From $800 Mustang to Master Detailer: Rob Torres and his journey to Scaling BLAM Auto Detailing

Speaker A: Calling all detailers, but just guiding every grind, helping detailers make more money one show at a time.

Speaker B: Hey, everybody, I got Rob Torres here from Blam Detailing. How's it going, Rob?

Speaker C: It's going great, man.

Speaker B: Awesome. Awesome. Hey, tell us a little bit more about yourself. You were on the podcast a couple years ago. Tell us again how you got started, a brief story, and, uh, what this wonderful year was like for you.

Speaker C: Oh, my God, man, this year has, has just been crazy and in the best possible way. But, uh, you know, let's, let's bring us back to. To square one. I was in the design business. I owned a web design studio. Uh, this is going back about nine years. And I was no longer in love with the business. And I was trying to figure out what it was that I was going to do next because I was getting ready to sell it. I happened to be in Florida over the winter, bought myself an old beat up Mustang convertible. And while I was working on it, trying to make it look great again, I had this epiphany.

Speaker B: Ah.

Speaker C: Which was like, you know what, man? I've always had a car habit. You know, I'm super into cars. I've got cars in my blood. Through my father, I'm going to start a detail business. And Blam was literally born with like, in a moment of clarity in Cape Coral, Florida, you know, with a Mustang that I bought for 800 bucks.

Speaker B: Wow.

Speaker C: Wow. Yeah.

Speaker B: Why Blam? Why the name Blam?

Speaker C: So what I wanted to do was, and you know, I also have a little bit of a marketing background. I wanted to stand out from other detailers in a really significant way. So a lot of the detail shops that you see, they're like, you know, top shelf detailing or like high definition detailing. You know, like you're lost in the crowd, you know, that isn't memorable. I wanted to come up with something that literally was going to burn into your mind. The way that, like, if you look up at the sun and you keep seeing those lights, and if you remember my first logo, it was a caricature of myself with my glasses and my backwards baseball cap and the big words Blam. So if nothing else, if you threw my business card on the table with 50 other detailer business cards, you're going to remember that you saw Blam. And then on top of it, my. My oldest child at the time came up with, uh, is what not a. Not an anagram acronym? Excuse me. Okay, so. And BLAM stands for better looking automobiles.

Speaker B: Oh, okay.

Speaker C: Yeah. So it was kind of a cool Thing, you know.

Speaker B: Great, great. And then I, I, I had told you the story that I was sitting at breakfast a couple years ago, and I, I look at this car, and it had a blam air freshener in the mirror. And I was like, wait, wait, that's in Boston area. It's New England. And we're in Tacoma, 5,000 miles away, 3,000 miles away. And I'm like, so I'm like, well, who is it? And I didn't text you. And they're like, oh, the people are behind me. I'm like, oh. Uh, So I had talked to them anyways, that was the world small. It really is. Really is. Okay, great. Tell us a little bit about this awesome year you've had.

Speaker C: So 2025 was a really important year for me for, for a bunch of different reasons. Professionally, 2024, uh, there was a lot going on and there was, there was no room for me to promote any kind of growth in any type of direction. It was simply maintaining business as usual, which is not a terrible thing. But I get complacent and I like to keep leveling up. And as you know, we've been friends and doing business for many years now. I'm always looking for something new, and I'm always looking for ways to kind of turn up the heat a little bit. This year, one of, one of the first things that I wanted to make sure that I did was something that you and I had talked about, you know, for, I mean, I think the past three years, I sort of was like, flirting with the idea of it, uh, which would be, which is my, my own private label product line, you know, with Pearl Nano.

Speaker B: Right. Blam. There we go.

Speaker C: There we go. We got the Blam Signature graphene detail spray, which, honestly, I have been using this product day in, day out, literally since the very first starter pack sample kit that you sent me way back when. So it's one of those things where it's integrated into my workflow, and it made perfect sense for that to be the product that I finally put my label on. Uh, and the response has been amazing. People love it. The financial piece of it. I haven't quite pushed the envelope on that yet. What I've really focused on with it is looking at it as an extension of my brand. It's what it is, you know, and it's just another one of those things where in the circles that I do business, you know, where most of my clientele are, this is a logical next step to them. Like, this didn't surprise them that Rob Taurus has his own product and that was exactly what I wanted to happen.

Speaker B: And they trust you with, with their beautiful cars?

Speaker C: A hundred percent.

Speaker B: They wait for you. You're booked out how long? At all times?

Speaker C: Six to eight weeks minimum.

