Building a solid roof 

If you look out of the nearest window, chances are you will see a sky that is a shade of blue, maybe blue-grey. It may touch the horizon in a distant field that reflects something close to one of the alleged forty shades of green that is available.

So, the sky is blue, the grass green, and that is despite the political turmoil and seismic undercurrents that comprise most of the news that is out there today. All is well after all. The ship sails serenely onward.

However. The state of the economy prevailing in the midst of all that is happening today is the subject of much theorising and even more debate. The size and shape of the economy that we are going to be left with when all the pieces on the field of play have resolved themselves into something that looks like an end-game, that's anybody's guess too.

In uncertain times, anyone with plans for significant expansion involving capital expenditure or commitment to longer term investments naturally has a more reserved and cautious attitude. That includes sign buyers. A sign after all is usually a pointer toward something bigger. Is there anything you can do on behalf of your business to defend against such situations?

Grey clouds

Without question, the biggest disruption to business as usual that has been visited upon the business fraternity, or ‘us’, in recent history is ‘Brexit’. Apart from an utter loathing of the neologism itself, this piece takes no stance whatever on the merits of the decision.


One thing has to be acknowledged though. We have ordered a Brexit-burger: we have no clue what is in it, we do not know what it will cost, we do not know if we will like the taste and it is by no means certain that, when the burger finally arrives, it will not turn out to be a hot-cross bun or something that looks nothing like the picture on the menu we originally chose from.

In a word? Uncertainty

Uncertainty is a thing that masquerades in many forms when you are responsible for running a business. If you put all those things in a blender though and squint at the resulting mess, it renders down to one grey-coloured essence and it is this: not knowing for sure that if you put cash into an enterprise, that you will you get your cash back out again. That, plus a little more than you deposited for having been denied the convenience of worry-free access to your money.

‘Money in the bank’ though is looking increasingly like the air in your tyres. Without a dose of good old-fashioned inflation prompting an interest rate rise, you could find yourself with a flat. And if an apartment sounds better than a flat, you will find property yields pretty disappointing too. They are on a slippery pole and headed in one direction in some cities.



Uncertainty fuels a dilution of confidence and sends people scurrying for safety. In uncertain times, people attach an inflated value to the bird in the hand, which sends its currency higher than the bellwether two in the bush. They are less inclined to put money into something, for fear they will never see it again.

Doing data

Using blue sky and green grass as a macro-economic indicator is reassuring up to a point, but where would you look for signs that things are OK and that you probably should commit ink to paper and buy that new printer? You can look where you like, in times of great uncertainty, throwing a handful of chicken bones on the ground and extracting inference and meaning may give you the answer you are looking for.

You are a data point among many. If your business has had a chilly couple of months, you will be sensitised to the darker corners of the news and the gnawing uncertainties it portends. If you are not feeling positively inclined, or your business’ numbers are telling you to take it easy, capital expenditure may be the first of the available measures you look to in order to smooth things out.

Decisions have consequences

The bloke who is trying to sell you the printer will have to take the ‘not buying’ message back to base and, in turn, his numbers will begin to look a bit moody. The cloud he is now sat under eventually gets to rain on the printer factory and senior people there begin to talk in terms of ‘Europe looking a bit soft’, or other loaded euphemisms that really translate to: “Waahhh! Our numbers are tanking.”

The sign and allied industries rely, as do all businesses really, on a buoyant economy—or rather the confidence in outcomes that a buoyant economy produces. The buoyant economy produces a tide that is said to ‘lift all boats’.
 
We are not operating in a positive climate at the moment. Or that is how it feels to many who choose to speak up on the subject.

Regardless of how many positive assertions or manically upbeat mantras are thrust in our faces, there is a pervading air of uncertainty out there. It is overlaid with a concern that those who are orchestrating events at the macro scale just do not know what they are doing—or that they do, but they are compelled to do it anyway.



New vehicle registrations and the expansion of retail space have always been thought of as being good indicators of how well the sign industry is going to perform. Commercial vehicles probably need graphics before they take to the road and shops need signs before they open for business. With fractured confidence gnawing, do businesses defer purchases and big picture initiatives like premises moves? You bet they do. But they still have businesses to run. Those businesses need promotions. The good news is, you are a sign-maker and you can probably help even when things feel tight.

Most people who run successful businesses know that, in order to drive those businesses along, some form of self-promotion is indicated. That means signs. That means promotional graphics. That means doing what is needed to look that bit better than the business next door. Doing nothing at all and simply strangling a business by containing any and all expenditure is not the wisest of options.

Businesses turn to the sign industry in good times, in bad times, and at times when the times themselves simply cannot make up their minds whether they are good or bad.

The van might not get replaced, but its livery might be refreshed. The restaurant might not be gutted and refitted, but it might get a great ambient makeover with some printed and applied décor. The replacement facia sign may have to wait, but some banging window graphics are likely to be on the menu still.

Sign businesses can offer other businesses a lot of impact for a little money. So, when times are looking a bit thin, or the outlook not as rosy as we had all hoped, sign-makers are in with a shout when there is a progressive business out there hoping to improve its trading position.

You need to be in a well-toned and fit condition to respond to prevailing economic factors, good or not so good. How do you stack up?

Life signs

How about the metabolic rate of your own business. Or, to put it another way, just how much cash does XYZ Signs consume just by being XYZ Signs? Probably a bit more than you would think. If you want to run a lean and efficient operation, sign company or anything else for that matter, there are a few things you can do that will help you whether there is an economic tailwind blowing or you are fighting a straight-in-your-face economy.

