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Solutions November 2005
case
study
Folder
Reinforces Roofer’s Reputation
After
Hurricane Ivan ripped across Florida’s
panhandle in September 2004, approximately
40,000 homes in the state’s
two westernmost counties, Escambia
and Santa Rosa, had damaged or
missing roofs. “Everybody
needed help from roofing companies,
and there just weren’t enough
reputable ones,” says Joe
Webb, vice president of sales
and marketing for Formsystems
Inc., a distributorship in Pensacola,
Fla.
“Many
repair companies were unlicensed
and uninsured, offering inferior
products and labor without a viable
warranty,” says Webb. “But
desperate consumers were not discerning.”
Formsystems helped a trustworthy
local company, West Coast Metal
Roofing and Construction, set
itself apart from the competition
with a full-color presentation
folder.
The
roofing company had placed only
one order from Formsystems’
sales rep Andrew Sowell prior
to the hurricane. Sowell was a
new salesperson with the distributorship,
on the job approximately six months
when he sold West Coast Metal
Roofing and Construction a sales
training binder. “He was
out there on the street scratching
and scraping for anything he could
get,” says Webb. Happy with
the binders, the company asked
Sowell for help with a marketing
piece after Hurricane Ivan.
“They
wanted a first-class marketing
piece to say, ‘We are here,
and we will be here to help you
down the road,’” says
Webb. Formsystems recommended
a 4-color pocket folder with graduated
inserts highlighting the roofing
company’s history, products
and services. Another new Formsystems’
employee, designer and copywriter
Bonnie Wooton, was indispensable
on the project, he says.
Webb,
Sowell and Wooton met with the
roofing company’s regional
vice president to ascertain the
client’s needs. Afterward,
Wooton extensively researched
the roofing industry on the internet.
“Bonnie became a roofing
expert,” says Webb. Armed
with knowledge, Wooton returned
to West Coast Metal Roofing and
Construction with information
she thought should be included
in folder. This became the basis
for the text for six informational
inserts.
The
text, written by Wooton, included
an introduction to the company,
answers to frequently asked questions,
definitions of commonly used roofing
terms, data on steel panel roofing
and more. Then Wooton designed
a sample folder and inserts, which
the client approved. Folder Express
in Omaha, Neb., manufactured 2,000
presentation folders.
The
12-pt. 9 x 12-inch folders are
laminated for durability. The
front features a photo of West
Coast Roofing and Construction’s
facility, the company’s
name and logo and four smaller
photos of home roofs. The back
includes another shot of the roofing
company’s facility, photos
of employees installing a roof,
a quote from a customer and a
short message from the company’s
management. Formsystems hired
a photographer to take many of
the photos.
The
front and back also reinforce
the customer’s message about
being a reputable firm: The line
“Local Professionals You
Can Trust” runs below the
company logo on the front. The
company’s license number
is printed on the back.
The
inside includes a photo of a roof
on the left, which fades to white
then displays a testimonial from
a customer. The left pocket is
imprinted with West Coast Metal
Roofing and Construction’s
contact information. The right
pocket features a die cut slit
so the company can insert a business
card.
Formsystems
printed 500 of the 6-tiered inserts
on its Minolta digital color printer,
which outputs 50 color pages per
minute. By using a digital printer,
the customer can frequently update
the inserts, which are printed
on an 80# glossy stock. “We
could print a small quantity,
economically and quickly,”
says Webb.
Speedy
delivery was important. “They
wanted it fast because they couldn’t
make money until they had a marketing
piece in their hands,” says
Webb. The project took approximately
30 days, from the first meeting
with the customer until the folders
and inserts were delivered.
Webb
says the customer is pleased with
the final product, and it’s
helped Formsystems, too. In addition
to supplying other products, such
as checks and invoices, to West
Coast Metal Roofing and Construction,
Formsystems has gained new accounts
using the presentation folder
as a sample. There are approximately
20 businesses in the same industrial
park as the roofing company. “We
can walk across the street and
show their neighbors what we’ve
done for West Coast Metal Roofing
and Construction,” says
Webb. “That’s clout.
We practically own the industrial
park now.”
—Susan
Keen Flynn
Sell
the benefits of custom presentation
folders. Companies easily
can buy stock presentation folders
online or from office superstores.
But custom presentation folders,
which are generally more expensive,
provide more marketing punch.
Joe Webb, vice president of sales
and marketing for Formsystems
Inc., Pensacola, Fla., recommends
showing prospects a stock presentation
folder and a full-color custom
one side-by-side. “Ask people
how they want their companies
to be represented,” he says.
“Do they want to be a company
of strength on solid ground or
just another company?”
Understand
your client’s business.
One reason Formsystems was able
to supply a first-rate presentation
folder to West Coast Metal Roofing
and Construction was because it
conducted online industry research.
“We had to understand an
industry we had never dealt with
before,” says Webb. By learning
about roofing, Bonnie Wooton,
designer and copywriter at Formsystems,
was able to tailor the marketing
message used on the folder and
inserts.
Think
beyond 9 x 12 inches, the standard
pocket folder size. Hotels
use 33/8 x 6-inch folders to hold
key cards. Document folders measuring
41/2 x 101/4 inches are popular
with insurance companies. For
instance, car insurance policy
information fits easily in the
wide pouch, then consumers can
place the sturdy folders in car
glove compartments. Clients who
want to stand out may also place
marketing materials inside 4 x
9-inch or 6 x 9-inch pocket folders.
