The WrapOps Podcast

Being a great installer is one thing. Building a successful wrap shop is another. Joe Gigele, owner of Alpha Branding Solutions, joins Andrew Banks to share his journey from learning to wrap Chicago police vehicles to running his own wrap business. They discuss why understanding design, production and installation can give shop owners an advantage, the challenges of training employees and how to g...

What actually goes into building a wrap training program at 3M? Andrew Banks sits down with Elizabeth Ziegler from 3M live from Grimco’s open house in Chicago. Elizabeth has been with 3M for more than 20 years and brings a rare perspective to the industry, combining product science, testing, installation experience and training program development. They talk about how 3M approaches installer train...

Sign Team Inc did not start with a huge building, a full team or a fleet of printers. It started in a basement with a small vinyl cutter from eBay. Andrew Banks sits down with Mickey Rodriguez from Sign Team Inc live from Grimco’s open house in Chicago. Mickey shares how he went from starting small, learning wide format printing and building a wholesale print business to running a growing producti...

If Andrew and Tanor Banks could go back nine years and start their wrap shop again, what would they do differently? They answer that exact question from a WrapOps listener. From learning how to install properly to setting better customer expectations, keeping overhead low, marketing to the right customers and building a team sooner, this episode is a practical look at the lessons they learned the...

The wrap industry is changing fast. New materials, new install methods, dry apply PPF, more price pressure and more people entering the trade all mean wrap shop owners need to know what is coming next. In this episode, Andrew Banks sits down with Molly Waters from Avery Dennison live from Grimco’s open house in Chicago. Molly has been with Avery Dennison for nearly 30 years and has watched the wra...

A good supplier sends you material. A great supplier helps you solve problems before they cost you time, money and customers. In this episode, Andrew Banks sits down with Tom Breslin, Vice President of Sales for Grimco USA, live from Grimco’s open house in Chicago. They talk about what vinyl wrap shop owners should really expect from a supplier relationship, from material support and equipment hel...

Not every customer is worth keeping. Joe Duever from Vinyl Images joins Andrew Banks to talk about the numbers, decisions and hard lessons behind building a serious wrap business over 24 years. Vinyl Images did not become known in the fleet wrap world by doing every $100 job that walked through the door. They got there by looking at the numbers, cutting out the work that caused the most problems a...

Are you actually pricing your wraps with math? Or are you pulling numbers out of the air, copying competitors and hoping there is still profit left at the end? Tanor Banks breaks down the pricing system Performance Wraps uses to quote vehicle wraps, partial wraps, lettering, design, removal and add ons. This is the same approach they used while growing from a shop buried in debt to a million dolla...

More revenue sounds like the answer. But if your wrap shop is already buried in fires, missed expectations, equipment problems and team confusion, more sales might only make the problems bigger. Andrew and Tanor Banks talk through the first year Performance Wraps hit one million dollars in revenue and why it was not the win they expected. They break down the 4 symptoms that show your shop might no...

Most wrap shop owners want the business to grow. But if every sale, install, training question and production issue still runs through you, growth just creates a bigger bottleneck. Andrew and Tanor Banks share what has changed inside Performance Wraps over the past quarter, including hiring a trainer, cross training the team, building a stronger sales department and watching the crew complete 12 w...

Most wrap shops want more referrals. But showing up to a networking event and saying, “I wrap vehicles, send me anyone who needs a wrap,” is not enough. In this episode, Andrew Banks breaks down the networking strategy that helped Performance Wraps build a business where more than 80% of work comes from repeat customers or referrals. This is not about collecting business cards. It is about knowing...

Bigger is not always better. A lot of wrap shop owners feel pressure to grow fast, hire more people, buy more equipment and chase bigger revenue numbers. Marcus Rimmer from Creative Instinct Wraps has built a different kind of success. After 30 years in business, Marcus has stayed small, stayed steady and built a shop around commercial wraps, local relationships, smart money choices and a life he...

