Big Money Detailer
We show highly motivated auto detailers how to earn more so you can serve more! You will discover how to increase your sales revenue, improve your cash flow, and boost your bottom line in your car detailing business.
We keep most of our podcasts around 25 minutes because your time suitcase is already pretty full, right? This podcast delivers real world, actionable strategies and techniques that work right here on planet earth, no theories or concepts!
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Big Money Detailer
Honesty Sells: How Integrity Drives Success in the Detailing Business
What separates thriving detailing businesses from those that merely survive? In this eye-opening conversation with Clint Hintz of DuraSlic, we pull back the curtain on the ceramic coating industry and uncover the principles that drive lasting success in automotive care.
Clint's journey begins with childhood memories of his father's mechanical workshop, where he discovered his own talent wasn't in fixing cars but in making them shine. From those humble beginnings washing cars at 13, he built a career that eventually led him to DuraSlic, where he now applies decades of industry knowledge to develop and support premium ceramic coating products.
The most revealing moments come when Clint addresses the lack of regulation in the ceramic coating world. Without standardized testing or oversight, integrity becomes the true differentiator between companies. "Somebody could say this coating lasts 50 years and there's really nobody that says no, that's not the case," Clint explains, highlighting why DuraSlic's commitment to in-house chemists and rigorous testing matters.
Beyond product insights, Clint shares timeless business wisdom applicable to detailers at any stage. Setting realistic expectations with clients, tracking customer feedback systematically, and knowing your unique "superpower" emerge as foundations for building customer loyalty and sustainable growth. His advocacy for the "sponge mentality" – continuously absorbing new information rather than being closed off like a "rock" – offers a refreshing perspective on professional development.
Whether you're considering adding ceramic coatings to your service menu or looking to strengthen your existing detailing business fundamentals, this conversation delivers actionable strategies alongside an insider's perspective on industry trends. Connect with Clint at chintz@duraslic.com or visit duraslic.com to explore their certification program and product offerings.
INTRO
Your host is Davy Tyburski, America’s Chief Profit Officer® and Founder BigMoneyDetailer.com.
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OUTRO
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Hey, Big Money Detailers, welcome to the Big Money Detailer podcast today, and we are doing something unique today. You know, once in a while we talk to folks that are actually players, movers and shakers in the actual industry, and obviously most of you that have been following us for a while know that we mostly talk to detailers the hands-on what's happening in your business. Today we're going to go a little different direction, and my guest today is Clint Hintz from DuraSlick, and Clint, we're so excited to have you today. So first question man, are you ready to thrive and shine?
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely. I really appreciate you having me on, Davey. This is a pleasure.
Speaker 1:Oh man, it's a blessing to have you on as well. So, first off, you know, let's talk about our connection. So I grew up most of my followers know I grew up just south of Pittsburgh in a small steel mill town called Manessen, pennsylvania, and up there they got this football team called the Pittsburgh Steelers. And yeah, I know, Clint, I know it's crazy, but Clint, you know you're from Cleveland, so let's talk a little bit about that kind of when you were following football, and even today, Like, tell me a little more about that, how much fun you have watching that.
Speaker 2:You know I think I told you on our pre-interview. You know I'm used to watching the Browns lose a lot on Sundays. But you know I always keep that hometown. You know loyalty, even when I lived in various other states. It's important to me. I have a lot of memories with my father and family and, uh, you know, if one thing I can say is you know, us Northeastern Ohioers, we're, we're very loyal.
Speaker 1:Uh, win or lose Absolutely and loyalty is important and actually you touched on something real quick and, uh, I'll just get this out. Because out? Because some of the new folks that might be listening are like Davey, you know big money detailer, you're all about the financial piece, you're all about the money. No, I'm all about the marketing. And what I know is especially the folks that are new to the podcast.
