock. And I do not do that. I swear to God, I'll set you on fire. Yeah, I'll. I'll. I'll end everybody. I'll end everybody for that.

But it's just, I say all of that to come full circle, to say that if you, if you feel like you don't have A support system that's strong enough to have a transparent conversation and somebody who you can tell a secret to, then there's no shot that you trust that person or that business to like show up and execute for you, like fully and at a hundred percent.

Jeff: 00:29:14

Yeah, no, I don't think that that's possible. But I mean, I, I think wholeheartedly do not get into this business if you don't have a support system and a family life.

Like my wife, she's gone through some shit with me doing this. You know, just me being in the car business is super tough on family life.

But then, you know, opening up your own business, I mean, you guys know both. You have your own business combined, together, separate, whatever. It's hard, you know, you're. You're working late, you're focused on that.

You're answering text messages and phone calls, you know, after hours.

Gabe: 00:29:54

What did we just say the other day? The grind is an optional. The grind is not optional. The grind is required for success, man.

Like there's no balance when you start this and when you are in growth phase and push mode, there's no balance. There's no such thing as an off button. You're on, you're on until you're no longer able to be on.

And then, and when you reach that point, it's okay to take a break, but like you gotta come, come back ASAP to being right back on. Right, right. Like, there's none of those things are optional when you're in the growth phase.

Because this is such, this is, this is such a kill or be killed type of, type of business. You got to be willing to kill every opportunity that you have. And that requires a lot of effort, man. That's a lot of effort and time and grind.

Jeff: 00:30:44

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if, if my wife didn't support me through this, this would ended a long time ago. You know, it's. It's tough. You get.

You got to make sure you have somebody that wants you to succeed and wants you to grow and they'll do the things to help you as well. I think that's super, super important. Especially if you got kids like I got a four year old. So I. Tomorrow we're doing.

I'm leaving, I get to leave early and we're doing Earth day at her school. So. So once you, once you get, once you get to a certain point, obviously you can do that stuff a little bit more.

And I have a, I have a great sales guy on my team as well, Hunter, that you guys both know that you know, he cares about the business too and wants to grow with the business. And that's really important.

Gabe: 00:31:35

I think that, that picking the right teammates and picking them early, like, even if you can't bring them on a hundred percent, still knowing those people and like keeping them, just keep making sure that you're staying in contact with them.

There are some people that I met when I first started in this sector that I still come in contact with and if I didn't know them back then, I wouldn't have had other opportunities that I have now.

Jeff: 00:32:08

Yeah.

Gabe: 00:32:08

So like, nobody is, nobody is truly above keeping inside of like your mind for remembering or like showing that you care. Because every, everybody is an opportunity and everybody is somebody that could potentially work with you in the future.

And like, if you meet those people early on, those are the people that you were like, you know, maybe you write down their name and their check in like your little notebook because you never know when things explode. And then you can put the hunter and angels to work and like, give those guys a real opportunity.

And just like, you know, you gotta have the black book of names. You gotta have the names list. Everybody has that. I have a small names list for like each thing here that takes place.

Tyler has a small names list for each thing and component inside of what we do. Because we, we manage a very large team globally.

And like, if something is broken, we know that we have a couple of people that we can call and say, yo, can you like, hook us up here and look at this.

And just having that, having that list of names is maybe, I think that's, maybe one of the takeaways is, is that you never know who you're going to meet and when and how you're going to connect with them and to just never write it off.

Jeff: 00:33:27

Agreed? 100%. Yeah.

I mean, one other thing that's huge in this business that I think not everybody thinks of, and I know you guys will agree with me with this, is it's not just one person. It's a whole picture in this business. So you can't just be an installer. Can't do it. You can't just be a sales guy because then you can't install.

You can't just have, you know, you can't just be a marketer because then you can't sell or you can't install. You have to have a salesperson, an installer, and a good marketing team and then a supportive system at home too.

Otherwise none of this will work for you. You will fail 100%. Or you're going to be making five. Or you're going to be making 5 grand a month, right?

Tyler: 00:34:17

And I was going to say you can, you can do those things. And listen, not everybody wants a million dollar business or $5 million business. You can do those things.

You just can't do those things if you want to get to that next level. Right? And that's the whole point here.

Gabe: 00:34:29

I think that if Tyler and I were to be approached by another person who said, hey, I want to boot up from ground zero and I'm ready to spend like ten grand a month on advertising, I don't know if we do it again.