Speaker B: Six to eight weeks. So the next step is the product. Oh, and there's Christmas coming. And give me some of that product. And how do I maintain my car in the wintertime in the garage? I need some of that. You know, I'm sure that you're hearing

Speaker C: this all the time. You know, it's, it's a, uh, for me, you know, just as a sort of cool feather in my cap. If I never sold a single bottle of it, I still would have been happy because I honestly just like it, you know, because I worked really hard to establish blam. You know, and it's just sort of like proof positive. Like, hey, man, you had a great idea, you went for it and here you sit and it just gets better and better.

Speaker B: Right, Right. So then we have one more awesome nugget here. I've been on your case a little bit for the last couple years, Rob. You got to get into this ceramic stuff. I know you're mobile, but come on. And what happened?

Speaker C: I finally bit, man. I, uh, finally bit. And, uh, the response was almost overwhelming because a lot of, a lot of my clientele, uh, and I've said this to you before, Dave, I am in circles in very affluent neighborhoods out in a town, a part of Massachusetts called Cape Ann. It's a seaside community, very high net worth individuals that love their cars. They've got private car collections and their daily drivers are nicer than what most people will ever own in their lifetime. So everybody was waiting for me to sort of like bless ceramic coating. So when I finally did, you know, I had the opportunity to work on some really nice stuff. Uh, a lot, some of it, I posted some of it out of respect to anonymity. Some of these people don't want their stuff out there is just happening behind the scenes. But I promise you, they all came out amazing. And if you are listening and watching this and you haven't integrated ceramic coating into, into your offerings, don't do what I did. Get in there now. Make it happen. Because it is an unbelievable experience to drop off a car at. Ah, Your clients that you just spent the day making look absolutely amazing and watching their jaw hit the floor when it rolls up. Because as I had said when we were speaking before, I started without being really familiar with ceramic until you actually are working on it and applying it and seeing it transform in front of you, you can't quite grasp how significant an improvement it is. You know, optically, shine, depth of color, there's just no, there's no way around it. And I tell people all the time, once you have had a vehicle coated, you will almost guaranteed never not have a vehicle coded. Every time you buy a car, that'll be a part of it for you.

Speaker B: Yes. But let's back up a little bit. So it took a little bit of work to get you to this level. Once you did a car which was your own car.

Speaker C: Yes.

Speaker B: Then what?

Speaker C: So once I. One, uh, one of the things that I stand on in my business is making sure that I don't offer anything and I don't touch a client's car with anything that I haven't personally used on my own vehicle. So it was really important for me to go through the coding process on my personal car, which at, at the time was a 2014 BMW 228i drop top. Uh, it was a black car. It had been car washed to death. And you know, when I dialed it back, it, it was just astonishing what the results were. Once I was able to now have literally a case study to show people, then that's when I was able to start booking things. Because then it was like, okay, you know, Mr. Client, you know, you've, you've been asking me about ceramic coating and I, I've been sort of doing some research and dragging my feet a little bit. That is no longer the case. Let me swing by and show you what 10 year old black paint looks. After I spent the afternoon on it and then sealed it up with ceramic and that was it, that was the end of it.

Speaker B: Tell us about the nor'. Easter.

Speaker C: So, okay, yeah, uh, one of the sort of pivotal moments for me, I was already bought in. After I had initially done the application and saw the results, I was like, yeah, this is a beautiful thing in that coming winter. I live in New England and we, we obviously, as I had said, we get absolutely hammered. There's salt on the roads, it's an absolute mess. And the very first time that I rinsed off that BMW that I had coated, that was literally covered in all the salt residue. You know, it just, you look, it looked like something you'd have to spend at least three, four hours on just to get it back to looking even reasonable, man. I brought it through a pressure wash bay, zip, zip, zip, zip, zip, blotted it down dry and it was like, looked like I had Just spent the whole day on it. And at that point I really started putting a little bit of effort behind pushing it out to my clients. Great, great stuff. Great stuff, man.

Speaker B: Okay, all right, so you're a media guy and you wanted to boost your brand new Instagram page. What did you do to do that?

Speaker C: So when it came time for me to put Instagram up and running, I was a little reticent because as you had mentioned. And guys, this is really just the reality of my business. I'm booked from six to eight weeks out all season. I turn a ton of business down because I simply don't have the bandwidth for it. So my reasoning or my motives behind launching an Instagram account was literally to support the launch of my detail spray. It had nothing to do with wanting to gain audience share to get new appointments, because Instagram is more of a global thing, whereas my Facebook presence is really targeted and local. So I hired, I hired a great gal, a media salvi, uh, a media savvy gal to follow me around with a camera. And we did some videos and some before and afters and some product, you know, uh, demonstrations and so on. And I had a really good time with it and I very quickly got a bunch of followers. I very quickly was getting a lot of views and I was selling some products. So it really did what it was supposed to do for sure.

Speaker B: Excellent, excellent. So, wow, you gotta, we're. We're 12 minutes in and we've already covered a lot of ground here, so how about some tips or tricks? Some of the guys out there, the young guys, the guys that have been here a while, what can you share on how to be more successful and basically how to make more money.

