By signcraft
Posted on Saturday, November 22nd, 2025
For many sign designers, the quick rough sketch is the fastest route to a closed sale. Doing a rough drawing in front of the customer can give you a big edge in the sales process.
Lane Walker has used the quick rough sketch as a sales tool for years. He finds most customers are amazed to see him “thinking on paper” as he roughs out a concept or two for their sign. In “The time-saving power of the Sharpie sketch” you can see how it works.
“Customers often are unsure whether you’re going to be able to do something they like,” says Lane, “or if you understand what they want. My solution is to grab my Sharpie felt-tipped pens—a fine and extra-fine—and start sketching their design on a pad of paper.
“It’s just a very rough sketch but they’ve probably never seen anyone do that. They often say something like ‘Well, it looks like you know what you’re doing…’ and then they can relax. I explain that it’s really rough, but they usually say how great it looks.”
