VOLUME XI • ISSUE 3 • MAY/JUNE 2010 $4.95

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IAMA Bronze Award Winner 2000, 2001 & 2003

INSIDEINSIDETHISTHIS ISSUEISSUE

The DK 1700 is the first compactheated carpet extractor and dryvacuum that will not run out ofwater! You can attach the includ-ed 50' filler hose to a water faucetand have a continuous water flow!The 1700's 50' filler hose can alsobe attached to one of the includ-ed 5 gallon buckets, 55 gallondrum or even a mobile water tank.This feature eliminates continuousrefilling of the solution tank. Youcan extend the discharge hose toany desired container. Included isan additional 5 gallon bucket oryou can attach the dischargehose to a laundry tub, slop-sink, carwash mat, or any large container.The Auto Discharge featureenables the detailer to work unin-terrupted. The 1700 can be pur-chased exclusively at Detail King.www.detailking.com – 1-888-314-0847.

Want to see your newproduct displayed hereon the front cover, call

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T h e O n l y P u b l i c a t i o n E x c l u s i v e l y F o r D e t a i l e r s

“Nope, I don’t have a passion forcars and no one came to me andsaid, ‘Your car looks great, wouldyou do mine?” Rob Schruefer of Onthe Spot Detailing in Elkridge,Maryland says he reads theDetailer’s Digest regularly and hisstory is simply not that romantic – hehas never had an obsession for aclean car or a love affair with hisride. His story is much more prag-matic. “I know that’s how mostpeople get into the detailing busi-ness, but the truth is I just wanted tobe in business for myself. Along withmowing lawns and doing yardwork, I got into detailing as a wayto make money as a young adult,and saw it as a profitable business ifdone professionally.” For the mostpart, Rob always worked for him-self. “I worked some other jobs forother people for a couple of years,but I went to school for businessand marketing. I am a leadershipand management guy. I wanted torun my own business.”

Collaborating with anotherdetailer in 2003, and without any

training, Rob implemented a goodold-fashioned model for building abusiness called OJT (on the jobtraining). It wasn’t always easy norwas it profitable the first couple ofyears, but in 2006, On the SpotDetailing took a turn for the future.Rob left the partnership and invest-ed $10,000 to buy a used van. “Igot better and better the more jobsI did. In 2006, my first year, I made$25,000; last year we did a half mil-lion. The business has grown expo-nentially over the past four or fiveyears.”

If 2006 was a banner year, 2008took On the Spot to an even higherlevel when Rob expanded his prod-uct and service offering. “I beganto diversify my services beyonddetailing to include Paint Bull paint-less dent and scratch repair (PDR);bumper and headlight repair; andinterior leather, vinyl, and clothrepair.” Rob feels these services area natural progression from detailingand an easy up-sell. “A gooddetailer is in a position to see otherproblems if they know how to look

for them. Customers don’t realizewhen they bring in their car thatyou can fix that key scratch orrepair the tear in your leather seat.When we say, ‘Would you like us tofix that door ding?’ or ‘We can takethe hail dents out of your hood,’people tend to say, ‘Sure!”

During the winter months, On theSpot keeps two vans on the road.From March through May however,Rob has four mobile units on theroad and 13 people divided up intoteams. He coordinates the schedul-ing to make sure he has techni-cians and detailers working profi-ciently. All his mobile detailing unitsare self-contained with buffers,water tanks, and carpet extractors;and the units that do touch-upwork and repairs are dispatched asneeded. With all four units on theroad, On the Spot covers an areathat includes central Maryland andAnnapolis, west to Fredericks, eastto Chesapeake Bay, and south into

On The Spot Is Spot-On When It Comes to Detailing

Compact Won’t RunOut Of Water!

SPOT continued on page 6

Plane, Boat, Motorcycle, they detail them all

LEATHER continued from page 3

Washington D.C. “We are very com-petitive in price and offer a qualityservice at a reasonable cost,” hesays. In addition to automobiles,SUVs and trucks, On the Spot detailsmotorcycles, RVs, boats, and evenprivate airplanes.

In regards to product, Rob is dis-affected. “I use what works in anygiven instance,” he says. “I tendtoward Meguair’s because it is areliable product, but there are somebrands for which you simply paymore for their name and I don’t feelthey are worth it.”