Speaker C: All right? And I love talking about this because if you know me, you will not, you will know that I have a. I take a lot of pride in what I do. I'm a really good auto detailer. I know my way around cars, my stuff, my work stands on its own, no question. But I am not the best detailer walking around the planet Earth. There are tons of detailers out there that are as good, if not better than me, that simply don't know how to keep their schedule filled. And that is where my approach to things, I think is really going to be helpful to people. Because when you, if you were to go on, like, we will talk about Instagram, just because it's an easy thing for us to talk about more often than not on an Instagram, you know, detailer group page or Facebook detailer group page, you've got all these young guys coming in and they're asking questions like, hey, what's. What's the. What's the best compound to use? What's the best compound, you know, pad type to use? What is the best day I should buy? What is this, this, this and this? It's all paying attention to things that you're better off figuring out as you do. 100, 200, 300, a thousand appointments. You know, you can read about that stuff all day. But a lot of that, in my opinion, comes down to personal preference. Like, if you were to. If you were to look at my tool bag, you know, I might have, I don't know, was probably like 15 or 20 products in there. And those are all curated. That because of what I've done over the course of my career as a detailer, none of that is what would have been recommended. Recommended to me, you know, when I was just coming out of the gate. Anyway, where I'm going with this is stop paying attention to that stuff. Start paying attention to the market that you want to do business in, what your clientele in a. In a perfect scenario is going to look like, and what are you going to offer them. And once you. Once you start looking at that, what you want to do. And this is literally like a page right out of my playbook, how I got blam off the ground. You find a town, and in that town, make sure there's a large demographic that matches up with what you want to do. Because another thing that I think people struggle with, Dave, is when they're first coming out, they just want to take every dollar that's handed to them. That's a horrible strategy. And I understand that. You know, uh, we all have bills, you know, we all get nervous. You know, have some faith in yourself. You know, take a deep breath, take a step back and be smart about it. So one of the things that I did, and this is something that anybody can do, when I determined what the main town was that I wanted to target, and that town, in my case happens to be Manchester by the Sea, I started to. Well, number one, I rented an apartment there, but that was sort of like, separate because it's just a really nice seaside town, and it was a cool place for my wife and I to go to hang out on weekends and. And that sort of thing. But one of the things that I did was I started making myself available in town to the local businesses. So there was a particular place, a, uh, wonderful pizza shop owned by some really nice people. And honestly, Dave I think for probably it might have been six months straight, I went there every day and got. What they had was a pizza special. It was two slices of pizza and a soda. I think it was like seven bucks or whatever. Amazing pizza. I would have ate it if it was 20 bucks. But my point is, it wasn't about going to get pizza. It was about being there and being seen there and starting to become someone that people recognized because people like to do business with people that they're familiar with. It becomes a much easier interaction with somebody that recognizes you, and it becomes an organic conversation. Like, hey, what do you do? You know what? I happen to own a detail business. You know, I'm starting to, uh, you know, kind of pick up a lot of clients in town, and you guys, you know, seem to really enjoy the service that I offer. And if I can ever do anything for you, you know, feel free to reach out anytime. And, and, and once you start doing that, once people start recognizing you, you're going to find that your phone's going to ring, you know, or you're. You're going to get text messages. Because another part of that is ultimately, you're going to find out one of two things. When you start targeting a, uh, particular area. The one thing you're going to find out is, is there a detailer in town that absolutely owns that town? And if they do, that's great, because now you know what you're up against. Number two, you're going to find out that that person doesn't exist. And here's a news flash. If you do a couple of the things that I suggest, give me a year, and that person will be you, you will be that. Go to detailer. Because people love the service that I offer. And one of the things that keeps me busy all the time is every interaction that I have with a client is based on. It just so happens that I detail cars, Dave. It's my client experience model that really keeps me connected to people, and it makes everything go so smooth, and it is so easy, and I remove everything, every possible barrier before it is even an issue with a client that would stop them from booking an appointment with me.

Speaker B: Wow. Yeah, well, so you touched on a lot of things. So, uh, I have heard of people in Malibu and La Jolla and other places, they go to restaurants all the time just so they can be seen. So this is a, this is a great tactic right here. People, People want to do business with, they. They know, like, and trust. If you're new. I'm like, I Don't trust you. You're that, you're that weird looking guy, right? So now that I've seen you and the same thing, I lived in Hawaii for a long time. They're very standoffish. But once they seen you, they seen you at the beach, they seen you out in the lineup, they see you, you know, man, I've seen you before, you know, it's, it's what's going on. And I used to surf the roughest beaches and people like you went there. I'm like, yeah, you show respect, you get respect, you know, so the same thing. So you touched on some other things that I been talking about for decades pro about, you know, finding your ideal customer.

