Finding your first five wall printing clients

Your first five walls do three jobs at once. They pay, they teach you the printer on real surfaces, and they become the portfolio that sells the next fifty. Here’s where owners find them.

Start with people who already trust you

Contractors, restaurant owners, property and facility managers. You’re showing a new service to someone who already respects you and your work, so the first conversation is easier than any cold call.

If you already sell something related, the calls are already coming in.

Any time you get a vinyl call, pitch the printer. Our margins are better with the printer than with vinyl.

Do five statement pieces

Dentists, vets, gyms and coffee shops. Fewer gatekeepers, more decision makers. Offer a handful of statement walls at a reduced price, not free, and pick walls people walk past every day. Those first prints become your portfolio, your referral base and your proof that it works in your town.

Put the machine in front of people

Nobody needs a wall print until they see one happen.

If I get the machine in front of people and show it to them, they do the brainstorming of what it can do for them.

In the year I’ve been trying to sell it, I’ve never had anybody who wasn’t interested in at least seeing what it is.

Join a referral group

Referral groups put you in a room with business owners every week, and every one of them has walls.

The most helpful thing so far has been BNI. I’ve gotten referrals from the group, and the float spa job came from visiting another chapter.

Document everything

Before, during and after. Film it, post it, tag the client and ask them to share it. That footage answers objections before anyone raises them and reaches people you’d never reach on your own.

Think commercial first

Commercial clients pay higher rates and come back. A restaurant group with eight locations isn’t a job, it’s a contract. One good relationship, done well, brings referrals across their whole network.

Know your price before you knock

Do your research in your area on what painted murals and vinyl wall coverings are going for, and land on your price point. Introduce it as a premium product, not an optional one.

I don’t want to take the machine out and print something for less than $500.

Most owners set a $500 minimum. For how jobs price out, read the three kinds of wall printing jobs.

Your first five, on paper

1. Someone who already trusts your work.
2. A business people walk past every day.
3. A place with an owner you can reach directly.
4. A commercial client with more than one location.
5. Someone in your referral group.

Questions people ask

Should I discount my first wall printing jobs?

Many owners do a handful of statement pieces at a reduced price to build a portfolio. Keep it a reduced price, not free, and pick walls people see every day.

What businesses are easiest to start with?

Dentists, vets, gyms, coffee shops and restaurants. Fewer gatekeepers and more owners who can say yes on the spot.

How do wall printing owners get referrals?

By documenting every job, asking clients to share it, and joining a referral group. One owner landed a spa lobby job by visiting another BNI chapter.