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Partial Wrapping and Full Colour Prints onto Vehicles
Recently we have quoted for a few partial wrap jobs and loads of vans with full colour partial prints.
The problem here is I am quoting always with an over laminate.
My nearest competitors are not overlaminating these sort of jobs and are getting loads of business!!!!!
Obviously they can give a cheaper quote than me and as we all know money talks.
I saw a van they did which must be at least 2+ years and it looks as good as new, this is unlaminated.My big question is it worth overlaminating or are we all getting a bit carried away. After all most customers only keep vehicles for about 3 years!
Your comments would be welcome.
SC
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8 Replies
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SC — service and quality will always win through – competing with undercutters will always bite you on the #*% (:) Stick to your guns
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laminate unless on a promotional vehicle. which is normally about 6 months.
its an easy solution. give them a quote on unlamented but advise on laminated and give the reasons. if they don’t want laminate and are willing to except the shorter life then so be it. its also handy to have samples of deteriorated prints next to one that’s laminated. remember, you should be making extra money from your laminated jobs, its not done just to extend the life of the print. -
Mark
In the area we are in cheapness is king! 🙁 Hard times are a coming….LOL
I have tried for years to sell quality with very if any luck!
No customer is loyal and if someone gives them a cheaper quote they will take it just as long as it looks the same.Robert
I have gave customers quotes on cheaper/inferior material’s and still end up with unsatisfied people who should have took my advice but thought I was just trying to rip them off!!!Sean
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I’d be very surprised if a vehicle looks ‘good as new’ after 2+ years unlaminated.
We’ve got guys here that supply unlaminated, but spray the finished prints. on the vehicle, with a light clear coat of laquer.
They don’t have a laminator, so its obviously easier for them to go down that path, but I’m not interested in the grief that is associated with someone wanting a cheap job, and the life span of a better quality finish.
I’m in an area where the locals don’t want to spend those dollars either, so I don’t even chase it around here.
Don’t agree totally with the lack of loyalty of customers either. 80% of my clients have been with me for 10 years or more.
Thing is, I reward them with freebies every now and then. My best customers I give a bottle of grog every new financial year. I also do it for my best suppliers. People do appreciate being treated as special, and they will often reward you by giving you extra business.
One of my clients is shouting me and the wife to the Opera next month, as a thank you for MY loyalty to them. Another has sent me, the wife and kids, to a theme park all expenses paid.
It works both ways, and its hard work, but if you demonstrate to them you see them as a client whose business you don’t take for granted, they will start showing you some loyalty too.
Not wanting to preach, just trying to offer some advice in that area 😉
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Shane
"80% loyalty" WOW
I have been in sign making for 24 years now.
To be quiet honest up north (England) I am yet to find a loyal customer.
No matter how many freebies and goodies you hand out the customer always forgets, especially that time you came in on a weekend and finished there job for them!!!Sean (hot) (hot)
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quote heyskull2:Shane
“80% loyalty” WOW
I have been in sign making for 24 years now.
To be quiet honest up north (England) I am yet to find a loyal customer.
No matter how many freebies and goodies you hand out the customer always forgets, especially that time you came in on a weekend and finished there job for them!!!Sean (hot) (hot)
You’re kidding!! Man, sounds like you have a tough gig. I don’t have too many loyal ones locally I must confess, we live in similar territory I’d say, low socioeconomic area, high crime rate all that sort of stuff. I travel 25klm’s before I reach my first client in most cases, the loyal ones anyway.
My most loyal client is in a street with 5 other sign shops, so I treat them real special 😛 I’ve been known to drop a couple of fresh apple pies off at about their smoko time…. that goes down really well 😎
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Sean – when I started 15 years ago we had 18 sign shops servicing less than 60,000 people (plus a few lifestylers). There were some of us who thought the same as you… however I was fortunate to pick up a few large clients who pointed out they wanted service more than anything. We reset our pricing and concentrated on delivering on or before time with the appropriate quality – and after about three years had built up a base of very loyal clients. We are now down to 14 sign shops and a larger population – the price cutters come and go..we are still here.
Over the past ten years those clients have all become good friends and as their businesses have grown, our capacity to meet their needs now means we are unable to take on a new client unless we kick another out (and that is very rare). I have grown to four full timers, two part timers and two chaps who will come in when we are really in the cart. One of those two has started his own signwriting business and my advice to him was to target one or two large (meaning have a good amount of repeat sign writing done regularly) clients a month – He has been going nearly 12 months now and steadily building a good client base…. which means he is now less available to help us when we really need him!!!
The bottom line is if you dont have repeat business – then you really dont have a business – like all good things in life … it doesn’t happen over night, but if you persevere (and be selective over who YOU pick do do work for) …it WILL happen.Like Shane, we do the odd give away/ freebie… but it is always something that we know will be meaningful and appreciated by the client (eg cut and apply a set of numbers to his new motocross bike – I know that someone who spends $20K or more a year with me deserves thirty minutes of my time to do a small job like that and I get the opportunity to have a beer or coffee with him and chew the fat…further cementing the fact that we are the sign shop for him – and he knows that when we want something that he supplies, we won’t be shopping around…we’ll be ringing him).
Maybe its like that because here in Nelson we are small… but talking to mates in Auckland and Wellington, its the same for them… and it works for Shane in Aus too. Good luck and give it a go – I’d rather be doing less work that is more rewarding for better money than chasing my tail all the time.
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Thats well said Mark. We obviously operate the same way.
I will always do my clients personal stuff for free – boat rego, for sale sign for his house, signs that he may want to donate to his footy club etc.
And I’ll always call in for a chat if I’ve not heard from them for a while. 10 minutes, a quick hello, I dont even talk about business most days. In that chat though they may reveal something about themselves…. they are off on holiday soon, their kids are in the grand final, their anniversary soon..
…I’ll make a mental note, and ring them after the event and ask how it went. Its just another 5 or 10 minute call, but it pays dividends.
I even do a quarterly newsletter that I send to all my clients by email, and I’ll sometimes relate a humorous story mentioning their first name (you have to know the customer well though, incase they don’t appreciate the story) …. but it always gets my phone ringing.
I’ve even had clients complain they haven’t got a newsletter for a while, and ring to make sure they haven’t been dropped from the list.
My background is PR and Marketing, but its not rocket science. Treat your client how you’d like a service industry person to treat you. People will pay more if they think they are not being taken for granted. Like mark, all my long term clients are more like friends. And as mark says, if my clients sell something I need, I ring up and order it without worrying about a quote. Even if I can buy it cheaper elsewhere, I’ll always pay their price, just as they will always pay my price. Someone is always going to undercut you, but if you ask them to match a cheaper price, then they’ll ask and expect the same from you.
Now, my clients will ring me to see who I suggest for certain jobs. I’ll refer them to another client and tell them to make sure they tell them they were a mate of mine.
Word gets around pretty quickly that you are a team player, and the rest gets easier from there.
Hang in there anyway Sean. Its something that you need to concentrate on, but once you master it, the repeat work will flow.
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