Speaker C: So, yes.

Speaker B: So important you figured it out that, you know, do poor people get their car detailed? Not a lot. So maybe that's not a target market. Rich people do. And Pete, isn't it really nice to work on super nice cars? Doesn't this stuff go on like butter? And you get to rub on a half a million dollar car, a hundred thousand dollar car. What a, what a job. You get to actually get paid to do this. You know, a lot of people would do it for fun. So you figured out your ideal. You figured out a Persona. That's the other thing that I talk about is you. You have this middle aged Corvette Porsche driver Persona who lives in this seaside town half the year probably. And, uh.

Speaker C: Exactly.

Speaker B: You show up half the year and you are sitting at this, this pizza joint, you know, talking to people. Hey, how's it going, Fred? I saw you yesterday and you know. Yeah, I need to get my car. Okay, I'll get on your schedule. Oh, I'm booked out, man. I gotta. You gotta get in early. So, uh, and then, so. But you can do that in. This is the. You don't have to go to a seaside town. You could go to any town in America in the world and say, you know, I'm gonna go to the golf course, I'm gonna go and I'm gonna find that Persona guy, the guy with the plaid pants, the golf clubs, the nice Corvette. And, uh, I'm gonna focus all my energy onto them. And then just to transition a little bit farther, I talk about what's called the, the Dream 100. The top 100 people in your little town that you would love to do their cars. And you try to get their, their phone number, their email, something. You know, you run into them at the grocery store. Hey, I've been trying to get a hold of you. You have no idea how to get ahold of them. So have you ever tried to, for a. Write down your Persona, talk about the dream 100 and uh, it looks like you have. And all this is working out great, right?

Speaker C: It really has. And I actually want to like, go back to something just said that I think is really important. It doesn't have to be a seaside town. However you want to be, you want to try to narrow down whatever, whatever the town is. So like, we'll use a, like a, uh, like even a golf course, for example. One of the other things that, that I started doing this year that I didn't mention is I'm, I'm actually doing consulting, uh, for new detailers that are trying to get themselves off the ground. And part of the beauty of the way that my business is set up, and honestly, I'm literally wrapping up the last few appointments of the New England season and I'm getting in my car and I'm driving down south for the winter and I'll work down south all winter. Part of what happens on my way down south is there is a new detailer in South Carolina that I am working with, trying to get him established. And one of the first things that we did was zero in on who is he doing business with. And it just so happens that it is based on a really popular golf course, uh, where he's got some people that he knows and he just got his foot in that door. And he's. I'm not going to say he's booked already because he's not. But I mean, he is way ahead of where most people are this, this early in the game. And I'm really looking forward to going down. And I'm going to stop in South Carolina and we're going to do some, you know, some training and I'm going to teach him a couple things that he doesn't know.

Speaker B: And people, people talk too, right? Oh, once you do Fred's car, like, wait, who did your car? Oh, now my car. Now your car looks better than my car. And oh, I gotta call Rob. Uh, this can't happen.

Speaker C: You know, one of the beautiful things, you know, again, when you become a part of a community. And I think it's really important to point that out. In my business, I certainly can't afford to compete with most of my clients financially, but they see me as an equal. And that's really important because when you're viewed as an equal, it really enhances the experience because I have relationships with my clients. It isn't transactional. You know, yes, they pay me for a service that I offer. But let me give you a perfect example. So this afternoon, this morning, I was doing a. I did a Subaru Crosstrek for a really wonderful older, uh, woman in Manchester by the sea, who's been very kind to me. We just. We met over coffee, in fact. Uh, and, uh, you know, she. She just be. We just became friends. She happens to have a very nice private car collection that I. That I've had. I've had the opportunity to work on for her. And, uh, she had me do a Subaru Crosstrek for her groundskeeper. Uh, now I go and I pick up the car and I bring it back and, you know, do my thing. And one of the. One of the things that I make a point of doing, Dave, is you'll never see me spend money on a Facebook ad. It's just not my thing. I don't need it, first of all. And second of all, it wouldn't bring me the people that I want to be brought. That being said, I spend money in this way. She hired me to do an interior exterior detail. When I get the car, there's an enormous scuff across the passenger door. I definitely could have said to her, hey, Barbie, it's going to be another 150 for me to correct that for you. Well, guess what? I did it on the house. And that is why when I got there, she's like, you know what? Let me get a gift certificate for you to do my daughter's Tahoe. So now I went from, uh, an appointment on a Subaru Crosstrek, you know, which. Whatever I, you know, it was. It was solid money. Then she throws a tip on top of it, and then she adds another $500 appointment to it. So I made $1,000 today in four hours. All because. All because I know that that is what makes her remember, like, wow, Rob really does take care of me.