Most wrap shops lose time in places they have stopped noticing. Searching for the right tool. Guessing how much vinyl is left on a roll. Fighting awkward storage. Using the same old workaround because “that’s how we’ve always done it.” Michael Althoff from Yellotools joins Tanor Banks to explain how a homemade vinyl roll clip turned into a German tool company serving sign makers, wrap installers a...

Hiring installers is hard. Training them without pulling your best people off production is even harder. Marcos Schott from The Wrap Institute shares how wrap shops can build better installers without sacrificing productivity. From structured online training to team learning systems and leadership strategies, Marcos explains why training should be part of your business, not something you squeeze i...

Most wrap shop owners think growth comes from adding more people. Charlie Trujillo learned that sometimes the opposite is true. In this episode, Charlie shares how Lettering Express built a stronger, more profitable business by rethinking hiring, focusing on culture, and creating an environment where great people actually want to stay. This isn't a conversation about filling positions. It's a conv...

Most wrap shops focus on one thing: vehicles. But what if some of the biggest opportunities in the industry aren't on vehicles at all? Shad Interligi shares a completely different perspective on growth. As the founder of Real Hit Media, Shad has spent more than two decades building one of the largest graphic installation networks in North America, helping brands roll out graphics across hundreds o...

Most wrap shops spend thousands every year on materials. But are they actually using the right materials for the job? In this episode, Josh Culverhouse shares a perspective few people in the industry ever get. Having started on the production floor before spending nearly two decades on the manufacturing side, Josh has seen the wrap industry from every angle. Today, as Sales Director for the Americ...

After 36 years in the wrap and design industry, Carlos Alverio has seen the wrap world evolve from hand lettering trucks with straight razors to today's advanced wrap films, tools and training. Along the way, he has built a reputation as one of the industry's most respected installers, trainers and leaders. In this conversation, Carlos shares the lessons that have stood the test of time, from mast...

Some installers stay busy no matter what the market is doing. Others struggle to find steady work. So what makes the difference? Scott Decker shares the mindset and business approach that helped him build a career through racing, contract installation, tools, training and media, while staying adaptable through every stage of the journey. Scott’s story is not just about wrapping vehicles. It is abo...

Running a wrap shop can feel isolating. Long hours. Constant problem solving. Trying to figure everything out yourself. In this episode recorded live at the International Sign Expo, Craig Campbell and Tabitha Bowen from ISA (International Sign Association) share how the wrap industry is building something many shop owners have never truly had before: community. From education and advocacy to netwo...

A lot of wrap shops rely on word of mouth. It works… until it doesn’t. When things slow down, there’s no pipeline. No consistency. No control. In this episode, Ray Padilla breaks down why marketing is no longer optional for wrap shops and what actually works if you want steady, predictable growth. In this episode 00:00:00 You Don't Own a Wrap Shop, You Own a Media Company! 00:02:00 How the Most Pr...

Most people think getting better in the wrap industry comes down to skill alone. Better installs. Faster installs. Fewer mistakes. But the people who grow fastest usually do something different.  They collaborate. They stay curious. They keep learning long after they “should” be good enough. In this episode, Justin Pate shares his perspective from working with installers and shops all over the wor...

What if the path everyone tells you to take… isn’t the one that actually leads to freedom? For years, owning a wrap shop has been seen as the goal. More jobs. More clients. More growth. But what if that path leads to burnout instead? In this episode, Kado Serri-Charette (Head of Brand and Growth at Tint Wiz) shares his journey from running a full-service wrap shop to walking away and stepping into...

From the outside, the shop looked successful. Plenty of work. Busy schedule. Jobs constantly coming through the door. But behind the scenes, everything depended on Preston. Every decision. Every problem. Every job. And that’s when it became clear. This wasn’t a scalable business. It was controlled chaos. In this episode, Preston shares the shift that changed everything. From being stuck in the day...

Most wrap shops look for the “right way” to do things. The right material. The right process. The right system. But the best shops do something different. They test. Constantly. In this episode, recorded live with Jay Kroll from General Formulations, the conversation centers around experimentation and why the shops that grow fastest are the ones willing to try, fail, and adjust in real time. In th...