Does Your Look Matter?

We worked with a roofer for years whose work was better than his look. The roofs were excellent. The way the company presented itself, the truck, the logo, the printed material, said something much more ordinary than the work did, and the market took him at his look, not at his roofs.

Then he upgraded the look, and brought it into line with the quality he was already delivering. He did not change a shingle. What changed was how the company was perceived, and perception is what people buy before they have seen a single roof. That is the whole lesson in one story. The external brand matters for perception, and perception decides who you get.

What the external brand is

The external brand is everything about your business that a customer can see, hear or touch before they experience the work. Your trucks, your signs, your logo, your website, your business card, your uniforms, the estimate form, the invoice, the way your voicemail sounds. The book uses a restaurant to make the point, because most of us have been in one: the marketing material there is everything from the sign on the door to the building itself, the menu, the training of the staff, even the food, since the true product is the dining experience.

Here is the distinction. The internal brand is what you are. The external brand is the evidence you give people so they can guess what you are. The customer never sees the internal brand directly. They see evidence and they draw a conclusion. The roofer’s roofs were premium. His evidence said budget. The customers believed the evidence.

Perception is what people believe to be true

Perception is whatever someone believes to be real or true for them. It is what they believe, whether or not it is what is true. That is uncomfortable for an owner who is proud of the work, because it means quality alone does not set perception; the evidence you give does.

Two roofers with identical skills pull up to the same house. One truck is rusted and unmarked, the other is clean and wrapped in a consistent color with a phone number you can read from the street. Before either man has spoken, the homeowner has formed two different expectations about price, professionalism and whether they will still be in business when the roof leaks in year eight. Which one gets asked “how much?” first?

A look upgrade like the roofer’s changes which people you attract. The image you portray decides which customers you get, so when the look moves up, the brand starts filtering for the avatar you actually wanted. A look sends two messages at once: “this is who we are” and “this is who we are for.” You cannot send the first without the second.

Consistency beats expense

If you take one thing from this lesson, take this: consistency matters more than any single detail. Your business cards, flyers and advertisements should all be related and follow the same theme. It is the cheapest way there is to start creating a brand name, and it is also the most skipped.

The chef in my book got this wrong in the first version, with red chairs, a green logo, blue menus and a yellow-on-purple sign. Every piece was a separate decision by a separate person. In the second version he chose one color theme, dark blue, and built the name, the logo, the menu cover, the cards and the room from it. Cream chairs, blue tablecloths, a small logo embroidered on a white shirt. The second version needs a decision more than it needs money. You can start with part of it and cut corners in creative ways as long as everything you do put out matches.

The other mistake I see constantly with contractors: buying ads from whoever walks in the door and letting each seller design the ad for free. Now you have five designers and five versions of your brand. Calculate the cost of design into the cost of the ad, and use the same look everywhere.

Where to start when money is tight

Order matters. The logo and color scheme first, because everything else inherits from them. Then whatever the avatar sees most: for a contractor that is the truck and the website; for a restaurant it is the sign and the menu; for a consultant it is the website and the way you dress at a first meeting. Then business cards, forms, invoices, uniforms. Replace things as they wear out, but replace them in the new look, never the old one. A brand can be rebuilt one piece at a time as long as no new piece goes out wrong.

Start with photos

Photograph every visible piece of your business this week: truck, sign, card, website homepage, invoice, a crew member in work clothes. Lay the photos side by side and ask a simple question: would a stranger know these belong to the same company? Circle the piece your avatar sees first, and make that the first thing you bring into line.

What it costs

A weekend to plan and decide, which is free. Rolling it out is where the money is. A logo and color system from a designer can run from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand, a vehicle wrap is a real investment, often a few thousand dollars per vehicle (get two local quotes), and uniforms and cards are modest. Spread it over months if you need to. A look that is consistent and half finished beats one that is complete and contradicts itself.