Sign College - Course 2, Section 5

It’s time to give away some of our precious work and talented expertise. In fact, the product or service we’re going to donate will initially cost us a little but the rewards in return will be worth it!

Hold on! Doesn’t this idea run counter to most sign makers’ principles? In fact, isn’t this concept similar to sabotage? No, not really. Savvy sign making professionals that aspire to gain market share recognize that entrepreneurs who say thank you to their loyal customers build an on-going relationship. It’s this association that garners respect and realizes profits. So there really is a right time, an appropriate time, to give!

Ah, now we’re beginning to set down some guidelines as to when we give our work away. It makes smart business sense to contribute products or services after we’ve had time to build a relationship. Yes, after. Doing otherwise would be self-defeating. And not one of us likes to offer a discount up front! After all, some of our reasons for being in the sign industry don’t exactly revolve around just filling our creative urges.

Well-timed appreciation rewards can be vital to securing our survival as a competitive and progressive member of the community. They can enlarge our customer base quickly and effectively. Yet with today’s discount movement permeating even our turf, the thought of giving away freebies may seem a shortsighted solution to building our business. But that shouldn’t be the case so long as we properly understand the rules of recognition and play accordingly – and rule number one is this: Reward loyalty after the sale.

Customer recognition through appropriate giving, especially in the form of an additional product or service, can be a cost-effective way of positioning our businesses as added-value leaders. What that means is that buyers will feel they’re getting more for their money. That feeling will translate into an increase in sales as well as an expanded customer base when they tell others about our work. We’ll start building loyalty and market share for peanuts. But how? Let’s consider a couple of lessons in giving.

First, we must remember to give our best to the very best. And who are the very best? They’re the customers who have consistently purchased signage from us year in and year out. In Co-opetition by Brandenburger and Nalebuff, required reading for every professional sign maker, the book reasons, "New customers are an unknown quantity. You don’t know how profitable they’ll turn out to be. With your existing customers you know how things turned out. Figure out who are your most valuable customers and don’t ever lose them. Reward them to ensure their loyalty. It’s like remembering to send flowers even after you’ve turned a romance into a relationship."

How can we apply that advice? Well, what if we enforced customer appreciation and loyalty with an unexpected follow-up gift? If we already own a digital printer capable of producing T-shirt transfers and already have the customer’s artwork on file, what more could it cost to print a colorful heat transfer and apply it to a shirt or cap? Possibly the difference between realizing additional sales or not. And possibly the difference between additional market presence or not as that customer tells others.

Or, suppose we already own equipment that prints and cuts labels and we run off a couple of decals with the customer’s logo on them? The buyer will not only experience our gratitude, but will also receive an education in what else our business can do for them. We’ve effectively turned a handshake into a sales tool!

In addition, if we consistently reward existing customers we won’t run the risk of alienating them when they hear about an incentive we’re offering to new buyers. They’ll remember the special treatment they received and we’ll stand out as someone they’ll want to do business with again and again, someone with that little extra.

Secondly, we must make sure the work we give away is cost-effective for us yet of great value to the customer. That would effectively rule out cash rewards, obviously, but rule in a product or service that buyers would find indispensable in their own businesses. Even more desirable would be to include a product that comes from surplus or a service that doesn’t require excessive execution time.

Offering a post-purchase reassurance that complements our industry is a clever concept as well. That’s why bookstores give away bookmarks, dentists do the toothbrush thing, and even tax accountants donate calculators. Plus, if it’s something the customer not only needs but wants, then we’ve hit on a winning combination.

Eureka! Now we know what to do with those extra rolls of midnight blue vinyl. Suddenly they’re beginning to look like a best buy as they take on the shape of the customers’ addresses. Now what else can we use that’s already in stock or, should we say, stuffed in the back room?

Now what about the guy who bought all that lettering for his fleet of vehicles but decided to do the application himself? Could we have rewarded him anyway by giving away a sample of application fluid and a couple of paddles? Why, when seeing how much nicer his graphics applied with the fluid, he just could have returned to order some more!

Could we start offering a free workshop on the importance of professional signage? Would our loyal customers take advantage of a cost-free educational seminar, refreshments included, on how signs are designed and produced? Absolutely! Who could resist getting such an invitation-only, inside view along with tips on business-building advertising?

Again, whatever we donate, whether goods or services, must add value in the customer’s mind yet not dramatically increase our cost. Make sure we are rewarding significant purchases with cost-conscious premiums. That’s appropriate giving! Or if necessary, make certain we’re factoring the cost of the "gift", especially if it’s substantial, into the purchase price of the sign.

Envisioning the rewards from giving our work away is the best part. By positioning our companies as ones with the best value, we’ll experience increased activity as our customers interact with friends and fellow businesspersons. Interestingly, it won’t be the small item or service we rewarded our loyal buyers with that’ll motivate their acquaintances to purchase from us. It will be our loyal customers’ own word-of-mouth marketing.

How important are our customers’ testimonials? As Jill Griffin, author of Customer Loyalty notes, "Referral is the most powerful pathway for any business to recruit new customers successfully. Referrals are so effective because they come from an objective second party. The words come from someone who knows you and your products and services, is confident of your ability and reputation to follow through, and has no financial motive for touting your product. Many times your products are "sold" before you even meet the new customer or client."

So let’s go ahead with it. Let’s appropriately give some of our work and expertise away – after the sale. Even though it’ll initially cost us a little, the relationships we’ll build will yield dividends – increased marketshare and profitability.