Phone Number Or Not

davidanbess

Hi, will be getting some polo t-shirts printed with my name on them, but the sales guy reckons I should not put the phone number on them, he says they look more profeesional without it.I would still like to put it on.
Will have shirts for working day to day and some others for going to price jobs.
All comments appreciated on phone number or not

Best regards D/B

mahlere

no number

Mike Finley

Do you really envision somebody walking down the street following you writing down your number to call you?

Ed the Roofer

I got a call from someone years ago that saw me in the Post Office with my number on the shirt.

Why let them open up the yellow pages to look you up and habe dozens of other choices to choose at that point as well.

Ed

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Snow Man

I dont recall ever getting any work from any of my 200 handed out shirts over the years , atleast that I know of.

Put the ###### on it for sure! cant hurt

Sales guy is just saving on INK!!!
and being a sales guy.

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DavidC

No.

Would I pay to have shirts printed and not include a phone number?

No.

It's more about repetition than it is about compelling them to call because they saw your shirt. The more times anyone sees anything,the more likely it is to be familiar to them. Familiar is good.

Good Luck
Dave

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Mike Finley

Familiar is referring to branding. Seeing your company name on a shirt is branding.

The phone number is about information used to contact you. The two are completely unrelated.

Number on a truck makes sense because it's pretty hard for somebody to catch up to you, flag you down and have you give them your number.

Number on a shirt? If somebody is close enough to see your logo on your shirt they are close enough to start a conversation.

Possibility and probability are completely different but sometimes we forget that. There is a possibility of winning the lottery, the probability is astronomically low. There is a possibility of somebody calling you solely based on you phone number on a shirt, the probability is astronomically low.

Marketing is not about directing your efforts at the exceptions, not at the one in a million returns. If somebody wants to put their phone number on their company shirt, go for it. You're not harming anyone, but you certainly are wasting your time if you think you are doing it to bring in business.

Company shirts #1 purpose is to display a professional, unified (as in uniform) appearance. Secondary is to market your company by coincidence being in a potential prospects face who is in the market for services your company provides, however as mentioned if they are close enough to read your shirt they are close enough to start a conversation. Believing that prospect is going to whip out a note pad and shyly write down your phone number and spirit it home till he gets up the courage to call you is like believing the lottery is a valid retirement program.

But like I said you aren't hurting anybody by putting your phone number on your shirt. You aren't doing anything productive either. The pros and cons are like spliting hairs.

DavidC

Sorry Mike, I thought I was clear about agreeing with what you said except that I would include the phone number.

Our shirts have the phone number prominently displayed on the back along with our company name and logo. In fact the pattern of our name, logo and phone number is repeated on our cards, stationary, job signs, etc.

The more times that pattern is repeated the more likely people are be familiar with it. It is branding and branding is good.

Good Luck
Dave

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www.CookContractingLLC.com

Goral

No phone number! Website URLs are ok

ISelRfs

A number on polo shirts sounds like a no-no to me.
This is your company's identity, phone number is advertising.
As Mike said before if someone calls you for an estimate
they already know who you are.
I wouldn't mind the phone number on the work t-shirts for the crew though.

Just my .02

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Leo G

Your guy is at a bar after work one day. He is wearing your shirt. He gets into a fight and destroys a few tables, chairs and glasses. He gets out before the cops get there. Everyone in the bar remembers the phone number on his shirt and remembers the company name. You get a call from the cops...this can lead to no good....

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concretemasonry

Leo G is absolutely correct.

Advertising on a shirt or hat is totally uncontrolled and ruin your image and reputation even if you are not aware of the bar brawls.

Give aways make the person receiving happy, but does not really sell anything.

I hard ordered 1500 traditional caps and my boss asked what they would look like. He said cancel the order and take off the company name and logo, make them white and add "Good Guy" to them instead. Follows the old saying "the Good Guys Always Wear White Hats". I did as suggested and it was the best thing we could do. Everyone in the local industry wanted them and people buying elswhere were looking for our salesmen. - We had to re-order several times.

Only the important people (contractor/buyer customers) knew where they came from. We even got requests from architects and other groups organizing golf or fishing events. There are also ways to handle the guys who are a year late in copying.

This concept does not apply if you are trying to create a company image, unless you require your employees to wear a clean one every day.

The best give-away advertising does not need a name of it if the person getting it remembers where it came from.

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Dick

Engineer, designer and consultant recently active domestically and internationally on construction and design in about 35 countries.

DavidC

That just might be one of those truths that are so obvious to be well hidden.

I beleive the OP was talking about shirts for him and his crew. In my case it's our guys that wear the shirts. We each have 4 polos and a sweat. On the next order I am going to full button up for myself and no logo on the back, sticking with polos for the crew. And without a doubt the are required to start the day with a clean shirt.

Fortunately we aren't likely to find any of our crew in a bar much. We all have families we like, so go home after work.

OK, maybe one exception. But he still likes the kids and goes home for them.

Thanks for the white hat idea, I'll be bringing that up at our next meeting.

Good Luck
Dave

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www.CookContractingLLC.com

Mellison

My Polos have just my company name and logo.
My employee t shirts have my company name, logo and phone #.

davidanbess

Thanks for the feedback. I work by myself and thought maybe on my working shirts phone number but on my going to propective client no number does that sound more acceptable