# The difference between a swirl and squirrel



## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

*The difference between a swirl and squirrel *

I was posting in another thread and just posted this,



Mike Phillips said:


> I don't ever try to tell people how to run their business, but instead just try to offer some balance to the conversation because as a detailer, one of their goals is to make a profit and _*multiple step buff jobs take more time*_ and if your customer doesn't know the difference between a *swirl* and a *squirrel* then just make their paint clean and shiny and move forward.


And seriously, I don't want to tell anyone how to run their business but I often times see a trend that goes like this,

Person gets interested in detailing, starts reading forums and gets the *detail bug*.
Takes the leap and starts purchasing pads, products and tools to start detailing for money.
Loses focus, probably because of one segment of the type of work shared on forums, (show car detailing), and decides to start out doing show car style detailing where they're using a multiple step system to create show car finish.
Nothing wrong with the above scenario except if you're buffing out daily drivers for people that are not really _*into*_ their car as a hobby, then you're not _*matching*_ your services to their needs.

Most people just want a clean interior, shiny black tires, clear glass and shiny paint, *they don't know the difference between a swirl and squirrel*.

_For clarification..._

*This is a Squirrel*









*These are Swirls*









If you spend too much time on the paint for someone that probably won't appreciate your efforts as much as you, and probably doesn't want to pay for your efforts, then you're doing them a disservice and you're doing yourself a disservice in your pocket book.

If you have a customer that wants to pay for a multiple-step process then by all means go for it. But if your customer fits the daily driver description, then keep your focus and do a great job but do a fast job and by fast I mean wash, clay and use a one-step cleaner/wax.

Make sense?


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## ITHAQVA (Feb 20, 2011)

Like it :thumb:


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## CraigQQ (Jan 20, 2011)

great advice mike


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## james_death (Aug 9, 2010)

My philosophy exactly, the only hard bit is stopping yourself doing more than you need too....:lol:

As you say most folk see a shiny car and happy and they want it in half an hour max....:wall:


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## absolute (Jan 19, 2010)

excellent advice. I have a multi millionaire customer with a fleet of vehicles. it pains me to simply wash,clay and wax them when they could all do with serious correction. (happened before my time). At the end of the day though he's absolutely over the moon with astonishment after a good polish and/or wax. Millionaire or not, he's more than happy the way he is

He fuels his cars up on a sunday morning so there's little chance that he's gonna see those bad boys under the forecourt light, maybe then he'd get a fright lol


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