Unlocking Business Success in the Detailing Industry
The central theme of this podcast episode revolves around the introduction of a novel training program aimed at enhancing the business acumen of detailers while simultaneously honing their technical skills. Dann Williams and Dustin Wharton, have observed a significant gap in existing training programs, which often prioritize detailing techniques over essential business strategies. Their initiative seeks to bridge this divide by integrating practical business insights into the training curriculum, thereby empowering detailers to not only refine their craft but also to thrive in a competitive marketplace. Throughout the episode, we elaborate on the structure of our training sessions, which include hands-on experience in a bustling shop environment, fostering a holistic understanding of both the detailing process and the underlying business mechanics. We invite listeners to engage with us, explore the potential benefits of our program, and consider how they might enhance their own practices through this innovative approach to detailing education.
If you're interested in attending The Detailing Authority Academy training you can click the link: https://www.square.link/u/pnqgYWNQ
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Transcript
I mean, it only took him 19 minutes.
Speaker B:It's a little embarrassing.
Speaker B:I was, as I went out there to take my headphones out, I was like, angel, I've.
Speaker B:I've being the.
Speaker B:That I have to deal with everything.
Speaker C:I about like, that's like you going every.
Speaker C:It's like going to a detail shop and being like that customer.
Speaker C:I mean, like, what the man totally was.
Speaker B:Alex, I am so sorry, man.
Speaker A:Ye.
Speaker A:So, Dan and Dustin, thank you for joining.
Speaker C:Thank you for having us.
Speaker A:I'm gonna turn the mic over to you guys because you wanted to come on and, and kind of share.
Speaker A:You guys are starting kind of a new training thing that I don't know anything about.
Speaker A:So roll with it.
Speaker A:Let's.
Speaker A:Let's go and then I'll ask you questions as we go along.
Speaker A:I've got.
Speaker A:I love hearing about new stuff.
Speaker B:Awesome.
Speaker B:So we, you know, we've.
Speaker B:We can go back 20 years.
Speaker B:When I got into the industry, I've gone to tons and tons of trainings.
Speaker B:I've worked on both sides of the aisle as a detailer, going to trainings and as a trainer.
Speaker B:And Dustin, we've worked together for about nine years now.
Speaker B:He bought my business from me and just grew the heck out of it.
Speaker B:And what we kind of saw was a lot of the trainings focus so heavily on the detailing side of the world.
Speaker B:And most of the guys who are in those trainings, they already know how to detail, but they are the happiest and most content when they have a polisher in their hand.
Speaker B:So we were thinking, how can we make a detailing training that actually has, like, a lot of valuable business information that will actually help people be able to create, grow their business?
Speaker B:And, you know, through some trial and error and other trainings that we've done together, Dustin proposed that we bring people in to.
Speaker B:To a day of the shop running.
Speaker B:So part of the training consists of like, going into a busy shop.
Speaker B:You know, he did close to three quarters of a million dollars in gross sales with three employees and himself.
Speaker B:And show the people.
Speaker B:Lift up the skirt and show the people some of what is actually going on in the business side of it.
Speaker B:So not just in concept where we're going to stand up in front of you and run our mouth, but you'll actually see how cars come in.
Speaker B:You'll see how the employees work, you'll see the workflow, the Checklist and the SOPs and all of those things that they use.
Speaker B:So we make day one is, is just that you come in and you observe and and we really dial into the business side.
Speaker B:And then we have a business round table at the end of that day.
Speaker B:And that is, you know, everybody who is coming to the training can go to dan williams.com and I'm a certified Mike Mallow.
Speaker B:It's fix this next business coach, which goes hand in hand with what we're doing over here.
Speaker B:But they can take their free business assessment.
Speaker B:And that goes for anybody who's listening.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And basically that side of it is we say most customers biggest problem.
Speaker B:Most business owners, I'm sorry, biggest problem is they don't know what their biggest problem is.
Speaker B:So they run around trying to put out fires left and right.
Speaker B:And this dials into your one specific vital need.
Speaker B:And then we can address everybody's vital need after that.
Speaker B:And then.
Speaker B:And then day number two.
Speaker B:Dustin, you go ahead and carry on with that part.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:So on that second day, I mean, don't get me wrong, we're gonna go over detailing and chemicals and efficiency.
Speaker C:And that's where I kind of started in my training was how do you snap out a car at a better quality in a shorter amount of time?
Speaker C:Was like an efficiency guru is what I took myself as.
Speaker C:And so we want to incorporate that.
Speaker C:We want people to polish.
Speaker C:We're going to teach wet sanding, we're going to teach some paint touch up.
Speaker C:We're going to bring in other celebrity people in the industry.
Speaker C:So it's not just Dan and I all the time.
Speaker C:Like, we have Ian from Autofiber coming to the next training.
Speaker C:We've got Tom from Lake country coming to the next training.
Speaker C:And then we even had Shad, the IDA business, excuse me, president from last year.
Speaker C:Yeah, he was out here with Jamie Gonzalez last year.
Speaker C:So we're kind of trying to make a very cool training that people want to be at, but really rounding out what you kind of need in a detailing business.
Speaker C:And one of those things was not just like the quiet shop that's empty and it's 20 hours of talking to get a coding done when we need to kind of speed people up.
Speaker C:But a lot of people don't know what a CRM is and they don't know what an SOP is like.
Speaker C:Would you just say to me is like a standard operating procedure.
Speaker C:And so we're trying to really open up the business side because a lot of people are detailers gone, business owner that don't know how to run a business.
Speaker C:And so Dan and I last few years was getting better and better at business.
Speaker C:So we really drove that into it, but we didn't want to just have it be about pushing products on people or selling products to people.
Speaker C:We just want to really dump knowledge of trial and error and success.
Speaker C:And so that's what a lot of that second day is going through a wash, wash, clay seal, decon, you know, kind of opening up the perspective to people who may not be as knowledgeable about those preparations.
Speaker C:Get into the polishing and the wet sanding if we happen to need it.
Speaker C:But we try not to overcomplicate it.
Speaker C:And so that's that second day of really kind of getting a full detail and progress done within check sheets.
Speaker C:And then Sunday we're kind of debating of having that third day.
Speaker C:A lot of people kind of tried to like travel home, which is a given, but maybe a business roundtable that next day to recap everything.
Speaker C:So that's kind of the, the two day training on that part.
Speaker C:I'll hand it off to you, Dan.
Speaker B:The, the one thing that we are offering as well is we're, we're going to not only bring in some other people like Tom and, and Ian this time, but we also have a paint touch up system that was developed by Jamie Gonzalez and he'll be coming to some of the trainings with us.
Speaker B:But he's got, you know, he's got, he did two and a half million dollars last year and has three shops and, and mobile guys.
Speaker B:So it's, and he's got kids also.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, they dance and stuff so hard to get away.
Speaker B:But we're going to showcase his paint touch up system and I'll tell you what, probably the most interest that we have seen is for his paint touch up system.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And yeah, any, any of these guys who are putting ceramic coating on a car or paint protection film, you know, you gotta tell, you gotta do touch up those paint chips before you, you know, put that over so.
Speaker A:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker C:Yeah, it was.
Speaker C:And it's kind of one of those like little tidbits as a business ideas that even not getting like the full paint bank.
Speaker C:Like Jamie actually taught us to like color, like take the body code and be able to mix up weights and get any custom color, which is amazing to do even if you do it on a basic level.
Speaker C:But it's like the small little upsell type of things for business to make more money.
