by Matt Richart, Digital EFX Wraps
Guest Blogger
Today’s economic doldrums combined with an influx of wrap companies has resulted in increased price competition in the wrap world. The lowball quotes that our customers receive from our competitors drive me NUTS! How can I offer a quality product that I believe in and match these prices!?!?
I am as confident as ever that I’m offering a fair price. I’m also as sure as sure can be that the quality of a wrap is directly correlated to the price. The old adage “you get what you pay for” is true in this situation but very difficult to sell. We recently went up against a quote for full a H2 Hummer wrap including artwork for $2,200. How can this be? Our standard price on this job is $4300. Two years ago I would have stuck with my proposal and “hoped” that they saw the value we offered. Today, we are still sticking with our prices, but defending them much more aggressively. Want a peek behind our curtain?
- First, we encourage our customer to visit our facility, meet our design and installation staff, see our Roland DG printers in action and watch us wrap vehicles. Having your customer in front of you establishes trust and allows you to show them up-close the quality of work you do.
- We educate the customer on what goes into a quality wrap and explain how we can ensure, by using only quality materials, the wrap will install well, stay on for the life of the wrap, maintain its vibrant color and come off cleanly when its time to be removed. Our chosen material (a cast film) allows for a smoother installation, longer durability and easy removal.
- We encourage them to find out what materials our competition is using and whether job is being subbed out. For a $2200 H2 full wrap, the competition is likely using the less expensive calendared film. So we educate customers on the risks of using low quality materials. Every customer that walks through our door or emails us a quote request receives a Price Comparison List that shows what Digital EFX Wraps offers vs. our competition. This is the only way to compare apples to apples and will make it clear to the customer that we use only quality products that last. We have found that educating our customer base gives them ammunition when shopping our price. This also builds trust and shows them that we thrive on quality and craftsmanship.
- I explain the ROI of their vehicle wrap and show them how they can expect a return that will more than pay for the cost of the wrap.
- In some situations, I might offer a 2nd quote for a scaled down version of their job. A partial wrap at $2200 would give them the benefit of mobile messaging, fit their budget and still allow us to offer a quality product.
In this case, the customer chose the $2200 option from our competitor. Doesn’t that figure? Except the story doesn’t end there. It usually never does. Less than 13 months later they arrived back at our facility, (unhappy) with a failed vehicle wrap. So we got the job after all. We designed and installed a new wrap for the H2 for $4,300 along with a fleet of service vehicles. The good guys win!
Matt Richart, Digital EFXMatt Richart is a principal at Digital EFX Wraps and Roland DGA’s go-to wrap professional. When Matt is not wrapping vehicles in his shop in Kentucky, you might see him and his partner Dallas giving live demos in Roland DG’s tradeshow booth or teaching Roland DG’s 2-day Born-to-Wrap class. He also contributes to articles in industry publications like the 14 Ways to a Perfect Wrap article which was published by National Business Media.
