Signs of the times

Signage has the potential to make or break a business. In a highly competitive environment, catching a customer's eye and conveying your message quickly and effectively could trigger a sale, and perhaps a long-term relationship. How ironic, then, that sign shops are traditionally to be found tucked away in industrial parks or even someone's back yard shed.

Signarama retail franchise decided to turn that on its head.

"We've always found that one of our best strategies was to place our locations in high-profile, high-traffic locations," says Evan Foster, national marketing director of United Franchise Group. "We want to make sure customers are aware of our franchisees and make it easy to do business with them."

Signage can be a very significant investment and customers want to be sure that they get it right. Professional, clean showrooms where customers can see, touch and feel the product before they go ahead helps customers feel more comfortable in their purchase.

"Like most industries, signage is incredibly competitive," says Foster. "But the best marketing plans all come to nought though if you don't get the simple things right. One of the greatest gripes we hear about signage companies is their unreliability. Our franchisees live and die by their punctuality - and customers also see this as a signal of how professional and timely we will be in getting the project completed."

Foster believes that the brand will continue to grow as long franchisees 'say what they do and do what they say'.

"Signage can be quite a guessing game for a number of business owners and, in 99 per cent of cases, they need our franchisees to make suggestions to assist with their planning," he says. "Stepping customers through the process is vitally important. This might mean identifying the exact purposes of the sign so that each customer gets the individual solution that is best for them, or just making sure they're clear about what happens next. Because the customer doesn't get to see what happens behind the scenes, they need to feel confident that what they agreed upon is actually going to come to fruition.

"Of course, it also helps if you turn out a quality product every time"

This article appears courtesy of Franchising Magazine