Pricing, once you’ve worked out the individual numbers, isn’t difficult:
Costs + Salary needs + Tax = Price.
It’s quite a simple formula, but still the question “how much would you charge for this” echoes around forums, pages, and chats, and no one can seem to agree on what a price “should” be for a particular service.
That’s because “should be” doesn’t come into it. “Is it a competitive price?” Sure, that’s a legitimate question, but that’s not the most important aspect – especially if the services are inconsistent.
I firmly believe the reason start-up detailing companies often struggle to justify that equation figure in their head is simple:
Hands up: how many detailer startups regularly paid someone else to detail their car previously…?
Most people get into this industry to do something they enjoy doing. They enjoy cleaning their own vehicles and decide it’s a service they want to offer to others. But they’ve rarely had someone else clean their car as that’s… something they enjoy doing themselves – so why would they have paid someone else to do it previously?
This is like opening a restaurant having never been out for a meal. Or trying to write a novel without ever having read a book. No chapters, no front cover – you don’t know what people expect!
Without the consumer side of the experience, you might miss out on the benefits you’re providing with the service which justify the cost to an end user. You’re not just providing a clean vehicle, you’re adding that time spent cleaning the vehicle back into your customer’s life.
They might spend that with their family at the weekend instead, or have it done at work where they can earn at the same time, so it’s cost-neutral to them. They might have an injury preventing them from doing it thoroughly, they don’t have the kit themselves, or frankly; they might just not enjoy cleaning cars as much as you do – in which case you both win!
Maybe try to get someone else to valet your car for a change, at different levels of the market, and see how you feel about the cost and results – not “I could do it better”, but as a consumer, what benefit do you feel, and was it worth the money you paid? See if this helps your perspective on what you charge vs the service you offer.
Find your customer
There are always going to be people out there with an “I could do it myself for less than that” attitude.
These are not your customers.
They will find an outlet at a price point which will make it more beneficial for them to have someone else clean their car – be it a £10 roadside wash, or someone half the price of you – but that doesn’t mean you’re expensive, just not cheap enough to make it more valuable than their own time spent completing the task.
Your costs are your costs, and sticking to them is the only way to make your business sustainable. Someone down the road could be cheaper, but you don’t know that business’ situation – they could be getting cheaper chemicals, maybe someone bought them a van so they don’t have to lease, their uncle may own a business unit who gives it to them for a cheap rent, or maybe they’re just rubbish at working out their costs and it will catch up with them.
The options
When you see that final calculated figure, you have to make a choice:
a) Chase the business that will pay the costs.
b) Adjust the service level / chemical quality / time allotted down to lower the cost.
c) Adjust YOUR lifestyle to meet other people’s demands.
Only one of those will give you the business you want to run. The other two are reasons people leave the industry disillusioned.
Figure out your costs, identify your market, work happy.