First, have a think about your competition. If you have something above the door that casts you in the role of a sign-maker, then you are in competition with others of the same persuasion. You are categorically, and absolutely, not in competition with the banks. It is not your job to extend creative credit, or supply your output on a mortgaged basis. If you do something for someone, do so on the basis you expect to be paid for it and in a reasonably timely fashion.

Next, have a think about your prices. Sure, if they were selling customers down the road, you would probably go and buy a few—that amounts to offering attractive pricing. Do not do so though to the extent that you are operating a marginally profitable business. If you think that ‘feeling’ of being busy by giving jobs away is going to make you profitable, you are wrong. Cover your costs and while you are about it, make some money. You are worth it. Make attractive products, keep an eye on and sell to quality, and you will succeed. Do not give yourself away.

When you have debated the above with whomever you must, consider the supplier fraternity and how it can help. If you are not dealing with a material supplier who can get goods to you the next working day or sooner and at prices you are happy to pay, pick up the phone to any of a number who can. If you are confident you can get materials when you need them, why would you bother keeping your cash tied up in stock? Profit is one thing, cash another. You cannot eat vinyl. Get it when you need it. Load a pound or two on jobs that will stand it and you win all round.

Are you struggling with kit that is holding you back? Then chase down a deal with someone who can supply you with hardware that is up to your expectations and needs. There are some very efficient deals available from hardware suppliers who will help you get and upgrade capability installed that leaves your cash position pretty much untouched and that simply reworks an existing leasing arrangement. Do not struggle—ask.



Whether economic conditions are good or bad, you do need in some way, shape, or form to promote a business to have it succeed. The jobs of marketeers and would-be promoters of business have changed out of all recognition in recent years. Once upon a not-too-distant time, you could promote your business by sending things out in its name to prospects you had yet to get to know. Today, it is about incoming.

Get found

Driving incoming means getting found. People look for signs and for sign-makers these days in exactly the places you look when you want to buy something, online. How is your website looking? Who is looking at it? Is it designed to convert those who find it into good paying customers? If you are in any doubt at all that your site is working for you, it needs dealing with.

To create a website that ‘ranks’ well enough to matter when Google is showing its affections, you need to pay a great deal of attention to the content your site hosts and make sure that it is genuinely useful to those you want to attract as customers. Sign buyers are out there and they are looking for companies, yours may be an exact fit in terms of need. Are these sign buyers finding you?

You will have noticed no doubt that, when you search for something, as a sign buyer might, that you are often presented with search results that are disclosed as adverts. These results top and tail the normal search results and they assume the positions they do because somebody has created a campaign designed to get them displayed. That is a game you can play, no matter how big or small your company is. It gets your name and your services in front of buyers that are committed enough to be looking whatever the weather.



Google’s service for advertising in search results is called Ad Words. You can use it to scoop up, for example, all the people searching for a sign-maker within, say, thirty miles. If the content your ad takes people to satisfies the searchers’ needs, Google will show the ad. If the potential buyer clicks on your ad, they are taken to your website and you pay Google for the introduction. How much? It varies. Probably around £0.75 for a specialist term entered.

Unlike someone picking up a mailing that is landed on the doorstep, someone attracted to your site is committed enough to be looking for something. Regardless of the prevailing economy, someone is seeking a sign-maker. The tools that Google makes available to advertisers suggest the words you may like to capture in your campaign’s scope. You can turn it on and off easily, you can set a budget, you can even manage it on your mobile phone.

Get word out

What was that we said about selling customers in a shop down the road? Ad Words is about as close as it gets currently. Your website will need to be in good shape. But then your website needs to be in good shape anyway.

When sign buyers’ demeanour toward investment is a bit off colour, it is up to us to promote what may, to said buyers, look like an enticing offer. As we have established, fleet vehicles might be hanging around a bit longer than usual and a refurbishment might outrank a refit, but there is business to be done nonetheless.

A small sign producer with a few jobs moving through the premises is a busy sign producer. A few jobs more than that and it is more a busting at the seams feeling. Some types of work are more competitively contested than other types so if you are going on the offensive and looking to attract work, where would you look first?

O Factoid: In the first quarter of 2017, the UK was the slowest-growing advanced economy on earth. GDP grew at just 0.2 percent, down from 0.7 percent in the previous quarter, and confirming previous estimates, the Office for National Statistics. O

One available tactic where outgoing activity outranks efforts to generate incoming, is when you own a relationship. If someone you have worked for in the past has signs that you sense might be nearing some sort of renewal, then a timely call might be as much as it needs to get things moving.

Working the existing customer base does, to a limited extent, insulate you from the capricious nature of economic forces acting on those you sell to. Your approach to those you know is less speculative, more consultative. Some go as far as to call it ‘looking after your customers’.

Be prepared

If you want to build a business that has a roof capable of shrugging off the cyclical winters imposed by economic ebbs and flows, it is going to be a business that knows how to plan. It is going to be a business that knows just enough to get a campaign started and delivered.

When sign buyers have run for cover or appear to be hibernating, the first question is not whether it is something you have said that is putting them off, and more whether it is something you have not said. People you have yet to meet are out there and looking for things that you can make. They are going to find someone able to help. Surely it would be better if it was you?

In good times and in times that are not so good, make absolutely sure your business is visible, available, and capable of doing what the economic situation says it must.


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