Speaker C:Because I never like to be the shop owner that seemed nickel and diamond.
Speaker C:Like I don't want to upsell $50 for like an interior leather conditioner when like I should be doing that in our detail Anyway, when we have a problem like a headlight, restoral paint touch up and those things.
Speaker C:Yeah, it's just a way to have a one stop shop to help protect the car.
Speaker C:We're not trying to oversell it that the chip is gone.
Speaker C:That's a different class of sanding and all that fun stuff.
Speaker C:But to just seal up the paint, prevent rust, help a customer.
Speaker C:It's one of those things that it's actually taken quite a bit of traction and people wanting to come for that part of it.
Speaker A:Yeah, I mean that's, that's definitely something that's, that's a good selling tool.
Speaker A:Because one of the things that Noxy always does, the, the trainings that I've gone at his shop when he does, when he teaches ridge sanding.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Is he's always talking about how like, hey, for, you know, every scratch around the car, that's an extra 50 bucks, $75, $100, whatever you want to charge that you can add on to the client.
Speaker A:So kind of the same thing with the touch up paint it, it's kind of the same thing, you know, like, hey, you've got, I don't know, 10, 10 little rock chips here, you know, well, $25 a rock chip or something like that and you made an extra $250 on, you know, whatever job you're doing.
Speaker A:So that's, that's a pretty good way of selling something that seems really small, but at the end of the day could end up being a nice little add on ticket.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:And he even taught us of like degrees of it because us as perfectionists, as detailers, like, I'm gonna try and make that look like a body shop repair.
Speaker C:And it's not possible without a lot of good skill.
Speaker C:But Jamie was able to teach us.
Speaker C:It's like just fill it in and then you're done.
Speaker C:You want the next level, like fill it in, get some clear on it so it doesn't look like these matte dots of just paint on your paint system.
Speaker C:And then there's that other degree of like some color and some clear and like knocking it down and trying to blend a little bit more.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:And adding different price points and expectations for our customers within that, that we didn't spend all day on this scratch chasing our ego.
Speaker C:But you had different degrees of what correction we could offer.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:And I, and I also like the premise that you guys are kind of doing of, of doing it in a working shop.
Speaker A:Because the one thing that I've always kind of said with business trainings that I feel like everybody is doing is.
Speaker A:It's the snooze fest, right?
Speaker A:Like you're, you're, you know, in a classroom setting, kind of, you know, an empty shop, sitting in chairs, and somebody's standing in front of you going like, this is how you do business.
Speaker A:Your business 101, you know, whatever.
Speaker A:And it's like, when do we get to the polishing, you know, kind of thing?
Speaker A:So, yeah, the fact that you guys are kind of bringing them in to a working shop, they can see how things are, you know, talk to the customer, schedule it, right.
Speaker A:Ring it up through a CRM, go through the SOPs, and then.
Speaker A:Okay, now let's go work on the car.
Speaker A:I, I think that's a really good kind of model because it doesn't.
Speaker A:Doesn't have that snooze fest, you know, just sitting there as somebody's preaching to you.
Speaker A:A business.
Speaker A:And that's, you know, the other thing too, that I've always kind of thought when, when, you know, somebody says, oh, I'm a business trainer, like, okay, cool, that worked for you and your shop in wherever, you know, usa, you know, is it going to work in my shop, you know, in, In Florida?
Speaker A:Is it going to work for this guy in his shop?
Speaker A:And, you know, so that's the other thing that I always feel like is sometimes, you know, so, so again, seeing it work in.
Speaker A:In reality versus this is what I do.
Speaker A:This is how I do it, I think is a, A real good model to teach people.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:And that's an interesting.
Speaker B:I'm sorry.
Speaker B:And an interesting point too is like, you.
Speaker B:I, I am from owner's pride, but this is not necessarily.
Speaker B:You don't.
Speaker B:We.
Speaker B:We're more than happy to work with anybody, right, in these trainings.
Speaker B:It's not really any brand specific.
Speaker B:And then probably the most valuable point of this whole darn thing is we're putting together a suite of, of SOPs and employee manual.
Speaker B:And like, these things that you can have at least an outline, like some.
Speaker C:Actual pieces to take that you can.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:That you can manipulate and implement for your business.
Speaker B:And these are the things that even guys who have been in business for 10 years, most guys, they do not have an employee manual.
Speaker B:They do not have like, SOPs written out for all, you know, for all of their jobs that they have.
Speaker B:And yeah, it just.
Speaker B:This is.
Speaker B:These fundamentals of business are what I see over and over and over as being the biggest missing thing that there is for, for detailers.
Speaker A:Oh, absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker A:I Think, you know, there's, you know, it's kind of always been said you can have the, you could be the greatest detailer in the world, but you're not profitable because you're, you know, shitty business person.
Speaker A:Or you could be a great business person and make tons of money, but everybody's like, but he's a detailer, you know, like, yeah, but he's great at business.
Speaker A:He knows how to get the people coming in, knows how to make the money, you know, whatever.
Speaker A:So, you know, if you already think you're a great detailer but your business is slacking, doing something like this was, is going to greatly benefit anybody, you know, who, who attends.
Speaker A:And that's, and that's again, I like, I like this because, you know, I, I, I have, you know, plenty of friends who are doing, you know, wet sanding, paint, correction, whatever, but a lot of trainings, but a lot of them aren't implementing business into it as, as a whole.
Speaker A:And again, I think because a lot of times it becomes a snooze fest or it's not the thing that most people want to learn because they're not thinking that.
Speaker A:They're thinking like, oh, if I can wet sand, if I can paint correct, you know, if I can, if I can, you know, if you build it, they'll come kind of thing.
Speaker A:But unfortunately you have to have the business know how to be able to get them actually in, you know, and then your skills take over from there.
Speaker A:So I think that's really cool.
Speaker A:I think it's a neat idea.
Speaker B:That's it.
Speaker C:Yeah, we appreciate that we, and it's kind of been the part that we get to like expand and learn, but then put real life into this training that when I bought Dan's business eight years ago, like I was a detailer for nine years and never really thought about owning my own business, even though I detail on the side once in a while for extra cash.
Speaker C:But I didn't know anything about the detailing business part or just business in general, so that we had to take off a little bit.
Speaker C:Once I started working for Owner's Pride for the while that I did as a representative, that really made me see the flaws of what we were doing.
Speaker C:We learned CRMs and chasing leads and coddling leads and all these different things that really elevated our business.
Speaker C:But why do we need to keep that a secret necessarily?
Speaker C:And so in the last years we've been building the paperwork and the check in sheets and the checkout sheets.
Speaker C:Like even when I went to get an oil Change.
Speaker C:They, like, took pictures on their iPad and they looked at damages and mileage.
Speaker C:When you.
Speaker C:And I've had customers that, like, do you mean to sign anything?
Speaker C:Or you're taking my car.
Speaker C:Nearly met you.
Speaker C:So it was that legitimacy, that experience.
Speaker C:But why do I need to keep that paper that we design a secret?
Speaker C:So we want to actually give people some assets, digital and physical.
Speaker C:And we're working on, like, an actual, like, training platform, like a notebook.
Speaker C:Like, I have this back here.
Speaker C:So that'll give you some rambling on.
Speaker C:But, like, this is our handbook, but it's, like, spiraled.
Speaker C:We want to do that for our training class.
Speaker C:Like, all of our stuff that we're going to teach and so you can go home and actually put it into premonition rather than being like, they talked about a lot of good stuff.
Speaker C:Remember?
