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New Employee Training Checklist for Your Auto Detailing Business

By | Elaine Bennett

As time goes by, the average vehicle life span is constantly growing. For example, the average age of cars roaming the US roads is 12.1 years.  In 2002, this number was only 9.6. Of course, a greater number of older cars also entails higher demand for repair services and visual upgrades. So, if you are running an auto detailing business the time for hiring new employees and trying to expand your operations is now.

However, we would also like to point out that, keeping in mind the current state of the labor market, finding experienced workers won’t always be possible.

Let us take a look then at a short training checklist that will help you get to forge new hires in the workforce capable of dealing with all future challenges.

Washing and preparation

This is a very simple task that can serve as a perfect starting point for turning your new workers into pros. Be that as it may, these duties can considerably relieve the pressure from the more experienced workers and allow them to focus on higher-value tasks. Be sure, however, to make clear that vehicle preparation also covers the wheels, grills, and lower fascia, and that different vehicle components require different brushes and chemicals. Also, the workers should use separate buckets of water for scrubbing and washing.

Taking orders and customer service

Once again, these duties are something that can be easily handled even by absolute detailing beginners. Be sure, however, not to underestimate any of these areas because customer experience is one of the key factors for securing revenue growth. That is why your new hires should possess good knowledge of the industry, detailing procedures, and your service portfolio, possess excellent communication skills, and basic technical skills necessary for filling in forms, scheduling appointments, and using digital tools.

Exterior dealing

Now, when they have become familiar with your portfolio and got a taste of how your team works, your new hirers will be ready for advancing to more responsible tasks. So, running a full-scale detailing business covers the services like deep cleaning and drying with microfiber towels, particle decontamination with fallout removers or clay bars, paint polish, removing scratches and swirl marks, applying protective treatments, and performing the final polishing. Your workers get thorough training in all of these tasks.

Detailing car windows

Unlike the previous services that pretty much make the core of the detailing industry, window detailing is not that common so teaching your workers how to perform these tasks can do a great job in making your company more unique and securing an influx of new clients. As for the very tasks you need to go through, they include the usual mentions like cleaning drying, and polishing. Your workers should just try to become familiar with unique chemicals and tools and pay special attention to corners and rearview mirrors.

Interior detailing services

The materials inside the vehicles are very soft and prone to scratches so we say that it would be best to leave this part of the training for the later stages when your workers already have some sort of detailing proficiency. Of course, much like in the case of exterior works, the car first needs to be cleansed so start with vacuuming, carpet cleaning, and stain removal. Once you get through these basic chores you can proceed to delicate tasks like:

  • Leather scrubbing
  • Leather conditioning
  • Plastic, vinyl, and rubber detailing
  • Upholstery cleaning
  • Decontamination
  • Coating installation.

Basic management duties

New and inexperienced workers should never be expected to lead the detailing projects. That, however, may become necessary for countless different reasons. Besides, ambitious employees should always be willing to climb up the ranks. Getting them familiar with the duties that await them after they get a promotion can only incite them to work harder. Therefore, while you are leading the workers through the detailing duties support their leadership competencies. Pay special attention to soft skills like:

  • Organization
  • Emotional intelligence
  • Openness
  • Ability to delegate
  • Problem-solving
  • Decision-making

We hope this short walkthrough gave you a general idea about how your employee training should be structured and what skills you should put into focus. Car detailing is a booming industry that will only keep growing as time goes by. That growth, however, doesn’t come hand in hand with the influx of experienced workers so if you want your company to work at full capacity you will need to put a lot of time and effort into forging newcomers into the experience workers you need. But, no matter how big of a challenge that proves to be, your efforts will be more than well-rewarded.

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