Download this helpful sales tool

By signcraft

Posted on Monday, April 8th, 2019

Even when you make them every day, it’s easy to overlook some of the potential sign needs of your customers. Dan Mika created this handy drawing that you can download and use to make sure your customers don’t miss out on the best advertising value of all: SIGNS.

It’s essential that small businesses take advantage of every opportunity to get their message in front of their potential customers. The low cost and longevity of signs make them the most inexpensive source of such advertising. As a sign maker, you can help their customers wring the most out of their ad budget by making sure they get all the signs they need.

For most customers, it’s easier and faster to help them visualize their sign options instead of trying to explain what they are. Dan has used this drawing as a sales tool for years and shared it in the November/December 2001 issue of SignCraft. Over the years we’ve heard from many readers who have put it to work.

“This may be the best way to visualize the sign possibilities for a business,” Dan says. “It quickly lets you and the client see signage and advertising opportunities that might otherwise have been overlooked. That’s our job as sign professionals—to help our clients get the most advertising value from their signs.”

Besides helping your customer succeed and you to sell more signs, this approach changes your role from a basic order-taker to a marketing consultant for your clients. Anyone can take an order, but when you help a client find new ways to bring in business, you build a relationship and a reputation. That goes a long way towards setting your sign business apart from the rest.

Click here to download the graphic as a PDF for your own use.

Dan uses the drawing as a reference during sales meetings. A client may contact you about one specific sign, say a storefront sign, but haven’t even considered other ways to get their message out with signs. The drawing opens discussions about other signs.

“You can also put it on your website to clearly show your company’s capabilities,” Dan says, “and to get clients thinking about the possibilities. Simply remove the signs not allowed in your city or that you don’t supply. And before you decide you can’t supply a certain type of sign, look into outsourcing the production. For example, you can hook up with an electrical sign company to produce an illuminated sign, but still handle the design end of the job.”

Another use for the graphic is to illustrate the size and types of signs allowed by your local ordinances. Make a copy and note the maximum square footage of each type of sign, along with any other limits imposed by your community’s sign code—such as a 30-day limit on exterior banners. It makes a handy reference.

“Fill one in for each town you work in,” says Dan. “You can see at a glance what the code says about each type of sign in that town.”