Speaker A:All of it?
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:I mean, I think of that as something that's kind of cool, because while they're there, they could maybe physically, like, write down some notes, and then if you're giving them a digital file, then they can go home and take the digital file and maybe edit it with the notes that they took or the things that.
Speaker A:Okay, well, I don't really do this, but I could do this.
Speaker A:And then they.
Speaker A:That.
Speaker A:Then they make, you know, they're able to.
Speaker A:To edit it to make their own form of SOP that then they can print out and give to their employees or, you know, have.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:For themselves.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:It's like the pro.
Speaker B:The productivity suite that you get is probably worth as much as the class is because, you know, that stuff didn't just fall into Dustin's lap, you know, out of the sky.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:Lots of hours of stuff.
Speaker C:You know, even, like, general.
Speaker C:Like, California would probably make a handbook compliant in most states because we get to have fun out here.
Speaker C:But, like, even that was hours and hours of building.
Speaker C:And then once we got it over to our HR and another 800 or whatever, for them to, like, inspect it, make it compliant.
Speaker C:It was, like, hours and thousands of dollars.
Speaker C:So it helps with detailers that would never think about that, let alone being like, okay, I need to stop everything to write down an SOP or a handbook.
Speaker C:Like, whenever I sit down, I get writer's block.
Speaker C:Like, you'll do 10 pages about washing a car or one full page about filling up the bucket with product, and you haven't gotten anywhere.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:And so that's what really can help some detailers in this scenario is being able to actually get assets that can help them just skyrocket forward a little bit faster.
Speaker A:No, that's cool.
Speaker A:That's cool.
Speaker A:So have you guys started these trainings yet or are these gonna pop off soon or how are you guys doing that?
Speaker B:Great, Great question.
Speaker B:So we did our first one last year, and then we kind of thought about it.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And we did one a couple months ago, and we had some people come in for that, and Jamie Gonzalez was here.
Speaker B:And then we.
Speaker B:We just decided that we really.
Speaker B:We.
Speaker B:Everybody who's come to the training, like, so other people from other companies who are, you know, industry veterans, that every time that they come to our training, they're like, I've not been to a training quite like this.
Speaker B:Like, we, We.
Speaker B:You know, not to toot my own horn here, but yeah, we really are doing things a little bit different, you know, with the.
Speaker B:With the busy shop side, with the business coaching aspect that's tied into it, and.
Speaker B:And on the experience that we have.
Speaker B:And so we started the detail detailing Authority Academy page on Facebook, and if you haven't yet, please go there.
Speaker B:We're going to keep that as a.
Speaker B:As an active group, you know, for the coaching stuff.
Speaker B:Not.
Speaker B:Not a group where people are going to go in there and slam each other.
Speaker B:It's really just kind of focused on business stuff.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And from there, we just.
Speaker B:Dustin threw up some dates and.
Speaker B:And here's what's cool.
Speaker B:It's not only just this detail training.
Speaker B:We're also doing wash clinics.
Speaker B:We did one two weeks ago for the Corvette Club of San Diego or San Diego Corvette Owners Club.
Speaker B:Fantastic.
Speaker B:We also offer this really unique.
Speaker B:And you wouldn't think that this is a thing, but it actually is.
Speaker B:Is a kind of like a very unique bespoke detail boot camp for, like, imagine that guy who's an affluent fella, and they have a very custom car, and they love that car.
Speaker B:They can come in, we'll work with them to do a full decon, polish the car with them, and have them and us put ceramic coating on the car itself.
Speaker B:I mean, we've already.
Speaker B:We've already done one of these, and the people are very willing to pay the premium, the right customer, and it's a really cool experience.
Speaker B:The guy, he even went home and like, took all of the concepts of Dustin's, like, carts and lights and everything and changed his whole garage to look like Dustin's shop.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So he was kind of.
Speaker C:And those may not happen as often, and if they do, awesome.
Speaker C:But it's like that one detailer that you.
Speaker C:He's like, yeah, I Have everything at home, like enthusiast and really wants to do it but got like hands on professional training to because you know, we even had a Corvette owner club guys like I keep polishing my car.
Speaker C:And what he was describing sounded like he kept polishing it too much that he made it fail.
Speaker C:So being able to teach people that you shouldn't keep polishing it and that stuff.
Speaker C:But yeah, it was kind of a different aspect that we're trying to kind of open up the window for more wash clinics and detailing and stuff like that.
Speaker C:So I mean, four or five years now that Dan and I have been doing these together and kind of evolving and being like that was terrible and did not work well this time and works well the next time.
Speaker C:So we get to kind of trial and error to a point with the core of what everyone really loves the most.
Speaker C:We're just trying to adapt and have a better experience.
Speaker C:Like we even have certain things that we were joking the other day we were preaching about what we tell people and it's like, man, we need to do that in our own marketing for this venture.
Speaker C:So we're trying to adapt and be like, yeah, we're not the best out there, but we're damn sure willing to learn and try and adapt to become better.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:And I think you also, you're probably not catching like a whole ton of attitude from us.
Speaker B:You know, there's.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, that's huge in its own right.
Speaker A:Yeah, well, I think, I think the attitude and a training has got to be, you know, taken out.
Speaker A:I mean, I've been fortunate.
Speaker A:The few trainings that I've been to for the couple of different people, you know, everybody's gotten along.
Speaker A:Everybody realizes that, you know, regardless of what their skill level is, is their all there to basically learn the same thing.
Speaker A:You know, they're at that time, they are, you know, at the same level.
Speaker A:So yeah, it's, it's, you know, I think the trainings are, you know, puts everybody on an equal playing field in a sense and you have to, you just have to have that, that mindset of going in of, of like, you know, hey, I'm paying this much money to learn.
Speaker A:So you know, check the ego and the attitude out the door kind of thing.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Speaker C:I think that they happen from time to time, but not too much anymore.
Speaker C:I felt detailers, we all know we're, we're artists and we have egos.
Speaker C:I don't know if it's just because I'm not in the forums as much as I used to be, but I feel like it's kind of chilling out a little bit.
Speaker C:But not in the forums.
Speaker A:I, I heard some drama beef of a couple of detailers locally the other day and I was just like, okay, yeah, exactly.
Speaker A:So let me ask you guys this.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:So, I mean, obviously both of you guys are affiliated with Owner's Pride, but you said that this is something that is kind of separate from Owner's Pride.
Speaker A:So I mean, are you guys going to eventually work in like, maybe, you know, I know you said you have Ian from Autofiber and.
Speaker A:And was it Tom from like, Tom from Lake country?
Speaker A:Yeah, country.
Speaker A:I don't know Tom.
Speaker A:I know.
Speaker A:I know Scott and I know.
Speaker A:Oh, God.
Speaker A:Drawing a blank.
Speaker A:Tim is the new.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Where Tom was before, but he's been in the industry forever.
Speaker C:Long times.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Are you guys going to like, kind of open this up and kind of bring in other, you know, brands that, you know, if somebody wants to come in and you know, hey, we've got a compounded polish.
Speaker A:You know, we'd love to partner up with you guys and do a training on our.
Speaker A:Or, or, or even just keep it completely wide open where you have a variety of maybe different brands and then people that come to the training can kind of pick and choose what they want to try or what they're comfortable with.
Speaker C:My first inclination with that is that.
Speaker C:So we, we've, we've always preached it that like, without wasting money as a detailer to try 10 rinseless washes and 10 compounds.
Speaker C:Like there, there's.
