Talkin' Paint Podcast #3 - Getting Started in PPF

(00:06) Hey everybody this is Gabe Fletcher welcome back to the Talkin’ Paint podcast we’re here to support the auto detailing and autofilm Industry this is episode three how to get started in paint protection film so ppf is a great service to offer in any detail window tint or ceramic coating shop it’s a great way to make a lot more money while providing your customers with the added benefits of protecting their cars the profit margin after installing paint protection film can be 75 to 80% after materials and labor with the average

(00:54) full front being $22,000 but a lot of people don’t know how to get started and that’s why I’m here want to give you some advice so that you can get started selling paint protection film in your shop first things first it’s important for you to understand what ppf or paint protection film or clear bra is why it’s beneficial for your customers paint protection film is a thin clear polyurethane film that helps protect the paint on vehicles from Rock chips scratches UV discoloration this makes it an incredibly high value

(01:39) service to provide for your clients who are purchasing newer Vehicles my advice to you is to buy a small roll you can get some on Amazon you can get it direct from XEL or even a number of various manufacturers would be willing to sell you a small demo roll so you can get your hand hands on it you’re going to want some basic tools like spray bottles squeegees knives with snappable blades heat gun that’ll get you started you can get started by offering door edges door cups and headlights these are all super

(02:18) easy low skill level installs these small areas can be sold for example $100 for door guards 200 for door cups 200 to 300 for headlights These are nice add-ons for newer cars and you’ll be able to grasp them fairly quickly you’re going to want to get a basic understanding for how to make slip and Tack Solutions we like to use 8 to 10 mL of soap per gallon of water it’s usually Johnson and Johnson baby shampoo a lot of people seem to like the new Seventh Generation dish soap uh you can kind of just pick whichever works for you

(03:01) the point of slip solution is to allow the film to slide and Float around on the surface the next thing you’re going to need is TX solution TX solution is used to clean away soap residue from underneath the film they do not activate the adhesive you can make your own Tax Solution with alcohol and water or just hot water deionized or distilled water’s best case scenario for you to use now be careful because alcohol tack is a double-edged sword use too little alcohol and it won’t clean away the soap

(03:35) effectively but use too much and you will roast the adhesive under the film this is what we call rashing the film I like to use 2 O of 90% isopropyl alcohol or 3 and 1/2 ounces of 70% isopropyl alcohol per 32 oz bottle I’m also a firm believer that hot water is your friend so you can use it to make hot alcohol TX but you can also just use regular hot water it is a perfectly okay way to clean that soap out from underneath your film you’re going to really need to spend some time doing research finding a quality supplier of

(04:15) ppf take some time look at different suppliers so you can choose one with a good reputation that has a lot of great products and great support systems make sure to ask questions about warranties return policies how to file claims for clients what their shipping lead times are like and what’s expected of you uh as an installer my shop personally installs ceramic pro KAVACA paint protection film because we’re a ceramic Pro Elite dealer we only install ceramic pro products the KAVACA is a self-healing film carries a 12year

(04:53) warranty has very little orange peel looks fantastic our our clients like the way that it looks uh there are other reputable brands that you can consider sunte STC XEL Legend and a few others this is the basic price structure that you’re going to want to follow in your business to get started so you have roughly the right margins and uh sale points a partial front which is usually the front third of a hood and fenders and the entire bumper is usually between 8 00 to, 1300 depending upon your Market a full front which is the entire Hood

(05:38) entire fenders bumper and mirror caps range usually depending upon your market around 1,800 to $2,500 we will typically throw in the headlights and fog lights too since they can be fit onto the plot with the empty space when we use our plotter to cut these patterns out the higher end of that range is becoming more and more standard because of inflation you should really be shooting for that too the track pack which is a full front plus the addition of rocker panels or lower doors uh usually a small area behind the

(06:15) rear wheel sometimes the partial a pillar to the roof this can range anywhere from $2500 to $3,500 depending upon the vehicle and what your current skill set is that a typical full car can anywhere from 5500 to all the way up to 10 grand or or higher it really depends upon the type of vehicle it is and how long you think it’s going to take to get the job done uh a great example is Teslas this is a great way to just kind of gauge your standard full body pricing so in our shop we charge for the s y and 3 are

(06:56) all $7,000 they pay $1,000 extra for matte film uh a great example in comparison is the Corvette C8 full body C8 is 9450 that’s $9,450 those are two totally different levels of installation and complexity you want to make sure that you charge for that because your time and the effort is very much worth it it’s not just about the amount of film that you’re using this is something you need to remember when you’re talking to people and quoting these jobs the person with the Honda Civic probably isn’t going to Fork out 2500 bucks to

