Long jobs, booked and paid for in advance.

The right package, not a haggle

“How much for a clean?” has no answer: it depends on the state of the car, its size, whether there's pet hair or staining. Every call becomes a negotiation, and now and then you take on three hours' work at an hour's price.

The online menu sets out the packages with their time and their price, and the questions cover the size of the vehicle, its condition and the extras. The customer books a package that matches the work you'll actually do.

• Clear packages with time and price by size of vehicle
• Surcharge stated upfront on the heavy ones
• Photos of the car asked for on the big jobs

Long slots protected by payment

A ceramic coating ties up a bay and two days of work. A customer who doesn't turn up throws a whole week out, because a slot like that can't be resold the day before.

Payment — in full on the short jobs, a deposit on the long ones — is taken at booking. The reminder goes out the day before, and a slot freed up in time goes back out to the customers waiting.

The vehicle you have already worked on, and what you did to it

A customer comes back six months later: which ceramic went on, which upholstery was treated, what extra was quoted? With nothing written down, you start again from a questionnaire and rediscover the vehicle on arrival.

The record keeps the customer, their vehicles and every visit with what was done. At the moment they book, you have the history in front of you and offer the next job at the right time.

• One record per customer, with their vehicles
• Every visit and its package kept
• The extra you quoted, there at the next visit

Show the result, reviews follow

This trade sells on pictures: a before-and-after of upholstery or restored headlights convinces people more than any argument. The photos just have to be published somewhere.

Your work feeds the website and the Google listing, sorted by job. The review request goes out when the car is handed back, at the moment the customer sees the result.