When your car detailing business slows down, you wonder what you might be doing wrong. Sometimes, you need clarification about the next step because you don’t even know the cause of the problem. 

You looked everywhere for a solution till you thought of hitting the Google search button for terms like ‘what to do when car detailing business slows down, ‘how do I get more detailing clients?’, ‘how do I speed up my detailing?’, ‘how can I promote my detailing business and more? Unfortunately, you couldn’t find a detailed and direct answer.

Well, be glad you found this page because you’ll find out why your car detailing business is slowing down and what to do to start getting customers like never before. You’ll also find answers to other questions about the auto detailing business.

Even if your business is still strong, the tips discussed here can take your auto detailing business to the next level.

Why your car detailing business may be slowing down

Let’s see why your car detailing business is experiencing slows days, weeks, or months.

Lack of preparation against the slow business season

You usually can’t predict this awful season which is why you get caught up in it. But, if you were always prepared, you wouldn’t feel the hit. 

You may have gotten too comfortable when the business was booming. You stopped promoting your business, following up with customers, reaching out to new customers, sharing your business card, or even updating your website. These were the signs your company was declining; you should have noticed earlier. 

Don’t worry; the best ways to recover from this will be discussed in this article.

You may be losing to your competitors

Competition is part of the business. No matter how many car detailers are in your city. It would be best if you did everything to stand out to win customers’ hearts. Probably, your competitors stood out, but you didn’t; thus, the reason you’re experiencing a slow business season.

In this case, your best bet is to improve the overall quality of your service and then offer weekend specials to make your service desirable again.

Winter

Some car owners on forums like Reddit and Quora didn’t feel the need for detailing during the winter. They prefer waiting till the season is over before detailing their cars. They believe their vehicles don’t get dirty during this very wrong season, but that’s a topic for another day.

What to Do When Car Detailing Business Slows Down

Having identified the reason your car detailing business may be slowing down, here are some ways to get back up;

Reach out to old customers 

if you’re running into slow business weeks or months, you should consider reaching out to your old customers. It is easier to sell to old customers than to acquire new ones. This is because you can avoid repeating the customer acquisition process to make a sale. Just a couple of mass texts or emails will do the job. 

Start by collecting your customers’ emails, phone numbers, and names. This is easier if you’re already using software like Zendesk and Zoho. If you don’t use any of this software, retrieve these data from wherever you saved them. Your phonebook? Google Drive? Call log? Wherever.

Collect as many customer contacts as possible and send a personalized message to everyone on your list. You can search the internet for software for bulk texts and emails; you’ll find a lot of suggestions but ensure you go with the option that satisfies your business needs.

The personalized message should not sound too salesy since the goal is to remind them that you are still in business. Just send something and makes them call you when next they need a car detailer.

You can send something like;

”Hey [name of client], this is James Detailing. I’m glad to have you as a client, and I wanted to follow up to see how you’re doing. [remind them that their car is due for detailing, announce winter special, offer discounts], regards.”

Doing this will put your business back in your client’s minds, and they’ll reach out to you when they next need your service. This technique is also effective when your car detailing business is booming.

Update your website

Like your business card, your website contains the most crucial information about your company offerings. It is like the image of your business online. 

Letting it outdated creates a wrong impression about your business. Your potential customers might see you as an unserious and inactive business, thus causing a slowdown in your business.

So, if you are among those business owners who build their website and abandon it after a while, it’s time to make a change. 

After all, the business isn’t moving as expected, so why not spend some time updating?

You can start by checking everything that needs to be updated. A quick check;

Is the information about your business up to date? Do you still use the exact location? Are your phone numbers and emails still active? Do you offer new services? Your answers to these questions will determine what needs to be changed.

 Also, focus on updating some elements that inspire trust. If you’ve received more testimonials and completed more projects, edit and showcase them.

Ensure your website is intuitive, user-friendly, and easy to navigate. You can as well promote your latest offerings and specials. If you have a blog section, write more educative posts.

Optimize your website for local keywords

Many people are too busy to be moving about searching for a car detailer. What they do is pick up their phone and do a Google search for car detailers near them. And this is where optimizing for local keywords comes in.

Your business will show up if your website is optimized for your potential customers’ search queries. This way, you can drive traffic that converts these potential customers to active customers.

You can start by identifying the keywords your customers can use to find your business through keyword research. These keywords often include your business location or the locations your serve. For instance, if you stay in Texas, optimize for ‘car detailing service Texas’ or ‘car detailers Texas .’You can also get ideas from your Google search console. Just go to your search console dashboard and select keywords you’re with impressions but no clicks. Keyword research tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs too can help. 

Having identified the keywords you want to rank for, start creating local-based content around those keywords. You can also use these keywords in your Google my Business. The more you rank for these keywords, the more customers you have.

Network with other businesses

Networking is a great way to expand your customers in every business. Money, they say, is in people. So, go out there and connect with more people when you’re not detailing a car. 

Meeting people in the same industry as yours can lead to more customers through referrals and also open room to more opportunities. 

For instance, if you are connected to car washers. When their clients need the service of a detailer, you are most likely to be the person they call since you’ve already associated with them. 

Here are a few ways to meet new people;

• Join associations in car detailing, car washing, and other related associations.
• Attend conferences and events in your industry
• Volunteer to work for big organizations.

Ensure you connect with as many people as possible and build a positive relationship with them. The more you connect, the more customers you get.

Some tips to strengthen connections with your network include; offering a helping hand, communicating, being honest and transparent, respecting people’s time, and more. This is effective for both slow and booming businesses.

Offer free extras

Everyone loves free things, even your customers. You can win the hearts of customers and potential customers by giving out free extras to customers. It can be something other than an expensive item. Just something that will always make them have you in mind. It can be a car vacuum, T-shirt, or free fabric protection. Just do it and watch your customers come back.

FAQs:

How do I get more car detailing clients?

You can get more car detailing clients by running targeted ads, engaging in referrals and royalty programs, building an email list, and promoting your business to them.

How to promote my detailing business?

There many ways to promote your detailing business but I would recommend; search engine optimization, car shows, social media and referral programs.

How to find auto detailing customers?

You can find auto detailing customers through running Facebook ads, word of mouth, referrals, networking, and search engine optimization.

Conclusion 

When the car detailing business slows down, you should try to figure out the cause and then act based on that. Some common reasons for the slowdown in the car detailing business include; poor preparation, the season of the year- winter, and high competition. You can revert the situation by; reaching out to old customers, updating your website, and optimizing for local keywords. Meanwhile, it would be best if you didn’t wait till your business slows again before practicing everything learned today.