Yea, we’re working on videos and better tutorials. The biggest problem with detailing is you need super high quality videos/pics to show the process and results correctly (and someone very very skilled doing the work). We’ve made several videos on our own using a hi-def camcorder and still decided not to move ahead with them because they didn’t come out good enough. We’re in discussions with a few of the best detailers in the world about exclusive deals with us where we provide them with free products and promotion (and some money) in exchange for them documenting their work as tutorials, articles, videos, etc. Hopefully we’ll have something in the next few months.

Adam

Definitley have to get the right balance – it’s perhaps not fair on people who have real customer services issues to have to call a premium rate number, so maybe have a normal rate number for that – equally you don’t want the timewasters calling on the cheap number when they should be calling on the premium rate. One option is to have some kind of switchboard, or an offer to call back those with customer service issues.

Either way, there’s extra value you have here that you’re either not monetizing or not sure how to monetize. If it’s part of your service and you see it as good customer service (because they’ll buy lots of product and tell all their friends what nice people you are) then you’ve gotta suck it up and accept the long phonecalls. However, if you don’t think the time spent on these calls converts well into leads and ultimately sales, you shouldn’t be giving the information away for free. Clearly there’s a desire for the information, so the premium rate number or some other type of system might be a good way to offset the time spent dealing with these customers.

Remember from business 101 that it’s the tire-kickers and cheapskates who are the most difficult customers, and if you’re aligning with them and letting them know it’s OK for them to call you for hours on end don’t expect them to suddenly become dream customers overnight. Would you rather use the 80/20 rule and nix these customers entirely, or find some way of making them less frustrating and more worth your time?

That’s an interesting concept. It could work, but we’d have to tread carefully not to turn people off. Definitely worth thinking about though…

Adam

regarding the long detailing queries, why not have a premium rate number set up for that purpose? Eg. “Call our detailing hotline on…..” then if you do get the calls, you’ll not worry so much about it taking up a chunk of your time because you’ll be being paid extra for it. Alternatively, just make all your lines premium rate so that people will be reluctant to call and might try harder to find what they need on your FAQ or using email support.

I totally agree with you… I’m actually for companies with disruptive business models where the customer wins. I love how Napster brought down the recording industry and now we don’t hafta spend $14 on a CD when you only want 1 song. I think I’m still jaded by the dot com bust in 2000, and companies able to recklessly spend money because some VC’s irrational exuberance without caring about making a (gasp!) profit.

There needs to be a good balance. Are VCs betting $1 million on a 1 in 1000 chance to make $1 billion? Or are they betting $1 million on a 1 in 100,000 chance of making $1 billion?

Plus, Google isn’t going to buy you unless you have something of value to them. What’s more valuable (and sustainable) then a company that’s making money?

@Tim/Brandon – funny, I just responded on the Brazen Careerist thread about the Pareto Principle

@Brian – Good post on your blog, we’re definitely on the same wavelength.

By the way, our long customer service phone calls are somewhat unique to automotive detailing. People call to complain but then start asking a million questions about the best wax for their car, and then ask a million questions about how to apply it. Then they move on to another step in the detailing process and pretty soon George or Greg is explaining everything detailing related to them. We have a guide on the site, soon to be much improved, that answers 99% of these questions so it’s just more effective to answer an email with a link to the guide and an “email me back if you have any questions the guide doesn’t answer”.

Great Post. We must be on the same wavelength, I wrote a similar entry in my blog on March 25th. You can view it here: http://ptcareertree.com/blog/?p=18

In general, I believe that consumers are very price sensitive. They want to pay as little as possible and don’t care about the effect on the business. (ie: Day after Thanksgiving Sales)

Back in the days BI (Before Internet) people had to shop in person and needed to work with a live person to use coupons and barter to reduce the price. This takes courage.

With the Internet, it’s easier to find coupon codes and people can show their nasty side without getting face-to-face contact with the company representative.

This doesn’t explain your long customer phone calls…I guess some people have too much time on their hands.

Brian

I believe, ultimately, it will boil down to supply and demand, this applies to both products and service. If there is a healthy supply of free options it will be nearly impossible for fee based sites to make it, if demand remains high and the free options vanish I think the fee based sites will flourish. A few specific examples come to mind, forums, some forums offer a premium membership that include an annual fee to the user for extra features, I have never found this to be worth the money, there are far too many quality free forums out there. In regards to Adam’s example, I think KODAK will end up losing this, there are far too many options to host photo’s for free. I think there is a large opportunity for KODAK here, but think they are missing it. They have a portion of it, creating different size accounts based on usage, but I think they should tie it with a more conventional site selling KODAK products; film, batteries, camera’s, high quality printing paper, etc…. It is much easier to sell a competitive product online then a service. Purchasing pictures that they don’t own the rights to is a product, but a boutique product, and their prices reflect this and a clear inefficiency in their operation.

Great responses everyone, I enjoyed reading this!