Speaker C:In my shop, we have a couple of tools in the back of our closet that we need for that random paint system or something that won't finish down.
Speaker C:But generally that's picking one line so that it's part of the reason that we still have Owners Pride products there.
Speaker C:Yes, we would be open to other product lines if they wanted it that.
Speaker C:But I wouldn't want to have too many at one class.
Speaker C:It's like you finally talk that customer into a ceramic code, not talk to them into it, but you, you know, talk to them about a ceramic coating and then you're going to throw them a curveball, like a whole different structure.
Speaker C:And this one's not warrantied.
Speaker C:And this is like myself.
Speaker C:I would rather keep it to one at a time, but I'm open to other things.
Speaker A:Yeah, no, I got you.
Speaker A:Like I said, I was just, just curious because, you know, again, like you said, you're.
Speaker A:It's separate from Owner's Pride.
Speaker A:You're not necessarily targeting Owner's Pride installers for this, you kind of want to open it up to everybody.
Speaker A:So, you know, having at least maybe, you know, oh, well, this one's a sponsored by Owner's Pride.
Speaker A:Or this one's sponsored by Rupes.
Speaker A:Or this one's sponsored by.
Speaker A:Yeah, you know, Oberg.
Speaker A:Or this one's sponsored by whatever.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:Like, you know, anybody out there interested, contact us and let's talk.
Speaker A:Gotcha.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:At the end of the day, we want to help detailers, like at the.
Speaker B:The bottom line is we want to help detailers grow their business.
Speaker B:And it's true if you're a product hopper, that's, you know, I.
Speaker B:The best piece of advice probably that I got in detailing was really early on from Joe Fernandez in West Covina, California, Superior Shine.
Speaker B:And I would, I would.
Speaker B:Every product that came out, a new compound, a new pad, a new machine.
Speaker B:I was like, joe, do I need to have this?
Speaker B:Do I need to have this?
Speaker B:And he said, find a company that you like the products, the culture, the branding, and make yourself the best with it you can.
Speaker B:So if you've already found, you know, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker A:And I think that's, I think, I mean, I, I listen, I'm definitely that way, but, you know, it's a good question.
Speaker A:I definitely have a few fallbacks because different paint systems sometimes what is, you know, works on nine out of 10 cars.
Speaker A:Won't work on that 10 one.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker A:So you gotta go and as much.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:How our system like we have.
Speaker C:I mean, I've got some hyper polish, I've got some overk, I've got some Koch Chemi because you get that random car that like it finishes down.
Speaker C:But I need more cut in one stage and the customer can't go higher in price.
Speaker C:It's thin paint.
Speaker C:Whatever scenario, we still have those end stops for what we need, but a lot of it, especially training new guys that I'm not on the floor much anymore as a detailer, that the systematic part of a chemical line does help people that don't know all of the little end stops that you need that the veterans do.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:I gotcha.
Speaker B:If I'm going in for a company to do a training, the literally the first thing I do when I walk into somebody's shop is I pull all of their products off the shelf and just put one line of products on the shelf because, you know, you don't really want your employees, especially if you start scaling and you have employees you don't need them making those decisions.
Speaker A:Well, I mean, that's.
Speaker A:That's the whole reason Rupes came out with the system was so that when you have employees, it's blue bottle, blue pad, you know, yellow bottle, yellow pad.
Speaker A:You know, I remember.
Speaker A:I remember when we first started using them at the car wash, that, like, that was the greatest thing ever because, you know, a lot of times, you know, our guys were used to using rotary buffers, you know, and it's, you know, we got, you know, every.
Speaker A:Every guy liked a different thing.
Speaker A:So we're buying all this different off of, you know, the car bright truck or the pro truck or the car cam truck or the auto magic truck or whatever, you know.
Speaker A:And so when we finally.
Speaker A:When we.
Speaker A:When we bought into the Rupes system, and it was like, look here, we're gonna make it super easy.
Speaker A:We're gonna give you a machine, you know, that's not going to damage cars as much.
Speaker A:We don't have to pay for paint jobs and stuff.
Speaker A:And, you know, here's a system.
Speaker A:Blue pad, blue bottle, green pad, green bottle, you know, yellow pad, yellow bottle.
Speaker A:So it makes it a lot easy when you have a system like that.
Speaker A:So, yeah, Dan, I can definitely understand, you know, just kind of, especially if you got employees trying to.
Speaker A:Trying to find one brand or one system that works and then keep it.
Speaker A:Keep it simple.
Speaker A:Stupid, right?
Speaker C:Exactly.
Speaker C:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker C:And that's part of it.
Speaker C:To even go into the next part is the SOP part.
Speaker C:Like, we try not to cut you off, by the way, but we really want to have that position that, like myself, Dan and I have been pushing on that goal of getting me out from behind the polisher and into the office to run the business.
Speaker C:And not so easily done, but a lot of that is if you don't have systems, you don't have trainings, how do you put yourself as a detailer into your people?
Speaker C:And so we're trying to really round that picture out, because if we didn't have that kind of angle on shoulder, saying that we need to as like a business mentor, that we.
Speaker C:We would have still been polishing cars.
Speaker C:I actually injured myself last summer.
Speaker C:It could have put our business down if we didn't have trainings and people in place.
Speaker C:So that's one big thing.
Speaker C:And to kind of round it with those, the chemicals, it's way less mistakes.
Speaker C:We even put it on our shelf as, like, order of detailing a car.
Speaker C:And it's just.
Speaker C:It's simple, stupid stuff, but it's the best kind of stuff.
Speaker A:No, that's awesome.
Speaker A:That's awesome.
Speaker A:So let me ask you the magic question that everybody who's listening to this podcast is wanting, want to.
Speaker A:Gonna want to know is what's all this gonna cost me as a detailer to come to a training event with you guys?
Speaker B:So where it's 999, and like I said, I'm telling you, Eve, with the.
Speaker B:The suite of business, the business suite that you take home is gotta be worth three quarters of that by itself.
Speaker B:I mean, it had.
Speaker B:I can't even fathom because Dustin did a lot of this with his lawyer and like, and I.
Speaker B:And we use the same lawyer, so.
Speaker B:I know, I know he's super.
Speaker C:And it happened because we were not as compliant.
Speaker C:So we had to get through some trenches and get more compliant and birth the book and different things that we have in place.
Speaker C:And that's also what we're trying to help curve within this training.
Speaker C:At that price point is a lot of the mistakes that we had to get through without people doing that.
Speaker C:So we have found that that's a pretty good price point for what we're offering knowledge, let alone assets after.
Speaker A:No, I mean, I think that's a really good price because most trainings that I've been to or, or feel that are, you know, on a level of.
Speaker A: egitimacy are usually in that: Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A: course, then you got another: Speaker A:I feel like, you know, those trainings that are in that 300 to 700 range or like, oh, man, what are you.
Speaker A:What are you really getting for that?
Speaker A:So I think you guys have kind of hit like that real nice sweet spot.
Speaker A:You know, It's.
Speaker A:Especially at 9.99.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Like, you could have said a thousand dollars.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:But 9.99, it's the whole mentality thing, right?
Speaker B:Like, that's part of the training too.
Speaker A:Right, right.
Speaker A:It sounds better, right?
Speaker A:Like, you know, like, like, oh man, it's not a thousand dollars, you know, it's a dollar short, you know, but.
Speaker A:But yeah, I like it.
Speaker B:And even, like, I mean, you get to bring your vital need to the table too, and we're going to discuss that with you.