(07:35) protect that front end the value of the car is too low and it’s hard for a lot of people to justify that logically even if they want to so just remember that let your pricing reflect the value of that vehicle now some people will say oh I only want to charge my worth this is my price that’s it and that’s fine just keep that in mind when you’re quoting the job and you’re looking at the schedule if you need to get work on the schedule you can follow that mindset that doesn’t mean you need to sell every
(08:08) job for $1800 Now cars like Teslas Porsches Audi’s trucks SUVs should all be in that upper range a Porsche owner is likely to find more value in the service you’re providing so be sure not to leave any money on the table remember that this can fluctuate based upon the client that’s up to you to re them and listen to their cues and language choices during your qualification process you can begin to offer this to your clients with one simple sentence during your sales qualification and that is are rock chips

(08:44) a concern for you that’s a very easy segue into starting the educational conversation surrounding pain protection film you can search on YouTube for cars that you’re working on to find various installation techniques I think Drive protected is one of the big ones out there he’s got a pretty big library of uh cars that they’ve done there’s various Facebook groups that have installation videos uh if you’re looking to purchase full installation technique videos for specific Vehicles autofilm

(09:15) Mastery offers that here’s the big question how can I do ppf without a plotter look I understand that a plotter is a big investment and it’s like that on purpose it’s a large investment and it’s a commit to yourself that you’re making when you purchase one of these here’s the truth there’s enough educational material out there for you to get started doing bulk installs or installing without a plotter sometimes the bulk installs look better too so it’s a skill you’re going

(09:45) to need so if you’re ready to jump in put your hands on the film put it on cars bulk installing is totally okay a plotter is a great tool to have but even then you’re going to need to be patient with yourself learning how to use it because the second that you think you’ve got it under control and you walk away that plotter will misfeed and static cling will will gather on the back side of the plotter and cause a double feed and you’ll ruin 10 to you know 5 to 10 ft of film at a time just be patient

(10:18) with yourself watch videos online get Antiquated with how the plotter Works how to load it how to align the film because if you don’t you’re going to set a ton of money on fire the plotter is a great investment especially if you’re planning to scale and grow Beyond just being a oneman like a oneman band you don’t need it to get started but it does provide you with an advantage over other shops that don’t have one in that you can speed up your installs and also get newer installers up to speed uh faster with plotter cut

(10:53) kits finally you’re going to need to properly train your team on how to install ppf this is what will make or break the success of your business longterm be sure to invest in high quality trainings consider hiring a professional to come in and train your staff we do that we will travel to other shops and we’ll train them in their facility and train their Techs in their environment it’s proven to be helpful for people we offer that when we first started we flew out to Carl’s bat in California for the ceramic Pro training

(11:32) I rapidly grew my skill set after that training by surrounding myself with Advanced installers and I forced myself into taking on more advanced jobs I reached out to my support system at Ceramic Pro when I needed it shout out to David dick David dick was in his kitchen making ramen on his stove I think he set the phone on like his microwave or like stove hood so that he could see me while he was cooking he’s making ramen while we’re installing the hood of a Ford Mustang David is walking us through what to do and how to handle

(12:10) it and I just I don’t know anybody else that’s going to take a video call while they’re in the middle of cooking ramen in the middle of the night so we also offer trainings in our shop we’ll probably be offering our next training in March of 2023 our dates will come online soon you’ll be able to prepay and get your spot that’s usually a small class keep an eye on on detailing.

(12:31) com for more information uh on that the biggest piece of advice I’m going to give to you is something I learned very early from a very good friend of mine fil Miranda Miranda detailing on YouTube manage your client expectations take the time to educate these clients what to expect from a ppf install and what an installation looks like make sure they understand that you can’t wrap every single edge because this is what’s going to set you up for success UC in the long run as for selling and marketing it all

(13:04) you need to do is post that you offer it list it on your website post it on your socials offer it to your clients that’s all you need to do is offer create your educational video content with your phone about what paint protection film does in the areas that it’s typically protected on a vehicle get that uploaded to YouTube get it embedded on your website get it posted on social media get it out in front of the client you want because the client wants to trust somebody who knows what they’re talking

(13:33) about and who knows what they’re doing if you want help with that our agency detailing growth can help revamp your online presence and set up ads for you with the content that you create if that’s something that you think you might need feel free to reach out this is the final piece of advice I’m going to give you regarding pain protection film be prepared to set $30,000 in material on fire and to do every job twice your first year you can still make money doing every job twice it’s obviously not the

(14:07) most profitable or efficient model to follow but it’s still possible the industry average to getting proficient is about 30 to 40 cars so remember this is a game of patience and until you reach that point you must be ready to understand that you’re going to need to take your time and you’re going to need to be patient with yourself or the anxiety and financial stress from this and learning ppf will significantly degrade your mental capacity to be successful this is a fact myself and numerous other installers all

(14:44) do the same thing be patient with yourself because if you’re not you’re going to get burnt out and you’re not going to want to do paint protection film I hope this advice has giving you kind of a better understanding how to get started with ppf in your shop I appreciate you listening and tuning in make sure you guys follow us and subscribe on Spotify and uh Apple podcasts uh feel free to reach out to me on Facebook you can find us and email us on detailing growth.
(15:18) com you can get your hands on some awesome detailer and film installer apparel at havp polisher willravel dcom hopefully this video was helpful for you I look forward to hearing from you and speaking to you in the future have a good one

[00:00:25] Gabe: We are hanging out today with Erik Devash from TintWiz. Thank you for hanging out with me tonight. I appreciate it. So tell me a little bit about yourself and a little bit about TintWiz and we can evolve the conversation from there.

