By Ken Millar
Posted on Sunday, April 16th, 2023
The first five minutes of talking to a new client in your office is the most important time you will ever spend with them. In those few moments, you can set the tone of all future communication and establish yourself as a professional.
Let the client talk. Listen. Listen for the need that is behind what they say. Ask good questions.
Questions like these make the customer feel important–and give you important info about their project:
Is this sign the only one in the viewing area?
If other signs are there, what are their prominent colors?
Are the other nearby signs larger or smaller than yours?
How much time will the typical viewer have to read your sign?
Would you like me to visit the location and survey it for you?
Do you have a logo image or graphics that you would like included on the sign?
Are there any preferences you have for the sign’s look-and-feel, or for its colors?
The person may be looking for a sign just like the one down the street from his new place of business. This type of identification may or may not be the best for his business. The client may be telling you what he or she likes, but not what he or she needs.
Within a few minutes, you can usually get an idea of what the client needs—an illuminated storefront sign, vehicle lettering or a banner. The very next thing we must do is quantify a price that the client is willing to spend. You ask the client that question and let him supply the answer.
The answer may be only $300. On the other hand, the answer may be that he has budgeted $3,000 for signage. The $300 price may be for small lettering on the window or door, which may be all the new client needs.
Finding out what they plan to spend on the sign early in the conversation is essential so that you tailor your sales presentation to their needs. If the job is larger and requires more attention, you need to know that now. You don’t want to spend 30 minutes discussing an 18-by-24-in. yard sign.
Ken Millar spent 25 years as a sign designer in the Chicagoland area. He was also the instructor at the International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades sign school in Chicago for many years and inspired countless sign designers there and in his workshops and videos. This appeared in the March/April 2011 issue of SignCraft.
The signs and sketches you see here were done by Ken in the 1970s and 1980s and featured in SignCraft magazine.