Speaker B: You could have just watched it, did it, brought it back with a big stuff.

Speaker C: She would have been thrilled, you know, uh, and, you know, I bring that up because, you know, we were talking a little bit, and I apologize that I'm sort of jumping around a little, but I get excited. You know, there are ways that you can stand out that don't cost you anything.

Speaker B: Or cost you very little.

Speaker C: Or cost you very little. Good. That. That's a better way to put it. Cost you very little. It took me. It might have taken me six minutes to correct that.

Speaker B: Buzz it up.

Speaker C: And honest to God, all I did was I used a Little bit of yore pearl nano, the all in one compound, the pink stuff that I absolutely love. I put a little bit of that on an orange Hex Logic and that was it, man. You know, a couple of passes, topped it off with a little bit of my graphene detail spray, and it looked like it was never touched, man. The door was perfect.

Speaker B: Wow, that's, that's great. That's a, uh, that's a great thing to go into. The thing that I tell people to do, especially if they're spending big bucks, put on the, the glass coating. So the glass coating, you know, it's going to last a long time when they're driving and they're feeling good. Maybe it'll rain soon after this nice detail and they'll call you. What'd you put on my windshield that I don't even have to use my windshield wipers? I mean, it's raining like crazy out here. I haven't even used my windshield wiper. Uh, a whole way here and the whole way home last night, it's raining cats and dogs. I don't even turn them on. It just flies right off my windshield. But that's a great. So that's a, that's a great thing to add for free, right? It costs you like five bucks, right? Even though a lot of these guys charge 200, maybe $50 to $200. Just the, the, it's a, it's a safety factor. And they're like, I didn't even pay for the glass coating. But you put it on for free. And they remember that just like they did with the scuff, is what I was saying.

Speaker C: Absolutely. And in the event that the concept or the conversation rather of gee, my car is really dirty comes up, I am the only solution that is mentioned in that conversation in my circles. Like, nobody ever says, oh, well, you know, why don't you give Rob a call? And then there's this other guy. It's like, call Rob. Hopefully he can fit you in. Uh, tell him that I said, you know, that you should give him a call. And then you get the opportunity to be like, I mean, I did this just the other day, Dave. I got a, I got a call from a gentleman. He had a. What did he have? I, uh, think it was, I think it was a big ass Denali pickup. I can't remember exactly which model it was because I'm on the spot and it's just escaping me. Anyway, he's like, listen, man, I'm getting ready to trade in this car, you know, And I was really hoping, you know, that you can take care of it for me before I take it in. And I'm like, look it, man, you know, I, I don't have the room right now. You know, I, I really would love to help you, you know, when do you need it done by? And he's like, oh, he's like, well, you know, I was hoping to bring it in this weekend and, and I was, you know, I was given your name by, you know, a client of mine. You know, I won't say his name, but I was given your name by so and so. And I'm like, well, that's different, man. That's different. Yes, I can take care of you, you know, and I made time when there was no time. Because when you're loyal to me, you have earned the right for me to make sure that your friends and family. If you honor me with referring me a, uh, friend or family member, I absolutely go out of my way even more than I go out of my way on a given day to make sure that they're taken care of. And I.

Speaker B: What if you didn't? I think that's more of the whole thing. I called Rob and he said he couldn't fit me in. I had to go to Jorge or Bob down the street. Yeah, so that's, uh, that, that's making you look bad. Maybe you couldn't fit him in. You have a, have a, uh, problem there, but you took care of it.

Speaker C: I never allow a referral to not be handled correctly. I'll work at 3 o' clock in the morning if that's what it takes.

Speaker B: Very good. Very good.

Speaker C: You know what I'm saying? Because that's how, that's how important that is to me. Because that's why in a couple of days I'm going to pack up my Mercedes and I'm going to drive down south and enjoy the warm weather because I didn't have to worry about anything for the whole season.

Speaker B: It's, it's getting cold there, that's for sure.

Speaker C: Right, Man. Once it dips below 35, I can't work, you know, as long as it hovers around 35, you know, the products perform correctly. You know, the nozzles aren't seizing up. Nothing like that's happening. I can work once it, Once it's going south of 35, it's just not worth it. It's just ineffective to work work.

Speaker B: Wow. So that is some amazing, amazing work. So how many cars are, uh, you doing a year?

Speaker C: I usually do about 250. It, it can, it can be as much as three, depending on exactly what's going on, depending on whether or not I hired an assistant. You know, lately, the past couple seasons, I've honestly just enjoyed working by myself. So, you know, I've, I've, I've kept it, like, around, like, probably like, between 250 to 275. I think I probably did, like, 275, 280 this year. Uh, but, uh, you know, it's one of those things where if I wanted to do more, I literally just open up the floodgate, you know, if I m. It happened just yesterday. I had inadvertently not blocked out Christmas Eve, and somebody booked two cars for me to work on Christmas Eve. And there.

