9 Simple Truck Tips

The first asset every service plumber needs is a truck. The truck is more than a way to get from job to job. It is more than a repository for tools and inventory. It is a way to communicate to the world that the plumber is in business. It is a mobile billboard. The way the billboard appears affects memorability and expectations of quality. Here are nine simple tips to ensure you are getting a return on your truck as an asset.

1. Simple Beats Complex

Wraps give people unlimited options for your truck. As a result, there’s a temptation to go overboard and clutter the billboard with lots of graphics and information about your company that will never get read because it’s too much. Simplify your design. Get rid of the clutter.

The exception is the back. You have an opportunity to get creative with the back, hoping to appeal to consumers who are stopped behind you at a traffic light. Since you don’t know what might work, test concepts by using large magnets that fill the doors below the windows. The base color of the magnet should match the wrap. Run sales promotions on the magnets. Test special offers. Tell a brand story for a bored commuter.

2. Big Beats Small

The most important part of a truck wrap is your logo. Make it big. Fill the truck so you can see it from a distance. You can even run part of the logo off the truck. People’s brains will fill in the missing elements as long as you can make out part of the letters.

3. Cantilevered Beats Level

Cantilever the logo 15 or 20 degrees to make it more noticeable. We expect to see horizontal logos. When it’s tilted, we are more likely to notice it. It’s in our DNA to notice the unusual or unexpected to ascertain the threat level.

4. Any Color Beats White

Women often refer to white vans as “abduction vans.” You don’t want a fleet of abduction vans and you don’t want to blend in with all of the other white vans. Pick a bold, bright color that’s not associated with another plumbing company (or really, any company) and your vehicles will stand out. Make that your color. Use it in all of your marketing.

5. Websites Beat Phone Numbers

You might need to include your license number and phone number on your vehicles. If so, don’t waste much of your valuable truck real estate with a phone number. Make them two inches high and put them on the door under the window. Emphasize the website instead. It’s easier to remember. Since most people will see your vehicles in motion, there’s little chance your phone number will be remembered. By gaining website exposures, you make it more familiar, which increases the likelihood of click.

The exception is alpha numbers. If you have a phone number like 758-6237, you can display it as PLUMBER. People don’t like to dial alpha numbers, but they will remember them.

6. Your Brand Beats All Others

Your vehicle real estate is valuable. Don’t give it away to a manufacturer and promote a brand your competitors can sell. Promote the only brand you own exclusively, which is yours. Do not include manufacturer brands on your vehicles.

7. Don’t Forget the Fifth Side

Did you know there’s a fifth billboard on a vehicle? It’s the roof. When the roof is logoed it stands out and gets noticed by anyone looking out of a second story window or from a higher elevation. You might have ladders and PVC on your roof, but not always. When you’re using the ladder, the roof is visible. Put your brand and website on it, big and bold.

8. Trucks for Charities

A lot of contractors use their vehicles to promote a charity. For example, a plumber might have a pink truck where a percentage of the net profit generated by the truck is donated to a breast cancer charity. The charity needs to agree and give you rights to their logo, which merits space of the vehicle along with a note that a percentage of the profits from this vehicle benefit the charity. When you do this, you’re piggybacking on the loyalty of the charity’s patrons. Ideally the charity will promote you in return. Also, nothing limits you to one charity. Each vehicle in your fleet can be assigned to a different charity.

9. Care For Trucks Means Care for Homes

Since plumbing service is intangible, there’s no way for a consumer to evaluate it beforehand. Thus, people take clues from tangible visible evidence to determine what kind of service you provide. This makes clean trucks extremely important. It means fender benders and scrapes need to be repaired ASAP. A good looking, professional vehicle implies professional service. A spotless vehicle implies spotless service.

Contractors use a variety of approaches to keep their trucks clean. Some have a mobile car washing service clean the trucks during a service meeting. Others provide car washing stations at their shop. Still others have volume discounts with drive through car washes. Ultimately, the individual plumbers are responsible for keeping their vehicles clean.

To offer encouragement, some contractors have random truck inspections after a service meeting where they hand a plumber a stack of dollar bills. For every item missed on the checklist, the plumber has to hand the service manager a dollar. At the end of the inspection he keeps whatever is left.

Buy Matt Michel’s books, Contractor Stories and The Business Exit Rollercoaster on Amazon.