The fine line between education & selling

by Prentice St. Clair

The first step in any detail, especially with a new customer, is to conduct a customer interview. The customer interview has three parts: information gathering, vehicle inspection, and customer education. The interview gives you the opportunity to determine the customer’s needs, wants and desires, while at the same time building rapport and “selling” your service. The interview also affords you the opportunity to educate the customer about the automotive reconditioning and protection options that are available.

The aim of this article is to share some common situations in which customer education is beneficial. Most retail customers have very little understanding of the proper care of automotive surfaces. And, unfortunately, there are many longstanding misconceptions about automotive appearance care that are propagated by vehicle owner-to-owner conversations and even from professionals who themselves simply do not have the proper education.

“I AM the Professional”

First of all, let’s help your customers understand where they’re money is going. You are using professional grade chemicals and equipment, that, along with professional techniques and time, yield a spectacular looking and well-protected vehicle. When potential customers complain about the price, explain to them what they are getting for that price. It would take the average car owner a couple of days to do all we can do in a matter of a few hours, and our result is superior.

Along with this discussion should come the discussion of price versus value. Many potential customers will be put off by a higher price. The typical customer response is something like, “Oh, well I can get this done by so-and-so down the street for much less.” The proper response to this is covered in the paragraph above.

I recommend also including a “service excellence guarantee,” which ensures that you will take care of anything with which the customer is not happy. I don’t recommend money-back guarantees—I would rather spend a little extra time on the car instead of giving back all of my hard-earned money.

The lowest price typically isn’t. The customer will have to pay somehow for a lower price, typically by spending more time shopping around, increased inconvenience, or inferior service. Explain to the customer that you offer a better value than the competition. The customer gets more per dollar than the competition.

Even with these great explanations, some customers will insist that they are happy with the other guy who charges less. I will ask the customer if he or she is absolutely delighted with the results that the other guy produces. If the customer says “yes,” then I ask, “Well, then, why are you talking with me? There must be something wrong or you would be at the other guy’s shop right now.”

“It Never Needs Wax”

One of the most common points of confusion that I run into is the customer’s misconceptions of the distinctions between the clearcoat and technician-applied protection. It usually comes out in a customer statement like, “they applied a clearcoat at the dealership, so I never have to wax the car.” Most recently, it was this one: “The clearcoat protects the paint, right?”

This is simply a reflection of the fact that the customer does not understand that the clearcoat is actually part of the paint system. It IS paint. And it is thus subject to the same potential problems that can happen to any conventional paint system, including oxidation, scratching, fading, etching and fallout. Yes, it is true that modern clearcoat systems have ultraviolet light inhibitors and in some cases can be more durable than a conventional paint system. Nonetheless, the clearcoat needs protection like any other paint system. Your job is to explain this to the customer.

It’s great when there is a car with peeling clear that you can point to in the parking lot and say, “THAT car was probably not protected on a regular basis.” Another option is to carry a photo or two (in the portfolio that you should have, anyway) of a car with peeling or cloudy clearcoat. The photo shows undisputable evidence that clearcoat paint systems can have problems too.

The best line I’ve ever heard on the benefit of applying protection to the paint is this: “You can either have the paint as the sacrificial layer to the elements, or the wax/sealant as the sacrificial layer. Which would you prefer?” The benefit of using the protective chemical as the sacrificial layer is that the paint looks great for years to come. Without protection, the paint WILL do its primary job of protecting the substrate from corrosion for many years—it just won’t look very good in a couple of years and the appearance will continue to deteriorate thereafter.

Here’s another quick way to educate the customer. Pull out the owner’s manual of the vehicle. I check these often and most of them suggest waxing the vehicle up to once a month in order to maintain the appearance of the paint. Some newer manuals even suggest using a paint sealant instead of wax! Remind the customer that these are recommendations from the manufacturer of the vehicle—those people that built it and painted it. The manufacturer does not make any money from these recommendations, so the motive is simply to advise the consumer on how to best care for the appearance of the car.

Sometimes dealers or salespersons give uneducated advice that leads the consumer to believe that the vehicle never has to be waxed. Be prepared to combat this bad advice with the above suggestions. Remind your customer that the dealer is the expert in selling cars whereas you are the expert in the appearance care of the vehicle.

Speaking of dealers, I recommend that you constantly educate and remind your customers that you can apply new car premium protection products that are typically sold at the dealership for hundreds of dollars more. These packages usually include an application of a paint sealant (often called Teflon™), carpet liquid repellant, and leather conditioner. It often comes with a warranty of up to six years, although, if you read the fine print on the warranty, most common paint maladies are not covered!

In contrast, we, as automotive appearance experts, know that the only true way to protect the paint is through repeated applications of the product. Often the dealer protection package is included in the financing package, so the customer doesn’t feel like it’s coming right out of their pocket. The customer will not only pay an outrageous price for a simple service, but he or she will also pay interest on that outrageous price! So I tell my customers to save that money at the dealership and spread out the investment over several years by having me apply protection every six to 12 months. This not only protects the car correctly, it helps the car to look great for years, not just the first year.

