US-based Joe Arenella, founder of SignTracker offers his insight into how to change your mindset from imposter syndrome to knowing your worth and not selling yourself short
When I first ran my sign shop I suffered from a bit of imposter syndrome and was always telling others I was “JUST a sign guy.” I rarely thought of myself as a ‘real’ business owner, working with a team of creative and talented people. The result? I felt stuck in those early days, like I was treading water, unable to see a path forward to significant growth. So, what changed all that?
It took me a while to tame that beast, but once I was able to see myself and my employees as a team of professionals – business owners, designers, fabricators, and installers – everything changed. How I saw my shop’s offerings, what goals I aimed for, and how well I was able to execute every single day.
If you, as a sign shop owner, find yourself struggling in a similar way now, just a few small adjustments in your thinking can lead to giant leaps in your business and profits.
Here are three tips that will help change your thinking and your shop’s position in the marketplace:
This will trap you into being price driven and continually lowering your prices will leave you no other choice but to increase your volume of sales to cover operations. But, the greater your volume of sales, the more expansion you require and the less money you end up making. Your overhead increases, your ability to manage the workload is strained, and the opportunity to attract better employees and clients all but vanishes.
The reality is, you produce custom-designed products that require expensive equipment, quality materials, and highly skilled labour. These are not off-the-shelf products, but rather creative statement pieces that represent brands, help ensure the success of businesses, promote events, create beautiful environments, and so much more. So, hold your head high and price yourself accordingly. Remember, you and your team of dedicated professionals deliver off-the-charts value to anyone lucky enough to work with you.
2. Change your client relationships
Strategically position yourself as a “partner” with your clients rather than just another vendor. How do you do this? By becoming a dedicated problem solver committed to understanding customers’ needs. It is stressful for your clients to manage every detail of their projects. So, problem solving will put you in a space all of your own, and you will attract clients who are willing to pay a premium for that service.
There are many ways to position yourself in your market. Start with the basics, get and stay organised, and from start to finish, make sure your customer’s experience is positive. Clean up your shop a bit, provide a welcoming lobby, update your website to convey a more design-oriented feel, and show off your work with a story about the problems you have solved, not just photos of completed projects. Visit other sign shops or design firm websites that show the types of projects you are wanting to showcase on your site for inspiration.
Most of all, communicate with your customers through the entire process. It relieves your clients to know you are on top of their work. Your fees for services will still need to be fair, but you will never have to worry about being the low-cost provider again if you make these changes. Remember: If your client knows they have a partner that will work hard to preserve the integrity of their brand, or ensure that their event goes perfectly, they will love and trust you forever.
3. Focus on quality vendor partnerships for growth.
Another trend I am seeing in the sign industry is outsourcing and there are several good reasons for this. First, it makes great business sense to find wholesalers that produce quality products. Partnering with them allows you to expand your product offering without having to expand your shop’s footprint. This will free you up to focus on systems and staff development for design, project management, and customer support.
Also, the landscape of retail development is changing and you need to adapt to take advantage of these changes. So many new developments are mixed use properties with retail, office and apartments all in one.
If you are able to help your clients develop and manage a cohesive and creative signage program for the property, fabricate the signs and graphics that you have the capacity to produce, and then outsource the rest to your trusted wholesalers, you can enjoy years of profitable work on one property alone.
To sum up, whether you believe it or not, you have what it takes to build the business you want. So, step back. Take a breath. Then make some changes, test what works, and enjoy the fruits of your newfound success.
I leave you with the wise words of advice from David Bowie: “If you feel safe in the area that you’re working in, you’re not working in the right area. Always go a little further into the water than you feel you’re capable of being in.
“Go a little bit out of your depth, and when you don’t feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom, you’re just about in the right place to do something exciting.”