Speaker 1:You came here because you want to make more money in your business, but here at Big Money Detailer, we focus on the five F's, as I call them. We focus on faith, we focus on family, we obviously focus on the financial, we focus on fitness and fun as well, and we welcome you to the podcast. If you're a new listener, we're glad to have you. And we're not just about the F, which is financial, we're also about those other four F's as well, and what Clint just touched on about the fact of family and great memories with his father and all those type of things. That's what we're all about. It's not just about your business. All right, clint, let's go back a little bit. So tell us a little more about, kind of, how you got into the automotive industry, like what attracted you to the auto industry say but you know, I come from a car family.
Speaker 2:My my father is a retired mechanic, um, and he restored a lot of old cars, so I always had cool cars to drive, um, and there was always cars around. Like you know, my dad would just like come home one day and go hey, you know, get all your stuff out of the Buick Regal, cause it's, I sold it and this car's coming. But I learned that I wasn't super duper mechanically inclined, but I was very good at cleaning them. So that's really where my passion started for not just cars but for cleaning them Cool.
Speaker 1:So I didn't ask you before the podcast. But did you actually do like? As a younger kid we all did our our local neighborhood jobs right? We did the grass cutting in Pittsburgh. We shoveled the snow. Did you actually wash cars and kind of how you did that, or was it more just for the family cars?
Speaker 2:No, actually my dad used to run the service station at a at a Sitco station, and that was like back when you got your car fixed at Sitco, right, and you know the the vending was like a little turn thing that you pulled the potato chips off. But one day I was a teenager 13, I think and he said, hey, some guy down the road's looking for a detailer, and you know that that's where it started. That young of an age, I mean no-transcript back many, many years.
Speaker 1:You know, like you said, younger and same thing with me when I was young. Same situation where, hey, hard work pays off, but working the same way is also a big payoff as well. All right, good. Well, let's talk a little bit about transitioning kind of to Duracell, like what were some of the things and some of the reasons why you jumped into that side of the business?
Speaker 2:I'm still trying to figure that out.
Speaker 1:No, Well, I think we're all trying to figure that out, right.
Speaker 2:No, you know I loved my last job, it was one of my favorite jobs. But you know, when I got into my 50s, my priorities just changed a little bit. And you know I don't mean to sound ungrateful, because I'm very grateful, but I was traveling overseas and you know I was turning and burning coming home from trips, working weekends, and it's not that I'm a lazy guy, but you know, I really really just got this sense of home and family, my folks getting older, and I said you know what? I don't have to do this. You know I can choose to do it.
Speaker 2:And you know, when I started to talk to the guys at Duracellick, they said what's your hang up about the industry? And I said I don't want to be on an airplane every week. And they said we can work with that. So that's really where it started and it's been a challenge. But you know, I've been able. I've really been very, you know, lucky to be able to reinvent myself a few times in this industry and challenge myself. And that's exactly what this is and it keeps me back on my toes and I like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's good. Well, let's, let's stay on challenges for a minute. I think that today again, we have the blessing of kind of going behind the curtain, of you know with, with detailers, not knowing some of the stuff that happens in the coding business. But let's talk a little bit about the challenges. You guys see and you know, what do you see for the future if you want to get your crystal ball out?
Speaker 2:Absolutely, let me grab it. You know the challenges of the industry is, you know there's a lot of change. I mean, I was in the industry professionally starting in 98. Professionally starting in 98. And there was, you know, over 15, maybe more years. There was clay and you know some foam pads and you know a couple of minor things. But the industry is always changing. Ceramic coatings are a very, very crowded space. There's a lot of ceramic coatings, but one of the reasons I liked it and I liked Duraslick was they make their coatings, they employ their chemists and it's just. The automotive is just a small part of the business. There's actually a much bigger business that Duraslick, which is called NanoSlick, does in different industries does in different industries.
Speaker 1:Let's talk a little bit about. You know, compared to like, one of the things I always remind people of is I've worked in 15 different industries with my private coaching clients. So everything from med tech to professional speakers, hvac companies I can go on and on. It's not important, but what I know is there's different regulations and different like, for instance, hipaa right that's the Privacy Act for health care Like there's certain like you have to be by the book or there's tremendous fines. But let's talk a little bit about kind of your side of the business. There doesn't seem to be as much, so dive into that a little bit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know that's a good point, because there's not. The first thing I'm going to say is there's some really, really great ceramic coating companies out there. I have some tenacious competitors, but there's also some fluff in the industry and I think part of that reason is because there's really no governing body that says hey, look, you know, here's the standards, and these and and these will be tested. Um, us and a handful of other companies, because that's just how we choose to go to market, we do hold to those standards in regards to what we say, um, you know. Uh, for instance, the hardness you know. Um, you know, if somebody says, hey, it's a 14, uh, you know, the hardness is a 14.
