Liralen

Very nice idea Dan!
 
Been a while...really need to get back in the routine of going on to the forum...maybe this will help kickstart me!   I should at least post some more if my baking creations...lol
 
Lenore

Very nice idea Dan!
 
Been a while...really need to get back in the routine of going on to the forum...maybe this will help kickstart me!   I should at least post some more if my baking creations...lol
 
Lenore

Hi Kyle, from a woman's perspective, would love to have seen a t-shirt with the detail girl image, as well think there were not enough of the detail girl stickers made, as was not even able to get one, as they sold out that quickly.  As  you can tell by the forum chats, a lot of those pink Adams Polishes hats were snagged up by the wives/girlfriends of members soon as picked up.  While I like the T-shirts, they are all in Men's cut and they just do not flatter nor fit right on a woman (even the fuller sized group).  Know ordering in advance the different sizes and guessing what every woman would want is difficult, yet what we do a version of JIT ordering for one of our car groups.  We get our design set up with the printer, find out what our minimum order will be, then we go out to the members with a time frame to respond by (say a week), we take the orders and payments, then we place the order.   We get the sizes each person wants and we do not have waste/inventory sitting around.  Logistically only issue then is delivery...however with Adam's polishes you could make it part of a special mystery trunk organizer purchase that will ship only when the shirts are in, so that you only have that one time shipping of all items.  You might just be surprised by the response....   
 
On the video note, I would like to see some videos that are geared directly toward teaching women detailing.  I don't mean that we do not understand the videos, what I mean is that women actually do see things differently and need a different way of explaining.  For instance, have seen many women who prefer a revolver over a slide action pistol, as they cannot "pull" the slide.  When I have met them, have showed them differently than what they were told or shown....which is that you do not actually "pull" the slide.  You hold the slide and push the pistol forward, they are always amazed at the difference that it makes. I then tell them to watch now how a guy does it, and now they can see that the guy is not pulling the slide (I have seen guys who do just pull the slide, but really they all push the pistol forward at the same time). 
 
Anywho, you may have a bigger following than you may realize with a female customer base....so marketing a little more to them would not be a bad idea.  Including videos that are of women detailers showing how women detail cars (yes we detail the same as guys in the long run, but we may be shorter, have less arm reach, our grip may not be as tight, we may not put as much pressure down, etc)….so videos showing a women overcoming those things will show them that they can as well & can make their car just as shiny or even better than other "guys" at car shows.  I for one know that even to get to the top of the roof on some cars or to the center of the windshield will need a step platform....heck I have even been known to go through a sunroof to get to the roof of pickup trucks & make sure done correctly...
 
Picture is of my grandmother (and who I was named after) holding a beam during assembly of a Boeing B29 Superfortress while another women secures it.  She is the one who always told me that I can do anything in the world, so long as I want to do it (and of course not doing harm to others).  That is why I like to say, WE CAN DETAIL CARS TOO!

Time sure flies! Tried my hand at another cake for a friends birthday...it is a Sandworm from a Nightmare Before Christmas!  Even the big open mouth is cake covered in modeling chocolate...the "sand" is crushed up biscoff cookies! The bottom is three layers of vanilla butter cake & homemade swiss meringue vanilla buttercream.

So it’s been a while since I’ve written, but here I am. A potential customer called (and I’ll call him a customer, because he’s certainly not a client) and told me about his older Cadillac. Apparently it had some paint transfer on it from some kind incident and the inside needed to be cleaned as it was apparently pretty dirty. 
 
All of this isn’t a big deal for us and something we could handle. As soon as I gave him the price, he couldn’t get off the phone with me quick enough. 
 
This interaction got me thinking about different types of clients and how to handle them.
 
At one end of the spectrum you have what I call value shoppers. They’re looking for the cheapest price and the most amount of work. These customers tend to be difficult to satisfy and maintain clear expectations with. They are also the quickest to run around speaking negatively should anything happen to not meet “their” expectations. 
 
At the other end, you have clients who don’t care about price but care about the service and product. These clients usually come by way of referral and are quick to speak highly of your services and if there’s any issues, they’re handled quickly and without making a big deal. These are critical relationships to maintain. 
 
For us, there’s a difference between a customer and a client. A customer is a single time contact. A client has ongoing relationships with you. They come back. They tell people about you. 
 
The value customer brings up an interesting point too. When a client brings up cost or walks away over cost, do you offer a discount?  We don’t. We let them go. There are other companies that are price oriented, and they’re a better fit for that client. 
 
What we don’t want to do is to train our clients to dictate the cost of our service. We control that based on what we need to make to stay in business and be profitable. Once we start letting the client dictate price, we lose control of our business and profit margin. 
 
How do you deal with different types of clients?  

@Liralen Wow, that is amazing!

Another @Liralen special to show my Chef daughter.  It looks great, thank you for sharing.

Time sure flies! Tried my hand at another cake for a friends birthday...it is a Sandworm from a Nightmare Before Christmas!  Even the big open mouth is cake covered in modeling chocolate...the "sand" is crushed up biscoff cookies! The bottom is three layers of vanilla butter cake & homemade swiss meringue vanilla buttercream.

Time sure flies! Tried my hand at another cake for a friends birthday...it is a Sandworm from a Nightmare Before Christmas!  Even the big open mouth is cake covered in modeling chocolate...the "sand" is crushed up biscoff cookies! The bottom is three layers of vanilla butter cake & homemade swiss meringue vanilla buttercream.