Speaker B: Or in Florida.

Speaker C: No, here. Still here in Massachusetts. And I literally had to, like, message them and be like, look, man, like, I thought that my, I thought my CRM system blocked that out for me. You know, I, I, It's Christmas, man. I ain't, you know, I'm obviously not working. Uh, but what I'm trying to say is, like, as much as I allowed myself to be available, like, I would, I would be able to fill those time slots. Uh, and it's a really, it's a great feeling. I don't say that because I'm trying to show off or I'm trying to be arrogant. I worked for that. You know what I mean? And you and I spoke recently, and we were talking about, you know, how strange it is that when you take your foot off the gas a little bit, you know, there's that sort of, There's a little bit of latency. I think you said it was like, 60 days or you might have said

Speaker B: the 90 day rule.

Speaker C: 90 days. 90 days. Excuse me. Um, and, you know, now granted, you know, everything was fine. You know, it wasn't, it wasn't like, blam was fading off into the sunset, but I definitely noticed, like, a difference in the intensity of the attempts for people to book with me, you know, that normally, uh, you know, I would be like, yeah, hey, listen, you know, I'm. I'm six weeks out, seven, eight weeks out. And I very quickly put my foot back on the gas because I didn't like that feeling. And I don't, I don't want to play, I don't want to play fast and loose with that because it just makes, you know, part of the reason that I detail cars. And I've said this, and I say this all the time. You know, it, I would do it for free. Like, I literally would do it for free. It just so happens that Blam became wildly successful. Like, I. I'd be doing it anyway. If Blam was nothing more than like a side hustle or like a, um, you know, like just something that I did on weekends or whatever, I was going to be okay with that. You know, to me, it was making. I just wanted to do it. And it just so happened that, you know, little bit of hard work and some ingenuity, and here we are.

Speaker B: Wow. Wow. I have another question. So when somebody wants to schedule an appointment, what are you using? How. How did he go from I need to get on your schedule to I'm on your schedule. What schedule are you using?

Speaker C: Okay, so I. Actually, that's a, That's a great question. Because as a. As a detailer in this day and age, if. If you don't have good technology helping you, you know, you're going to find yourself in a lot of tough spots. It becomes very stressful.

Speaker B: You're gonna miss appointments, you're gonna piss people off.

Speaker C: Absolutely, absolutely. And you're never gonna put your phone down because your phone, you're gonna be doing everything manually. You're gonna be trying to keep track of things manually. And I don't know about you, but, I mean, if I don't have some sort of solid technological assistance, it just really takes away from what I'm here to do because I'm worried about making sure that all that other stuff is happening. So my website, basically, I use a subs web service which is called wix. Is it the best website in the world? It's not, but that's okay because it's a serviceable website, and I'm not using that to attract anybody to me. I literally use that website because of its scheduling system. It's worth the price of admission. And you literally go onto that website and there's a book now, and there's a, uh, buy a gift card now, and all the things that, you know, that you want to have in place, but in particular, the, uh, scheduling is fantastic. You know, it's. It's. It's what you would envision. It'll tell you, you know, what my time slots are, what's available. And more importantly, it tells you, like, hey, guess what, man? He's got nothing available. But you can get added to a waiting list. Which is, which is, which is super important because. Because one of. One of the things that, that I always, you know, like to keep an eye on is not so much who I'm working with today or who I'm working with tomorrow, but who's trying to work with me that I don't have time for. And I want to make sure that I reach out to that person because I want to make sure that I have a rapport with that person, even though I can't say hey to them. Um, yeah, man, you know, let me come pick the car up a week from Friday and get you sorted out. But it also gives you the opportunity to, you know, for example, like, today, I finished up really early. Now, granted, I was looking forward to you and I having a chat and doing the podcast, but if I wasn't doing this, it's 45 degrees out. I've got four or five people that would love for me to have called them and be like, guess what, guys, I've got a little time. Why don't you let me come by and grab that BMW and get it sorted out for you? And that's all, because that's happening behind the scenes.

Speaker B: And so the WIX website goes into, uh, their little calendar. Now, is that going into your Gmail

Speaker C: calendar, or are you only right to my Apple iCal?

Speaker B: Your I calendar.

Speaker C: Okay, but to your point, it actually, it will sync with Gmail as well.

Speaker B: Right, Right.

Speaker C: Uh, if I'm not mistaken, it syncs with all, you know, I'll call it the major platforms. It just so happens that that Apple is the ecosystem that I rely on, so I just have it go right to iCal.

Speaker B: Excellent. And. And I, uh. That last little bit about connecting with the people on the waiting list. A lot of people probably wouldn't, uh, connect those two dots. They're on the waiting list. They're over there. No, no, you call them.

