Primary Positions

Drive out to the road and look back at your dealership. Whose name do you read first?

Every sign, truck, shirt, hat, and cup you own has one spot people see before anything else. I call it the primary position. Everything else on that item is a secondary position.

Once you know where the primary positions are, you'll see them everywhere. And you'll start to notice whose name is sitting in them.

What makes a position primary

A primary position is where the eye lands first. It's usually the top, the biggest, the front, or eye level. It's the part someone can read from the road at 55 miles an hour, across a parking lot, or from the bleachers.

A secondary position still gets seen. It just gets seen second, and sometimes only if someone is looking for it.

Why your name belongs there

The brands you carry do good work. Their reach and reputation help growers notice what you sell and start to consider it.

But growers don't buy from an ad. When it's time to narrow the choices and make the final call, they turn to a person they trust: someone who will quote it, install it, and pick up the phone when something breaks. After the sale, it's your crew that shows up, follows up, and earns the next one.

That trust is the most important part of the whole customer journey, and you're the one who builds it. One install, one service call, and one handshake at a time.

You build it. Your name belongs in the primary position.

Where the primary positions are

Here's where to look on the things your dealership puts in front of people every day.

Your sign

The top panel and the biggest letters, the part a driver can read at highway speed. The lines you carry go on the panels below.

Your building and front door

Above the main entrance, at the roofline. Then eye level on the front door glass, where every customer reads it on the way in.

Your trucks

The front doors. They're at eye level whether the truck is parked at the coffee shop or passing on the highway. The back doors are secondary.

Don't forget the back of the truck. The tailgate is what the driver behind you reads at every stop sign and every mile of a county road.

Your shirts

The left chest. It's what a customer reads when your crew walks up to shake hands. The sleeve and the back are secondary.

Your hats

The front panel, right above the brim. The sides and back are secondary.

Your cups and tumblers

The side other people see while you drink, not the side facing you. Plenty of cups get printed backward.

Ballfield banners and yard signs

The name someone can read from the road or the bleachers. Everything else is detail.

Your website, Google profile, and everything on paper

On your website, it's the top left of the header, the first thing a grower sees on a phone. On your Google profile and social pages, it's the profile name and photo. On business cards, proposals, and invoices, it's the top left and the largest name on the page. In email, it's the "from" name and your signature.

Give your secondary positions on purpose

Secondary positions aren't leftovers. Give them to the lines you value most.

That doesn't mean every brand on the lot, and it doesn't mean whoever happened to send the sign. When a grower sees which lines sit next to your name, they learn what you stand behind. Choose them the same way you'd choose what to recommend to a good customer.

Don't give the primary positions away

It's easy to surrender these spots without meaning to. A sign shows up with someone else's name on top. A banner arrives with your name in a strip along the bottom. A box of shirts comes in with another logo on the chest. Nobody planned it. It's just how it came.

Every one of those is still a choice, and you get to make it. These positions are important, and you deserve them.

Check everywhere you show up today

Make a list of every place your name appears: your sign, your building, your doors, your trucks and trailers, your shirts and hats, your cups, your banners, your cards, your website, and your Google profile. For each one, ask three questions:

1. Is my name in the primary position?
2. Could someone read it from the road, across the lot, or from the bleachers?
3. Are the secondary positions going to the lines I value most?

You don't have to fix everything this week. Start with the next thing you order: the next round of shirts, the next truck you letter, or the next sign you put up.

Want to see how the rest of your marketing stacks up? Take the dealer marketing self-check. It asks this exact question.