Who Says Oil And Water Don’t Mix? – Ex-Fire Chief Sets Off To Prove That It Can With Her Businesses
When Lisa Marrone Retired as a Fire Chief back in 2008, her experience in that field gave her the idea of creating a way to provide folks here in the north county a way to get their oil changed in a fast and convenient way. She felt like there could be a potential market for such an idea.
And sure enough… there was!
Five years and two employees hired on later, she has now made her mark here in the north county as a trusted and reliable way for busy folks to get their oil changed at home or at work.
She already knew what the oil changing business was all about and set off to change and shakes things up a bit.
You know how it goes…
When you go out to get an oil changing service done you first off have to wait in line to be tended to. After you’ve been tended to, you then have to sit there and wait yet again in their little waiting room watching the news on their TV as they get to servicing your vehicle. Oh… And then you get to the part where they come in and try to upsell you on everything from air filters, tranny fluid changes, coolant fluid changes, and brand new windshield wipers.
Most of the time, you end up being there a lot longer and spending a lot more money than you thought you were.
But you know what?
None of that happens with Lisa’s Mobile Oil Changers. Your oil gets changed at the time of your choosing and it can be while you’re doing your normal everyday business like being at work or chilling back watching a ball game at home. It’s such a simple concept that it’s brilliant!
When Lisa designed the Mobile Oil Changers business she designed it to make oil changes as simple as possible for her customer. She made sure she charged a simple flat rate so the customer knows, right off the bat, just how much they will pay. She asks her customers what’s a good time to do the oil change (and it don’t matter if it’s at the customer’s work or home) and her crew will show up on time with everything they need to take care of the job in no time at all.
Her technicians use only the best quality oil to service all their customers’ vehicles and then add a complete 25 point inspection to their service. They will let their customers know if their vehicle needs any type of needed maintenance like any lights not working, windshield wipers going bad, tranny fluid needing changing and air filters looking pretty bad after the job is done. This gives customers the option to take care of those things at a later day once they are aware that they need those maintenance services.
Lisa’s business model has been working so well she is looking into expanding into the south county very soon and even has visions of great things to come like expanding as a national chain one day.
But it ain’t all about oil changes for her and her vision.
Her company has recently expanded her services to providing mobile car washing and detailing too.
Seeing that she was already in the “mobile service” with owner’s vehicle needing the essential maintenance services on the inside of their cars taken care of in a fast and convenient way she thought why not take care of the exterior of her customers’ cars in a fast and convenient way too?
And so…
Paso Mobile Detail, a division of her Mobile Oil Changers was born.
Paso Robles Detail is a mobile full-service car wash and detail service that follows the exact same formula as The Mobile Oil Changers of providing a vehicle’s much- needed service in a fast and convenient way. Here too, the customer is allowed to schedule the service at their convenience and can have it done at work or home. No having to wait at some detail shop or having to drop off their car and having to get a ride to pick it up later.
They also offer a variety of different packages to their services that include things as simple as a full exterior wash and dry to more detailed services like full interior vacuuming, shampooing, leather protectant, waxing and adding clean car scents to the interior.
Honestly, I myself am pretty surprised how many businesses haven’t picked up ongoing “mobile with their services”.
As busy as people are these days with work, having to pick up and drop off kids everywhere, having to make runs to the grocery store, and handling everyday errands, it is awesome to see how convenient these types of services can truly be. Let’s face it. Our time has value. Incredible value.
Once customers get a sense of how much time they can save with The Mobile Oil Changers and now with Paso Robles Detail they will wonder why they should waste their time anywhere else for these types of services.
Lisa is a HUGE believer in customer service and common good old-fashioned courtesy. These traits are huge in the world of business these days. As much as the internet changed the entire landscape of how business is run in the past decade, people may not know it, but small business is making a MASSIVE comeback to basic “Mom and Pop” business principles like providing great service, honesty, and common courtesy.
And it’s because of things like social media that are bringing back these types of traits to businesses. Social media is bringing people closer together and those businesses that provide a great experience are shared on these sites for many other people to see.
Lisa has a great thing going here. She tells me finding the right workers for her has been the most difficult part but I it’s no different than any other business. The good help will arrive. She’s been working incredibly hard for the past five years, especially for someone that is supposed to be retired.
I’m sure that hard work ethic and courtesy will pay off. It seems like it has already.
