Chamm

How did you start to get customers?

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OK, so I want to start simple by cutting vinyl for store hours, store name and the like on business doors and such. How would you go about breaking the ice so to speak? Would you take along a basic sheet with examples and pictures? What would you do? Any input would be helpful.

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knock on a few doors and get your work out there - word of mouth will keep you busy once people find out you do quality work.  just make sure you do quality work with quality materials

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Yeah word of mouth is how Im getting most of mine. Ive done 4 big installs this week now and have 7 more now Im trying to get all cut and ready to install tomorrow.

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Yep, build up your portfolio, and start hitting up the local businesses ----  you know, it's even possible to work right from your van, with a power inverter, and prepare the graphics right in front of them on a laptop, get them to approve the job, and go ahead and cut and install on the spot (white vinyl).

 

There's good money in this ----  this triple-pane entrance (door and two side windows) earned me $175 for my effort.

 

 

 

 

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Yep, build up your portfolio, and start hitting up the local businesses ----  you know, it's even possible to work right from your van, with a power inverter, and prepare the graphics right in front of them on a laptop, get them to approve the job, and go ahead and cut and install on the spot (white vinyl).

 

There's good money in this ----  this triple-pane entrance (door and two side windows) earned me $175 for my effort.

 

Would you mind sharing where you found your chiropractic caduceus logo?  The only ones I've found are really poor quality and look like they were vectorized from a 4th generation Xerox copy...  I've got a friend who just graduated and is opening her own chiropractic office and she's already asked me to do her doors and some interior wall art...

 

With regards to your van suggestion, someone locally was selling a used ambulance and I really wanted to turn that into my work vehicle, but it sold before I could get there... :-(  I would have changed my business name to Doctor Decal or The Decal Doctor immediately...

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I noticed the quality as well and I gotta sat it is a better vector than any I have seen.

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OK, so I want to start simple by cutting vinyl for store hours, store name and the like on business doors and such. How would you go about breaking the ice so to speak? Would you take along a basic sheet with examples and pictures? What would you do? Any input would be helpful.

 

Step 1 - put your business name and contact info on your own vehicle - make it look professional

 

Step 2 - talk to anyone you know that owns/operates a business that could use some new or replacement decals - make them a good deal as you're just starting out, but ask them to tell everyone what a good job you did (preferably without telling them how cheap you were) and get them to help promote you

 

Step 3 - advertise on Facebook, Craigslist, local weekly papers, anywhere you can get the word out cheaply.

 

Step 4 - forget ebay, etsy, etc. when it comes to selling decals - unless you've got some really unique design that you have copyrighted, anything you post is going to be undercut on price within hours and they will blatantly steal any designs you post and if they're not copyrighted (and registered!) then there isn't much ebay/etsy can do to stop your competitors.  There are sellers selling at pennies above cost and so there is very little profit to be generated that way.

 

Step 5 - find a niche for your area - find a local event that you can get involved with and focus on designs that are unique and specific to that event so that people who attend will want to buy your design(s).  I setup a booth at a video gaming conference and did well cutting out gamer's game tag (the name they use when playing online) so they could decorate their consoles - I've seen people selling call letter decals at Ham radio shows - I'm on a committee to put on a zombie fest this fall and I've been putting together a huge assortment of zombie themed designs to sell to a crowd that loves zombies.   Find that niche and fill it - but don't forget that no niche will last forever and you need alternatives for when that well runs dry...

 

Step 6 - avoid copyrighted and trademarked logos and designs at all costs, unless you've acquired the licenses to go along with them.  For the most part that means you'll probably never be cutting NFL, NBA, NASCAR, Harley Davidson, etc. logos. Period.  Not even for your own use.  Not even for practice.   The only exceptions are if, for example, your local Ford dealership wants you to put hours and info on their door and wants you to include a Ford logo - and even then you want to ask them for proof that they are authorized to have you cut a Ford logo.

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OW,  a few years ago in my hometown in NY the local Chrysler Jeep dealer came in 1 morning to find the sign company taking down his signs out by the road w/o his knowledge. This was when the economy went to hell and apparently Chrysler corporate pulled his franchise and decided w/o notifying him that they wanted those signs taken down even though he had paid for them. Lawsuits ensued and I think Chrysler spanked him in court but funny how permission is in the eye of the beholder. Really had nothing to do with what you said but the Ford comment made that pop into my head and I can only imagine the owners face when he came in and the bucket truck was pulling his signs.

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Hmm... I wonder what kind of paperwork corporate had that convinced the sign company to take down signs that didn't belong to corporate?  I'm hoping it had a judge's signature on it somewhere, or they had a contract from the dealer that specifically said they were permitted to do that.

