We were NOT the first choice for vehicle wraps when Ryan Schwartz, owner of Window Makeover needed help with his fleet graphics. He had automatically relied on local sign suppliers and wasn’t happy. After all, vehicle graphics are just another sign, right? IF all things were equal that would be correct. Check out the list of things that were not equal for his graphics.

When Mr. Schwartz initially called he expressed his dissatisfaction for the work that had already been done. He listed factors such as color not matching his existing brand, graphics that were peeling off around corners and edges, flat out crooked installations, and an overall dull, lifeless appearance.

My first thought was “I wonder if he is ultra picky and could possibly be difficult to please”. I made an appointment to drive from Indianapolis to Noblesville to meet him in person. When he showed us the vehicles, I was immediately sympathetic to his plight. He was actually understating the problems. The color was nowhere close.

Color is a big issue in advertising and very difficult to correctly apply. Files can have color assignments and may even have a PMS callout. But the truth is that every printer is going to be a little to a lot different when it prints that color. Plus, normal wear and tear on a printer will cause the color to drift over time.

Color matching is something we do a lot of.  Most companies just type in the PMS color and start printing. Big Mistake. Customers look at their advertising every day, and they will notice if it’s incorrect, even a little.

Add to that the graphics material wasn’t adequate, nor the installation quality. We find this a lot with companies that aren’t used to vehicle wraps and just lack the experience that is needed. They’re used to working with flat surfaces all day, and wraps are just a completely different animal.

This customer was in reality behaving in a very forgiving manner, and frankly I was surprised he didn’t ask for his money to be returned. We were extremely happy that he found us and we’re glad he trusted us with his fleet wraps.  He is now very satisfied which you can see in this video testimonial:

Also check out our YouTube channel to see more testimonials and installation videos!

This month’s employee spotlight is one of the creative minds behind the design force that keeps Dream Street Graphics running. Born in Beech Grove, Indiana, Justin Albertson grew up around cars and motorcycles, initiating his passion for vehicle design. Growing up he looked towards engineering and architecture, and exceled at it.
After graduating high school, Justin decided to attend Ivy Tech. It was here that Justin picked up most of his design style from. Having what he considers some of the top instructors around, Justin learned everything that he would need to push further in his field.  Justin would continue honing his skills as a designer until ultimately landing this a great opportunity at Dream Street Graphics.
Justin’s favorite part of working at Dream Street Graphics is that it is always something new, one day you may be working on a ‘76 Pacer needing flame graphics on the side, the next day you may be creating a custom logo for a major home service company. Justin really likes this, it helps keep the design skills sharp, and keep his creative ideas flowing. Whatever the customer wants, there is a solution, and Justin knows how to make it happen.  Justin understands that there is a formula to vehicle graphic design and he knows how to execute it.
If Justin is not working, you can usually find him with friends or family. Picking up a trait from his father, Justin cannot go anywhere without running into someone he knows. Being able to befriend most anyone, Justin knows how to relate with any customer and produce a design that the customer can use on every piece of marketing material.
Inspirational quote: “Every now and then, you’ll nail one that’s really, really special. And that’s what you live for..” – Bob Seger
Favorite project: Collins’ Farms Diesel Pulling Truck – lots of freedom to design, got to make a loud and sloppy graphic that precisely reflected the nature of the customer’s business.

“I said…Did you hear what I said?”. Communication is like that sometimes. We sometimes assume we’re on the same page as the person we’re talking to only to experience frustration later. Especially when working with customers, we may think we’re moving forward until we hit a snag. The customer thought we said one thing, when we meant another.

We sell vehicle wraps. Sounds simple since it’s just one thing, right. But just like any marketing communication, there is so much more to consider than just verbal interaction, as if that wasn’t enough to consider. After all, we communicate with our customers in a variety of ways. We see them in person, talk on the phone, text, email and message them in social media.

What is your percentage of responsibility in communication?

When you listen to someone would you say you are 100% responsible for receiving the transmission? You try to be an active listener, take notes, and ask questions if you need to clarify something.

When you speak to someone, how responsible are you as the transmitter of the message?

I love to ask this question when I teach communication at my company. Most people will say they are 100% responsible when listening, but aren’t sure how to answer the question of transmitting.

If you want to be an effective communicator, the answer to both questions is 100%. If actions get off track due to communication we’ll get used to accepting responsibility and this gives us an opportunity to sharpen our communication skills. It’s just as important that we make sure they understand us, and we should take responsibility for them as well.