Speaker 2:On the pencil hardness test, you know we're not aware of a test that that actually embodies that, the proof that that does that. So, in other words, I guess what I'm saying is somebody could say this coating last 50 years and it's a this hardness and it's this slight angle and whatever, and there's really nobody that says no, that's not the case. I'm not here to police anybody else's business. I don't do other companies' inventory, I just try to sell the benefits of the ceramic coating manufacturer I work for. But it brings challenges.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure. And again, integrity and honesty is a key part of business, absolutely. It's a small industry in reality. Everybody kind of knows the skeleton's in the closet. Let's leave it as that, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, there's a lot of marketing that goes on and you know marketing is good, but you know marketing doesn't always bring the end users, I believe, to the best product for what they're looking for.
Speaker 1:Got it, got it. Well, let's transition now kind of like to you right, specifically Endurus like great company, get that. But let's also dive into some of the things. I mean, you've been in business for a long time as long as I have, I'm sure but what are some of the things you've learned over the years? And it could be something small. Here's what I say small changes make big changes. Small things you could tweak in your business could ultimately be a big change in your revenue or your expenses or whatever that is. So let's use this section in terms of, like, some of maybe two or three ideas in terms of running a business. What have you learned? Some key takeaways, and what I like to say is maybe even some of the mistakes you've made and what did you learn from those mistakes? A wide, wide range here where you want to go, brother, but let's dive into some of those, yeah.
Speaker 2:I think that I think that honesty, integrity are are very important in a business and I think that I've learned that because I have a lot of loyal customers and it's, you know, my mentor. You know, a couple of decades ago told me he said you know, always tell the truth of. Decades ago. Told me he said you know, always tell the truth and if you don't know the answer, get back to them, find the right answer. Get back to them Cause you know, really still to this day from me on a sales aspect, I'm trying to find a customer for life. Big, medium size, small has potential.
Speaker 2:Um, I'm not really looking to get a customer that I can get a big lump out of for a short period of time and I would advise that to saying the same as somebody running a detail shop is, you know, be honest, you know and try to keep that customer coming back, for you know the entirety of their vehicle or the time that they need services for that vehicle. It's because there's a lot of detail shops out there now, just like there's a lot of ceramic coating companies. So I have to find a way to make myself stand out and that is by you know, being honest and you know, knowing my product line, knowing what I'm selling, making sure that I'm qualifying that customer for what they need, not what I necessarily want them to buy. And that goes with asking questions, getting to know your customer and you know, spending time instead of just handing a piece of paper or saying this is the best.
Speaker 1:Sure, absolutely. I mean a couple of bridge statements I've used for years is you know, if we were having a conversation, you'd ask me a question. Hey, clint, that's a great question. Thanks for asking it. By the way, unfortunately I don't know the answer, but I'm going to get the answer and I will follow up. Fill in the blank, so get an expectation of when you're going to follow up and just let them know.
Speaker 1:You don't know the answer, but a lot of times those questions like, for instance, if I go way back to back, when I was with the Global Med Tech Company, we had our customer service agents trained to dive into and listen to the answers to those type of questions. If a nurse, for instance, called into our call center and they asked a specific question, we actually tracked. And all the listeners should write these three letters down CCS, ccs. We track compliments, we track concerns and we track suggestions. Now, of course, I always have a prop. My listeners know that I always have a Post-it note. People are like I don't have a system to track compliments, concerns, suggestions. I'm like you do today you have a Post-it pad and you got a pen. That's what we're going to use and every time you get a compliment, you're going to write compliment and what it was. You're going to get a concern, you're going to write concern, what it was. And if a suggestion, you're going to write suggestion. And at the end of the week you're going to get your shoebox out. Yeah, we used the shoebox back then and we went and put them all on the conference room table and we divided nurses calling in asking us a question do you have a product that combines this product with that product? The answer was no, we don't, but thanks for suggesting it. That ended up creating a, let's just say, a multimillion dollar product where we combine two of our products together. And it came not from internal, it didn't come from our engineers, it didn't come from marketing, it came from letting people ask you the question.
