Approximately 1,000 attendees came each day to the expo to learn about products and techniques covering a variety of activities, including:
- detailing;
- paintless dent repair (PDR);
- windshield repair;
- headlight restoration;
- wheel detailing;
- upholstery cleaning and repair;
- paint, chip and scratch repair;
- accessories; and
- bumper repair and renewal.
This year's Mobile Tech show was the second year that the National Association for Professional Detailing & Reconditioning (NAPDR) participated, but the first year it took on the task of sponsoring a day-long series of educational sessions designed to educate detailers.
"Previously, Mobile Tech was a gathering place for detailers because of the trade show, but it did not offer all of the education sessions," says Gina Budhai, president of NAPDR and managing partner of Carpool Detail LLC of Richmond, Va. "To be able to encourage so many people to offer all the educational sessions in our first year was a step in the right direction. Many mobile detailers are interested in expanding their detailing services into reconditioning, windshield repair, headlight reconditioning, leather repair, and other services. The Mobile Tech Expo is a very diverse venue, and there is value in all the education that is available covering so many topics. Mobile repairers are interested in offering multiple services to increase their average ticket. The more you can offer, the more you can sell."
Greg Sweet, treasurer of NAPDR and president of Classic Appreciation, a car wash and detailing business operating since 1985 in Rochester, Mich., agreed.
"I was thrilled with all the education programs that were offered the day before the show opened and how packed the rooms were for the sessions," Sweet says. "I attended most of the classes and found them to be on target. Last year there wasn't that much offered on detailing education, but that changed a lot this year. NAPDR and the Mobile Tech Expo is a good marriage. NAPDR is trying to help the detailing industry grow."
While NAPDR only has about 60 members, it is an association in the midst of change as former members of the International Carwash Association (ICA), such as Sweet, have joined NAPDR for its detailing expertise, education and representation.
"There are more active detailers in NAPDR than in ICA," he says. "The detailers in ICA often did not participate in industry activities. With NAPDR there is new blood coming in and that is exciting. They are intelligent business people and we learn a lot from each other."Diversification plans
Detailers packed many of the education sessions to learn new skills, which will allow them to offer more services and grow their businesses. Perhaps no detailer was more organized and resolute than Mike McGhee, owner of MAD (Mobile Auto Detailers) Doctor mobile car wash and detailing in Strongsville, Ohio.
McGhee waited somewhat impatiently for the slightly tardy hotel shuttle bus to leave for the exhibit hall to register for the daylong education sessions. He laid out a plan of attack that on a personal level could have rivaled the Allied plan for the D-Day invasion.
"I have a specific schedule at Mobile Tech that is customized to my business plan," says McGhee, who started his business after retiring from NASA, where he worked 31 years. "I laid out all the things I wanted to see based on what I wanted to get out of the expo. One of those things is PDR."
McGhee attended PDR sessions at the show, did his homework and networked with those in the business. Two weeks after the show ended he was enrolled in and attending a two-week PDR class in Sacramento, Calif., taught by Marty Runik, who led a Mobile Tech roundtable discussion on PDR marketing.
"I met the instructor at Mobile Tech, attended his session and was impressed with his knowledge and the types of questions he asked me when I told him I was interested in learning PDR," McGhee says. "They were things that nobody else brought up."
McGhee said he also was interested in learning more about upholstery cleaning, paint refinishing, bumper repair and soluble and non-soluble cleaning products at the Mobile Tech Expo.
"This is my third year in business and I'm very confident with the detailing services we offer," says McGhee, who operates the business with his son. "But sometimes you get tunnel vision and tend to stick with one thing. You need to make the effort to turn your head and see other things."
McGhee said 95 percent of his business is detailing cars, but he plans on expanding into other services from the knowledge he gains at Mobile Tech. He also does headlight reconditioning."I joined NAPDR because I believe a standard should be set in the service profession," he says. "Anybody can get started in this industry so you need to have standards."
Paul J. Daly, co-owner of Image Auto LLC, an auto reconditioning service in Syracuse, N.Y., attended Mobile Tech for the first time this year with the hope of growing his business.
"My intention was to find one idea to help me increase sales, which would be worth the investment to come down here," says Daly, who has one fixed location and operates seven mobile vehicles with a staff of nine. His company offers wheel repair, PDR, bumper repair, complete detailing, scratch removal, windshield repair and headlight restoration.
He said he might have found that one idea at the booth of Mobile Data Force, a company that offers mobile data application and data management.
"You can do field data management and put information through a Palm device that synchs with accounting software," Daly says. "It lets you go to paperless invoicing and to assign different jobs to different technicians."
Daly's business has grown dramatically in five years, and that's why he was looking for a management tool to provide administrative help.
"I started from scratch out of a rusty old Astro van just doing wheels," he says. "I serviced only dealers, but that gave me a good base and a big volume of work. After seven months I brought on my partner. We've been successful by servicing our customers."
The company's current business mix is about 50 percent wheel repair, 35 percent cleaning and maintenance for dealers and 15 percent accessories, windshield repair and headlight restoration.
"We plan to get into more detailing, PDR and accessories and do less wheel repair," he says. "We want to diversify. We also want to get into selling our own maintenance line. Our first product would be a high-end wheel sealant that we would offer on our Web site."
Tye Mott, owner of Chamberland Vinyl Repair in East Amherst, N.Y. said he attended as many seminars as possible and got a lot out of Mobile Tech."They offered great seminars and hands-on demonstrations in the trade show to help you decide if you want to buy something," Mott says. "I plan on switching my invoices to a computerized system that incorporates vehicle identification numbers."
He also attended a roundtable discussion on selling accessories to dealers that hit home.
"I've almost tripled my sales to dealers recently, selling them wheel covers, wheel skins, chrome door handles, chrome wheel covers, chrome grills and taillight bezel covers," he says.
Mott was in the business for 14 years when he bought out the company he worked for last year because the owner wanted to retire. He operates one mobile vehicle and specializes in interior repair and reconditioning. Headlight restoration has been a growing part of his business, as well as working on recreational vehicles.
"Thirty percent of my business is recreational vehicles, which is my fastest growing segment," he says. "Dealing with RV dealerships is just like dealing with car dealerships. You can charge a little more because it takes longer to recondition the big interiors."
Scott Heseltine, owner of the Mobile Appearance Reconditioning Service (MARS) franchise in Asheville, N.C., said the education sessions were well done and the show featured high-quality vendors.
"The day-long seminars before the show were the highlight for me," Heseltine says. "I picked up a lot of good information and learned new processes and technology."
Heseltine said his business is about 50 percent detailing and 50 percent other activities, primarily bumper repair, reconditioning and headlight renovation. He said he already has done several headlight jobs, implementing the reconditioning techniques he learned at the show. About 20 percent of his work is mobile work for retail customers and 80 percent is done from his shop.
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