By signcraft
Posted on Friday, December 5th, 2025
For many service businesses, their truck lettering is their primary advertising—may be their only advertising. But Rich Dombey [Rich Designs Inc., Hillsborough, New Jersey] uses their other advertising opportunities as a place to start the sales process and sell the design first.
“I do a lot of work for small landscape and building contractors who come to me to get their vehicles lettered,” says Rich. “Often they’re just thinking of getting their truck lettered and maybe some nice cards, but I start with the design. I explain that we need an effective design to start with, and that lets me shift the focus to the logo design first.
“Trying to get paid for the logo design after the truck is done doesn’t work. I tried that. I did a complete turnaround. Rather than selling the design as an add-on after the vehicle was sold, now I start by selling the design. It works great.”
If they only need their truck lettered, that’s no problem. Rich explains his “Truck Only” package works for that, and he retains all rights to the design. If they need the design later, there will be a fee for that.
With the emphasis shifted to the design, Rich creates the design and sells it as his “Full Package.” He gives a price for the design, then for each other product they need—the vehicle, business card, t-shirts, site signs, etc. Business cards are a natural.
“The cards look like little signs,” he says. “Customers really like that. Most like having something coordinated with their truck or sign, rather than a generic-looking business card.”
Most of the business cards that Rich designs are double-sided. A list of services or bullet points of benefits usually goes on the back. He finds that when you hand someone a card that is glossy on both sides, they instinctively turn it over to see the other side. That gives him another opportunity to get his client’s message out, and it makes a good first impression.
“This is where I start if I’m going to be handling all areas of their image,” says Rich. “I sell the design first, then the truck layout, then the business card, t-shirts, equipment stickers and so on.”
Providing all these products boosts your sales and makes the client’s life easier by having one source to manage their image. Business cards, t-shirts and equipment stickers are ongoing sales that clients often reorder, too.
But the best thing is that it lets you sell the design up front—rather than doing a great design on someone’s sign or truck and having them call to say, “Can you e-mail me the file of the design you did on my truck?” At that point, it’s very hard to get paid for the design. Some customers feel that you are trying to charge for work you’ve already done.