[00:00:42] Erik: Sounds good. I’m looking forward to our conversation tonight, Gabe. So thanks for setting this up.

[00:00:47] Gabe: Absolutely. I’m happy to have you.

[00:00:49] Erik: So my name is Eric Devash I’m most known for TintWiz. It’s a CRM business management software. And if we back up a little bit from there, I’ve been in the window film industry for Should be about 13 or so years at this point and originally started out helping a gentleman named David with his business started with a website, helping him with his website, then seeing the other sides of the business, going on consultations on installations.

[00:01:17] Erik: And then I eventually made an exodus from Florida to Los Angeles. Shortly after I realized how important it is to have friends. And I thought, what better way to get a friend from Florida to come out to LA, then start a business that he’s so passionate about the industry.

[00:01:33] Erik: And, and that was the beginning of Window Tint LA. And then fast forward, that first year we were using Google Calendar and email and Google spreadsheets and just managing the business. At the time was, I think, very forward thinking in a sense.

[00:01:51] Gabe: I think that’s how a lot of smaller shops start with is that, they go Google calendar, they go square, they go Excel, something along those lines, and eventually they outgrow it.

[00:02:01] Erik: right, exactly. And by the end of our first year, I quickly realized we’re going to need some sort of CRM. I looked what was available and the couple options that were in our industry or being used by our industry were super complicated. And something that I knew was, there’s no shortage of complicated CRMs out there.

[00:02:21] Erik: Salesforce being probably the most well known, if you want to get complicated and expensive. But that didn’t feel like it was going to be a good fit for our industry. Complicated wasn’t going to work because I knew, we’re going to be growing. We’re going to be adding installers, sales people, admins, and they need to be able to learn the software quickly.

[00:02:39] Erik: It needs to be something that’s enjoyable for them to use, something they’re comfortable with, something that makes their job easier, not a system that frustrates them. So we embarked on the journey of building our own and basically solving our biggest problems. First the big first problem that we solve with the CRM was being able to schedule people quickly and efficiently when they called in.

[00:03:00] Erik: It started off as a flat glass business in LA. So there was it was mobile work. So being able to efficiently know where we’re going to be and where we need to be so we could group our appointments together. And, get somebody off a phone call in just a couple of minutes and have give them a good experience was, the beginning of what was known at the time is Tint CRM

[00:03:19] Erik: we spent the next three years growing the CRM and growing our business alongside, obviously, and basically a little over four years into the business, I just realized I’m a big Tim Ferriss fan and Tim Ferriss would talk about, just really focusing on the things you love in life and, Gary V as well.

[00:03:35] Erik: And I looked at what I was doing on a daily basis. I loved the CRM part more than the day to day of the window film part, and I said, if I could just do the CRM part full time, how much more impactful I think I could be with the software, and how much more I would just personally enjoy it, because I just enjoyed solving those technological issues.

[00:03:55] Erik: That led me to selling window tint LA at the time it was flat glass and automotive as well. We sold the company and that gave me the runway to rebuild or start fresh which is now known as TintWiz and a runway to be able to introduce it to the industry over the last now, four years.

[00:04:14] Gabe: What an evolution. So you started out in the industry, super low tech. Making it work for the shop that you had. You eventually put this CRM together as a way just to solve your own personal problem. You put the CRM together for, and then it evolved into this massive project.

[00:04:33] Gabe: Let’s give it to everybody and get it in front of everybody. You end up selling the window tint business. And now you just operate TintWiz 24/7, 365 all day.

[00:04:46] Erik: When we originally were building a software for our own company, there was absolutely no intention of ever introducing that software to the market . My perception of the industry at the time was that I would be met with naysayers and people that wanted me to prove to them why they should use the software.

[00:05:03] Erik: And I just, that’s, I’m not about that. It’s not really like my style. Anybody who knows me knows I’m not trying to sell anybody on anything. When I decided to give it a chance, I said, at the time, I just thought I’m so confident in this software. I know how powerful this software is that I’m going to let the software speak for itself and I’m going to let those who are interested in the software let the ones who see the advantage and want to take advantage of it be our users and the rest, the ones that want to be convinced or sold or whatnot, let the impact of the software and the words of our users be what sells them over time and not build out a sales team, not be on zoom calls trying to sell and convince people all day, because to me, that was going to be. A losing battle, regardless of if we made the sale or not, the loss was going to be in that doesn’t help the software get better.