But right from the start, we realized that we had to address this topic as a potential NIGHTMARE. One of my first jobs was refused because the Forest Green lettering wasn’t the right shade of green. It was perfect on my color chart right next to the words “Forest Green”. But the customer had a different idea of what that meant when he ordered it on the phone. He pointed at a different green and I got to do the whole job again. I’m lucky to have learned this valuable lesson early in the game of business.

I decided to view every form of communication as potential for trouble. Even in areas I hadn’t anticipated. So I started testing everything I could. Nothing is worse than doing a job twice or potentially losing a customer altogether.

Some areas were obvious. Customers need to see what they are getting. We all interact visually to some extent. I need to see a picture of just about any information I’m taking in, otherwise I could be visualizing a different scenario than you are. So, for everything we do, the customer receives a proof, which is a computer rendering of the job we’re doing.

We’ve learned to proof everything. Even if it’s just a few letters on a rectangular object. You may get 10 people that will keep saying, “make it bigger” and the next person will say “I just need the identification numbers”.

So we have learned that we are communicating so much more than a design to produce.

We communicate vinyl color. Try doing that on the phone. “How dark is your green?”, “I just want a medium blue, not dark or light”, “What color would you use for my business?”. The fact is, on the phone, our customers don’t have a color chart. They may have never heard of a PMS chart because up until now, they never needed one.

We communicate marketing priority. Priority is always important. Many times a customer will approach us and give us their logo, phone number, pictures they would like to use. Then… they give us 15 bullet points to add. So we work with them to establish a priority of information, and they often realize it’s best to discard some information. They always pause to think about what one message is more important than another, which is valuable to them in other forms of marketing as well. This is an area where we are qualified to offer suggestions, but ultimately those decisions are made by the customer, or they authorize us to make them for them.

We help our customers communicate with their customer demographic. While designing a wrap, we ask lots of questions that help us to bridge the gap between them and the people they want to sell to. For instance:

Who do you want to talk to with your vehicle graphics?

What do you want the vehicle graphics to say to them?

What do you want them to remember from your graphics?

Where will the vehicle be when they see the message? At a client’s house? On the road? In a parking lot while they are eating out or buying supplies?

What do your other forms of marketing look like? We reference magazine ads, printed materials, web site, etc. Since we are supplying one form of marketing for our clients, we definitely want to see if that harmonizes with whatever else they are doing.

We communicate design. This is difficult at first, because there isn’t anything to refer to yet. We ask if they have already seen something they like or don’t like. We make sure they want a unique design that does NOT conflict with another company in their industry. And we especially will always guide them away from a design that already represents the look of another one of our customers.

We communicate emotion. We get to know our customers and what emotion they wish to invoke when their design is viewed by their prospects and clients.

We communicate ordering details such as quoting, scheduling, fleet pricing, life of the materials, care of the wrap, and lots of other ‘normal’ things.

As you can see from the list above, it isn’t easy for someone to buy a vehicle wrap, especially their first one. As a relatively new product, we find that first time buyers sometimes feel that they don’t know enough about wraps to ask the right questions that would keep them from being taken advantage of. They want to know what to expect since this is a large transaction initially, even though it may be the least expensive marketing tool in their arsenal.

One of the greatest compliments we receive is ” I really enjoyed the buying process. Your people walked me through it with ease, and made it easy for me”.

Of course the best thing to hear is “I love my wrap, and I get new customers all the time because of my investment. Wish I would have done it sooner”.

By anticipating the next nightmare you might be able to avoid it now. When it comes down to it communication will make or break your company, use it well.

John Wiley, President

  Edwards QR code is applied as a second application to allow the ability to change the decals as his marketing messages change from season to season.  This allows us to remove the QR code and apply a new one without damaging the original graphic.

We here at Dream Street Graphics, worked closely with Project 9/11 Indianapolis on wrapping their semi truck and collecting donations for the monument itself. We used our QR code on this truck to help spread the word and collect donations.

What are QR codes?

QR Codes are 2D-barcodes containing text or often the web address of a mobile site.  Free barcode reader applications for most mobile devices can be downloaded and used to decode these bar codes using the device camera.

Codes can include references to video, audio, mobile websites, text message or phone number dialing, calendar appointments, contact information, plain text or more.

QR Codes are an instant vehicle to deliver additional information found in print – instant interactive information for your customers.  No matter what your products or services are, if you want your audience to have a Quick Response (QR) experience to compliment the print message, you need QR Codes.

