Wrap Sales Cold Calling Tips?

[TimToad]

What about using your current client base to either set up meetings or tell them about your new wrapping program? One of the best ways of advertising is getting those first couple wraps under your belt and letting your customers advertise for you. Wrapping a company vehicle is a great advertising point too...then people can see your quality design and wrapping skills. I do not have experience cold calling but this strategy has been very effective for us. Have you wrapped a vehicle before or just starting to get into it? If you haven't had a lot of experience maybe wrap your vehicle a couple times and get some practice...then when you put that first one out it will be really good and the business will take off from there. Good Luck!

All very good advice. Pretty similar to some I offered right off the bat.

"Is your work vehicle wrapped in a high quality way with an effective, high quality design? If not, get on it ASAP. Nothing sells good work, like already existing good work.

How about your contractor friends who have businesses in the area? Offer to wrap a couple of their trucks for a greatly reduced price and chalk it up to advertising.

Several times a year, we choose a potential or existing client who is really easy to work with and open to our design ideas and we give them a knockout looking sign far above what they expected or were paying for. The word of mouth from them alone is worth its weight in gold."

 

[TimToad]

Ok, I hear you. I didn't mean to come off as passive-aggressive. But I might have because I was being defensive.

I've invested a lot of money. I've told my wife she can count on me. I've told my kids they can count on me. I've taken a pretty big risk and it's a risk I think we'll be ok with.

But I'm totally aware of what I don't have. I know I'm going to come up against some big hurdles. Thankfully it's down to the "work experience" hurdle for the most part. I wrapped my own truck enough times to get the laminating and application down pretty darn good. I wrapped a wicked curved bumper with carbon fiber the other day and did a fine job. And I've wrapped my wife's HHR with scraps enough times that I can handle the tail lights and that whole rear quarter section without screwing it up.

But man I know that I would be better off in a shop on a busy road and better off if I could spend a week on my logo and my brochure could be better, but I already ordered 1000 of them and it is pretty good for not having any pictures of work to include on it.

About the whole "I'm going to bail" comment...

It's about emotional energy. When you're stretched out like I am and you're feeling all those doubts about what isn't good enough... that's a tough place. So maybe I was too quick to react. I just had a rough weekend I guess. I just figured the last thing I could handle or needed was someone telling me I'm a complete idiot who's going to be out of business soon.

But I know you guys have all been through the same things, so I should have taken that into consideration before responding.

Yes, most of us have been through all of this stuff and we still deal with challenges every single day. I wasn't trying to pry into your business, motivations, etc. with my initial questions, just trying to get a feel for how you were situated and prepared for this type of work so I could offer advice that matched the scenario.

We all have rough, stressful times and I'm sorry for jumping on you the way I did. Many of us have substantial investments and family commitments to honor and abide by.

My best advice is take it step by step, day by day and use good fundamentals in everything you do. From the selling the job to the last piece of media going on a vehicle, make it something you'll be proud of down the road, not just to make a quick buck. Don't compromise on quality and go the extra mile for your customers. Treat them with respect and make them feel valued and you'll have them selling the work for you.

Good luck to you.

 

[140K]

Here's a picture of my truck and the inside of the brochure we're going to be handing out...

I like most of this, but I made some mistakes -

1. I made a rookie design mistake on the truck putting a key design element on the gap between the truck and cab. What a pain that was.
2. I feel like the truck is too hard to read... I should have made it more clear we do wraps from a greater distance. But i'm going to add window perf to my back window to help with that.

The brochure... I just wish it had pictures of ten vehicles we'd done. But that wasn't an option. I also feel like the section to the left is kind of wordy, but I was trying to pull some authority from QuickBooks by quoting the quickbooks blog. That way it wasn't me saying it, it was a trusted third party.

The website has a long way to go. Of course I'm kind of a web guy so my standards are pretty high. But it's got issues. Especially on mobile.

If you look really close, you can see some bubbles in the truck wrap... those are mostly gone! It was an experiment to see if bubbles really do just go away in laminate and they did. That side of the truck was laminated with the BS, the other side was done after we bought a laminator.

http://crazytreewraps.com

 

[Pippin Decals]

Hey 140, I sent you a PM, Check it out and go from there..

 

[140K]

Yes, most of us have been through all of this stuff and we still deal with challenges every single day. I wasn't trying to pry into your business, motivations, etc. with my initial questions, just trying to get a feel for how you were situated and prepared for this type of work so I could offer advice that matched the scenario.

We all have rough, stressful times and I'm sorry for jumping on you the way I did. Many of us have substantial investments and family commitments to honor and abide by.

My best advice is take it step by step, day by day and use good fundamentals in everything you do. From the selling the job to the last piece of media going on a vehicle, make it something you'll be proud of down the road, not just to make a quick buck. Don't compromise on quality and go the extra mile for your customers. Treat them with respect and make them feel valued and you'll have them selling the work for you.

Good luck to you.

Thanks... I'm sure a little good luck wouldn't hurt at all!

I went ahead and posted the website link and an image of the brochure/truck... I'd be happy to hear what you think.

 

[reQ]

Yeah, add window perf & do something on the front part of the truck. As for tips - Like it was said before, does not matter what you sell if you can sell. Brochure & visit is your best decision. Don't bother with phone calls, unless you call potential customer, introduce yourself and ask if it would be possible to have 10 minutes of their time any time during the week. Do not try to sell over the phone, it pisses people off. It sure pisses me off when someone tries to sell me something over the phone, but i am always up for meeting new people. It simply shows that you are serious & you do want to get the business if you show up on the door step.

Maybe some people will not agree with me, but it works for me all the time.

 

[140K]

What about using your current client base to either set up meetings or tell them about your new wrapping program? One of the best ways of advertising is getting those first couple wraps under your belt and letting your customers advertise for you. Wrapping a company vehicle is a great advertising point too...then people can see your quality design and wrapping skills. I do not have experience cold calling but this strategy has been very effective for us. Have you wrapped a vehicle before or just starting to get into it? If you haven't had a lot of experience maybe wrap your vehicle a couple times and get some practice...then when you put that first one out it will be really good and the business will take off from there. Good Luck!

Good tips... I had hoped one of my existing clients was going to be a great source of aircraft wraps. They have an aircraft repair and maintenance business that also had a paint shop. I went in there the other day and found out they're retiring and closing shop December 1! Figures.

Most of our internet clients are spread nationally and aren't the right kind of business. But I do hope to cross-market the various things we can offer to new clients of any type.

I've gotten very good at the install and production side. I posted a picture of my truck.

 

[player]

Hard to read some of the lettering on the truck. Signs are made to be read from a distance. There is a whole lot of art in making that happen.

 

[qmr55]

Looks like you had a little fitment/placement issue with the wrap on the rear bed panel behind the wheel well. The area with the HP & 3M logo. Maybe get that fixed up before printing these brochures as I'm not too sure that will help you sell wraps.


Good luck!

 

[coastguy111]

Sales is different in this day and age. The old analogy of "through a bunch of spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks" will still work, but its really more a waste of time. Its all about reputation, getting a customer to buy because they like you first and you are able to show them the logical reasons for your product/service. Win them over first, then you can start getting into the analytic's/specifics and closing them. If your really good, they will end up closing themselves on buying whatever it is your selling!!

 

[Brink]

Man, this is an old thread. Good info still, but I doubt the OP is still looking to get their question answered.