[00:05:54] Erik: And I wanted our resources and energies to always be focused on our users and our software and making our software better for our users and not building out call centers for customer service or sales teams for client acquisitions and because one major flaw that I think is obvious in a lot of businesses, and we see it in like cell phone businesses, especially, but I think software has it to, we see it in window film, frankly, I feel like where companies will spend more of their effort and time to acquire a new customer than to take care of their existing customer. And that is a just flawed away going about it, unless you just want to be fighting for customers to go back and forth between you and whoever offers them the next shiniest thing.

[00:06:35] Gabe: Yep, so we have we see that a lot in our industry as an agency. We call that agency jumping, where An agency will focus more on onboarding new clients just to get them in the door and give them some effort up front for them to fade and then have to move on to the next one because of that business model is not sustainable at all.

[00:07:00] Gabe: It’s just you end up in a rat race that you never, ever get on the other side of, so that’s refreshing to hear that you built tint was on purpose to avoid that particular downfall. And it sounds to me like you had experienced that somewhere else. Can you tell me where that was and why you originally thought that?

[00:07:21] Erik: software development, while a lot of people’s perception can be like, Oh, you build it. And then it just makes you money. That’s not the reality. It’s not a website. It’s not like a WordPress website where you click update, like managing a software and you definitely run the risk of breaking it. And, being able to hack something together and say look, use this software is different than maintaining a user base for five years, 10 years, consistently every single day, every hour of that day, because people rely on the software because this isn’t a game.

[00:07:49] Erik: This is something that it’s a tool that businesses are using and running their business on. So there is no oops, it’s we decided to mess with it today. And you’re, the software is going to be down and so on. There’s none of that. That could, that can not be the case. Even the adoption of TintWIz right. Like it took time, right? 2019 it was out there and we had the people who were searching for a CRM come out and then it’s 20 and then there’s COVID and then there’s, that kind of helped in a way because people, it was like in your face how you need to do things more efficiently and, whether it be because you couldn’t do them in person or just because you might not have had the people power and needed to cut back. So being more efficient was important. And then, you fast forward 22, 23, and then it’s like, Oh, obvious.

[00:08:30] Erik: Everybody should use a software to run their business. So you’re going to need to still not obvious to everybody, but obvious to more people than it was four years ago.

[00:08:38] Gabe: Eric, I talked to so many people who don’t have any CRM or they like, they took a free trial from TintWiz or from some other CRM and then spent an hour on it and then didn’t do anything with it and it expired. And they’re just like, no, I’m just using Google sheets. And I’m like, wait, you’re doing 30 to 40,000 a month.

[00:08:59] Gabe: And you’re using Google sheets and Google calendar. You must be driving yourself insane. And you must be leaving money on the table left and right. that’s mind blowing to me personally. And I just don’t, I don’t understand it. I’m personally a big believer in software based solutions like CRMs.

[00:09:19] Gabe: And I know that my own shop wouldn’t be where it was without one. You need one when you’re operating at scale. So to see these guys who are just piecing it together out here and beaten themselves up, they forget to get back to people or they didn’t get a chance to quote somebody, or, they’re drowning in the amount of people they need to talk to.

[00:09:40] Gabe: And they’re not monetizing their existing pipeline. It’s just, it goes on in every single form across all of what I call the big three coatings, tint, and PPF and across all of the big three sectors. It happens in every single one of them. I see so many businesses that have a really great team and they have a great customer service program.

[00:10:07] Gabe: They have a great vision, they have amazing work ethic, clients love them and they’re doing, 40,000 a month and they’re talking to me telling me they don’t have enough time in the day and then they’re telling me they’re using Google calendar. No, duh. You don’t have any time in the day.

[00:10:22] Gabe: You’re utilizing systems that were designed to manage fortune 500 schedules. Not tint jobs that are in and out of your shop, which kind of leads us into today’s topic. And you and I touched on this briefly and that’s that our sector loves to work hard and they love to work harder, not smarter.

[00:10:44] Gabe: They love to grind themselves to death. For the life of me, can’t figure out why. Maybe you can shed some light on that. I’m at a loss because I’ve been talking to business owners at every level. I have clients that are 20 million a year, multi state operations. And I have clients who are doing like 6,000 out of a, like a rented garage space.

[00:11:08] Gabe: And for the life of me, it happens at every single level. I don’t understand it and I need somebody to help me understand why this is.

[00:11:17] Erik: let’s start off with a positive, which is it’s happening less and less. I think the internet has opened people’s eyes to more efficient installation techniques, but also more efficient business processes and the importance of, having processes and how to run the business. Now, why I think it happens.