 

They may own the rights to the logo, but they don't own the substrate that it's applied to...

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From what I managed to read about it when it was happening by when they pulled the franchise the by default remove any permission to use their trademarks so even though he paid for them with corporate blessing at the time and his dealership name was on them it didn't override their right to protect their trademark. I'm sure there was more behind the scenes but that's the only explanation I ever heard about it.

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Since you can't remove the logo from an embossed panel I guess they decided to take the panels. If memory serves the sign company had a regiona contract with the car manufacturer so I assume they had legal backing from corporate.

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Step 1 - put your business name and contact info on your own vehicle - make it look professional

 

Step 2 - talk to anyone you know that owns/operates a business that could use some new or replacement decals - make them a good deal as you're just starting out, but ask them to tell everyone what a good job you did (preferably without telling them how cheap you were) and get them to help promote you

 

Step 3 - advertise on Facebook, Craigslist, local weekly papers, anywhere you can get the word out cheaply.

 

Step 4 - forget ebay, etsy, etc. when it comes to selling decals - unless you've got some really unique design that you have copyrighted, anything you post is going to be undercut on price within hours and they will blatantly steal any designs you post and if they're not copyrighted (and registered!) then there isn't much ebay/etsy can do to stop your competitors.  There are sellers selling at pennies above cost and so there is very little profit to be generated that way.

 

Step 5 - find a niche for your area - find a local event that you can get involved with and focus on designs that are unique and specific to that event so that people who attend will want to buy your design(s).  I setup a booth at a video gaming conference and did well cutting out gamer's game tag (the name they use when playing online) so they could decorate their consoles - I've seen people selling call letter decals at Ham radio shows - I'm on a committee to put on a zombie fest this fall and I've been putting together a huge assortment of zombie themed designs to sell to a crowd that loves zombies.   Find that niche and fill it - but don't forget that no niche will last forever and you need alternatives for when that well runs dry...

 

Step 6 - avoid copyrighted and trademarked logos and designs at all costs, unless you've acquired the licenses to go along with them.  For the most part that means you'll probably never be cutting NFL, NBA, NASCAR, Harley Davidson, etc. logos. Period.  Not even for your own use.  Not even for practice.   The only exceptions are if, for example, your local Ford dealership wants you to put hours and info on their door and wants you to include a Ford logo - and even then you want to ask them for proof that they are authorized to have you cut a Ford logo.

 

 

This should be a sticky (or whatever they are called on this forum) required reading for all new members!

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All those suggestions are great, keep in mind that doing work for nothing (CRAZY LOW PRICES) will get you busy but you wont make any money. And on top of that you might think "I'll just raise my prices once my business starts building customers" that doesnt work low price shops attract low quality customers. Trust me there is such a thing as a low quality customer. Just stick to your guns and do good work the word will get out spend a little money on some advertising but just make sure you actually know what your getting into before you do that. Dont spend money on hotel door hangers and then realize all the people staying at the hotel are from out of town...

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And that is why I said to talk to people you know and to ask them NOT to share how cheap you were...

In my market, where so many people like at, or just above, poverty level and businesses are just scraping by, I get plenty of quality customers by offering fair prices that are lower than average.

Not everyone has to charge $50/hr and 3000% mark up on materials - if you can and stay in business, that is awesome and I wish I could, too. But here that just isn't feasible.

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Yeh I was gonna add its ok to start slightly below the market average of your area. Lets just say for example someone would charge $5.00 for something, just starting you should charge maybe $4.50-$4.75 for that same thing. NOW that being said you should never just price your items out based on what other people are charging make sure you actually analyze and break down your costs so that you can price things. Now if you did that and realize it costs you $1.20 to make that item dont start charging $3.00 to sweep the market. There's just not a reason to because the more established guys can cut down there prices if they need to most of the time and then everyone loses. But OW you are right you have to charge what your market allows you to charge...

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I used to charge less for window installs, until a customer came to me with a competitor's job quote and asked if I could beat their price (they wanted $175) -- I said, sure, no problem, and put together the 18" x 24" decal for $150. and went over and applied it in fifteen minutes.

 

Here is the chiropractic caduceus .eps for those who needed it.

chiropractic.EPS

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Thanks for the file. I may never use it but at least I've got it if I need it.

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You're welcome.

 

Here's the back-pain guy (I've nicknamed him FeelGood Felix)

Around here I call the back pain guy "customers" Lower back pain.

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Snagged a copy also Slice, Thanks

 

 

Around here I call the back pain guy "customers" Lower back pain.

 

Customers or wives LOL

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