Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/370309
WRAPS DIGITAL GRAPHICS Managing Fleet Graphic Accounts Seing up and maintaining fleet accounts requires organization and consistency Charity Jackson is co-owner of Visual Horizons Custom Signs based in Modesto, Calif. She has been in business since 1995, and has worked in the sign industry for over 20 years. You can visit her website at www.vhsigns.com. B y C h a r i t y J a C k s o n Let's Talk Shop So how does this specifically apply to fleet graph- ics? A company operating a fleet of vehicles wants ease of ordering and consistency from their sign company. Competitive pricing is a factor as well, especially ini- tially, but the importance of cost is often eclipsed by the other factors. Easy Ordering We're a small company so often my husband and I are the ones to answer the phones. And quite often we're able to quickly remember customers and the past work we've done for them. We have done work for thousands of individuals and businesses over the last 19 years so we can't be familiar with every job right away, but the compa- nies that order from us regularly are easier for us to quickly place. Being familiar with our customers and their particular graphics is easier because we are so hands-on. Our employees also build up a rapport with customers the longer they work for us, and they try to be familiar with a company's graphics. I think it's important to the customer to place a reorder quickly and know that the person taking their order is familiar with their job. We don't rely solely on our good memory; we also keep really organized files. I t takes a lot of time and hard work to run a successful company. Businesses that use a fleet of vehicles in their daily operations often turn them into a source of advertising by purchasing vehicle wraps. Whether they fully wrap their fleet or choose spot graphics, setting up and maintaining this advertising is time consuming for the business owner. Over the years I've realized that the companies and suppliers I order from most are the ones that make it really easy for me to do so. We try to apply this same idea to our own daily operations. With existing customers we set them up on pay- ment terms, stay organized to speed up reorders, and push their job through production by keeping their wrap materials in stock. With new customers we have to spend a little more time gathering their informa- tion, but part of our sales strategy is making it as easy as possible for them to create a new working relation- ship with us. WRAPS DIGITAL GRAPHICS 62 • September 2014 • s i G n & D i G i t a L G r a P h i C s Organizing our repeat clients alphabetically but also in their own labeled folder—as well as keeping organized lists of their graphics on file—makes for quick, easy reordering.