Time sure flies! Tried my hand at another cake for a friends birthday...it is a Sandworm from a Nightmare Before Christmas!  Even the big open mouth is cake covered in modeling chocolate...the "sand" is crushed up biscoff cookies! The bottom is three layers of vanilla butter cake & homemade swiss meringue vanilla buttercream.

Time sure flies! Tried my hand at another cake for a friends birthday...it is a Sandworm from a Nightmare Before Christmas!  Even the big open mouth is cake covered in modeling chocolate...the "sand" is crushed up biscoff cookies! The bottom is three layers of vanilla butter cake & homemade swiss meringue vanilla buttercream.

Incredible, that is! 💯💯💯

So when are we going to see you on one of those baking shows my wife watches?  I know nothing about cake, but my Mrs. was very impressed.  

Jesus...i couldnt draw that let alone bake one out of cake! Great work

@Liralen just dropped the 🎤 
This the best cake ever. I have spoken.  

Oh man...nothing since October? Time sure flew by...Here is a Baby Yoda cake I made, all items from scratch...the outer shell is modeling chocolate (which is made from chocolate wafers/candy melts & corn syrup), frosting/filling was a very vanilla true buttercream (not american), eyes were gelatin (so could be eaten), and cake was a golden vanilla. He was 7 or 8 layers, 8" diameter at the base, and stood about 12-15" tall (I forgot to measure his height)!
 
Next time I am going to make lime cake with lime curd filling & vanilla buttercream!

Oh man...nothing since October? Time sure flew by...Here is a Baby Yoda cake I made, all items from scratch...the outer shell is modeling chocolate (which is made from chocolate wafers/candy melts & corn syrup), frosting/filling was a very vanilla true buttercream (not american), eyes were gelatin (so could be eaten), and cake was a golden vanilla. He was 7 or 8 layers, 8" diameter at the base, and stood about 12-15" tall (I forgot to measure his height)!
 
Next time I am going to make lime cake with lime curd filling & vanilla buttercream!

Oh man...nothing since October? Time sure flew by...Here is a Baby Yoda cake I made, all items from scratch...the outer shell is modeling chocolate (which is made from chocolate wafers/candy melts & corn syrup), frosting/filling was a very vanilla true buttercream (not american), eyes were gelatin (so could be eaten), and cake was a golden vanilla. He was 7 or 8 layers, 8" diameter at the base, and stood about 12-15" tall (I forgot to measure his height)!
 
Next time I am going to make lime cake with lime curd filling & vanilla buttercream!

Oh man...nothing since October? Time sure flew by...Here is a Baby Yoda cake I made, all items from scratch...the outer shell is modeling chocolate (which is made from chocolate wafers/candy melts & corn syrup), frosting/filling was a very vanilla true buttercream (not american), eyes were gelatin (so could be eaten), and cake was a golden vanilla. He was 7 or 8 layers, 8" diameter at the base, and stood about 12-15" tall (I forgot to measure his height)!
 
Next time I am going to make lime cake with lime curd filling & vanilla buttercream!

Oh man...nothing since October? Time sure flew by...Here is a Baby Yoda cake I made, all items from scratch...the outer shell is modeling chocolate (which is made from chocolate wafers/candy melts & corn syrup), frosting/filling was a very vanilla true buttercream (not american), eyes were gelatin (so could be eaten), and cake was a golden vanilla. He was 7 or 8 layers, 8" diameter at the base, and stood about 12-15" tall (I forgot to measure his height)!
 
Next time I am going to make lime cake with lime curd filling & vanilla buttercream!

Oh man...nothing since October? Time sure flew by...Here is a Baby Yoda cake I made, all items from scratch...the outer shell is modeling chocolate (which is made from chocolate wafers/candy melts & corn syrup), frosting/filling was a very vanilla true buttercream (not american), eyes were gelatin (so could be eaten), and cake was a golden vanilla. He was 7 or 8 layers, 8" diameter at the base, and stood about 12-15" tall (I forgot to measure his height)!
 
Next time I am going to make lime cake with lime curd filling & vanilla buttercream!

Oh man...nothing since October? Time sure flew by...Here is a Baby Yoda cake I made, all items from scratch...the outer shell is modeling chocolate (which is made from chocolate wafers/candy melts & corn syrup), frosting/filling was a very vanilla true buttercream (not american), eyes were gelatin (so could be eaten), and cake was a golden vanilla. He was 7 or 8 layers, 8" diameter at the base, and stood about 12-15" tall (I forgot to measure his height)!
 
Next time I am going to make lime cake with lime curd filling & vanilla buttercream!

You have my attention, Lenore!!! Dibs...

Hi all...I have homemade cookies am willing to trade for Colorado detail spray & Colorado HQ Adam's stickers...LOL.  Let me know if you are interested 😊😉  You can even pick your cookie flavor! Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip, Butterscotch, Chocolate Peanut butter chip, Chocolate peppermint, Macadamia White Chocolate chip, Pumpkin Spice Chip, or another flavor of your choosing.

Hi all...I have homemade cookies am willing to trade for Colorado detail spray & Colorado HQ Adam's stickers...LOL.  Let me know if you are interested 😊😉  You can even pick your cookie flavor! Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip, Butterscotch, Chocolate Peanut butter chip, Chocolate peppermint, Macadamia White Chocolate chip, Pumpkin Spice Chip, or another flavor of your choosing.