Hiring a Contracted Installer

Ask John

The Devil is in the Details

By John Duever

Chad Parish asked: I know you hire a lot of subcontractors. What criteria do you look for in an installer and what do you require outside of the install itself, when your subs represent Vinyl Images?

With the growth of the industry and the expanding number of contracted installers in the market right now, this is a GREAT question!

I will open this article with a simple saying that any contracted installer MUST abide by at all cost – YOUR JOB IS TO MAKE YOUR BOSS LOOK GOOD. What does this mean exactly, here are the details:

At the end of the day, my job is to make my boss look good to their boss so their boss looks good to their boss and so on. My client, who has trusted me to do a job for them, is my boss. Because Vinyl Images has contracted you as an installer for this job, we are in turn your boss for this project. I will provide you with every tool necessary to have a successful outcome on this project and in turn, you make the job happen without fail. You make me look good which makes my client/boss look good to their boss and so on. This leads to a very happy client who trusts me to provide more services to them which in turn requires me to contact you again so you can make me look good which makes my boss/client look good and so on. Thus, the hamster wheel of providing a service with desired results continues.

Reread that paragraph.

I cannot stress to you how important, yet very simple, that concept is. Every contracted installation job comes down to that concept. If you allow your ego to get in the way and you don’t go to the ends of the Earth to make your boss look good your life as a contracted installer will be very short-lived.

Outside of that saying that will change your life if you take it seriously, there are multiple criteria I look for when looking to hire a contracted installer. First and foremost, do you come with a high recommendation from someone I know and respect? Many times I rely on my network of industry friends if I need a contracted installer. Just last month I contacted Chad for a referral as an example. If someone I respect and have a business relationship with will put their name on the line for you then I’m going to give you a shot. Now what you do with that shot is completely up to you and very rarely will someone get more than one shot. Referrals are provides a network of wrappers. everything to me at this point in my business.

Secondly, I look at your history and if you have certifications. Your history will say a lot but if you have put in the time to get your certifications, the more the better, I know that you are serious about being the best you can be. I know there are some people out there who don’t think certifications are worth the time or effort and I’ll tell you this from first-hand experience, those people are losing money and a lot of it. They’ve allowed their egos to get in the way of their business sense and they’ll come around, or they won’t and I won’t even know they exist. To me, a certification does not only represent your competency as a wrap installation professional but it also represents your want to live the best life you can by being in a constant state of self-improvement. I want to work with and surround myself with individuals in a constant state of self-improvement because that is where I am as well. Iron always sharpens iron.

Finally, if I need an installer in an area that no one in my network has a referral for, which does happen multiple times a year, someone from my team or I will get online and do some research. I’ll go to multiple websites to find someone including but not limited to Avery Dennison,

PDAA, WrapperMapper, 3M, Orafol/KPMF, etc. Then I’ll Google said company and look at their reviews and website. Your Google reviews and website say a lot about you and your company, never forget that. One last step is to look at their social media pages, both business and personal.

It’s amazing what you find out about people from their personal Social Media pages. One 60-second run down someone’s posts tells you a lot.

Outside of the installation itself, Vinyl Images has an onboarding process for our installers including filling out paperwork, providing ACH payment information, and providing a COI. Believe it or not, we have had people pass all the checks and refuse to fill out the paperwork. That always throws me for a loop, you don’t want to be paid? You don’t want me to have your updated contact information or an easy way for me to pay you? This blows my mind.

On occasion, we will also ask our contracted installers to wear Vinyl Images branding while onsite should the job require it. This is at no cost to the installer and we normally ship these items with the graphics or in a separate shipment to arrive before the graphics. Finally, depending on the client or project, we occasionally have the installer sign a Non-Disclosure agreement. Normally this is at the sole request of the end client and is nonnegotiable to be hired for the project. When it comes to the NDA, I am at the mercy of my client and if they request it, it must be done.

At the end of the day, I need to trust that the person I contracted to make my client happy. If I don’t have full trust in you as a contracted installer I will continue searching for someone in your particular area until I find someone I trust that possesses the right skillset.

Make your boss look good, both inside your organization and as a contracted installer and you will have a long career in the adhesive-backed industries.

John Duever

John@wrapiq.com

Co-Owner/Operator, Vinyl Images Founder/CEO, WrapIQ

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