Getting Into Food-Truck Vehicle Wraps and More of Your Questions

With the food-truck revolution, I’m thinking of getting into food-truck vehicle wraps. Worth the effort, or no?

It may be more useful as a source of exposure than a source of profit, says Tony Palmer of Palmer Signs in Roseville, California, whose company has won numerous national awards for their vehicle wraps. “A food truck costs $5000 to $6000, but I could print and install four vehicles for $2400 bucks a piece in the same amount of time,” he says. “We do [food trucks] because they’re giant moving billboards for us.” (See image above.)

How do I get my staff to read our company policy?

Make it fun. At your weekly meeting, offer to buy a large premium coffee for the first person who can correctly answer a question from the employee manual. The key is to have everyone participating, so put names in a hat and draw one at a time. That way, every staff member knows there is a chance he or she could be called upon to provide the answer.

Our print shop regularly has to deal with cash-flow problems. And because not paying our bills is not a sustainable long-term option, what can we do to improve our cash-flow?

It’s all about collections, says Marty McGhie, CEO/Partner of Signs.com and long-time Big Picture columnist. Communication with your customers regarding their outstanding accounts receivable can be tricky. You have to be firm enough to make sure you’re going to get paid, yet careful not to offend your clients. (You’ll want to continue your business relationship with them, after all.)

Here are a few ideas to consider in your collection efforts, according to McGhie:

• Begin communicating early in the process. Don’t wait 60 to 90 days to send your first notice. Consider grouping invoice amounts into separate categories such as invoices under $1000, between $1000 and $5000, between $5000 and $10,000, and greater than $10,000. Then, manage these groups accordingly. Perhaps invoices under $1000 don’t require a communication until they are 60 days out. On the other hand, an invoice greater than $10,000 could merit an email or a phone call right at 30 days to serve as a gentle reminder that this particular invoice is now due. It might also include a request for clarification if there are any questions regarding the invoice. Establish protocols that fit your clients and their terms, with the highest priority on larger balances.
• Stay on top of your invoicing. Don’t wait until month’s end to begin processing invoices and sending them to your customers for work completed weeks before. Your customer’s payable dates only begin once they receive the invoice, so you’re costing your business valuable days of cash collection when you don’t send them promptly.
• Cover your bases. Set up a backup system with your clients that enables them to receive both a hard copy and an electronic invoice. Ensuring your invoices are being sent to the proper person is also critical and can save precious time in getting paid.

Ack, I just spilled hot coffee all over my new white shirt! Any tips on how I can not look like The Creature from the Brown Lagoon for the rest of the day?

Nice going, slick. But hey, it happens to everyone. And that’s precisely why you should always keep an extra shirt in your office, and maybe a spare pair of pants or skirt, too. Meanwhile, here’s a quick stain-removing tip from Men’s Health magazine. Act fast. Run, don’t walk, to the bathroom and wet the stain from the inside of the shirt, while rubbing the stain with a bar of Ivory soap. It won’t be perfect, but this quick fix-it job should be enough to prevent little kids from pointing at you and saying, “Mommy, why is that person’s shirt so dirty?”

Typos are always creeping into my weekly newsletter. I guess I just stink at proofreading. Any tips at what I can do to get better?

Well, our first advice would be to spell-check. (Did you do that? Well, did you?) In addition, before emailing or sending anything to the printer, direct marketing consultant Martha Retallick suggests: “I read every word out loud. Slowly and carefully, just like I did back in first grade reading class.”

I hate coming into work in a bad mood, but sometimes circumstances set me off. Any tips for smoothing out the edges?

Here’s a tip we love from Robert Bell, sales trainer: Get a hat (or something that will hold slips of paper) and some paper. Cut it into 50 strips. On each strip, write a positive behavior.

Take these slips of paper and throw them into the hat. Before you leave the house each day, go to the hat and pull a slip of paper. This behavior is how you will act all day.