We want to be better!

I know color is kind of a sore spot, but I had to mention it because it is the only other liquid product that I am spending a good deal of cash on, other than what SPI already supplies. I am willing to bet that this is the case with most other shops as well.

I don't have hard numbers, but I am pretty sure base toners account for most of the money spent on paint material. Whether or not SPI wants to pursue those dollars is another matter, but there is definitely money to be made.
 
Crash, LOL
You are right and that is why the old saying goes, screw with the clear and primers and you OK but if you want the paint company to come after with a vengeance, mess with their colors.
 
I did not realize that, but it makes sense!

Maybe when the time is right you will be ready and willing for that kind of confrontation, or maybe it's just not worth the trouble.

I still think a limited palette of street rod and musclecar colors makes sense for the current mission.
 
Your welcome to use my hershey vend spot also but it's not on the beaten path. We buy them more for good camping spots. I might empty my stock next year and take it to Hershey for the week. The bad thing is I'm always on the hunt for stuff and not to worried about selling anything. It would probably be fun trying to educate some of those old laquer shooters though.
 
Thanks Brad,
Shows like this excite a lot of people and we even get requests to set up shop for shows that may draw 150-300 cars, the problem for us when we do a show like this, is it is not cost effective.

Did a class at GTO nationals a year ago and for time and money invested, may have broke even at best , so far.

Most of these shows you end up talking to people who don't paint and want to know what you are giving away, or someone that is bored to tears and never painted but wants to know how paint is made and in the meantime the painter that stopped by got tired of listening to the guy and left.
Been there and done that way to many times over the years, it is just not worth it, for a local jobber yes, it can be worth it, depending on the show and who it draws.

Did a show last fall, not sure what the crowd in the class room was made of, so I ask for anything they wanted to know and then I listed them in order and grouped them.
Went down the list and four hours later when done, three people complained to the show folks it was too technical.
So far, I can account for about $400 at best of orders, from that show.
 
What does it cost to get on one of those sunday morning shows like Muscle Car or Two guys garage? You know if they would advertise for duplicolor then all it takes is money or don't you want to be associated with that type of show. Correct me if I'm wrong but don't you setup at Sema? Curious if that is good advertisment per dollar spent. Maybe it's not enough growth but I'm pretty sure word of mouth is your best advertisement.
 
2guys garage is to stupid to use spi. anybody that advises atf on bare steel should be ran out of the business.
 
As far as some not being able to view some pictures when using IE, be sure you have Active X enabled which will allow you to view them. We are working on fix now but this will help you in the meantime.
 
Results of meeting and diligence..

*Web site, I looked at Jim's, Rusty's and they are great but they are needed and great for their type of business, people going to a paint company really would not want the pizazz, as if you look at PPG, BASF and Dupont, their sites seem way more tame then SPI'S.
We are going to fine tune the site, we are compiling a list of changes to do, to make it easier to navigate and other corrections that are badly needed.

* Labels, we have been dressing up the labels as we reorder over the last two years, however I did just have the MS clear redone, today and should have new labels in the next 30 days, dressing up that label and adding the new slower activator.
Now we are at a disadvantage here as we try to color coordinate, each label to eliminate user error and there are only so many colors you can use, also in my opinion and it has always been this way, I think the colors tend to cheapen the line but I field the calls enough to know, mistakes are still made, using the wrong activator or polar accelerator in place of an activator to know, I want the different colors.

Now if you look at Dupont and PPG labels they use a plain blunt style of one to fit all, I think we are way ahead of them as far as label appeal, even with the old UTECH style label like the MS that was being used.

*Tech sheets.
Catalogs are going to print again in next week, so to late for this 5000 but we are going to do all our tech sheets in a different format and then hire a professional writer to rewrite. This is badly needed.

Thank you for all the good advice and sometimes you just get so wrapped up in what you are doing, that it is good to get an unbiased opinion.
 
colors on labels are great. Sikkens does it and as far as i know RM does it. just makes sense imo.
 
ha, please dont look at my website. i do mine myself because i constantly update the gallery and other stuff so while it has some pizazz it still doesn't come off as being professional except the logo. pizazz is not what you really need or what i was talking about. many times the pizazz you speak of if not done right can have a very unprofessional look to it. i guess it needs to look more corporate. basf's site for instance, www.basfrefinish.com not alot of pizazz but professional. it doesn't look like an employee went home and built it with a generic web building program. please dont take offense to any of this, you asked and i'm just trying to make clear what i'm talking about. i get the feeling you were thinking i was saying your site needs more "stuff" but thats not the case. it doesn't need more at all just needs to be done in a way where it doesn't look like generic buttons and images are just put on a black background. again, please dont take offense. i am not trying to be insulting in any way here.
 
Thanks guys and Jim, I thought your site was fine, I do like the BASF one and it will help us make the changes we need.
Thanks again and never worry about offending me, that is why I posted this, I knew I would get honest answers and that is what I want.

The meeting was very tense this morning but we needed to hear this and we read EVERY post and put our heads together.

Thanks again.
 
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Sorry to hear that the meeting was tense, I can imagine there are some competing visions of how the company should present itself. That's why I suggested a marketing professional, getting some outside help to pull competing ideas together can be a very valuable thing, not to mention the fact that an outsider with industry experience can quickly point out stuff that guys too close to the issue might not even see.

Just a thought...
 
different colors is probably the most important. many of us know better than not to read them every time. but for a novice the colors most likely prevent a multitude of disasters. been there done that. hard to improve success.
 
you know i have only mixed someting wrong 1 time. this past summer somehow i kicked off some euro clear with turbo clear activator. both red labels. just grabbed it and mixed not realizing. prime example how different colors are important.
 
I'm usually pretty good about that to.. but i remember one time i mixed about half a gallon of clear, and someone walked up and interrupted me and i couldn't remember what I did, so i ended up throwing it away.. I was mad.. lol..
 
Crash, outside help??? That is why I asked you guys, you don't charge as much!

I mixed Universal with reducer when I was cutting in the inside of the door on the vette, my excuse? I was talking on the phone, telling someone else what not to do wrong! LOL You would think I would have known better????
 
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