Last-Ditch Planning, Inventory and More To-Do Items for December

NOV. 26-DEC. 2

PLANNING Corey Perez, AD ART (Flower Mound, TX) sets the tone: “Time to set goals for 2024! Make them big. Make them scary. Stretch your comfort zone and raise the bar to a higher level!” Joe Dale, Denron Sign Co. (Downingtown, PA), will devise an incentive plan to help retain good employees. Angela Goffstown, Boyd Sign Systems (Englewood, CO) will research upcoming sign competitions and make sure to enter them. Look for ours to open in May 2024!

DEC. 3-9

SALES Brandon Williams, Brand Connect dba Triad Signs (Burlington, NC) will do a “tax write-off” campaign persuading customers to invest in signage now so they can write it off as a 2023 capital expense.

INVENTORY Cross Signs (Seminole, FL) and SmithCraft Signs (Phoenix) are just two of untold thousands of companies performing annual item counts. Jasper Burton, Cuerden Sign Co. (Conway, AR) offers these priorities: “Inventory. Celebration. Vacations.”

DEC. 10-16

MARKETING Developing newsletters for each month of 2024 is on the docket for Doug Wilson, Image360 Columbus-Dublin (Dublin, OH), since December is a slow month, he reports.

OPERATIONS Tyler Rodney, Inter Sign National (Baltimore) will tie up loose ends for the year before shutting down for Christmas. Similarly, Sabrina Davis, Port City Signs & Graphics (Wilmington, NC), says, “We usually ‘close’ to the public between Christmas and New Year’s but we make a plan for internal housekeeping tasks that need to be done to start the new year fresh.”

DEC. 17-24

EMPLOYEES Pat Dacy, 3V Signs & Graphics (Torrance, CA) is planning an interesting company Christmas party: “Laser shooting range to pick off the reindeer in the back of the shop,” he says. “Then reindeer burgers.” Not Santa’s reindeer, we hope!

DEC. 25-30

ANALYSIS Reviewing his insurance limits before the renewal comes sounds like a final-week task for Ken Davidson, Davidson & Co. (Marietta, GA), as does reviewing the success rate of the company’s internal OKRs over the year to see what they’ve done well and where they need to improve, for Derek Atchley, Atchley Graphics (Columbus, OH).

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Fabulous Forms

Today, you have so many ways to communicate with your audience online … email, social posts, direct messages, chatbots powered by AI … and yet, basic website forms remain a staple. Web forms are easy to use and can be embedded in a site, so customers don’t need to email or call you to ask a question or provide information.

The most obvious and common form type is the contact form. Many businesses use it to filter messages and avoid spam to their employees’ inboxes. A customer who cannot contact your business by mail or phone will stop trying to reach you, but thanks to contact forms, you won’t miss your customers, and because they’re simple to use, you’ll attract more potential customers.

But a contact form is just the start. Regardless of what type of forms you include, here’s some advice:

• Keep web forms short and simple; adding more than five fields can overwhelm users and they’ll often abandon the form.
• Use web form elements consistent with your website design.
• Explain why certain questions are being asked and obtain consent from your respondents.
• Make sure the web forms work properly and are free of errors.
• Use common words and avoid industry jargon.

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