The Detail Dialogue

In This Issue

President's Letter

Member Spotlight

Detailing Show Recap

Women in Detailing

Member Achievements

Coronavirus and the Detailing World

Stay Involved

New Members & Newly Certified Detailers, February 2020

Website Tips & Tricks: Career Center

*The views and opinions expressed in the accompanying articles are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the IDA.

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IDA Board of Directors

DJ Patterson, CD-SV
President

Alan Medcraf, CD-SV, RT
Vice President, Operators

Bob Myers, CD-SV, RT
Vice President, Suppliers

Phil Todd, CD-SV, RT
Treasurer

Jonathan Munsell, CD
Immediate Past President

Bob Eichelberg

Jim Goguen, CD-SV

Mark Johnson, CD-SV

Justin Labato, CD-SV, RT

Mike Phillips, CD-SV, RT

Jason Rose, CD-SV, RT

Tony Seara

Kenya Williams, CD-SV

Sheryle Hazard, CAE - Executive Director

Upcoming Events

IDA Certification Event - Phase II (SV) presented by Autogeek.com: Monday, May 4, 2020

IDA Certification Event - Phase I & II (CD-SV) presented by Majestic Solutions Distributing : Friday, June 5, 2020

See all event details on our calendar!

Meet & Greets

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Click here to view the IDA Meet & Greet policy.

Call for Translators

The IDA is looking for native speakers to translate our social media messages in comments. Interested? Let us know!

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By DJ Patterson, CD-SV, 2020 IDA President

Hello IDA Community!

I hope this letter finds you well no matter where you are in the world. As I am writing this letter, we are currently witnessing the COVID-19 pandemic literally change the way we live and think. It’s evident that the world is in a different place than it’s probably ever been. Things are changing rapidly on a day-by-day basis. It’s saddening that most businesses are forced to make some really tough decisions, some even required to shut their doors indefinitely. Knowing this kills me.

To my fellow business owners – it’s hard times like this when the true spirit of entrepreneurship is exposed. This is when we think outside the box, come up with new solutions, and support other businesses and our communities. We are leaders. Movers and shakers. We will come out of this stronger than before if we don’t quit in the face of adversity. If you’re an employee of a business, it’s your time to shine, knowing what the owner of your company may be up against. The reality is that all businesses and industries, both large and small, will be impacted in some way. I can confidently say this for the United States.

How will you adapt to the ever-changing market? If you’re still a business that’s operating – do you need to diversify your offerings, so that all of your eggs are not in one basket? If you’re shut down for the time being – will you sit back and just wait until this blows over or will you work ON your business? It’s very evident with all that has gone on with COVID-19 that you shouldn’t invest in another detailing training immediately after this is over. Will technical detail skills help you in an economical downfall or will having true business knowledge? Business knowledge, diverse offerings, fluid social media marketing, and efficient back-end systems is what will take you to the next level. Essentially, the world is on “pause” at the moment and it’s your time to “start fresh”.

As your president, I will see that we bring you the support needed during this time. We will also be leveraging technology to bring true relevant business information throughout the year. My goal is for each and every one of you to have the business skills to make informed decisions within your operations. Again, I feel your actual detailing skills are good enough in this season for you to win. It’s time to invest in YOU… and it starts with your mind!

Although this is a  crazy time, I have truly enjoyed the personal conversations that have come of this. My hope is that this will bring us together as a tighter community, and we will all come out of this stronger, smarter, and able to thrive. I encourage you to reach out to fellow detailers around the world and in your own hometown. Engage in our community – spark conversations, share success, and failures because at the end of the day we're all still people –  people that share an extreme passion for all things auto detailing.

I have one small request to those that still have the opportunity to navigate day-to-day business operations – please, market with integrity and never take advantage of a situation in which your integrity is diminished for financial gain. Let’s continue to uphold the IDA code of ethics and show the consumers what it means to be a true member of the International Detailing Association. Even though this is an uncertain situation, there are plenty of positive opportunities that will arise for us detailers, whether it’s in the immediate moment or in the months to come. This too shall pass.

Let's connect on IG and Facebook: @djpatterson

Sincerely, 

Each month we feature a Member Spotlight. This month we're talking with IDA United Kingdom Chapter President, John Hole, Founder & CEO at Clean & Shiny (UK) Std.

International Detailing Association (IDA): How did you get into the detailing industry?

