I remember when we put decals on our 18 trucks and it really made a world of difference for the marketing of the business.
As you know in the sealcoating business we do a fair share of driving around from job to job and with the decals and phone number on the truck it really is rolling advertisement.
We get people calling the office daily who have seen the trucks and want an estimate.
We have blue trucks with gold decals that say:
Imperial Asphalt Maintenance
Your Local Asphalt Maintenance Specialists
402-SEAL
That's all we have on the side of the trucks and it cost us $200 per truck. In other words the investment for the rolling advertisement was well worth the money AND the trucks look a hell of a lot more professional.
We use our trucks strictly for work purposes so the sticker decals were our #1 choice.
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We do however have a new 2005 GMC Sierra that has a magnet sign that we stick to the door and can remove it at any time for personal use. This is the sales truck. Obviously the truck and magnet sign still follow our business color theme (Blue truck and gold logo and company name).
Over the years we have also found that flat beds are more convenient for the business to access equipment and also so that the customers can see the equipment from their door step when either selling or doing the job.
We and our clients find the flat beds to look more professional. We did have enclosed beds on the trucks for a few years when starting out but chose to remove them, sell them and get flat platforms installed. Take a look at a flat bed truck!
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Always remember this
An 82 year old man "John Thompson" was my very first client and said this.....
"Your customers are your bread and butter so don't be shy and ask them what they think about your business and improvements that can be made... equipment, sales, customer service, pricing, guarantees, etc."
John Thompson's advice to me was to let our customer see the equipment that we are working with and show how organized the equipment is. This will show the client your sense of organization and therefore be that much more professional rather than have a bunch of equipment and hoses thrown into a closed bed of a truck.
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We took his advice and grew the business to the next level which was installing 16 out of 18 trucks with 2 ton hot asphalt boxes. Now we look really professional and we hear about it every day from our customer.
Have a great day!