[00:11:34] Erik: I think, the critical part of the business is the installation in a way, right? Like the installation has to happen or else you’re not going to get very far, right? So you might be able to get by without marketing you, just word of mouth and you might be able to get by without a website and you’re not going to get by without installation.

[00:11:50] Erik: So I think installation becomes the first focus. And then once the ball is rolling. I think people see the installation as the business and it’s hard to maybe take a step back, especially when they’re working all day, every day to reevaluate the other parts of the business, to set new habits, to learn a little bit of a different workflow to even maybe have the time to learn why they should do that to begin with

[00:12:17] Gabe: I think that the installation definitely props up the business. That’s the core, right? That’s it’s primary function is the installation. That’s definitely where it all starts. When I examine this and this is just I’m in rant mode right now because this week I’ve talked to six businesses that don’t have a CRM that are doing between 10 grand and 50,000 a month and I’m frustrated because it’s such a recurring theme and it’s one that I beat my head against the wall and attempting to show the real value of of having systems like this and I’m trying to put my words together here.

[00:13:02] Gabe: I think that I’m most frustrated that these guys don’t understand what their time is worth and they don’t understand how much their energy and mental capacity and what we call mental bandwidth is worth.

[00:13:15] Gabe: They don’t understand it. I wish that I could come up with the best I guess there’s no real best, right? But I wish that I could come up with a better way to show these people and help them understand in an instant, instead of having to show them along an hour long presentation to show them why they need to stop using Google calendar or a day planner

[00:13:38] Erik: And it’s easy to put a, a price on an installation on your time to do that installation or whatnot. But, if you, like you’ve mentioned, like you have to apply that same cost of time to there answering the phones over and over, like explaining things to customers in a

[00:13:54] Erik: inefficient way and not actually sending them a quote, or if you are sending them a quote, how much time does it take you to copy and paste it and write it every single time? And all the different inefficiencies of a day to day all have. A value associated with it, and then the other thing is you mentioned, like when people are working themselves to death, when you’re lucky enough to be very busy and have a successful, not lucky, but you’ve put in the work and built a very successful business, then it can be also challenging to, a business that maybe just revolved around yourself.

[00:14:28] Erik: You are the only one. It can also, I think, be a challenge for business owners to then chisel out how they can justify paying someone to do a role like answering the phones. When That person’s not going to do it as well as I am. And that who’s going to have to pay. That means I’m going to make less money.

[00:14:44] Erik: And when am I going to train that person? I might just get frustrated with them because I’m too busy installing. I don’t have time to train them. So it becomes maybe, you try it. It doesn’t work out. And then it becomes your story as to why you don’t hire anybody.

[00:14:58] Gabe: So for those that are listening that don’t know, Erik and I are active in the various social communities that are, surrounding our industry and we see it all the time. People talk about, I’ll never hire. Nobody wants to work. They say I’ll never trust anybody.

[00:15:15] Gabe: Nobody’s gonna do it as good as me because they didn’t have the fundamentals themselves to even begin to have the bandwidth to let somebody make a mistake. And that’s the biggest problem is that everybody’s so focused on the dollar and immediate now that we can’t see the big picture down the road and the big picture down the road is not having to spend 60 hours a week in your shop and having a life outside of it.

[00:15:48] Gabe: these guys, they don’t have, they don’t have enough foresight to be able to let somebody make a mistake and learn without ripping that person to shreds. And I know that’s a problem because I’ve done it, I’ve been there and I’ve, I’ve had my own business in a position where I didn’t give anybody space.

[00:16:09] Gabe: I set everybody that I worked with and that worked with me up for failure because I didn’t properly prepare myself and I didn’t set my own expectations or even have a clue of what my expectations of a person should be at any level, I started handing off tasks to them .

[00:16:30] Gabe: Nobody looks far enough ahead to be able to understand that they have to let people make a mistake and they have to be willing to make a little bit less money in the immediate, because longterm, long as you’re patient, there’s a much bigger pile of money on the other end. And at the end of the day, money doesn’t buy you happiness, but money provides you the opportunity to create happiness, either for yourself or for somebody else.

[00:16:56] Erik: Just to be clear, I don’t think everybody’s goal has to be growth, right? Not everybody has to say, I want a big company or I want a lot of staff and so on. And I know of some shops that are very happy being a one person shop and it’s more like it’s a perfect lifestyle business.

[00:17:11] Erik: But if you. Do you want to grow if you do want to have something that, was one of the drivers for me was and I would always say it within our office was like it was always important that if I got hit by a bus tomorrow, nobody would necessarily notice because the business would just keep running, right?

[00:17:28] Erik: So I can’t be the hub of the business. The business truly the hub should be a CRM software. That should be where everything goes. That should be where people are learning what their job is, or that’s where they’re scheduling, or that’s where they’re learning about a task or putting in notes or whatnot.

