When a client has multiple locations, the initial work invested in the original sign design can pay off with future business.
Potential future business
As mentioned, another factor to consider is the potential for future sign sales to the same customer. There is certainly nothing wrong with doing work for a single-location business, but if that business is a problem client for other reasons, then the lack of potential for similar future sales can certainly compound the frustration for the sign shop.
That said, such potential can be difficult to measure, as a single-location business could end up opening additional locations in the future. Also, a single-location client can be highly valuable in terms of referrals.
In any case, if a signmaker chooses to work with time-consuming clients rather than avoid them, then a key factor in the payoff of that investment of time is the possibility of multiple future installations of the same—or very similar—signs.
Levels of decision-making
Another issue is the client who must go through multiple layers of decision-making before providing design approval to the sign shop. Design approval by committee and/or by other inexperienced contacts who insist on participating in the process can easily result in project delays. A concept that is acceptable to one person, after all, may not please another, which can lead to an ever-
changing design. For this reason, timelines need to be set in advance.
Project budgeting
The client who will not state a sign project budget in advance is another major red flag. This often means the actual budget available for the job is much lower than what the client’s desired sign would actually cost.
A client’s unwillingness to state a project budget is also yet another issue of experience and knowledge. Misperceptions of the amount of time and labour involved in producing and installing an outdoor electrical sign can carry over into misperceptions of estimated project costs.
Advance questioning
To help sign shops spot and either educate or avoid problem clients, it is important to ask the right questions in advance:
- Is your new sign already designed?
- If not, who will design it?
- If the sign has yet to be designed, are you the only person who must approve it?
- If not, who else must approve the design?
- If you already have a design, who created it and may we see the file?
- Is this the first time this sign will be produced or has it already been installed at another location?
- What is your budget for this project?
- What is your timetable to have this project completed and does it involve a hard deadline (such as the grand opening of a new business)?
- Is this the only location for which this sign will ever be needed?
Watching for red flags as the client answers these questions is very important, as problem clients can easily cost a sign shop more—in time, labour, staff morale and headaches—than it will actually make from the project.
John Baylis is marketing director for Direct Sign Wholesale, which produces channel letters. For more information, contact him via e-mail at jb@directsignwholesale.com.