“Can You Buff Out My Car?”

People use all kinds of terms to describe car appearance care. It is important for us to be consistent with our customers and each other in the terminology that we use for different vehicle appearance service elements. For example, many vehicle owners will use the terms “polish” and “wax” to mean the same thing—a chemical that makes the paint shiny. Polish cleans and shines the paint surface. Wax is a protective product that may enhance the gloss of the paint but, in its true state, is not really designed to permanently remove any paint problems.

Then there are the customers who talk about “buffing” the car. Some of them actually mean that they want you to use a high-speed polisher on the paint surface. Others simply want the paint to look “buff,” or clean and shiny with protection.

So make sure you and your customer are on the same page as to the meaning of these various terms. You can do this by educating the customer about what can be done to the paint surface. Buffing or polishing with a high-speed polisher and an appropriate chemical will permanently remove minor paint damage such as micro-scratches and light oxidation. Waxing the car is the necessary step of applying a protective product after that buffing has made the paint look terrific.

Since buffing or polishing can add an extra hour or so to a standard exterior detail, there should be an additional charge for this service. The benefit to the customer is that the paint will look that much better when you are done.

“Put Two Layers of Wax on there, Biff”

Another misconception is that multiple applications of wax will increase the protective value of the product. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. Automotive wax is not like floor wax, which builds up with repeated application. Automotive wax begins evaporating off the paint surface as soon as it is applied. And, in fact, as additional layers are applied, the solvents in the wax will break down any previous layers of wax that are on the paint surface.

The same goes for the silly notion of applying a coat of wax after an application of paint sealant. The solvents in the wax will “melt” the sealant layer right off.

Most customers do not understand the durability of protective paint products. I explain this to the customer by asking, “ever notice that great just-waxed smell that your car has when you put it in the garage after waxing it? That’s because the wax is evaporating off the surface.” Additionally, each time the car is washed, some of the wax layer is washed off as well. Thus the importance of applying wax as often as the customer can afford it.

That brings to mind the funny concept of “stripping” the wax off the car before detailing it. Actually, there is typically nothing left to “strip off,” if it’s been more than a few weeks after the last wax application. You could wax a car every day and have no wax build-up to strip off. Just explain to the customer that you will be thoroughly washing the vehicle, removing any surface contamination (using detailer’s clay), and applying a protective layer to the paint. Simple as that.

(In some areas of the country, acid-washing is a normal part of the prep wash. This is “stripping” the car of heavy concentrations of industrial fallout and acid rain damage. This is a legitimate procedure that has nothing to do with “stripping” off wax build-up.)

So, what do we tell the customer about frequency of service? My approach is to make recommendations and let the customer decide. For example, most high-quality waxes will last from one to six months. Most polymer paint sealants will last three to 12 months. The ranges reflect the conditions to which the vehicle is subject. The bottom of the range is the car that is outside all of the time and is washed once a week. The top of the range is the car that is garaged at home and work and is washed less frequently.

Another approach to this question is to recommend that the customer have the car detailed as often as his or her budget will allow. (I also remind them that a freshly detailed car really makes you feel good for several weeks!) I offer the customer a discount considering the frequency of service that they choose. I also know that the more often I work on a car, the easier it is for each service.

For those with a tight budget, I recommend that we get the car in at least once a year for minimum protection and appearance maintenance. This takes the pressure off the customer, but at the same time helps them understand the importance of SOME kind of regular maintenance, even if it’s not at the most desirable frequency.

For those with black cars who are fanatical about the appearance of the car, I recommend waxing the car once a month and polishing it once a year. Let’s face it, every time a car is washed, the paint is scratched. Over time and numerous washes, those scratches accumulate to form “cob-webbing” or mislabeled “swirls.” We can’t polish the car too often as this will remove too much paint. Wax will temporarily hide micro-scratches, although they will reappear as the wax wears off. If the car is waxed once a month, this seems to keep it consistently looking great.

As far as interiors are concerned, I tell the customer, “it really depends on your preference. When you are not happy with how the inside of your car looks, call me.” I also tell them that most customers prefer to have the interior detailed about every six months.

Final Thoughts

Be careful not to overwhelm the customer with facts. It should be more of a discussion: you ask the customer a question; his/her response leads you into a short educational statement; the customer asks a question, etc. As you are explaining different things, ask the customer “Does that make sense?” This will help to make sure that you have not lost the customer’s attention or train of thought. It also shows that you are concerned and that you are trying to make a connection with the customer, not just bowl them over with facts.

There is sometimes a fine line between education and selling. I believe that if you use common sense information and logical arguments during your sales “presentations” with each customer, you will impress the customer with your knowledge, thus leading to more closes at higher prices.

Prentice St. Clair is the president of San Diego-based Detail in Progress Inc. which offers consulting and training in the automotive detailing and reconditioning industries. He can be reached directly at 619.701.1100 or by e-mail at prentice@detailinprogress.com.