Speaker 1:And then what are you going to do to address that? I think in the detailing world it's the same thing A detailer is a detailer. But if you're getting a question hey, do you guys do tint? Do you guys do tint? Do you guys do tint? Hey, do you guys do wraps? Do you do wraps? Eventually you have to realize that if you track that, you go. That's an opportunity and maybe I don't want to do it. Maybe in like a fluid allospot Dylan's business. We may not want to do it, but that should encourage you and motivate you to go find someone who could possibly do that work for you. And, of course, you get a piece of the action. So that question people asking you questions. You should take that as a blessing because that is an opportunity for you to either improve your quality or to offer something else in the product line. Anything else on questions and making sure that you get back to people. Anything else that you want to share in terms of some business strategies you've used and techniques.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, one thing I teach in my classes is, you know, especially when you're selling detail services, you know you don't have that crystal ball.
Speaker 2:You know, until you do a test spot or check scratches or stains and interiors, you know there's always that little bit of an open. So you know, I try to keep expectations right here, instead of you know promising, you know that, hey, yeah, I can get those scratches, I can get those stains, because you know, if you can't, then you take a big chance of losing that customer who's going to say, hey, I'm going to try the shop down the road. But if you keep those realistic expectations from that customer and you outperform them, then you look great. And I think that's just a really, really good way to try to keep your customers coming back and keep that customer retention high. To try to keep your customers coming back and keep that customer retention high. And if it does happen that you don't get those the way you wanted it, you don't exceed, you still have not overpromised, you're still right here with expectations and that customer says, hey, you tried, it didn't work, but you didn't tell me something that you could do and then not get it done.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's good. That's good Again, setting the right expectations of kind of what you're going to deliver and making sure that you at least deliver the minimum. And then, when you over exceed, it's like, man, you're a hero. Right, exactly Good. All right, let's talk about superpowers for a minute.
Speaker 1:Man and the listeners like what superpower are you talking about? I'm like I can't pick one. I pick one, but if you had to pick one superpower like Clint is so good at this, fill in the blank he'd have to wear a cape. And then, of course, if you want to on the other side, if you want to say the same thing for Duracell, like what's the superpower of Duracell? But let's stay on the superpower thing, and the reason I asked this question it's important for listeners is you have to know yourself. You have to know what you're really good at and the stuff that you enjoy doing and you're good at you ought to do. And in some cases there's stuff you don't like to do and guess what, let's be honest, it doesn't get done. You know why? Because you don't like to do it. That's where building a solid team, that's why having key parts of your company where you have people to support, like, in your case, the sales efforts. That's the key to scaling a business, if you choose to do so. But superpowers let's talk about that.
Speaker 2:Well, if I had to pick one, there you go. No, no, you know, what I really feel that I'm good at is I feel that I really am a good trainer. I think I'm a good teacher. I've been doing it since the late 90s. I'm always open to learn. Because of the different opportunities I've had in the industry.
Speaker 2:I'm kind of that person that has experience in liquids, in compounds, paint repair, coatings, buffing pads and even accessories.
Speaker 2:So, you know, I guess you could say I know a little bit about a lot of things and I think that that's important because, you know, when I was young there wasn't a lot of training that was available and now you have a plethora of really, really good opportunities out there to go learn from people and you just have to have that open mind to understand that. You know, even I and I've I've trained under some of the best people you know in the industry and learn from them. But I still say you know, I I have to still learn if I'm not learning and growing. But yeah, that is my passion. I feel like if somebody can listen, I can help with various types of problems because, you know, years ago I finally learned, you know, every once in a while. Clint, you got to shut your mouth and you know. You got to open up your ears and learn, and the things I learn are from people that have been in the industry for decades, as well as people that have been in the industry for a very short time.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. The great Warren Buffett always says the best investment you can make is in yourself. That's right. No one can take that away from you. And when you invest in your knowledge, your skills and your abilities, no one can ever take that away, and especially in the training environment. That's critical.