Speaker B:So, I mean, that's, that's part of the business coaching that I actually offer, you know, on a separate entity, but sort of.
Speaker B:But Dustin, I think, is going to be doing that with me too, at any, any bit that he would care to, because he's got he's got the skills and the chops, and we can work together, and it's awesome.
Speaker C:Well, and I'm sure the both of you have seen it that.
Speaker C:Oh, man, I just blanked.
Speaker A:What the.
Speaker C:I was gonna say one that I could, like, ramble on for the entire time for it.
Speaker C:What the hell was I gonna say?
Speaker A:Yeah, don't worry.
Speaker A:It happens to me all the time.
Speaker B:Like, at least we know, but we have no clue.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:See, everybody who's listening to it.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker C:Exactly.
Speaker C:Part of it is, I mean, you guys have been to trainings that you, like, you get to kind of, like, be buddy buddy, like, who you met at sema, who you met at mte, who you met at the training.
Speaker C:Like, you become, like, a little brotherhood for it.
Speaker C:And even though you're not paying me for coaching down the road and these things like that, like, the people that have been to the trainings with us, they call me.
Speaker C:Like, here's an answer for you.
Speaker C:Like, let's catch up.
Speaker C:See how family doing.
Speaker C:So you all get, like, this ongoing database of, like, hey, can I call you?
Speaker C:And, like, rely on you in this situation.
Speaker C:And Ricky Bordeaux is one of those more favorite people that's done that, that he's in a tight spot with a customer.
Speaker C:And we've been through those to a point that we can just really help people get through that.
Speaker C:And even just being able to call invent because wife and all that doesn't want to listen to it all the time.
Speaker C:So that's kind of that brotherhood that it brings in.
Speaker C:We actually spend quite a bit of time from, like, the first night, and we go to a little taco shop and brewery over here.
Speaker C:And then, like, we even went to a hockey game last time.
Speaker C:Like, we really try and hang out with the people that we're there with.
Speaker C:We even, like, try and get them in the same hotel to hang out with, because in class, you have a lot of knowledge, but, like, what you like to do and what's worked and hasn't worked and all these successes and failures, let alone just being able to talk about what you're passionate about for a few days that weekend, that we really liked that part of the trainings, and I think that's what really started it before we, like, got the wheels going.
Speaker C:It's just we liked doing this.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's one of my favorite parts to the trainings that I've gone to is, like, that networking camaraderie afterwards.
Speaker A:Like, when you just had this mountain of information dumped on you throughout the day, and you're trying to process it, and then you go sit down at a restaurant or you just go crash at the.
Speaker A:The hotel, and it's like, you know, then you're kind of, you know, bouncing ideas off of everybody in the training.
Speaker A:You know, what did you.
Speaker A:What did you like about it?
Speaker A:Or how are you going to do this?
Speaker A:Or, you know, oh, I got an idea.
Speaker A:When I go, I'm gonna take this and I'm gonna do that.
Speaker A:Like, that, to me, is always kind of the more fun, I feel like.
Speaker A:So I like that.
Speaker A:I like that you, you know, like, you guys take them out to dinner, go to a hockey game, something like that, because then you can kind of build that camaraderie that.
Speaker A:That broness or whatever.
Speaker A:And then it's.
Speaker A:Yeah, it also.
Speaker A:It also opens everybody up to, like, feel a little more comfortable to, like, interact and talk and ask questions.
Speaker A:Because, again.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Like, that's the one thing that I feel like a lot of detailers are, you know, they don't want to.
Speaker A:They don't want to sound or stupid or come off.
Speaker A:Like, maybe they don't have the experience.
Speaker A:So they're probably not asking the questions that they would normally ask in the beginning of this training.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So you.
Speaker A:You get them feeling comfortable and opened up, and then they're going to ask the questions, and then they get a better experience out of the training.
Speaker C:Yeah, definitely.
Speaker B:You know, I.
Speaker B:I think from doing a podcast for these years, it's really helped in these trading situations of being able to, you know, kind of lead the group and get people to open up by asking them questions, just like you do for a podcast, you know, and I.
Speaker B:I think by the time we have just the introductions in the beginning, that everybody is really kind of pretty comfortable with each other, and.
Speaker B:And we kind of expose a few maybe personal things about them so that they really do, like you said, open up and.
Speaker B:Yeah, well, we've really.
Speaker B:As a matter of fact, almost every training class you go to has that one guy who already knows everything, and they want to tell you there's usually.
Speaker B:But I.
Speaker B:I don't think in the last two classes, the last class.
Speaker B:I don't think in the last class we had.
Speaker B:We had anybody like that.
Speaker A:Yeah, no.
Speaker A:Maybe.
Speaker C:No, it's been a little while.
Speaker C:Yeah, it happens.
Speaker C:It happens.
Speaker C:It does.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:You know, and that was one thing that.
Speaker C:Sorry, wife's asking me what's going on.
Speaker C:So, one thing that, with even talking about what Dan was just saying is that because I've been plenty of Trainings.
Speaker C:And you're like, oh, I'm Dustin from OCD and from California or Colorado or whatever.
Speaker C:But Dan's like, what's the first car you washed and how'd you wash it?
Speaker C:And so then he does that within an intro around the room, and it just gets people talking, kind of joking around and being like, yeah, probably up that paint job I watched the first time compared to what we know now.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:And so it really is.
Speaker C:Opens it up in more than just like, hey, will you say your name and where you're from?
Speaker C:And then we're like, let me get onto this.
Speaker C:So we've tried to really been like, dan, that was not good last time.
Speaker C:Or, you know, that was great last time.
Speaker C:So we really get to kind of ongoingly try and get better.
Speaker A:Yeah, I always feel.
Speaker A:I always kind of feel sorry for the last car that they did and excited for the next car that I'm doing, because I.
Speaker A:Even now, I still feel like I'm, you know, every.
Speaker A:Every time you do a car, you're.
Speaker A:You're.
Speaker A:You're getting a little bit better.
Speaker A:You're getting a little bit better.
Speaker A:You're getting a little bit better.
Speaker A:You know, I mean, it might be like, super micro, you know, as far as getting better, but, you know, I've definitely have done, you know, a car that I thought was great.
Speaker A:And then I do the next one, and I'm like, ah, this one's better than the one I did last week, you know, and then I think back to the ones that I did, like, 10 years ago when I left the car wash and started this, and I'm like, oh, my God, like, how did I even get paid for that?
Speaker A:You know?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:Or how much paint I took off A system.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Polishing my ego.
Speaker A:Exactly.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah, That's.
Speaker A:That's the one thing that I've definitely, over the past, like, probably year or two, is really worked on just my technique of polishing to make sure that I'm not cooking a panel, fluffing the paint, you know, overworking it, you know, to where I'm knocking off too much pain or something like that.
Speaker A:So I.
Speaker A:I really kind of feel like I've gotten a lot better with just my technique over the last year or two, that I'm pretty comfortable with paint not doing damage.
Speaker B:Well, Alex, how do you think that we can get the guys excited for the business side of it if we've kind of established that.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's really the missing link in.
Speaker B:In.
Speaker B:In what is holding all of these Guys back from growing.
Speaker A:Well, listen, I mean I, I, I've never attended a business class because again, I think, you know, stuff news fest.
Speaker A:But I, I really like the idea that you guys are doing.
Speaker A:I like the idea that it's, it's walking into a, a working shop.
Speaker A:You know, it's not a closed down shop, you know, nobody's there or anything like that.