[00:17:44] Erik: And, part of that was the concept of what if I was to get sick? What if I was to get hurt? How does a business that revolve around me continue? How do I provide for myself if something terrible is to happen?

[00:17:57] Erik: I think it’s something that people should realize, if you’re a one person shop, if you’re the provider for your family, for yourself or for your family, there is a chance that something happens to you at some point you break your arms or whatnot, and there’s now a great cause Tinters for a cause that exists to step in and in those tragedies and help and so on.

[00:18:14] Erik: But the reality is, planning for that rainy day isn’t a terrible thing. And to me, the way you plan for that is building a business that has those pillars, has somebody, answering the phone and doing admin, has somebody doing installations, right? Having those systems in place. So if you’re removed from that system, somebody else can be inserted in or you’re removed and it just, the process keeps going without you.

[00:18:37] Gabe: I myself learned very recently. So for those Eric, I don’t know if you’re aware I was for a very, for a while, I’ve been operating my shop and I’ve been giving my energy to both. And they were both suffering in one form or another, whether I was missing calls for the shop or I was missing leads or not getting back to people, or I was missing follow ups and missing appointments that I had with clients.

[00:19:05] Gabe: And Ultimately, when I went to SEMA, I decided that I had begun transitioning some of my daily shop rolls out by then. When I went to SEMA, that’s when I made it official. Eric, you’ve met Justin. The long haired guy that looks like I call him low def Jason Momoa, and I looked at him and I said, can you run this?

[00:19:30] Gabe: He’s like dude. I’ve been asking you to run this for six months. He’s like I could do this with my eyes closed. Since I did that and since I delegated that out and since we’ve started putting those systems in place now the shop and the agency Is doing more than it ever has terms of growth percentage in a week by week than any other time I’ve been operating the business and it’s mind blowing for me that even at the level of which we both preach in terms of trying to get people to realize what their time and effort and energy is worth that it took me this long to realize it myself and I might be a little ashamed of it because I’ve told people so many times that And so much that using systems and putting systems in place is the path to freedom.

[00:20:22] Gabe: I’m willing to bet that you’ve got stories from people that have said TintWiz changed everything for them. Can you think of anybody offhand that rings a bell for you?

[00:20:32] Gabe: TintWiz totally changed their life?

[00:20:34] Erik: A company that’s very public about their success with TintWiz is Green Valley Window Tint out of Henderson, Nevada. They’re a second generation company. They have now a very big staff, which is comprised of both family members and non family members. And when they were taking over the business from their father that started the business.

[00:20:54] Erik: There is that transition process of using new systems. And one of those systems was TintWiz, and they’re very vocal about it. And they’re a bigger company, a flat glass and automotive on the same token.

[00:21:06] Erik: When you get bigger, it should be more obvious to you that you need systems, but I also feel like when you’re one person, there’s no better time to implement systems because your time still has value and yes, you can maybe do everything and maybe it is easier to just do it yourself and so on and you can do it yourself, but why not have a system in place for yourself?

[00:21:25] Erik: Because it becomes like you mentioned earlier, less impact on your mind, less worrying about what you’re forgetting. That feeling when a customer says, I didn’t get a call back is different from that feeling when a customer says, wow, that’s incredible that you’re on top, you’re so on top of it.

[00:21:39] Erik: Those are two different opposite ends of the spectrum. And I find it tremendously valuable to control the things you can control because look in business and life, there’s going to be all sorts of things you can’t control. Okay. But you can control things like being. Being that company that’s on top of their customers and responding quickly and can pull up their information and working seamlessly as a team if you have a team and so on.

[00:22:03] Erik: And that even just, that can change the way that customer interacts with you. It can change how they look at their installation, how they trust you. It changes the whole dynamic. It can change how your staff look at you and how they look at their job.

[00:22:16] Erik: Because one of the advantages that we held when we were using the system for our own company at the time was for an installer to come work for us. They had a more pleasant job because they had to look at an iPad and they could put their notes in there where they weren’t picking up a piece of paper at the in the morning to find out what their job was and having to call the owner to tell him about a scratch on the glass or something that happens like they had a system in place which made it easier on them, make them enjoy their job.

[00:22:43] Erik: The admins, when they would answer a customer’s call. And they could pull up their information before the customer finished saying who they were. And they could help the customer because they could see pictures of the job or, the quote. They could see what it was and they could actually be helpful instead of saying, let me get used to somebody else to call you back.

[00:23:00] Erik: And then dealing with that customer when they call back and go, how come so and so hasn’t called me back? I haven’t heard anything. That’s a different type of job for that admin when they’re dealing with, people dropping the ball in their company and they’re having to now make excuses and they’re on the forefront.

