ADN

THE BUSINESS OF
DETAILING
Staying Strong
and Being
Prepared ...
during this difficult time
By Rob Schruefer
rob@onspotdetailing.com
Rob Schruefer is the owner of On The
Spot Detailing out of Columbia, Maryland.
He proudly serves on the board of the
International Detailing Association and works
tirelessly to ensure that detailing business
owners receive business development support
to help them achieve their goals.
These past few months have really hit
every detailing company hard. There is
a level of uncertainty around right now
that I have never felt in the detailing
community. It’s a tough time to navigate
the forced mandatory closures of detailing
businesses, and the ones that could stay
open are faced with dwindling levels of
potential customers. There is no doubt that
some detailing companies will not recover
and will be unable to open back up once
the restrictions are lifted. If you are not
or do not want to fall into that category
there are some things you can be doing
now to prepare yourself for the eventual
reopening. It is vital that you be ready.
WEATHERING
THE STORM
Economic downturns have occurred
in the past, and will continue to occur in
the future. How you weather the storm
and come out the other side will be the
difference on success or failure. One of
my executive managers calls our recovery,
“Plan Jenny”, as in Forrest Gump’s
shrimping boat that he and Lieutenant
Dan rode to ride out the storm. After the
storm wiped out all of the other boats,
they were able to find great success. You
need to think of this like that. If you can
make it to the other side, there will be an
increase in market share and enormous
growth for those that were ready for it.
The key here is being ready for it. If you
hit the starting line running, no one will
ever catch up.
HIT THE GROUND
READY TO RUN
Here are a few things you can do to
be ready for re-launching your business:
Prepare your staff: Now is a fantastic
opportunity to start bringing back staff
a little bit early and brush them up
on training and services. If you were
fortunate to get PPP money from the
government, it needs to be spent on payroll
anyways, so why not use some of it to
prepare the employees who might be a little
rusty after a few months off. This is also the
time to make any policy updates or changes
that you have been meaning to do. As
everyone comes back, you introduce them
to these updates and start implementation.
It is difficult to make major changes on the
fly, but this presents the perfect opportunity
to make updates and implement them while
not much else is going on.
Seize the opportunity: If you are lucky
enough to see the other side of this, you
will be in a great position to expand your
business. There are customers that are
up for grabs if you go out there and find
them. Any customers who had been
going to now closed detailing businesses
will be looking for new providers. This
applies to single retail customers all the
way up to large dealership chains. As
they reopen they will be scrambling to
replace any detailer who is not returning.
You can also find some quality detailers
that have been laid off. There are tens
of millions of people out there without
work. I can guarantee that you can find
quality detailers that will blow you away,
if you just look. Also do not be afraid to
hire someone without detailing experience
and train them to do the job. People
will be hungry for work.
Plan for the future: There is no reason
to assume that you will not see growth
once your business restarts. Make a plan
on where you want to be in 1 year, 5
years, 10 years, etc. This will give you
the path to follow as real success starts to
come your way. If you know where you
are going and have your goals in place
coming out of this, then head straight
for it, NO ONE will be able to keep up .
There is absolutely no reason that
you should not have a positive outlook on
your businesses surviving this. I am even
predicting a boom in the detailing industry
due to fewer detailers and competition,
and a renewed interest in ensuring that
vehicles are clean and germ free. This
pandemic has created an awareness for
cleanliness and sanitization, and detailers
can provide that service. Make sure you
are marketing this in all of your advertising
and social media platforms. Most
importantly, do not hesitate or be slow
off the starting line. Be the Jenny boat of
the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company and
claim your place among the successful
industry leaders.
8 | AUTO DETAILING NEWS | VOL. 5, NO. 2 • SUMMER 2020