Jeff: 00:34:45

So I'm that asshole.

Gabe: 00:34:47

We might take a special person, definitely. And I think you are that. You're definitely that asshole. For sure. You're that asshole.

Listen, but like, you had the sales skills and like you, you, like, you showed up and like proved that. And I think that was probably the big convincing piece, is that you had those skills to fall on because that's the most important piece at that time.

And that's what most of the newer guys struggle with, is like sales confidence and speaking confidence and like personability.

You had, you checked all those boxes and that's what I want to just applaud you at because like you were good enough to know and say like, listen, you don't need to like train me on like sales psychology. I got all of that.

Even though, like we tweaked it like as we went along, like you learned the verbiage and like what certain things meant and how you can read people differently. But like, you know, that's different for every business.

But I think that if somebody came to me and didn't have those things now, I don't think we'd take them. I don't, I just. Because it would be like, it would just be taking their money for the sake of taking their money.

And that's like, I think that was, that's a really unique thing to highlight, is that there's not a lot of people who are just truly prepared to step into a meat grinder on day one. Because that's what it is. It is a meat grinder for your existence, for like your sanity and your mental clarity. Am I making the right choices?

And like just your, your, your full on, your capability to stand in the fire when you're getting started is a direct reflection, I believe, of the skills that you carry with you to the starting point. Because if you don't have the right skills, I think that as you stand in the fire, or as we say, stand in the gap as you.

As you stand in that gap when you're. When you are first coming online, if you don't have the skills to back you up, you're just.

I think you go up in flames, and we see that happen all the time.

So I think maybe for those listening, I think that if you're ready to take the next step and you're ready to show up for yourself and you're ready to, like, you're ready to come up to the plate and, like, you got the bat on your shoulder, you're ready to start swinging. Before you swing, you should, like, factually ask yourself, have. Do I factually have the things and do I have the skills? Do I know that I have them?

And if you don't, it's still okay to swing, but you better be ready to strike out and deal with what a strikeout feels like and, like, stand in that fire and be willing to be on fire. Because if you don't have the hard skills, you're gonna.

I think that you're gonna get a very rude awakening, because it's a big difference between when you do have them and when you don't. And, Jeff, I want to applaud you for that, because you showed up and you were like, I know factually that I can do this. I can sell.

I know how to talk to people. I'm a people person. And I think that might be the most important skill for when you step up to the plate. And, like, you're.

You're either just starting out or you're. You're. Whatever the next ceiling that you need to break through is. I think. I think that. That you.

You knew what that ceiling was, and you smashed right through it because you had the skills.

Jeff: 00:38:17

Sure. Yeah. I mean, it's. Knowing what you're good at is. Is one thing, but you got to be open to learn and grow as well.

You know, That's a huge thing, because if you're not willing to do that.

Gabe: 00:38:33

Show up as a student. Yeah, you gotta be a student.

Jeff: 00:38:35

And I should. I learn new things every day at this place, good or bad. But it's. It's.

There's a lot of moving pieces with this business that I didn't really have the background of, you know? Mostly. Like what?

Well, like, when I was at that other shop, you know, that, you know, we went from doing a small amount of sales, a huge amount of sales in just one month, just from having me there actually selling. That's all I was focused on 100%.

Do I think if I would have had more people around me in this business doing those other things and all I was focusing on is selling, we could have grown even faster? Yeah, probably. But I mean, for those first. When did we bring Hunter on? Like three months ago, I think I brought Hunter on. I was doing all the.

Selling all the stuff with you guys. I was doing all the ordering, making sure the building's good. You know, it was like non stop, just thing after thing after thing after thing.

I mean, just sitting here for 42 minutes. Now somebody's knocked on the door in here five times already. And I told all of them before we came in here that I was doing this. So go away.

Gabe: 00:40:02

Yeah, right.

Jeff: 00:40:04

I mean, it just goes to show you, you have to be open to having your hands. You know, you have to be. One of my old salespeople who's surveying guy, he used to say, you have to be an octopus. You know, you have to have your.

He would be like, I am not octopus. You got to have your hands. You got to have your hands in a million different things. And it's.

Gabe: 00:40:29

You got to be, you got to be willing to sprout. Sprout extra limbs. Yeah.