[00:23:13] Erik: They’re dealing with that angry customer, right? Instead of they’re not being an angry customer and then dealing with somebody who says, your company is awesome. You’re the greatest. Are you going to be at the job? Can I see meet you and things like that? Those are so it just makes it easier on

[00:23:26] Gabe: that comes full circle to say, it’s really important to be very careful about the tools that you choose to use for your business using tools from reputable companies, people like TintWiz we’ve got our CRM GritSuite. Picking the right tools and even tools that connect together, typically a pretty good sign that they’re sharing ecosystems.

[00:23:47] Gabe: For those that don’t know, our GritSuite software can connect to TintWiz and vice versa via Zapier and can trigger functions on both ends based upon actions inside of both ends.

[00:23:59] Gabe: back on to what we mentioned before, that system is creating synergy between how your business functions and having the bandwidth to think far enough ahead?

[00:24:11] Gabe: So many of these guys they’re just on, they just onboard TintWiz, but they’re still operating out of a cell phone. Like they’re using, I have guys who are operating. I have people who are doing $30k & $40k a month, just text messaging.

[00:24:26] Gabe: Text messages and phone calls and on one device, like regular cell phone device, instead of using a system of tools that are designed to categorize and manage that communication, these guys are leaving money on the table.

[00:24:42] Gabe: And I’ve seen people who implement CRMs like TintWiz or our communication style CRM like GritSuite and then they find $20k-$30k a month in their pipeline.

[00:24:52] Erik: of course, because look, when somebody is just calling in and asking you for a quote and you’re just shooting it verbally or, maybe you’re sending them a text or an email that you’re copying and pasting really quick. How good is that text or email unless you’re spending a tremendous amount of time, which most people, if anybody are not, you know, and what really automotive wise, because TintWiz was started with flat glass and moved into automotive as well previously Tint CRM, but when it really a light bulb was, I want to say around 2018, 19, right around 19, when Tesla model threes were out. So the model s’s were already, they were a great customer for window film, paint protection, and even coatings at the time.

[00:25:30] Erik: And when the model 3 came out, you got that bigger volume because there were a lot more model 3’s getting out there and you would get these quote requests that were, I’m interested in window tint, I’m also considering paint protection film. I heard about ceramic coating. I don’t know if I want to do pain protection or ceramic coating.

[00:25:46] Erik: Can you give me a quote for everything? I might want to do it all or nothing or piece it together. And that was usually after you explained it to him verbally. They’re like, is there any way you can email me that or send it in a text message?

[00:25:56] Erik: And, if you’re just operating. without a system, like you’re saying, just out of your personal phone, sending out text messages and trying to compile these emails, that doesn’t work.

[00:26:06] Erik: And then what also happened, it doesn’t work well, you’re not going to have a high conversion rate. And what happens is when it starts to get slow to beyond the fact that you’re not going to buy conversion rate, which just means you’re wasting your time because you’re talking to somebody and interacting and you didn’t make the sale.

[00:26:19] Erik: So you’re just wasting time. But what happens is when it gets slower, you really have nowhere to look because your conversion rate sucks. So that, and the during winter months or economic downturns, you’re getting less inbound opportunities. If your conversion rate sucks and you’re getting less inbound opportunities and you don’t have record of anybody you’ve been quoting to be able to follow up with, your only option at that point is to go on Facebook and complain.

[00:26:41] Gabe: That’s my favorite! That’s my favorite. these guys, they don’t have any systems in place. And then they say, is anybody else slow like me?

[00:26:48] Gabe: I’m like, okay how many customers do you have? And they’re like, I don’t know. And I’m like, what do you mean? You don’t know? Do you have a CRM that tells you those things?

[00:26:56] Gabe: And they’re like, no, we don’t have a CRM. And the pin drops and I just my eyes roll across the floor. And it’s just, it blows my mind the level of sometimes and this might be a

[00:27:08] Gabe: little bit mean here

[00:27:09] Gabe: Somebody might at me for this and end up in my DMS. If I say something along the lines of it’s just the level of incompetence

[00:27:16] Erik: it’s a scale hold on before you get. Before you get yourself in boiling

[00:27:19] Gabe: you’re right.

[00:27:20] Gabe: You’re right. Before I

[00:27:22] Erik: to extremely competent. And I just feel going back to where we started this. One of the things that I like to do is focus on the competent and go, how can I help these competent people be more competent?

[00:27:32] Erik: How can I provide them tools or advice or whatever? Because the ones that aren’t competent. By, the fact that they just aren’t aware or maybe they’re resisting change or whatnot, why put the energy over in that hole? Let them figure it out on their own. They’re going to see it or they’re going to have to make the change, right?

[00:27:49] Erik: Because when things get tough, there’s no better time to figure things out, right? When you’re sick, you figure out how to run the business without you there. When COVID happens, you figure out, how to make things more efficient, but day to day, sometimes you need a wake up opportunity. I think we might be headed for one.