Speaker 1:And the last thing I want to point out that again all my listeners, I just want to encourage you and there are some rocks out there, but I want you to be sponges, Like Clint was just describing is so important. You got to be a sponge and, believe me, he's at the top of his game from a training perspective, but he's still a sponge and what that means to you is he's still taking in information and he's using that to train others so they could be better. If you're a rock and you're like I tried that a year ago, that'll never work Like that's a rock mentality. You don't want that. You want a sponge mentality. We're able to take in all that new information to improve your knowledge, skills and abilities.
Speaker 1:So it's like my slogan is I want to show you how to earn more so you can serve more, and whatever that serve more is for your church or charities or whatever, or just serving more clients. But that is a key you always have to be learning. All right, good. What about, like, the Duracellic side of things? If, again, you guys do a lot of good stuff? But if you had to pick one thing, that man that really sets you apart, or at least you try to set yourself apart from others, what would be one or two of those things if you want to share those?
Speaker 2:Well, I can tell you this you know, duracellic makes a very quality product, um, and I think that's very evident from folks that have used it.
Speaker 2:It doesn't mean it's always the simplest to use, Not that it's complicated. But you know, we have some very intricate coatings and we have a rigorous testing process that we use, you know, real equipment to test these. We test them well for us. We test them against our competitors because we want to make sure that, you know, what we're offering is comparable and hopefully exceeds what's out there in the industry. They care about what we put out. You know, it has to be the truth, it has to be honest and you know, and I think that's where the evolution of this new coding ease that we just came out with, you know it's, it's revolutionary, I mean, and that's just because we have a full time chemist team that we employ that said, hey, look, you know there's this and there's more to come, and I like that. I think it's definitely stands them out versus a lot of the me too's, and you know folks that are relabeling coatings and saying, hey, we're constantly trying to make this better.
Speaker 1:Good. Constantly improving is a good thing, right, that's, that's awesome, good deal, if there's one. I mean, this is the other side of kind of the earlier conversation but if there's like one business lesson you learned at an early age, what would be that main business lesson? Obviously taking care of people. I get that being a sponge, but is there anything else that jumps out in terms of that question to you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know what that you say that there is, and you know one thing that I've learned is that relationships are important.
Speaker 2:You know you do what you say you're going to do, and you know one thing that I've learned is that relationships are important. You know you do what you say you're going to do and you know you tell the truth, like I had already mentioned, because my lesson that I learned was that small companies become big companies and when you took the time to put into them when they were small, many of them remember that and they carry you along and I've had a couple of different experiences with that. That really makes me go okay, I was doing the right thing here by you know, supporting somebody and not just giving my time and my energy to somebody that I knew was going to. You know turn big numbers right away, which it's not that I turn those down, but I think that management of time is very important and I think if you've been in the industry as long as myself, some of these things do come full circle where you go glad I paid attention to that person or company.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. Well, that, that, that lesson. I wish I had learned that at a much earlier age, when I was, let's say, younger and didn't have as much wisdom.
Speaker 1:Let's just say I burned a few bridges, Um, it happens. But now I know that, uh, and and it's been a while now I that was back when I was immature as a leader. I get you now. I certainly get it. I mean, you never know what's going to come back. It's like when I do my keynote talks all over the globe, I never know who's in the audience.
Speaker 1:I mean, there could be someone there that could book me for a large company. It could be someone there that deals with an association. So you always have to be on your game and people say, well, no one's going to know, no one's watching. Well, actually you're watching yourself and the man upstairs is always watching you too. So you've got to be sensitive and make sure that you're communicating the truth with integrity and making sure people understand what you can and cannot do.