You know, and like, I think that goes right back to you saying, like, the back end is like, it's a lot and like it's a lot of time and energy, especially if you don't have a system and like, you don't have it, like whatever it is and you don't have it all the way dialed in. I think that, that you suffer until you do.

Yeah, you suffer all the way until you do have this habit systemized and take that and apply it to whatever thing that you suffer with that you hate or can't stand. It doesn't matter what it is. Every, each individual thing is a system. The world is a system.

How you, how you walk and handle opening a door is a system. And if you, if you hate a lot of different things, well, that's a lot of different systems that you still don't have.

And I think that until you systemize it, you hate it and you hate it and loathe it. What do you think, Tyler? I, I. Hold on. Tyler's over here. He's got his gears churning right now, and I want to hear what he has to say.

Tyler: 00:41:39

Oh, I'm just taking it all in. I agree with you 100%. I, I know.

I, I mean, ultimately, this is, this is a big reason why businesses, this is a big reason why businesses either succeed or fail. Right. And just that concept alone.

So it's important to just kind of take in and kind of check yourself and realize like do, do I have these systems in place? And if not, go figure them out or else again you're not going to get to that next level.

Jeff: 00:42:08

Yeah, for sure. Another big thing with this business that I learned fairly quickly is don't use the cheap junky PPFs and ceramic coatings and stuff like that.

Get something that's high quality, a brand that's actually going to support you and stuff like that. Because I've.

When we first started, I, I didn't know what to, what to get and we were buying overseas stuff and there's something wrong with it and they're like, oh, sorry about that. Okay, what, what do you get? What are you guys gonna do? Nothing. No, nothing. And it's basically your fault that you let them cheat you.

And it's like, I mean I, it's crazy but.

Gabe: 00:42:53

And that's. Is that what landed you on Ceramic Pro is you needed a support system?

Jeff: 00:42:57

Well, I mean Ceramic Pro approached us. I kind of, I probably would have just kept going down the same road really and figured it out, but Ceramic Pro approached us.

There was actually another shop down the street that was Ceramic Pro Saint Pete. And then Ceramic Pro found out they were using other products and was saying they were using Ceramic Pro products and they weren't. And they.

So then they approached us and saw how fast we were growing and everything like that.

And I don't know if they knew we were doing marketing with you, Gabe, because I know you're Ceramic Pro Pottstown and I mean we're, I've had nothing but great luck with them. They've, they've been really great with us.

Me and Peter, the owner of Ceramic Pro, have become really close in the short period of time that we've been with them. We've been with them like six months now I think.

But yeah, I mean I had a guy cancel an order the other day that was, you know, ninety five hundred dollar job sucks that we lost the job. But he, Eddie over there was like, oh, just send the material back, no problem. I was like, okay.

It's not like, oh no, screw, you know, you know, you just bought $3,600 worth of material. You're screwed now. But yeah, I mean we're. Just send the matte black film back and move on. That's it. That's cool. I love that.

Gabe: 00:44:27

Let me ask you this then. Let's, let's use this opportunity here. All right, so just show up for this.

If you had a chance to pick to do this again, would you have talked to ceramic Pro soon 100 and said, hey, I want to be an elite dealer?

Jeff: 00:44:48

100 yeah. 100 and the, the reasons why is we dealt with so many issues with these films and stuff like that.

And it was crazy because I, I was ordering in bulk because the stuff was so cheap. Be honest with you. And you know, I don't order 10, 12, 15 rolls at a time because it take a month to get here.

But it would, it'd come in and it was like every roll was different. You know, the glue was different, the hydrophobic properties of it was different.

Some was clearer than others and it's all from the same company or supposedly. And it was just like it was an issue every time and night and day.

Gabe: 00:45:34

So you think it was a, it was a night and day difference then in product quality. Yeah.

And like now with the elite dealer system you've got, you have a real, like a real support system that you can talk to and like, hey, look, this is what's happening. Can you please help us versus, you know, you were just kind of on your own before and they were just like, oh, okay, bye.

And you were just kind of like fending for yourself.

And I think you learned the hard way of why companies like Ceramic Pro and some of the other big names are here because they bring with them a support system that is an actual benefit for you and your business. And if you work with the right team. Hi, my name's Gabe. I operate Detailing Growth.

If you work with the right team that knows how to execute and take advantage of those brand properties that you can then attach to, that's where the real growth leverage comes from.