Because QR Codes are online, this enables you to effectively measure the reaction and engagement with that audience. Have you ever wondered the value of the phone book, or how many leads were generated from a specific print magazine ad? When they scan the QR Code, you’ll know if your advertising dollars were well placed or need to be moved to another publication.

We create the QR code and the information that is specifically tailored to the item or service being promoted, along with considering the environment in which it is delivered.

Understanding the viewer’s environment will drive script more than the actual product or service. If the QR code is to be used in the Sunday newspaper flyers, typically that audience is sitting in their living room enjoying coffee. That display should have emphasis on great audio to provide a multi-sensory experience. If the setting is has a high amount of background noise, a text based video should be developed – providing an effortless informative experience.

A potential client is looking for an interactive experience that you can provide to answer their questions and inform them – ultimately, driving them to a purchase.

Lindsay Davenport began working at Dream Street Graphics in November of 2005 as an administrator. “She started out in an administrative position answering phones and spell checking all of the proofs that went out. Little did we know that she would become my ‘right hand man’.”, says John Wiley, President of Dream Street Graphics. She celebrates her six year anniversary this November. She has been an adaptable survivor when you think about the challenges many small businesses have faced with the huge changes brought about by a recession.

Lindsay graduated from Franklin Central High School in 2001. From there she began working for St. Vincent Hospital on 86th street as a Unit Representative for three years. “That was the best job that I could have began my career with. It taught me to organize, multi-task and how to interact with the family members and was really a basic training course in customer service. I only decided to move on from there because I felt that I could utilize my skills better in a small business environment.”

After some temp jobs Lindsay came across an ad for Dream Street Graphics seeking a great organizer to help create processes and systems while keeping our clients happy. Lindsay was interested in the concept of marketing with vehicle graphics and wanted a challenge. Talk about multi-tasking! She performed the strenuous duties of keeping the work flow moving along smoothly, and so much more. If anyone could learn through osmosis, it’s her. Hungry to learn more, she learned marketing, design, sales, and constantly improved her organizational skills. She didn’t wait for someone to see potential in her, she took the first step.

Lindsay was really the first employee that we hired with a new, multi-stage system. We realized that when customers are looking at proofs, they almost never check basic information, especially text. Customers rightly assume that we should already have this handled. So we devised a test that most experienced Admin’s couldn’t pass. Not only did Lindsay pass our test, but she found a couple of errors that we hadn’t even realized were there. She did so well, we just had to have her.

Working for a small company usually means wearing a couple of hats, so to speak. Lindsay proved invaluable with processes, customer service and even helped with accounting. But she also communicated well with the customers. In our business communication can be a daunting task. We are communicating all the basics plus a whole lot more. We discuss color, priority of information in the design, and our designs have to help our customers get more business. That means we have to understand their customers as well. Try doing that over the phone. Lindsay has always been up to the challenge and realizes that in marketing, you never graduate. You never stop learning and growing. And we don’t want to be guilty of holding her back either

Lindsay realized that the first conversation with our customers was the moment when they would decide whether to use us or a competitor. She behaves like an owner, and really cares about Dream Street Graphics, and our customers. She always tries to see things from an owner’s point of view. This is an invaluable quality. It also earns her the title of “Trusted Advisor”.

In the six years of employment at Dream Street Graphics, she has taught herself Illustrator and Photoshop to become one of the lead designers for the company. She has a unique ability to conceptualize an idea quickly. Customers always love her ideas. She has also been a part of the creative advertising for our company, too. Having this wide set of skills is necessary when it comes to understanding the challenges posed to other Dream Street Graphics employees. She helps trouble-shoot problems and co-create with the other designers. “Who gets the credit doesn’t matter, as long as we’ve done the best we could do as a team” is her motto.

She even took charge of redecorating our office. Lindsay recalls, “I wanted to give the company not only a modern feel when you came in, but an energy of free thinking inspiration so you know right away that we are capable of creating what hasn’t been done yet. We have focused our company on one thing that we do better than anyone else. Everything about our company should reflect that focus.” We couldn’t agree more.

“My favorite thing about working for Dream Street Graphics is that I am never bored. I have my hands in six different jobs for thousands of customers every day and I love it! I just don’t think that I could do just one job for the rest of my life. I need the chaos of always being busy and I love my customers, I have a great work environment. I work. I contribute. I am appreciated!”

Some of my favorite jobs are: Williams Comfort Air, Scooters Aquatics, Plumbing Heating Paramedics, WZPL, and Edwards Dashboard Drive-In.

Inspirational Quote: “You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.” Winston Churchill