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  phil smith yewtreelandscapes.com December 30, 2011 at 11:07am

  signing your van in my opinion is a very good way of advertising, pay once for your van, pay every year in other types of advertising, on my van as you can see in another thread, i have the front, doors, sides and i hav got them for the tail gate but not fitted yet, all of my signs have a differant colour shadowing on, £120 for the lot but i did fit them myself, it is very easy and saves a fair bit of money
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  Graeme @ BGS December 30, 2011 at 11:10am

  If you are not too worried about the security issues as Paul has stated, I would strongly suggest going for a full van wrap.

  From my experience quite a few of my clients like the idea that a sign written van is parked on their drive, this could be snob value, reassurance that a professional company is on their premises whilst they are not present to any other reasons.

  Does having a van wrapped work? I had one client take a photo of the van and she went to boots to get the film development straight away as she didn’t have a pen! That one client more than paid for the sign writing.

  When people phone up for quotes you will be amazed at how many people say they have seen the vans and for some reason it helps with the “conversion to client process” as you don’t have to “sell” the company / service quite so much.

  If for the same cost you placed weekly advertising in a local newspaper how much work would you think it would bring in and after say a few months the advert is gone whereas the van will continue being an advert for you.

  The down side – the undesirables will for sure know who and what you do, we quite often get followed, sometimes these are unprofessional gardeners trying to see what clients we have to potential thieves.

  The other down side is that you have to be a bit more of a gentleman when driving as they will and do contact you to moan that you never gave way etc. I’m forever now letting other cars pull out etc. but I am sure it pays off!

  Just one more downside – told a client (non regular) that we wouldn’t be local one particular Friday only to be told that she has seen us whizzing around Ascot all day!
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  Chris Auld December 30, 2011 at 11:12am

  getting your van sign written is IMO one of the most cost effective methods of advertising out there. I bought some basic vinyl signs for about £80 and did it myself, all it takes is one or two decent jobs and its paid off.
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  Steve Sonic Grounds Maintenance December 30, 2011 at 12:36pm

  Graeme are your vans wrapped?
  
  Graeme @ BGS said:

  If you are not too worried about the security issues as Paul has stated, I would strongly suggest going for a full van wrap.

  From my experience quite a few of my clients like the idea that a sign written van is parked on their drive, this could be snob value, reassurance that a professional company is on their premises whilst they are not present to any other reasons.

  Does having a van wrapped work? I had one client take a photo of the van and she went to boots to get the film development straight away as she didn’t have a pen! That one client more than paid for the sign writing.

  When people phone up for quotes you will be amazed at how many people say they have seen the vans and for some reason it helps with the “conversion to client process” as you don’t have to “sell” the company / service quite so much.

  If for the same cost you placed weekly advertising in a local newspaper how much work would you think it would bring in and after say a few months the advert is gone whereas the van will continue being an advert for you.

  The down side – the undesirables will for sure know who and what you do, we quite often get followed, sometimes these are unprofessional gardeners trying to see what clients we have to potential thieves.

  The other down side is that you have to be a bit more of a gentleman when driving as they will and do contact you to moan that you never gave way etc. I’m forever now letting other cars pull out etc. but I am sure it pays off!

  Just one more downside – told a client (non regular) that we wouldn’t be local one particular Friday only to be told that she has seen us whizzing around Ascot all day!
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  Steve Sonic Grounds Maintenance December 30, 2011 at 12:37pm

  In terms of having a basic one or wrapped id love to have it wrapped but dont know if it will indeed bring in more enquiries.

  Also i think a wrap would stand out more than other companies local to me.

  But im not sure i can justify the extra money involved in having the van wrapped.
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  Paul McNulty December 30, 2011 at 1:45pm

  I think it's essential to have a professional image, so a reasonably clean and smart van with simple logos on is just basic for me. I'd not go complicated; just the business name, and contact details if you want them. I'd suggest website is arguably more relevant now as it's easier to remember than a phone number. I regularly get new tenants in properties who've seen me around over the years, having a distinctive turquoise van is a good thing and I have nothing other than the company name and logo on the two sides. Too much info on a van just means the important bits get lost.

  If you have your telephone number on it be careful about how you drive, a builder friend of mine had a very irate call from someone he'd inadvertantly cut-up on the road, and that's not good publicity!
• PRO

  Brian www.mibservices.co.uk December 30, 2011 at 2:38pm

  Another thing to bare in mind Steve, you get quite a discount on your van insurance premiums for a wrapped sign written van. Makes it less likely to be stolen, according to insurance companies anyway. Unmarked vans, especially white transits and ldv,s are regarded as high risk for theft. None of my 4 vehicles are signed up but im getting them all resprayed a company colour ( yet to be decided but probably a stand-out blue to match company name) and sign wrapped in 2012. Theres a builders around my area thats done that and EVERYBODY recognises the vans without even reading the signs as the colour is so unusual and in your face. Very nice colour of blue it has to be said though.
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  Brian www.mibservices.co.uk December 30, 2011 at 3:07pm

  Just curious, not criticising, but why would you use a "weed" as your logo / image ?
  
  Winchester Gardener said:

  I have recently agreed with my signwriters the detail/design and cost of getting my Ford transit connect written. It will have a really striking image - a large dandelion seedhead on the back with seeds floating around both sides of the van, and my business name/website address on the back and both sides. Total cost is going to be £220 + VAT. Hoping to get it done in the next 2 weeks when the signwriters are back from their xmas break!

  I only got the van in October, but nearly all my clients have asked me when is it going to be signwritten..... I think it will be a powerful tool to demonstrate my presence in my area - regardless of whether I get more work from it.
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  Martyn Howe December 30, 2011 at 4:26pm

  Had my van wrapped 3 years ago and has more than paid for itself in the time its been wrapped. Gets you noticed more everywhere you go. Brilliant mobile advert. Only down side is it does on the odd occasion attract the wrong attention from people wanting to remove your tools.
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  Craig Nester December 30, 2011 at 4:41pm

  Now we all know there is no such thing as a weed! its just a plant in the wrong place!