John Hole (JH): I owned and ran an IT software distribution company and was detailing in the evenings and weekends for a number of years. I was always looking for the best products to use. I was frustrated with the offerings in the UK and was always looking stateside as this seemed to be the place to get the best products! I used to spend evening and weekends on forums from Autogeek and Autopia, researching and reading about how all things in the detailing arena worked. In 2003, Meguiars arrived in the UK; however, at this time there were no other detailing products available. I was also importing some other bits from the states from companies like Autopia and Pakshak. All my buddies were fascinated by the products as they were so different from the norm available in the UK. At this point, more and more people were asking to buy this stuff from me, and I was being told I should "sell on the internet". From there, in 2003, Clean and Shiny was born and so was the start of my journey.

IDA: Tell us a bit about your business.

JH: Clean and Shiny was established in 2003 selling products from Meguiars and imported products from the USA. 17 years later and we are now selling products from around the globe and from over 45 manufacturers and over 1700 sku's. We also handle exclusive distribution for Labocosmetica, Poka Premium, The Rag Company, and Zaino. (Read more)

This month, we chatted with Michael Abens of 2020 IDA Diamond Sponsor Urable .

International Detailing Association: How long have you been with this company? Were you a detailer prior to becoming a supplier?
Michael Abens (MA): We are a family owned and operated company that started in March 2018. Kyle and Kris, both of whom had their own careers underway, collaborated on a side project building a custom CRM (Customer Relationship Management) System for the healthcare company I was running. They had so much fun with that project, that after it completed, they called a family meeting to discuss the idea of quitting their jobs and starting a family business focused on app development for niche markets. I had retired in October 2017 after 30 years in healthcare and they dragged me out of retirement to help setup and operate the company. We could have picked any market to enter, but as an auto enthusiast, I had become a strong supporter of the professional detailing market ever since ceramic coatings entered the game. During my career in healthcare, I designed many business systems to improve patient care, employee effectiveness, and operational efficiency. My interactions with professional detailers, as a consumer, exposed opportunities for improvement in the customer experience, as well as general efficiency in operations. Based on that, we chose to address the detail market with our first product and Urable was born!

IDA: What type of training does your business offer? 
MA: We offer video tutorials and live 1:1 video tours and team training sessions to help get shops up and running quickly.

IDA:  What makes your company unique compared to other suppliers? 
MA: We did months and months of customer-driven insight gathering with dozens of detail businesses—both mobile and shop-based—vinyl wrap shops and PPF shops before we even began building a system. This gave us a broad picture of the industry that encompassed owner/operator businesses all the way to multiple location businesses with dozens of employees. This "customer-driven insight" approach is exactly how I addressed challenges in the healthcare services space for 30 years. It allowed us to create a system that is purpose built for the detailing market but also took advantage of the key learnings I had gathered from a career in healthcare as a large service provider. This is why Urable is so strong regarding automated customer retention features. We built in revenue diversification opportunities through the Virtual Shop in Urable. This is basically a branded e-commerce store and online booking feature for each of our customers.

IDA: Is there any advice you would give to detailers that may be looking into transitioning to product sales, distribution, or manufacturing? 
MA: My advice is to have owners, or better yet an impartial mentor, take a critical look at their business operating model and the customer experience that is being delivered. If you desire to be a professional detailer, delivering premium services at professional rates, make sure you're delivering a professional customer experience to match. Scratching out invoices on paper and never following up with customers after the sale is not reflective of a professional service. Urable is uniquely designed to help you project a professional image that distinguishes you from your competition and reinforces why you are worth the premium rates you charge. It also carries a heavy load for business owners by automating the follow up process to ensure you never lose track of a customer again. 

IDA: What are some of the struggles your company has overcome to get to where it is today? 
MA: It is sometimes a struggle to get business owners to see the value of systematizing their operation. We still have businesses that are reluctant to invest in a system at any price and continue to use pen and paper or a collection of disjointed apps to run their business. An annual subscription of our system is paid for by the system eliminating a single no-show, or facilitating an up sell through the inspection process, or securing more referrals because of more and better reviews; the list goes on and on. It is literally the cheapest employee any business could ever hire and it never calls in sick!

IDA: Why does your company believe it is beneficial to support the IDA? 
MA: We are trying to improve the industry and elevate the professional detailer in the eyes of the consumer. IDA is doing the same thing through education, certifications and outreach. It was an easy decision to align with and support the IDA.

IDA: As a supplier, what changes would you like to see be made in the detailing industry? 
MA: More basic business training would benefit the industry as a whole. Understanding how to manage a business well is just as important as learning how to improve your technical skills. Owners need to learn how to value their time and focus on efficiency, consistency, and the long term health of their business. They also need to see the value in working "on" their business, as much as "in" their business. I've learned over the years that real breakthroughs occur when you're willing to step back and be critical of your operating model. Otherwise, you tend to focus on the self-defeating cycle of always "doing more" to grow your business. Doing things differently is often much more productive than simply doing more of something.