Speaker A:It's legitimately, I mean I can say some of the, some of the, the best maybe business I've learned was, was that exact, that exact same thing when I first met Aaron Knox and went to his shop not for a training, you know, I went to Reds and to, to hang out with him and talk with him on a Friday while him and Wu were working and there's customers pulling up in cars and getting to watch how he does his sales pitch, you know, how he talks to people on the phones and then he'll come and explain, explain like what he just did.
Speaker A:Like, I think that's, I think that's things that a lot of times people don't get.
Speaker A:So I think the fact that you guys are doing that, like, hey, look, we're gonna go talk to this client.
Speaker A:You're standing, you know, within earshot to hear everything that Dustin's going to tell that client, you know, and then come back and be like, this is why I said this, this is why I said that, you know, and then show them physically how you're going to put it in a CRM.
Speaker A:I, dude, I mean, I think that is, I think that's perfect.
Speaker A:I mean, I, I, it's, you just, you got to get people, if people are going to do a training or people are going to go to a training and you can give them some business and you can also give them some wet sanding and paint.
Speaker A:Correction.
Speaker A:I, I think you're, I think you're facilitating more than what majority of other trainings are doing because they might do a little bit of business and a whole lot of paint correction and ceramic coating or paint correction and wet sanding or whatever.
Speaker A:But if you guys are doing a day of this and in a day of that and then if they really want a third day, it sounds like you guys are open for it.
Speaker A:If not, then it's, you know, hey, don't let the door hit you with a good lord split, you go home and make some business, you know, kind of thing.
Speaker C:We're just gonna go get some golfing on Sunday because it's sunny San Diego.
Speaker A:Yeah, there you go.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:And, and there's ongoing support, you know too like anybody could hit us up and more than happy to answer questions or if they wanted to dive deeper into one on one coaching, we could absolutely do that too.
Speaker B:And Alex, you should go to my website, Dan Williams.com and take your free business assessment.
Speaker B:And I would love to.
Speaker A:It's probably going to be super shitty.
Speaker A:I'm terrible at business.
Speaker C:It's very easy questionnaire.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:And it's very quick.
Speaker A:Yeah, I'll do it.
Speaker A:I'll do it.
Speaker C:I'll see how like literally it called out what I was suffering with when I did it for Dan when he was starting and stuff.
Speaker C:So it's like even just a little bit of like holy shit, this is it.
Speaker C:And not all of these other busy work things that we're doing.
Speaker C:It's just let's pinpoint and focus on those type of things and you know, we're realistic that like I'm still learning in business, you know, the eight and a half years in and trying to get better, that we're not afraid to talk about our mess ups and our successes of what has gotten us here.
Speaker C:So yeah, it's just something different that we were excited about and it's fun too.
Speaker C:And I think that that's where we really have people that enjoy what we're doing is because we've had people that come to multiple trainings over the years.
Speaker C:Even if they're a veteran and even if they got pretty much the same class, there's always that little nugget, that little aha moment you take.
Speaker A:There's always something.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And one of my favorite parts is like going home, like ready to get it, like stoked when you're like.
Speaker C:I remember when I first learned Cody's and I went home from the, the shop that we had learned at and I was like, holy, yeah, this is gonna be.
Speaker C:And when we could put that into people.
Speaker C:Especially if you're in like a business lull and not feeling that 100%, you need to grind it out and you're in that burnout and you kind of reignite some of that fire and get things going, that's one of the cooler.
Speaker C:It's like giving the customer that they're like, you made my day by this detail.
Speaker C:When you can see a detailer and a friend, that brotherhood and he succeeds, like, yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker C:And so that's what we like to, you know about our, you know, kind of aftermarket industry that we've been in.
Speaker C:It's like really just helping people.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I, and, and I agree with you, like, taking the same training over, you know, or multiple times isn't a bad thing because again, you have to remember you are getting so much knowledge dumped on you in a short period of time that you can't retain it.
Speaker A:All right?
Speaker A:And, and so if you go back again, like, yeah, it might be the same, like, oh, here's Dan talking about this again.
Speaker A:Here's Dustin talking about that again.
Speaker A:And then it's like, whoa, hang on a second, I don't remember that from last time I was here, you know, and it's, and it's just that, that little bit extra, you know, two, two people that I always kind of cheerlead on here because they're always cheerleading for me is Kyle Camus and, and Jerry Grant.
Speaker A:And I love what those guys do because every time I've talked to those guys, those guys all year long will budget a percentage of their work for trainings for the next year.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:And, and, and ever since they've told me that I try to, especially when we do a, or when I do a training episode or talk about trainings, I always try to, you know, reiterate that is, that's, there shouldn't be, you know, I can't afford to go to a training anymore because if you take, you know, for just $5 a day, you know, you could go to a training next year and, but that might be the sacrifice, right, Is, is you pull a certain, a certain dollar figure, a certain percentage out of every job for the whole year and excited, right?
Speaker A:And you, you, you get, you get three grand in your little piggy bank by the end of the year and you know, you can go do a thousand dollar training with you guys, you know, and then, and then that's also going to cover your airfare, your hotel, your food, right.
Speaker C:And that's your vacation write off for the year.
Speaker A:Right, Exactly.
Speaker A:So, yeah, that's what I would say.
Speaker B:I got two things to say.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:Okay, first of all, Kyle Thomas, that is a solid dude right there.
Speaker C:I think he likes a post before I post it.
Speaker A:I know that mobile tech in that mobile tech crew or whatever, I'll make a post, you know, and I'm three hours ahead of him.
Speaker A:I'll make a post at like 7:00 in the morning at like 702.
Speaker A:It's approved.
Speaker A:I'm like, I think he's the only one that's really approving stuff.
Speaker B:Oh yeah, that guy's awesome.
Speaker B:We went to a Colorado Avalanche game when I did that training up at the Rupes facility a few months ago, and we got to.
Speaker B:We got to really just hang out and bond, and I can't.
Speaker B:I really honestly can't say nothing but super good things about that guy.
Speaker B:But then here's every other thing.
Speaker C:When I call him is all.
Speaker C:That's my only bad thing, actually.
Speaker B:But here's the thing, something that you'd said when.
Speaker B:When you were talking about not going to these trainings.
Speaker B:And there's.
Speaker B:There's the saying in business, what got you here won't get you there.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Meaning you kind of.
Speaker B:Unless you're trying, you.
Speaker B:You've got to continue learning and growing in business.
Speaker B:So the time that you start think.
Speaker B:Fart, the time you start thinking that you know everything, that's when you're just.
Speaker C:That's when the ego karma comes in.
Speaker C:It bites you.
Speaker C:Yeah, like, I gotta figure it out.
Speaker C:And then you're like, wow, we just had our worst month ever right after that, right?
Speaker B:I learned stuff at every one of these classes.
Speaker B:Like, you know, no matter which side of the equation I'm on, I learn.
Speaker B:I go home with something else else.
Speaker A:Before I ever went to one, you know, I was that guy.
Speaker A:I was like, why do I really need to go?
Speaker A:Like, what am I gonna.
Speaker A:You know, what am I really gonna learn that I don't already know?
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:And then I went to one and I was like, oh, I don't know anything.
Speaker A:And I just learned a whole lot, you know, and again, it's.
Speaker A:You know, sometimes it's not a hundred percent the actual training class, it's that networking afterwards.
Speaker A:Because I feel like that is a training too.
Speaker A:You're learning from other detailers, you know, of how they do things and what they do and to where now.
