ProPole can believe what he likes, in business terms he's just a kid, (a very ambitious one I'll grant you
)
Spending several thousand pound on a top of the range system doesn't make you look any more professional than the next guy, I'm sorry, but it doesn't.
The way you comport yourself and carry out your business does, and, for image a smart van, well signwritten will help you stand out while you are actually working.
What Roy does, by providing a portfolio, risk assessment, method statement and so on also makes a difference.
On some jobs the likes of Propole won't stand a chance of getting to put a price in for, these are the really big companies that require to see your books and are confidant in your ability to afford to do the work (ie, wait months for several thousand pounds at a time)
The equipment in the back of your van is meaningless, the boss of some multinational isn't going to come out and have a butchers at the back of your van, what the guy who pays you is interested in is how good a job you do.
If you've got the gift of the gab, what you use to clean the windows with is immaterial, to be honest, if you are a real go getter then you won't be turning up in a van at all, your staff will.
I'm content - or relatively so - in my lot, my image is now professional as is my work, I'm good at what I do.
At some point I may well employ again, but I'm not pushing for it.
ProPole is way off the mark if he thinks having a system worth thousands and thousands of pounds is going to impress would be customers.
I've no doubt he will continue on to be a very successful business man, but it will be his force of personality and his charisma (if he has any
) that really carries him through.
It won't be the equipment itself that gets him business, once you have your foor through the door you are dealing one on one with another person, and they'll have made their mind up about you in seconds (even if they don't know it)
By the time they see the kit in your van you will already have the job, it is YOU who will get the work, and it'll be YOU who persuades them that you are a man to do business with.
Then as time goes by and you continue to impress, it will be your own PERSONAL professionalism that will get you recommended for more work.
Your van, your equipment, your uniform and image may be important, but it is still perepheral.
It's YOU the INDIVIDUAL that makes the biggest difference.
Ian