In most service businesses, the operations who charge the most and do the highest quality work, rely almost exclusively on word of mouth. Unfortunately, this takes years to build. I have been detailing full time for nearly two years. Just recently has the word of mouth business started to pick-up. In addition, I have enough people in my customer database that I can market to them and remind them about the value of detailing. Remember, it is much more expensive to gain new customers than to retain the ones you already have. A simple post card twice a year will remind them you still exist. Most of my new customers come from my yellow page ads and internet ads. I am always thinking of ways to reach the people who see the value in detailing. As you have stated it is difficult to reach that crowd because they usually rely on word of mouth for recommendations. The other way to increase profits is to increase your efficiency. Instead of raising prices, refine your process and buy equipment that makes you more productive. I have decided to set prices that are attractive to most people in my area. To increase profits I have refined my process and purchased the best equipment to decrease my details times and costs.
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