Speaker A:Like, you know, even if it's just, you know, Noxie's not that far from me.
Speaker A:So it's a quick, easy trip.
Speaker A:Even if it's just going up to his place, you know, once a year and.
Speaker A:And retaking a training with him or.
Speaker A:Or hopefully gonna go back up to Gloss University this year and hang out with Maddie and Dave and.
Speaker A:And see what they've got going on up there and.
Speaker A:And do.
Speaker A:Because we're doing something with Aquatech up there with them.
Speaker A:You know, it's.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:Now I look at it, and when people are like, you know, I don't want to go to training, and I look at them and go, like, why?
Speaker A:Like, how are you not going?
Speaker A:Like, just pick one.
Speaker A:Pick a good one.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:And that's My other thing is pick a good one.
Speaker A:I always try to tell people, like, is, is vet your trainer, training person, like your client vets you, right?
Speaker A:So these people need to go to you.
Speaker A:And again, I think you guys have, you know, Dan, I've known you for a number of years, super smart guy.
Speaker A:I think you, I think you definitely have the, the, the resume for it, you know, but, but again, like, I feel like if somebody's interested in your guys's training, they need to reach out and say, hey, look, like, I, I, you know, what are you guys doing?
Speaker A:You know, what's, what am I gonna, you know, end up learning and this and that because again, I feel like sometimes and, and I'm, I don't want to knock detailers, but this is probably going to come off as a knock to detailers, but sometimes I feel like you can tell when detailers get a little slow and they need some money that all of a sudden, hey, this, this weekend for 700, I'm doing a training at my shop, you know, and it's like, buddy, you're asking the same questions that I'm asking in the same Facebook groups I'm asking.
Speaker A:But now you're going to be a trainer for the weekend for 700, you know, so that.
Speaker B:Do your due diligence with everything.
Speaker B:How many of these freaking marketing people do you see out there and they're like, come work with me.
Speaker B:You're gonna make $10 million in 10 days and have 10 million Lamborghinis and.
Speaker A:10 million titties ceramic coatings this month and yeah, yada, yada, yada.
Speaker A:Yeah, right.
Speaker A:But no, I mean, you know, but again, I, you know, Dan, I've known you for a long time, Dustin.
Speaker A:I don't really know you, but if you're affiliated with Dan, I feel like you guys, you know, definitely have the resume.
Speaker A:It's, for me, it's that random guy that all of a sudden is in groups posting up that he's doing a training, you know, on the third weekend of whatever, and he's, you, you know, never heard of him before kind of.
Speaker B:Thing, you know, and, you know, and so that's a great, a great kind of question, though.
Speaker B:Why take a training class for us?
Speaker B: arted a detailing business in: Speaker B:I, I went to rehab my second time for drinking in two in 20.
Speaker B: In: Speaker B: rd,: Speaker B:By the time I got into my early 30s, I started a detailing business.
Speaker B:I grew that for 12 and a half years.
Speaker B:I did well enough to buy a House here in San Diego.
Speaker B:And I'm sitting pretty in that.
Speaker B:Dustin bought that business from me as a functioning business and just like hit the multiplier button.
Speaker B:I went to work for a company in the industry, worked my way up from a rep to the vice president, co vice president of business development, got plucked from that company to start to with the startup of Owner's Pride and had an equity position offered to me.
Speaker B:And so yeah, there's definitely a certified business coach.
Speaker B:We've.
Speaker B:Yeah, there it's.
Speaker B:And then Dustin, he's like really since he bought that business, I mean he's really, really grown it and put in some of those fundamentals that I hadn't even really thought of at that point.
Speaker B:But I've just really applied myself to learning the business side because I realized pretty early on that that is what everybody was missing.
Speaker B:And I was missing a lot of, a lot of it even in, in my early days.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:And that was something that like got me to a better position and that was Dan taking on that business role and education and breathing it into the people that he's, you know, working with and mentoring and being a rep for Owner's Pride really had me learning that and breathing it and becoming a bit a different detailer.
Speaker C:Because for a long time, even the first few four years of business we were still doing fine and we had some business things to us but we didn't really start hitting the ground running.
Speaker C:And so you know, even some of my histories I've been detailing for 17 and a half years.
Speaker C:That first eight or nine was just for shops and dealerships and car washes, washes and different things that we gained knowledge.
Speaker C:But the, the last four years is where we've really been able to do it.
Speaker C:And San Diego is not for the weak hearted.
Speaker C:There's a million detailers out here and there's a lot of people with deep pockets that can market.
Speaker C:That's like corporate money.
Speaker C:It's not, you know, yeah, more than a small family money.
Speaker C:But I think we're making some waves out here and we're in the trenches and figuring it out and when you are in those type of scenarios that I think that that's where we can really teach others to not make the mistakes and maybe have faster successes of what we've been up to.
Speaker C:And I even there's that point of imposter syndrome.
Speaker C:Like we don't try and bring an ego to this.
Speaker C:Like we're not saying we're better than any detailers out there, but we are Making this a functionable shop, like we've talked about that it's, it's tried and true.
Speaker C:It's not that, you know, midnight infomercial that you buy into and then see you later.
Speaker A:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker A:No, and I mean, I think it's, I think you can kind of tell when people are genuine enough that they're like, we want to help grow or expand the industry or a person versus the person.
Speaker A:That's just about.
Speaker A:I'm, I'm here to make a buck.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And, and I think, you know, you guys are definitely in that category of just wanting to grow.
Speaker A:Now, obviously, nothing's for free, right.
Speaker A:So you're gonna make a buck.
Speaker A:But, but again, you got, it's, it's not like, it's not like you're just taking the money and, and giving whatever.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Like, sometimes.
Speaker A:And that's the thing I don't think people understand is, you know, that, that $999, like, they should be able to go home on Monday.
Speaker A:And, and if they implement and learned what they got from you guys in two days, they'll make that $999 back on Monday.
Speaker B:You know, for the most part, just that office suite that they're going to take home is.
Speaker C:Yeah, but even if you got a little bit more confident in like, how to talk about a coding or not, or just make your customer experience better than maybe other competition in town, even if it's a slow market or the crazy big markets that we've dealt with, that that's what you're going to take home.
Speaker C:And yeah, one coding you could literally.
Speaker A:Cover, because I think, I think a lot of detailers don't know how to talk to, to clients.
Speaker A:I mean, even myself sometimes.
Speaker A:I mean, I, and I've done customer service for over 30 years between running car washes and then having my own business, sometimes I get a little tripped up when I'm talking to a client and, and I'm like, what am I going to, what am I trying to say to this guy?
Speaker A:You know, kind of thing.
Speaker A:But, but I think there's a lot of detailers that don't really know how, how to talk to a client.
Speaker A:And, and it's funny because I catch myself doing it.
Speaker A:And, and I've heard a number of people in this industry say it is.
Speaker A:You can't talk to a customer like they're another detailer.
Speaker A:So you can't use words like emulsifiers and surfactants and aluminum dioxide and, you know, you know, diminishing abrasives.
Speaker A:And kind what like they don't understand that.
Speaker A:So you know, and that's, that's, I think a big problem with detailers is they don't know how to talk to, to clients like their clients.
Speaker A:They want to talk to them like a detailer.
Speaker A:So again, going to a business class and learning how to speak to somebody and, and, and again I feel like sometimes detailers and myself included, I've been known to do it too, is over talk the client.
Speaker A:You know, you gotta elevator pitch them and it's hey, and it's from floor one to floor two.