Speaker 1:Let's move a little more into sales. So you have, obviously, with you guys, you have, like your installers, and then you have your distributors, right, but what are maybe one or two sales? I hate to call them techniques or strategies. I was listening to a podcast yesterday and the guy kept saying, yeah, here's a few of my tricks, here's a few of my tricks. And I kept thinking man, you don't want to be fooling people Like you don't want to have tricks, you want to have like real-world tips and strategies. So, sales perspective Clint, a few thoughts for our detailers of how they can model. That's one of the things I like to say is what do you model that Clint's doing and how do you model it and tweak it just a little tiny bit to make it work for your detailing business.
Speaker 2:No, that's actually a really good question. Sorry about the lawnmower.
Speaker 1:It's all right, man, it's all good.
Speaker 2:So you know, I think that one thing that I have always been good at and it's been important to me, is to learn my product line. You know I try to learn, not just like take ceramic coatings, I don't just know and learn about the paint repair and you know the other things that come along with that because I want to be part of something that can help somebody generate some revenue, because ceramic coatings can be very profitable part of your business and a lot of people lean away from them for certain reasons and I think it's just because they don't understand so much. You know how to apply what they do, the ins and outs and those kind of things. So I think when you're selling, you definitely want to make sure that you know what you're selling. I think that's where manufacturers come in. If you're buying somebody's coating or buffers or compounds or liquids, you know you should have that support, whether it's from your distributor or your online reseller, to be able to understand how those products work. It's important.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, that's good. Yeah, Know your product and if someone asks you a question, we covered this earlier, so you got to go back to your notes If you don't know the answer. Hey, that's a great question. I don't know the answer, but let me get back to you within two days and I'll get you the right answer on that.
Speaker 2:Because you know everything.
Speaker 1:I mean, I appreciate the fact that you're a sponge, and same thing in our business at Big Money Detailer is we don't know everything. But if I don't know it, I'm going to go get the answer and make sure I get back to you. Good, well, as we get ready to close down, clint, just one question for you, and this is but is there anything we didn't cover yet that you think would add value to our current listeners on the podcast? Any area you want to cover or something else? Hey, dave, you should have asked me about fill in the blank, does that?
Speaker 2:ring a bell with you at all or anything else you want to cover? No, actually. No, I thought that we utilized the time really well. I just think that it's a really good time for you know people to have businesses, detail businesses and you know, back in the 90s and early 2000s, you know a good detailer just really didn't have professional recognition. They were car cleaners and hacks and whatever. So, you know, learn your skill set, learn how to use your tools and you know there are ways to run a very profitable detail shop and offer very good results from that. And I think that don't be afraid to say you can't do it just by yourself. There's resources out there and sometimes it's an investment, but there are ways to learn this and do it right and go to bed at night and sleep like a baby.
Speaker 1:Good good. Well, we're going to land the plan there Before we go Clint. What's the best way for folks to reach out to you guys?
Speaker 2:Well, you know, we're on social media. We're on Facebook, instagram. To get a hold of me, it's chintz at duraslickcom. It's chintz at duraslickcom and our website is wwwduraslickcom. That's d-u-r-a-s-l-i-ccom and, yeah, we have a a great certification program, installer program and a website that goes over a lot of our products certified products, prosumer, prosumer products. So you know, we really got something for everybody.
Speaker 1:I love it. I love it. Yeah, a lot of entry points too, which is fantastic, which is really good. Well, good man. Again, it was a blessing talking to you man, my friend from Cleveland, even though we kind of, again, I don't follow the Steelers as much as I used to. But that's irrelevant. And here's the lesson about that right, when you're building relationships with someone, and Clint and I have had a conversation about a week ago, but I mean 90% of our conversation about how'd you grow up? Tell me more about your family. You know, what do you do for fun? Clint, if you don't know, is an outdoors man. He loves to be outside and I like to be outside most of the time. But, yeah, those are the things you want to start with. What are those connection points? So with that I'm going to shut this down. Clint, it's been a blessing having you, man. Until next time, I'm Davey Tyburski, the founder of BigMoneyDetailercom and also you may know me as America's Chief Profit Officer, and I'll see you on the other side. Thanks, davey, you.