[00:28:04] Erik: I don’t want to be Mr. Doom and gloom. And I know we have a very booming industry. We’re luckily a part of, but that’s still even in its infancy in a way. But I do think we’re going to see economic times that are different than what we were looking at. Maybe. Two years ago, two years from now, or now is not the same as two or three years from now.

[00:28:23] Erik: The companies that, that, that realize it and get their shit together will survive and plenty of other ones won’t survive. And that’s nothing new. That’s something in all industries. I think there’s probably a lot of people that can tell a similar story about 2008 and 2009 and can tell a story of having a big crew and then going to no crew and maybe even going to work for somebody and then maybe opening another business. You can spend a decade building a business and you can spend three months losing it potentially in the wrong environment

[00:28:51] Gabe: And then sometimes that’s all it takes is just making the wrong choice and just not putting your energy into the right place.

[00:28:59] Gabe: Look, we’re running out of time today to continue yapping about how the industry needs to catch up in certain places and could learn a thing or two in others.

[00:29:11] Gabe: Erik, first I just want to say thank you for spending time with me today on the Talkin’ Paint Podcast.

[00:29:17] Gabe: You and TintWiz are a very valuable part of our industry, and personally, I just want to say thank you for everything that you do, because it matters a lot to me, and it matters a lot for a lot of other people.

[00:29:31] Gabe: Before we close out today, I wanted to ask you, just like I ask everyone else that I talk with, if you had to give one piece of advice to somebody who was looking to take the next step in their business, or was looking to make a big choice that’s coming up that hopefully moves them in the right direction, if you had to give them one piece of advice that works in our sector, what would that piece of advice be?

[00:29:59] Erik: Try to envision what you want your business to look like. Keep in mind what your lifestyle is going to look like with that business. If you can envision what you want your business to become, then you can start taking the steps and making the action to get there. Not everybody wants a business with 30 employees.

[00:30:14] Erik: Sometimes it could be three, sometimes it could be five or it could just be you. You may want multiple locations, you may want to be able to move, if you figure out what you value, if you value freedom, that looks different than a business that you don’t value freedom and you say, I want to go all in and be there every day.

[00:30:32] Erik: If you can know what you want to obtain, that’s, I believe, a very important first step of being able to obtain it is just really having a vision of what you want your business to become and knowing that there’s no right or wrong. And what you see somebody else doing is not necessarily a fit for you.

[00:30:49] Erik: So it’s important to look at what you want out of your business, out of your life, because all of that’s going to affect your day to day. It’s going to affect your relationships and your lifestyle and everything. So it’s just really important to know what you’re, know what you’re after and don’t just chase the shiniest thing that is in front of you now.

[00:31:05] Gabe: I think that’s really sound, sound advice, and it was, it would be something that I know that if I had heard something like that back when I was really putting time and effort into growing, I probably would have made changes along my trajectory. Thank you again. For being here, those of you who are interested in TintWiz, you can head over to TintWiz.Com. That’s T I N T W I Z.com and get your hands on a free 30 day free trial for your business. Try TintWiz out, see if it’s a good fit for you. Maybe set up a demo call or an onboarding call. Somebody can talk to you about the features and show you how it works and how it can help your business.

[00:31:51] Gabe: I’m sure that Erik, I’m sure you get messages all the time. Can they find you anywhere specific? Should they reach out to you on Facebook? Should they email you guys via the website? What’s the best way to get ahold of you and TintWiz?

[00:32:03] Erik: we do a hundred percent of our support through live chat. So you can go to TintWiz.com. com, go to support, click live chat, and we can help you in any way. And in that support area, you also find a help center, a link to our YouTube channel, which is full of videos as well as a whole training section for every different role that you can imagine within your business.

[00:32:21] Erik: So just go to website TintWiz.Com or within the app, go to support. Live chat, and we can help you in any way you need.

[00:32:28] Erik: And Gabe, thank you so much for the opportunity and all that you do.

[00:32:30] Gabe: Thank you very much. I appreciate the kind words and absolutely. I loved having you on and hopefully we get to catch up again here soon and we get to have you come back.

[00:32:39] Gabe: Talkin’ Paint is sponsored by SASPOD. That’s S A S POD.COM. SASPOD is our dedicated podcast distribution platform. SASPOD connects to every single major platform out there at a very affordable price, and they carry on board post production podcast services. They offer pre recording set up, but they’ll help you get your microphone and audio dialed in at home. That’s saspod.Com

[00:33:07] Gabe: those of you who are still here listening with us, you can find more information about the podcast. If you’re interested in being on the show, you can visit TalkinPaint. com. That’s T A L K I N PAINT.Com. You can also find information about detailing growth, our agency online at detailinggrowth.Com. You can find us on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook.

[00:33:32] Gabe: If you’re here on YouTube, like, subscribe.

[00:33:35] Gabe: Please, if you’re still listening, feel free to leave us a rating on the podcast itself. Feel free to comment. We’d appreciate hearing your feedback.