Disclaimer: Urable is a 2020 Diamond Sponsor.  The views and opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the IDA.  If you are interested in becoming an IDA Sponsor, please click here  to learn more.

The Belgium/France Chapter of the IDA hosted an exhibit booth and certification event at The Detailing Show on March 8, 2020. A directive from the French government had limited gatherings to 5,000 people, so visitors were carefully managed so as not to exceed the maximum allowable; the maximum allowable visitors was reduced to only 1,000 the day after the Detailing Show, so luck was on their side!

The Chapter’s IDA booth garnered many inquiries with visitors asking to receive further information about the IDA and future certification events. At least 15-20 attendees confirmed that they would attend the next CD-SV certification event. Three attendees took the CD exams at The Detailing Show.

An additional two events in Belgium and two events in France are scheduled for 2020.

For centuries women have fought to shatter the “glass ceiling” in many areas, including pushing their way into what have long been considered primarily male industries. While some people and countries have seemed to succeed, others appear to lag behind them.

In the detailing industry in most countries we’ve made a good start toward shattering the glass ceiling. There are many women detailers as well as detail businesses that are female-owned. But just because we’ve crossed this bridge doesn’t mean there aren’t others ahead.
(Read more)

Submitted By: Jason Barker, CD-SV

By Joe Zeidler, CD

We as detailers are put in an unusual spot where we can help with slowing the spread of the coronavirus and can also be put in harm’s way as well. Please note I said slowing and not stopping the spread. It is important to remind a customer that even once we detail a vehicle the next person who gets in the vehicle can contaminate what we have just cleaned. We are not the “magic bullet” who instantly cures this virus. But we can help slow the spread by properly cleaning the vehicle.

We are in constant contact with vehicles every day and most of us spend significant time inside someone else’s vehicle cleaning the interior. This puts us in jeopardy of contracting the virus but with some up-front universal precautions we can help protect ourselves. (Read more)

By Alex Hazard

Wow…what a crazy month March has turned out to be. We at the IDA office are doing everything we can to make this time of uncertainty and transitioning as easy on the detailing industry as we can; but, we would also like to recognize the businesses in the industry that have maintained their integrity, pride, standards of excellence, and compassion for the people in the industry around them. At the end of the day, the IDA is nothing without all of our members and Certified Detailers across the world, and we hope at times like these that we are providing our members with as many benefits as we can to get through all of the chaos.

I wanted to mention a few ways for our members to continue to be involved through the IDA while many of your shops are closed, and we are unfortunately unable to hold any kind of physical events in the near future. (Read more)

 Please welcome our new members!

• Ricardo Alatorre
  
• Harshvardhan Baheti
  
• Steve Becker, CD
  
• TJ Beech
  
• Carlos Berenguer
  
• Bernice Berry
  
• Andrea Bonavita, CD
  
• Matt Buhn
  
• Christopher Burris
  
• Michael Bury, CD
  
• Martin Cahill
  
• Trevor Catlett, CD
  
• Tali Cedeno
  
• Hui chew
  
• Thomas Coniglio
  
• Adrian Constantine, CD
  
• Matt Deacon
  
• Scott DeDera
  
• Timothy Deichler, CD
  
• ini Etuk
  
• David Fox
  
• Anthony Garuccio, CD
  
• Joe Garuccio, CD
  
• Michael Gawlas
  
• George Gonzalez
  
• Chris Green
  
• Sergio Gutierrez
  
• Anna Hammond
  
• Nikiel Hanna
  
• Chris Harner, CD
  
• Theódór Heimisson
  
• Lawrence Heins
  
• Shane Hemeon
  
• Eddie Hojara, CD
  
• Mitzi Howard
  
• Richard Hutchins
  
• Caroline Huynh
  
• Clint James, CD
  
• Jonathan Correia Da Silva
  
• Ben Kadan
  
• Kalei Kamahele
  
• Mike Karlen, CD
  
• Jason Karounos
  
• Greg Keeney, CD
  
• Joseph Kimball, CD
  
• Maksim Kuzmin
  
• Clinton Laster
  
• Marcella Loza
  
• Brian Lutz
  
• Roy Magruder
  
• Dan McCool
  
• Simon Micallef Eynaud Carr
  
• Jeffrey Moore
  
• Matt Moreland
  
• Enrique Noria
  
• Ashley Nye
  
• Derrick Olson
  
• Tony Pando
  
• James Rabon
  
• Jamie Raisbeck
  
• Rajith Rajan
  
• Edward Ramirez
  
• Felix Rodriguez
  
• Nick Rutter
  
• Bud Sanford
  
• Daniel Sayer, CD
  
• Ant Sheehy
  
• Matthew Slaughter, CD
  
• Felimon Solorzano
  
• Brent Stramski
  
• Robert Swanson, CD
  
• John Taylor
  
• Christopher Thaler
  
• Dominic Uyetake
  
• Eric Verissimo
  
• Kyle Wallner
  
• Mark Weber, CD
  
• Robert Woodhams
  
• Derek Wright, CD
  
• Matthew Zydorczyk, CD
  

Congratulations to our newest Certified Detailers!