Speaker C: Yes.

Speaker B: Business is all about relationships. It's not about, I have something, you want to buy it. I take the money, I walk away. We never even talk. Right. This isn't McDonald's, you know, 100% that, uh.

Speaker C: You beat me to the punch. I was going to say that.

Speaker B: So it's all about relationships, and you got to massage the relationship. You know, uh, I worked with people in the past in the office that would just blurt out or type an email, and it would just be right to the point, you know? Will you buy this? Uh, no. Hi, how you doing? How's the day going? And by the way, would you like to buy this? That's how I wanted to craft the email. It's not about grabbing it and grabbing the money. It's all about the relationship. Oh, I just came back from Skiing. And then, um, and I needed this product to go on the car because the car got all jacked up. So that kind of stuff.

Speaker C: Dave, you know what's interesting? You know, you bring up a really important point. And this is something that a lot of people, when I tell them this, they shake their head at me because it sort of flies in the face of everything that Sales 101 would want you to do. I never, ever, ever ask for business. I simply let people know what I do and let them know that if there's ever anything that I can do to help them, that I would love to hear from them. Period. Not your car looks dirty. Can I book an appointment? It's just not how it happens. People respond differently when you handle it that way. It's proven literally day after day.

Speaker B: And I do believe the reason, well, there's multiple reasons that you're successful in these high end neighborhoods is because you do treat them with respect. You treat yourself with respect. You're not out there hungry like a dog on the back of a meat truck, haven't eaten in a week, uh, looking for every single nugget you could find. Is there some under here? Oh, is there some over there? Asking people you shouldn't be asking for business. And you're just like, hey, I'm here. Here's my schedule. You either want me, you don't want me. People like that, that, that no pressure kind of thing. And I, and I bring that to my. You could buy my products. You cannot buy my products. You don't have to be a Pearl Nano guy to be on the podcast. You can be anybody you want. Whatever is best for your business. And that's been my, my m, my, my talk for many, many years. Whatever is best with your. You don't want to use speed code anymore. You want to use something else, no problem. It's okay. So I'm not going to beg you.

Speaker C: One of the, one of the things, you know, to, to sort of like put a, like a, a line under what we're talking about. One of the things that recently I, I kind of took a seat, I literally like leaned back after reading it and, and sort of thought on it because I have to remember that, that, um, that inner confidence that they will let the line out way past the point that most people would become uncomfortable. You know, and obviously you've done things in your life where, you know, you are gambling on yourself. You know, there's financial repercussions, there's lifestyle repercussions. And I have to remember that not everybody, you know, has that inner confidence. And what I saw recently, there was a post that was a Facebook post in. I don't think it was in one of the Pearl Nano groups. It was in another detail group that, that, that I kind of pop in and out of from time to time. And it was, it was a young kid and he had a picture of a torn up business card on a windshield. And I'm looking at that and uh, you know, before I, before I read it, there was no context. I just saw a picture of a windshield with a torn up business card. And um, the gist of it was he went to some parking lot with however many business cards and started putting business cards under windshield wipers. Now, let me just tell you this, right? If anybody ever touched my car without my permission, there is zero chance. I don't care who you are or what you were doing or what you were offering, you will never, ever do business with me. It's just not going to happen happen. It's just a respect thing. You don't touch someone else's car.

Speaker B: I agree.

Speaker C: So, so anyway, one of the guys whose car he put this on, not only did he like rip up the, the, the business card and take a picture of it, you know, like, he like literally like was like, you know, what did I do wrong? You know, I'm just trying to get business and uh, it's just like, it's like you're missing it. Like you're missing it, you know, like that parking lot that you went in and however many business cards that you spread around, if you went and sat in that let. It was a mall. If you went and sat in that food court, you know, with your detail business hat on, you know, and, you know, sat there and you were enjoying a cup of coffee and you were talking to somebody and you struck up a conversation with somebody that just happened to be sitting next to you because you saw their keychain had a Mercedes, a BMW, you know, and an Audi tag on, all on one keychain. So it looks like you must like really cars that would have been way more beneficial. Then you really kind of like lowering yourself and showing signs of desperation by like wandering around a parking lot handing out business cards, it's just not, it just doesn't work, man. At least not in. Not in my experience.

Speaker B: I totally agree. What was Mr. Trump's, uh, business, you know, you're fired. What was that show? The Apprentice.

Speaker C: Apprentice. The Apprentice, yeah.

Speaker B: So the very first Apprentice winner, I forget his name, but I got his Book way back then he was telling me the, in the book he was, he talked about his first business was a boat detailing business in college. And they printed up a whole bunch of flyers, they went and put them on all these boats and then it rained. What happened to the ink? The ink went into the gel coat. They spent the whole summer polishing boats for free.

