Why should I choose you?

Being in the position that I am, I get to hear a disproportionate number of complaints against all types of sign companies who have seemingly left their client high and dry for some reason or another. Perfection is what we sometimes allow our clients to expect and setting expectation levels so high will only lead to our downfall when we fail to deliver.

I have a saying that I trot out from time to time to illustrate a point I want to make when having conversations based around standards, quality, and service levels. The saying comes to me when someone bemoans the calibre of the sign industry in general, so bear with me on this as I will be taking a broad view—this need not apply to you personally or in all circumstances, but it does have resonance.


The saying is this: “You can choose from any three of the following, but you can only have two of them for it to work. The choices are quality, speed, and price.”

The conversation normally evolves from how sign-makers are, more often than not, towards the backend of requirements from customers. The customer often forgets all about the need for a sign and then get on the phone to ask: “What’s the cheapest we can get it and how fast?”

It’s all about the price

Sign-makers say to me that 99 times out of 100 it is all about price and a low price at that. OK I get that. So that means you are left with either quality or speed. Again, many sign-makers say that they are pressured by their clientele to get the job done quickly—always last minute—so speed tends to dominate the order after price.

If I am right, then quality falls by the wayside because you have been forced to choose price and speed over quality. And quality is not all about using more expensive materials, manufacturing, and installation methods. It is about using the right materials for the job, the finishing, the service, the delivery, the ‘feel’ or ‘buying experience’, and the relationship between sign-maker and customer. But because when things are being done ‘cheap’ and ‘quick’, there is no time or indeed profit to indulge in such fragile things as building a relationship. There is also then a perception that there is no time to suggest better design and materials that will benefit both client and supplier, or present your company in a way as to be seen a trusted competent professional to do business with. Another factor is that lowering your prices and margins to be more competitive is going to catch up with you when a job goes wrong and you have no profit to cover any losses.


I did say I am generalising, as the Village Hall that wants a 3 x 1.5m white banner with blue Comic Sans text saying ‘Garden Fete here this weekend’ is going to get exactly that and it therefore just does not need to be a material that will last more than six months—unless the canny sign-maker suggests keeping the banner material for the next few fetes and just change the graphics thereby retaining repeat business.

However, by simply suggesting that, the quality aspect comes in to play. This is because you will need a better material and price goes out as it will not be the cheapest option. I am confident someone will come up with an exception to this rule, but knowing about the rule can put certain things in perspective. And yes, I am aware that most customers can be awkward, have a budget and a deadline—but who decided to make things awkward, or the amount in the budget, and the dead-line in the first place? Was it a sign-maker? Could the sign-maker have done something to get more time and money instead of having to rush around and maybe cut corners in order to deliver?

Nobody is saying that being in the sign industry was ever going to be an easy ride, but we have to start somewhere in order to create a better trading environment for all instead of a race to the bottom all the time.

No luck in success

“Large sign companies didn’t reach their size and stature by luck!” This conversation I have is, in the main, with smaller sign companies who are battling to become established with a decent client base, profitable projects, and an adequate order book. The larger sign companies though are not exactly immune to this, but they have gone through the initial stages of building their business up and I am confident that they did not reach the size of business they are today by accident.

I suspect that sometime during the growth of their business they came to a realisation that actually, price is not always the be all and end all, it is quality and speed. I would also go so far as to say that once they established a good supplier/customer rapport, speed—the timing of supplying products—became more manageable as the two parties worked together in partnership. The outcome is that the quality was allowed to increase and the price was deemed appropriate.

There will be times when speed is of the essence but that can be catered for by charging the correct, and profitable, price. If the relationship between client and supplier is recognised at a professional level, then the client will defer to the sign company for best advice. If the client wishes to treat the supplier as a source for the cheapest, well guess what they will get in more ways than one. Furthermore, if the sign-maker continues to pander to the cheapest solution and not raise their game, they will always be scrabbling around for low margin jobs.

Double glazing curse

My soapbox point is this. In this country, I do sometimes think that the sign industry is considered by those outside it as being on a par with the home double glazing industry of the 1970s—apologies if you have to ask an elder what that was all about. That is patently untrue and unfair. But I also think we do have a tendency to bring that impression home to ourselves and unfortunately, I all too often see examples of business practices that quite frankly only compound that image. In this country, there is always a struggle to get the deserved recognition, whereas in some of our European neighbours and the USA, sign-making is a respected skilled business delivering a quality product in an efficient manner. It is no surprise to learn that those sign companies who break through this barrier and work with their clients as a team, are the successful ones with decent if not full order books.



If, when reading this, you are confident that none of this applies to you, I congratulate you. But I ask everyone to consider how much the industry has changed over the last 20 years. Are the same sign companies who were at the top then, still there or the same size they were then? Apart from inflation, how many sign companies have actually grown their business or are simply moving from one year to the next at the same level of income and profit? The clients are not going to change their attitude unless we as an industry lead them by example.


“The answer is…there is no such thing as my customer.” Again, bear with me on this. There is, though, someone there who wants to buy a sign and has the money to do so—better known as a ‘potential customer’. It does not matter if you have just sold them £50,000 worth of signs for their flagship store or just met them, the next job will always be up for grabs and it is your job to make sure that the potential customer does not even think about going elsewhere to buy a sign and give their money to someone else. If the potential customer is going at you with nothing but price, price, price, then consider walking away. This is because, in the end, they most probably will walk away from you. If you have treated them professionally, resolved their issues, added value, and so on, they are less likely to go elsewhere—but do not let your guard down.

Image counts

Being professional does not mean we have got to go around wearing business suits, but it does mean that we have got to act accordingly. Treat those potential customers as you would be expected to be treated yourself. Remember it is not all always about price. If it were, then companies such as Ferrari, Aston Martin, and Lamborghini would not exist and we would all be driving around in a Dacia Sandero—being the cheapest new car available in the UK at the time of writing.



There is no doubt that the image of the industry is improving, but I fear if we continue to deal in the same ways as before, we will always be considered as low valued commodity suppliers. In reality, we are the people that can make other businesses successful simply by the quality of the sign and the service we give them. 

Public Notice:

• Winning a job on price alone will create long-term issues
• Build a partnership based on quality and service
• Focusing on quality and speed is the path to growth
• The UK sign-industry needs to change perceptions and earn the respect it deserves

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