And I'll say that I just looking back on everything that you've done, getting on board with Ceramic Pro was quite possibly the best thing for your numbers because they've only gone this, they've only gone this way since then for sure.

And I, I think that, that anybody who's sales enabled, who's thinking about where do I go for the next growth lever, where do I go for the next thing? That you should look for ways to enhance your, your levels of trust in your market.

And picking a good, picking a brand name to boost your power with is fantastic if you understand how to execute that. And I think that a lot of people don't.

But I also think that there's plenty of them that do that would just print cash if they decided to go for sure.

Jeff: 00:47:25

100%. Yeah.

I mean, yes, you still have to have all those aspects in place that we talked about earlier to be successful, but this is just a huge game changer.

And one of the big things that is crazy to me is, and I know it's not going to be the same for everybody, and please don't expect it to be the same with everybody, but I created a relationship with Peter, the owner, when I went there for Matrix training. And we talked three, four times a week. Text call on the. I was on the phone with him this morning for 40 minutes.

And that's crazy to me that a billionaire owner of Ceramic Pro amongst a bunch of other companies that, you know, people. Some people know about, some people don't, will actually give you the time of day.

A shop, you know, doing 80 grand a month or whatever, that's not really anything compared to his business. He'll actually give you the time of day and talk to you and everything like that.

Like I said, it's not going to be, you know, the same for everybody in every relationship like that, but it's, It's. It's who you know as well. You know, getting. Learning to talk to the right people and getting in the right circles and everything like that.

I think that can switch into something else if you have time with this business as well, is going out to the right people, get in those car shows, get in those car groups and everything like that, and start marketing that way. Because if you don't do that, that's a lot less people in your community that are gonna know about you.

And those are the people you need to know about you, the people in your community, whether it be doing charity stuff or not. I mean, we did. We did car rallies. We. We do, you know, huge events down in vanilla park in St. Pete, Festival of Speed.

We do car events all the time and stuff like that. And we're actually working on some other stuff. We might do, like a big poker event here or something like that. We're just trying to think of.

Gabe: 00:49:25

Oh, yeah, that is sick. I'm getting on a plane. I'm coming. I'm on my way, dog. Listen, both of us are on our.

Jeff: 00:49:34

Way, so we're just trying to talk to everyone we can.

Tyler: 00:49:39

I love that.

Gabe: 00:49:41

I do. Yeah, that's. That's awesome. And.

Well, listen, I just want to say thank you for coming on to the Talking Pain podcast with me and Tyler today so that we could. So we could hear a little bit more about, you know, what it was like coming up and the lessons you learned and some of those hardships.

Thank you for sharing them and for being an open book.

There's a lot of people out there that are going to see value in this and you're going to help a lot of people understand different ways to look at things. So I just want to say thank you because I'm somebody that does this, because I want other people to do better and I want other people to be better.

And like me and Tyler's goal or not, we're not here to just sell people marketing because there's a lot of people that can do that and they can do that well, and we do it exceptionally well. But what I know we're good at and what I know that we've proven to be.

Case in point, Jeff is with you is that if you work with a team close enough and you develop a relationship close enough, you can do anything and you can go anywhere that you want and grow in any way, shape or form within the realm of reality and market cap. That, that the. If, if you, you. You work it and work it until it works and you work it within trust that execution at any level is possible.

And I just want to say thank you to you for allowing us the ability to do that for you.

Jeff: 00:51:11

Absolutely.

Gabe: 00:51:11

I appreciate you guys and I just abs we, we seriously appreciate you.

And for those of you listening, if you have a shop and you're looking for the next thing or possibly thinking that, you know, you're at that 40, 50, $60,000 mark and you're ready to push to that next growth lever, I want to talk to you so I can understand what that growth lever is. And then Tyler wants to talk to you so we can figure out how we can help you do that.

And then if you're super slick, I'll let Jeff get on the phone with you and like pick your sales brain apart and like destroy you. No, I'm kidding. He's not going to do that. Thank you for listening today.

Please visit detailinggrowth.com, check out the YouTube channel detailing growth as well, and sign up for the Detail Shift newsletter where I literally deliver nuclear sized value bombs to your inbox once a week. So thank you very much for listening. We genuinely appreciate you. My name's Gabe. I'm joined by my partner, Tyler and Jeff from Ceramic Pro Saint Pete.

Thank you very much everybody for listening.