• Drew Adney, CD
  
• Samuel Adorno, CD-SV
  
• Adam Aldrich, CD-SV
  
• Hugh Alexander, CD
  
• Brett Amedee, CD
  
• Marc Bandy, CD
  
• Brady Banik, CD-SV
  
• Jacqueline Bedford, CD-SV
  
• Adam Blackwell, CD
  
• Andrea Bonavita, CD
  
• Robert Bridgeforth, CD
  
• Patrick Burch, CD-SV
  
• Michael Bury, CD
  
• Jonathan Candelaria, CD-SV
  
• Daniel Carr, CD-SV
  
• Trevor Catlett, CD
  
• Adrian Comstantine, CD
  
• Ryan Dellucky, CD
  
• Shawn Derosa, CD
  
• Michael Fokianos, CD
  
• Tyler Foster, CD-SV
  
• Anthony Garuccio, CD
  
• Joe Garuccio, CD
  
• Jason Girasol, CD
  
• Randolf Gonzales, CD
  
• George Gonzalez, CD-SV
  
• Joel Gutierrez, CD-SV
  
• Bernt-Erik Hansen, CD
  
• Chris Harner, CD
  
• Nick Helms, CD
  
• Randy Henning, CD
  
• Froy Hernandez, CD
  
• Luis Hernandez, CD
  
• Joshua Hill, CD
  
• Eddie Hojara, CD
  
• Laurentiu Horubet, CD
  
• Jason Houston, CD-SV
  
• Sebastian Iglesias Ortega, CD
  
• Nicolas Izquierdo, CD-SV
  
• Clint James, CD
  
• Ernest Jean, CD
  
• Juliana Jimenez, CD
  
• Kyle Kamas, CD
  
• Jonathan Kampfer, CD
  
• Mike Karlen, CD
  
• Greg Keeney, CD
  
• Scott Koontz, CD
  
• Andre LeDoux, CD
  
• Richard Lentz, CD-SV
  
• Chandra Leono, CD-SV
  
• Cody Lolmaugh, CD
  
• Cristabel Londono, CD
  
• Ronnie Mammen, CD
  
• Anthony Masschelier, CD-SV
  
• Sheldon McElhiney, CD
  
• Brandon Minnich, CD
  
• Andy Moffatt, CD-SV
  
• Michael Paul, CD
  
• Brandon Ramirez, CD
  
• Daryl Ramnath, CD
  
• Alexander Riehl, CD
  
• Ryan Rigdon, CD
  
• Manny Rivera, CD
  
• Oksana Ruskule, CD
  
• Daniel Sayer, CD
  
• Jason Schilling, CD
  
• He Shuai, CD
  
• Matthew Slaughter, CD
  
• Russel Stender, CD
  
• Brittain Stokes, CD
  
• Robert Swanson, CD
  
• Daniel Sweeney, CD
  
• Jimmy Sylvester, CD
  
• Kirby Thomson, CD
  
• Nick Turney, CD
  
• Jonathan Urena, CD-SV
  
• Ian Watson, CD
  
• Steven Watson-Brooks, CD
  
• Mark Weber, CD
  
• Darren Williams, CD
  
• Matthew Zydorczyk, CD

For more information on any of our new members or for a full listing of our membership, please visit the-ida.com. 

Are you a detailing professional who’s looking for a new opportunity?  Or are you an owner/operator or supplier who’s searching for the perfect addition to your team?  Check out the IDA Career Center!

The Career Center is a relatively new feature on our website, and it is the best place to take your career – or your company – to the next level.  The job board is a members-only benefit, so employers are guaranteed to reach a targeted audience of experienced, dedicated detailing professionals.  Meanwhile, members can take advantage of the ability to post their resume for free and search job posts targeted directly to them.

You can access the IDA Career Center under the “Members” tab in the website’s main menu. (Read more) .

International Detailing Association
2345 Rice Street, Suite 220
Saint Paul, MN 55113
Online: www.the-ida.com
Email: info@the-ida.com
Phone: 651-925-5526
Fax: 651-317-8048

Have a question? Contact us here!