Selling decorative film is no easy feat, unless you’re Tom Wallace, owner of New England Window Film, whose business is reliant on decorative film—90 percent of his company’s sales are from this sector alone.

He may be known as the “Decorative Film King,” but Wallace was more than willing to share his best business advice to a number of attendees looking for the “how-to” on breaking into the market during a seminar at this year’s WFCT.

“Everybody drives by buildings and thinks ‘Who can I talk to to get in there?’ Go in there,” he says. “The person you need to talk to is named right there on the elevator.”

It’s all about face-time, as Wallace points out. Opportunities aren’t happenstance, but rather because you make sure you’re the guy or girl they see and remember. “Work with architects involved in previous projects—send them an email, send them your business card every week,” he says.

According to Wallace, it’s important to build relationships with all parties involved—architects, general contractors, building managers, etc. This, Wallace says, helps generate repeat customers in the commercial market, which is the best market to be in for decorative film.

“Company representatives get points to go and have free lunch,” he says. “Once they start asking you questions, you’re gold.”

Wallace closed his seminar by emphasizing his tac-tic on waiting to get the bid after the project has been allocated. “The budget is already going to be set. They’re going to spend the money on window film—it was already part of the plan,” he says. “You just have to be the guy to do it.”