Cory Crawford heads up the Detailing arm of AMG Fleet Service – a 10-person auto service and detailing shop in Staunton, Virginia. Cory spent the beginning of his career in wireless sales, but he had always had a passion for cars. About 2 years ago, Cory’s friend who had been in the car industry for 30 years approached him with a business proposition.
The proposition was to be a part of starting, managing, and co-owning a company that would offer a variety of towing, repair, and detailing services to its customers. He would manage the detailing arm of the business. Suddenly Cory’s fond memories of washing cars growing up became a professional reality. He agreed and jumped in.
A One-Stop-Shop for Fleet & Detailing in Virginia
AMG has a unique business model. It’s a one-stop-shop for towing, dent, paint, detail, and light body work. The company services individual customers and fleets, like the local FedEx Ground service, construction vehicles, a solar panel company, and dealerships.
Offering a broad range of auto services has benefited AMG in a number of ways. First, it has broadened their reach and brought in more customers than they would have gotten if they only provided one service. They also offer complementary services that customers would likely want to purchase together and at the same time. For example, if someone needs a tow, a dent fixed, some paint work, and a detail – AMG is a very convenient and attractive option. Their strategy of providing multiple services and servicing fleets has also helped them stay afloat during the coronavirus pandemic.
Using Mobile Tech RX Car Detailing Estimates as a High-Value Pricing Guide
Over the past two years, Cory has been building up the detailing side of the business, hiring some employees, and getting into a groove. Recently, Cory had been thinking about how his team could start making more money more efficiently. In particular, he was curious to know how long his employees were taking to detail their cars and how much money they were making hourly.
Cory had a hunch that they should be making more money than they were charging per car. So he went online to do some research and started trying to put together a time and price table himself. During his research, he came across the Mobile Tech RX detailing app through Luke Wilson, one of the company’s detailing partners. He learned that Mobile Tech RX had already created the pricing guide he was looking for through interactive and digital detailing estimates.
Cory signed up for a free trial to check it out. Not only did it help him with his pricing questions, but it delivered a lot more. A couple of weeks into their free trial, he and his team were using the detailing app every day.
“Mobile Tech RX is awesome. We’re not leaving out factors like we might have before we started using Mobile Tech RX. We’re charging higher rates, and we can show the customer everything that goes into our detailing estimates.”
Detailing Estimates that Save Time and Boost Professionalism
But the Mobile Tech RX app didn’t just help with pricing. Cory also said, “It saves us time and makes us more professional”. He listed all of the things he could do in the detailing app – like scanning the VIN, taking and saving pictures, and printing invoices. “This app helps me keep everything in one spot.”
Cory and the team at AMG have a goal to automate as much as possible, keep paper use at a minimum, and stop doing things by hand. With the detailing app, AMG is able to store all of the car detailing estimates and invoices that they create in a digital format, which makes it much easier to track something down later.
The Future of AMG: Beyond One Single Shop
Currently, Cory manages a detailing team that ranges from 2 to 3 given the season and is hoping to hire a fourth employee soon. In the next few years, the AMG team is looking to open a 2nd and maybe even a 3rd location in the surrounding area.
To open new locations, it’s important for them to scale well. “We want to expand, but we don’t want to compromise on quality. We take pride in our work and we don’t want that to change when we open up new locations. The quality standard will stay the same.” Cory is working on standardizing skill requirements and processes in order to create materials for training and operations that are more easily repeatable.
Advice for New Detailers
Cory had to put in some long days and long hours in the beginning, and he admitted that moving from sales to becoming a partner and now owner/operations manager of AMG was a jolting change of pace. He made a point from the beginning to spend time researching new equipment and new products that would help them deliver higher quality service and work more efficiently.
“It pays off,” he told us. “Stick with it. You have to be the one to build your business. Don’t be afraid to research products that will make you better or more efficient. Try new things and don’t be afraid to spend money. If something saves you 20 minutes, it’s probably worth it.”