Speaker C: Oh, and you know what, man? Boat detailing, like, I have so much respect for guys that make a living detailing boats because I, I, I did for a couple of seasons. Uh, because a lot of my clients clearly would have boats. Um, you know, so it was a very easy vertical for me to go from, like, you know, let me do your, let me do your wife's Range Rover and then, and then we'll do the Seacraft. It was just, it just wasn't worth it to me. You know, the amount of energy and the um, and the amount of effort that I put into it. You know, I, I could do three more cars if I wanted. And back then I was doing like, like three, five cars a day, you know, on a lot of days of the week when I was first trying to get my name out there, but yeah. Oh, that's, that's, that's painful, man.

Speaker B: Yes, yes. And then to button up on, uh, the other thing you were saying about sales, so, you know, I'm a big Grant Cardone guy. It's all about the X. And you know, not every, I don't buy into everything that he, that he sells. And he, he's, he's a sales trainer. That's what he, his job is to help you make as much money as possible any way possible. And if you gotta go out there, beg some steal, I told you not to. And he tells it, he says this in his book, I told you not to call me ever again. I was just didn't know if you were serious or not. How's it going? Would you like to buy something? I just could never say this to some of these people. And uh, you know, I thought you were kidding. I'll call you again tomorrow and then, all right, I'll finally buy. No, nobody ever said that. They're going to be like, I'm blocking you, I'm calling the cops. And uh, you know, he says if you're not, if they're not calling the cops on you, you're not calling enough. I'm like, imagine you trying to do that to these high end customers. There's just, you would be kicked out of the city. Like, everybody's welcome. But Rob Torres Let me.

Speaker C: Let me just paint a beautiful picture for you. So this summer, one of my clients, Wonderful guy. Uh, he's got wonderful children, a beautiful wife. Just. Just an awesome person. He does a lot for the environment. You know, he's just a solid dude. And he had a really, just amazing birthday party, and I was invited to it now, mind you. You know, uh, he happens to be one of my first clients, one of my earliest clients when I first started doing business in Manchester. And one of the things that I absolutely loved about his party, amongst the amazing food and the entertainment, and it was a beautiful July evening and all the things that would go along with that. I don't even know how many of my clients were there. There was so many people there. Whose cars did I take care of that I spent the entire evening introducing my wife to. Hey, this is so and so. You remember I had that X3 and I was telling you how much I like the color combination. That's his wife's car. And it was just a beautiful thing, man. It was just a beautiful thing. Yeah.

Speaker B: Amazing, amazing, amazing. Well, we have to wrap up the show here, and, uh, I'm sure, you know, you're going to be off to Florida here pretty soon.

Speaker C: Can't wait, man.

Speaker B: And I really appreciate you being on the show. We covered a lot of things, from media to your awesome year, to your private label, to how to sell and find your ideal customer, to running with ceramic coatings. Uh, the big Escalade. Was it the Escalade?

Speaker C: No, the new Bourbon that I did the other day. 2026 Bourbon.

Speaker B: Excellent job. Uh, excellent job.

Speaker C: And again, longtime client. He's got a collection of cars. I take care of all of them. And he literally called me on. I think it was on a Thursday, and he's like, rob, listen, I know that you're busy. I'm, um, picking up a new Suburban. I really want you. I really want you to code it. Is there any way that you can fit it in? And I'm like, I will absolutely make time for you, because this is a guy that makes probably 3 of my mortgage payments for me on a given year, you know, and that's why he knows that he can call me.

Speaker B: And when you posted those pictures of it just dripping with gloss. Unbelievable.

Speaker C: And that was your job and your stuff, Obviously, that was XV2 extreme. You know, I don't have to pretend that I use your stuff. I really do use your stuff. I mean, you know that I appreciate that. The products that I buy from Pearl Nano that I can't possibly substitute them. They are so much a part of my workflow and I appreciate that, man.

Speaker B: Well, I appreciate you. I appreciate you being on the show. I'm looking forward to the next podcast episode, maybe next year, and we'll see how 2026 is forming up for you. But until then, we'll see you on the next show, okay?

Speaker C: Absolutely. Dave. Thank you, man. Merry Christmas.

Speaker B: Thanks a lot. Bye.

Speaker A: Bye. Call in all detailers Gather around the sound A place to learn the secrets that will lift you off the ground Tips and tools and stories shared from shop to shop Helping you grow stronger with each needle he's dry Calling all detailers pod chest Guiding every grind Helping detailers make more money one show at a time. From the first ring to the final shine at night the wisdom uh in each episode will help you get right Raise your rates with confidence uh let your business climb Tune in and keep leveling uh one detail at a time Calling I all detailers p just guiding every grind Helping detailers make more money one show at a time. Calling all detailers purchased Guiding every grind Helping detailers make more money one show at a time.