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Wrap-Shop Fundamentals, Part 2

Dale’s farewell Vinyl Apps column provides more tips for boosting shop performance

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Hello everyone! I hope you enjoyed last month’s article, which showcased the first five principles in operating a successful wrap shop.
I addressed your readiness to run a shop, location and material selection, the importance of design, the essential of good installation, and learning to negotiate. Now, let’s look at the second five principles.

Point 6. Price for profit
You have your shop running; your vendors are in place, and you’re focusing intently on high-quality wrap design and installation. What will you charge for your work?
You can look at this three distinct ways: 1) Strive to be the cheapest shop and earn every possible ounce of business, driven strictly by price. 2) Be “competitively priced” – equal or close to your competition. 3) Be a more expensive option, and sell quality rather than price.
Think about these choices. This is a personal decision based on the business you want. Providing cheap work gains more customers, but only attracts price-obsessed customers. If you keep your overhead low, you can offer better pricing than your competition, which is great. However, you should stay within the industry’s normal pricing structure. Don’t charge $6 per sq. ft. for a wrap, when everyone else in your area is charging $15 per sq. ft. This antagonizes competing wrap shops, destroys the industry and makes long-term growth impossible.
How so? If everyone expects to pay $15/sq. ft., and you wrap for $6, you make other shops look like they’re price-gouging, when, in reality, you’re just leaving a ton of money on the table. Eventually, you’ll hurt your bottom line. If you’re going to position your shop to do “budget” wraps, never go more than 20% below your area’s going rate.
Competitive pricing puts you head-to-head with other area shops. Therefore, a client will choose you based on service and quality rather than price. This approach allows your shop to grow at a steady pace without hurting your bottom line.
What if you want to set prices higher than your competition? As Investopedia.com explains: “Above-the-competition pricing requires the business to create an environment that warrants the premium, such as generous payment terms or extra features.”
Above-market is how we base our pricing. We want to be known as the best, not the cheapest. But, if you do so, offer something “more” to your clients. If you don’t, they’ll quickly go elsewhere.
What can you offer? How about using the best materials, and avoiding inferior vinyl? Or, wash and detail vehicles before delivery. Shiny tires are a quick way to make your wrap stand out; we do this for every vehicle. You could use paper floormats to keep the interior clean; we include our logo and contact info on ours. Or, your premium price could include free design services. There are many ways to make your more expensive price worth it for the client. Decide what you’ll offer, and do it consistently. Consistently excellent service builds your brand.

Point 7. Chameleon colors
Color-changing vinyl is a fairly new, vehicle-wrap concept. With many colorful options available from most vinyl manufacturers, we can finally offer a genuine rival to custom paint. Now, we’re not restricted to commercial vehicles.
I’ve been custom-painting cars, boats and planes for 30 years, and I’ve always had an affinity for paint. But now, we can change the color on virtually any vehicle with extensive color, texture and gloss options.
Think of vinyl’s advantages over paint. First, wraps are temporary. They can be peeled off five years later, with no paint damage or adhesive residue. No one would ever consider painting a leased vehicle, for obvious reasons, but you can wrap one. If a customer leases a $120,000 car and wants to customize it, there’s now an option. And, when the wrap comes off, the paint, never having been exposed to the elements, remains in showroom condition.
Color-changing wraps provide a great value-add for high-end cars. This type of client will pay substantially more money than you’ll get for a commercial wrap. Design, lamination and installation take less time than a printed wrap. The vinyl is ready to apply; reduced labor offsets the higher media price. A shop that emphasizes quality should offer color-changing wraps.

Point 8. Wrap more than vehicles
Avoid an I-just-wrap-cars mentality. Wraps provide ideal advertising for storefront windows, interior and exterior walls, sidewalks, concrete block and furniture, among other non-automotive opportunities. Vinyl products such as 3M™’s Scotchcal™ 8624 ES and Di-Noc™ architectural films, as well as PhotoTex wall-graphic material, provide great material options.
Each matches a different niche. Scotchcal 8624 works well for exterior building surfaces, brick, concrete block and more. Di-Noc films fulfill architectural-graphic applications. We’ve wrapped furniture, display walls, countertops, hotel doors and elevators with this durable vinyl. PhotoTex is an inexpensive, non-stretching, adhesive-polyester fabric that can be installed, removed and installed onto another surface without compromising its adhesive qualities (as long as you keep it dirt-free).

Point 9. Say what you do; do what you say
This may be my favorite point. It applies to any business of any size. If you don’t follow this rule in running your business, put the other points in the trash because they won’t matter.
No matter how talented you are as a designer or installer, your business won’t survive if you don’t keep promises made to customers. Does this sound harsh? That’s OK; it’s of dire importance. Whether it’s a pledge on a price, material or deadline, make damn well sure you follow through.
If you can’t do it, don’t say it. If a promise leaves your lips, make it happen. Period. It builds trust in you, and in your business.
Are you always going to be able to hit this lofty goal? Probably not; invariably, there will be issues beyond your control that will cause a project to fail. When this happens, contact the client immediately and inform them. Usually, they’ll understand and make allowances – as long as you keep them in the loop.

Point 10. Have fun!
This is simple advice, yet it’s often ignored. I know your job is called work, not fun, but remember, you are doing what you love, right? Business can sometimes be difficult and anything but joyous. But, do your best to always have fun designing, producing and installing, with the goal of helping your customers be more successful. Your joy will translate to every aspect of your business – customers want to do business with happy people!
That’s it for my Top 10 list of how to operate a successful wrap business. Have a great rest of the year, and keep wrapping! You’ll see me here again soon, in February’s debut of the Shop Ops column!
 

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