We had a customer come in that has a new Winnebago camper van. It’s all white with a couple of windows on each side that are spaced out a little weird. The customer wanted to break up all the white by having us wrap the inset area around the windows in gloss black. We’d run Knifeless Tape inside the indent, cover the entire space, and trim out around the windows. Pretty straightforward project.
We were the fourth or fifth company this guy stopped by to get a quote. We went out and took the necessary measurements and went over what he wanted. We looked at the obstacles and explained the Knifeless Tape so he knew we wouldn’t be cutting on his vehicle. We also assessed the windows, which have blobs of black silicone squishing out around each window in a fairly significant amount.
We explained that we recommended trimming the excess silicone off around the windows because it would be difficult to trim around silicone that flexes and would likely leave white gaps. The customer said other shops had mentioned that, but I don’t think he was completely clear on the significance.
So after a bit of talking and explaining, I asked if I could show him what I recommended. Taking a knife, I carefully slid it along the edge of the window, not entirely cutting all the way through. With a plastic scraper, I quickly slid off the excess strip of silicone. I showed the customer how the window was still sealed; we just got rid of the excess. A bit of residue was left, so I grabbed the Rapid Remover, sprayed a bit on a cloth, and wiped off the residue, following it up with an alcohol wipe down.
The whole process took about five minutes, but that right there earned us the job. The customer appreciated us explaining why we recommended what we did and that we also took the time to show him and then cleaned up the window, proving our finished work would be clean. The customer admitted right off the bat that he was quoting around, so there was an indication that price was a significant factor, but in the end, our customer service, not our pricing, earned us the job.