Speaker A:You know, you're not going to the penthouse suite with them.
Speaker A:You got one floor of elevator ride to.
Speaker A:This is why, you know, kind of thing.
Speaker B:So yeah, yeah, we cover all this.
Speaker B:I get, I get, I'm excited right now.
Speaker B:Just like, ah, yeah, we saw like.
Speaker C:Five and a half weeks or something.
Speaker C:I'm excited.
Speaker A:So how many, how many actual classes or trainings do you guys plan to do a year?
Speaker A:I mean is this something you guys are going to crank them out like every month or is this going to be like a couple of times a year?
Speaker A:Like what is your, what are your.
Speaker C:Plans quarterly right now?
Speaker C:That way it was gapped and we kind of even tried to look at our schedules but like, you know, like I'm not going to book a training during SEMA because most people will probably be there.
Speaker C:And so we're trying to look at that part.
Speaker C:But we have April 25th to 27th and then what was the other?
Speaker C:August 8th to 10th and I think December 5th through the 7th was the three of them.
Speaker C:If those are right, I'm proud of myself.
Speaker B:But if those are filling up then there, there could be room for more.
Speaker B:But like I said, we're also doing a couple of other projects with car clubs and we have a lot of connections to the car community here in San Diego.
Speaker B:The car culture, it's been so many cultures.
Speaker A:Big.
Speaker A:How many students or attendees or whatever you guys doing in every training?
Speaker A:I mean where are you capping it at?
Speaker C:We try not to do more than 10, you know, and even when we have like Tom and Ian and different people there to kind of help, but it just gets a little out of control.
Speaker C:It's kind of like my daughter at swim class without a one on one coach with like seven kids just kind of kicking around and stuff.
Speaker C:So we try and keep it to a point that it's still intimate enough that you can take something from it.
Speaker C:You don't get the chatter in the background and stuff.
Speaker C:Like that, but usually 10 or less.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's.
Speaker A:I was gonna say that's pretty.
Speaker A:That's a pretty sweet number.
Speaker A:It usually seems like four to five per trainer.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Is a good kind of sweet.
Speaker A:Sweet spot for.
Speaker A:For classes.
Speaker A:Any.
Speaker A:Any plans to take the show on the road or are they all going to be in San Diego?
Speaker C:I think we could.
Speaker C:I mean, we've had someone ask us about that recently.
Speaker C:They just can't get away from the shop.
Speaker C:You know, we'd probably have to charge extra for it, obviously.
Speaker C:But that's kind of where Dan's background of a lot of his aftermarket in the corporate industry and stuff like that that he did do traveling well.
Speaker C:So we're not opposed to it.
Speaker C:We would have to make sure that we have our A game together so that we don't not have the same experience of, you know, our shop here and things like that.
Speaker C:But.
Speaker B:And it's.
Speaker C:Bring me a cool place to travel to and I'll get paid to travel there.
Speaker B:But it's not too shabby to come out to San Diego.
Speaker B:Some people actually even come here for vacations and stuff.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:We do like that part of selling, especially the winter training.
Speaker C:It's like get out of the cold.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:I get, you know, reset and stuff like that.
Speaker C:But so far up here, maybe a bigger training facility.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker A:I don't know anything about winter, so I wouldn't know what.
Speaker A:I wouldn't know what getting out of winter would be like.
Speaker A:So usually I came from Utah and.
Speaker C:Colorado, so I know it, but I don't miss it usually.
Speaker A:Usually anytime I'm going somewhere it's into winter.
Speaker A:It feels like.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:I mean it was already, I think, man, I think it was like 80 something today.
Speaker A:Thankfully the humidity is not as.
Speaker A:As high right now.
Speaker A:It's still somewhat comfortable.
Speaker B:Where are you at in Oklahoma?
Speaker A:No, I'm in Orlando.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:You know where I'm at?
Speaker B:Started with a no.
Speaker A:Yeah, started with a no.
Speaker B:I just fell apart from there.
Speaker A:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker A:Well, listen guys, I appreciate you coming on doing this.
Speaker A:Thank you for reaching out.
Speaker A:You know, I'm always.
Speaker A:Dan, I'm always down to.
Speaker A:To promote your stuff.
Speaker A:I mean you.
Speaker A:You've been good to me over the years.
Speaker A:So anytime.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And again, you guys hit me right when I needed a guest.
Speaker A:So this was awesome.
Speaker A:So for anybody who is now listening to this is interested.
Speaker A:Is there a website?
Speaker A:Is there like where do they go to find out?
Speaker A:Wherever.
Speaker A:If you guys want to give out your.
Speaker A:Your whatever the, the handles.
Speaker B:So we got.
Speaker B:We have my website for taking your free business assessment-a n n williams.com Dan so nice to end me twice.
Speaker B:Dan williams.com and then on Facebook, we have the Detail Authority Academy, the Detailing Authority Academy page.
Speaker B:It's a group.
Speaker B:Get in there, like it, feel free to make some posts.
Speaker B:And, and that's where you can find all the information to sign up.
Speaker B:There's a QR code, I believe in there.
Speaker B:And then for the people who are signing up, we're going to have an event page made so they can all kind of stay together and communicate on there.
Speaker A:That's nice.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And then my, my business is official California detailing.com for the website.
Speaker C:Official underscore.
Speaker C:California underscore detailing for Instagram.
Speaker C:And that's where I.
Speaker C:Without having more platforms to share stuff on and more projects to do.
Speaker C:As a business owner, we do post through that and kind of tag at the shop and things like that.
Speaker C:But yeah, we can get you a link and a QR code for this episode.
Speaker C:It'll take them right, to like a payment link and information about what we're doing.
Speaker C:That's where we're at right now.
Speaker A:Yeah, I mean, if you guys want to send me the, the website link or something like that, I'll add it in the show notes.
Speaker A:So if, you know somebody's working and don't have, don't have the time to write it down, they can just go into the show notes and click the link and it'll take it right to them.
Speaker A:Listen, I'm, I'm excited for you guys.
Speaker A:You know, let me see how my schedule goes.
Speaker A:I wouldn't mind trying to come out and, you know, maybe, maybe later in the year, if, if it'd be great, I can scrounge together that 999.
Speaker A:I'm gonna need you out there to teach.
Speaker B:Teach part of it.
Speaker A:I'd love to come out and, and experience it and, and see.
Speaker A:So I'm gonna, I'm gonna see what I can do on my end, but yeah, definitely, dude.
Speaker A:I think, I think it's exciting.
Speaker A:I, I really, again, I, I truly love the concept of, of being in a working shop.
Speaker A:I think that's a great way to learn, you know, I mean, yeah, sometimes you, you do want that closed down, you know, when you're getting into the nitty gritty of it, but to actually see how it works and see how it runs so that then you can take it back and implement it.
Speaker A:I, I think it's, I think it's a great.
Speaker A:I think It's a great system.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And again, if anybody else is doing it, they're not doing it well enough for me to know about it.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:I think you guys are probably the first one.
Speaker A:I'm gonna say you guys are probably the first one that's doing it that way, so.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:It's good to hear, too, that we're not throwing out too crazy of ideas, but I appreciate you having us on and can't wait to get you out here to SoCal.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah, we'll try and do something.
Speaker A:I've always wanted to go to California, so we'll see.
Speaker C:Come on down.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:All right, guys.
Speaker A:I appreciate it.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Have a good weekend.
Speaker A:You, too.
Speaker A:Bye.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker A:Hey, don't go anywhere.
Speaker A:Detail.