On the Spot Detailing spends aday or two a week on the lots ofarea car dealerships, but it is in theretail market where Rob sees themost growth. He uses the Internet todo a massive amount of advertisingand marketing, something that isnot common across the detailingindustry. “We spend an average of$3,000 a month with GoogleAdwords but seventy-five percentof our new customers come fromweb-based advertising and ourwebsite. We detail between sixtyand one hundred cars a week.” Hediscovered 899 Web Design throughCraig’s List and hired them, a pro-fessional web design company, tohelp him with his website. “I think alldetailers should consider having awebsite. It is well worth the invest-ment.” On the Spot also sponsorscommunity-related events, do a lotof promotions and giveaways, offergift certificates, and participates infundraisers for schools and charities.He feels these are basic, but impor-

tant marketing strategies that givethe business a lot of exposure, whilegiving back to the community.”

If every two years marks a signifi-cant jump in focus that propels Onthe Spot Detailing to the next high-est level, what does Rob haveplanned for 2010? “I am thinkingabout franchising,” he says. “Itwould give us an opportunity tohave a showroom and sell product.It would also allow us to train, whichis a huge part of being successful inthe detailing business.”

Detailing automobiles is a dirtyjob, so what are the dirtiest jobs Robhas ever seen? “I rarely detail carsmyself anymore, but there are twostories that stand out. We had a cus-tomer bring in a car in which theirdog had a bout with diarrhea…that was bad; but I guess the worstwas a Hyundai Elantra. The cus-tomer inherited the car and it hadbeen sitting unused for a couple ofyears with a 50-pound bag of dogfood in the trunk, undiscovered untilthe customer took possession. It tookus a week and a half to clean it.There were over ten nests and overfifty mice living in the car. We had topull every part of the interior out andclean it, sterilize it, and put it backtogether again. It is a perfectlygood car now and the customer stilldrives it, but it was disgusting!”

If you are ever in the surroundingElkridge, MD area, check out On theSpot Detailing athttp://www.onspotdetailing.comfor a detailing job that is spot-on!

SPOT continued from cover

automotive upholstery industry.The Types of LeatherThere are basically three types of

leather that comes from tanneries: 1. Aniline2. NuBuck3. ProtectedThese are common terms used by

most tanneries in the world. It wasan Italian company, LeatherMasters that has led the way in uni-fication of the leather industry's useof these terms to classify leather.

1. Aniline Leather - This type ofleather is also called natural, pure,naked, drum-dyed, and unprotect-ed. This type of leather is usually col-ored with transparent dyes, mean-ing that you can see the actual sur-face grain and markings of theleather if you look through coloredlenses.

They usually have no protectivetreatment applied to it. It is oftensprayed with a wax finish to givethem some short-term water repel-lency.

This type of leather is made differ-ently from tannery, but for our pur-poses, it has the same characteris-tics.

You can identify aniline leatherusing several methods. One way isto lightly scratch the surface to seeif it leaves a lighter colored scratchmark. If the scratch leaves a lightercolored mark, it may be aniline. Thisis not the only test to use as someNuBuck leathers also leave a mark.

You can also wet your finger and

lightly rub it into the leather. If it dark-ens slightly, but dries without a mark,it is aniline.

Lastly, apply a conditioner to ahidden area and dry it. If it driesinvisible, it is aniline, rather thanNuBuck, which will dry darker.

For proper cleaning and care youneed to know if the surface hasbeen brushed, that is, has a texturelike velvet. This is where it is difficultto distinguish between aniline fromNuBuck.

2. NuBuck Leather - This is alsocalled chaps, distressed, bomber.NuBuck leather is actually anilineleather that has a brushed surface.

Many people confuse it withsuede leather. Actually, suedeleather is the flesh side of leatherwhile NuBuck is an effect that isdone to the grain side of the leather.When the grain side is brushed, itbreaks the surface and opens upthe leather even more, making itsoft. The brushing also makes theleather more absorbent than anilineleather.

As mentioned, because NuBuckis also aniline leather, they are some-times difficult to distinguishbetween. The most difficult to iden-tify are the ones that are in the cat-egory of distressed or that havebeen treated with a wax finish.

NuBuck leathers can reflect thenatural leather grain or a variety ofstamped patterns, which may have

LEATHER continued on page 12

6 DETAILERS DIGEST -- Exclusively For Detailers