The other day, I was talking to a mobile detailing entrepreneur in the state of Florida. He been doing business an awful long time, but he also noted that unemployment in the state just hit 8.8%. It wasn’t like this in the past where he could go to any office building, and all the workers were flush with cash and paid him for an executive $20 wash, and a $125.00 detail every other month. Today, he is busy trying to find any customer he can, and he asked me a very interesting question.
He told me that many of the customers in the retirement resort gated communities were asking him for a senior citizen discount. I told him that would be rather tough because almost everyone in those facilities, living between the fairways and the golf courses was a senior citizen. You might as well just lower the price and give it to everyone, or raise the price and let everyone get the discount, either way the concept of a senior citizen discount in Florida is rather silly.
Further, retired folks like to talk a lot, and they have nothing better to do but sit there and watch you detail the car, this could actually slow you down, and then they want to tell you all about their grandchildren, like you have time, you need to get to the next car to make some more money so you can afford to put gas in your mobile detailing rig because even that is up to four dollars a gallon now. Of course, the seniors do like to get a discount or least feel they are getting a discount, so maybe it is time that you rearranged the prices on your menu flyer, perhaps raising them 10 or 15%, and then giving the senior citizens a 20% discount.
Another issue that you may not have considered is that the baby boomers are retiring in record numbers, and they’re all hitting age 55 or 60. It might even be possible now to tell people that if they are only 65; “hell you are still young, you could probably wash and detail your own car, so I can’t give you the discount, I only give the senior citizen discounts to people 90 years old or older.” They might get a laugh about that, but maybe you can set your senior discount age at 70 or 75. If you are in the state of Florida like my acquaintance, you’ll still have plenty of customers take you up on the offer.
Well that’s all for now, if you have other questions or concerns you may shoot an e-mail. Until then I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.
Lance Winslow has launched a new series of eBooks on the Mobile Detailing Business. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a The Detail Guys, a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net
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