Preventative Maintenance, Software Audit and More Signshop Tips

ABOVE PHOTO: GABE GRIFFIN, CLEAR SIGN & DESIGN

“The beginning is always today.” — Mary Wollstonecraft

CUSTOMERS Meaningful Calls

1 Sandra Jones, Image National Signs (Nampa, ID), has seen significant impact by encouraging customers to move from reactive service calls to a preventative-maintenance program for their signage. For FastTrack Signs (Bellefontaine, OH), discussing visibility with customers rather than just sizes has improved both results and average job size. “We often show clients quick mockups demonstrating how letter height, contrast and placement affect readability from the road. When customers understand that bigger or higher-contrast graphics bring more attention to their business, they’re much more willing to upgrade,” says owner Dennis Schaub.

DESIGN Mockup Overlay

2 Before final approval, Derek Atchley of Derek Atchley Creative (Columbus, OH) recommends placing your proposed sign design onto a real photo of the installation site to scale. “Not a generic rendering. Not a flat proof. An accurate, perspective-correct mockup on the actual building,” he specifies, which dramatically increases close rates, adds clarity and brandability.

FABRICATION Smart Techniques

3 “Always do a rubbing of any premasked dusted crystal, white-on-white or similar hard-to-see cut vinyl. Your installers will love you forever!” advises Matthew Taylor, Galaxy Sign Co. (Seattle). “And don’t use a pencil! It will rub off on their hands and get on the back of the graphic. Always have a jumbo crayon or two lying around the shop for any rubbings.” Meanwhile, So Easy Signs (Middletown, OH) has recently upgraded their wide-format printer to achieve color consistency for repeat customers, according to owner Joe Allen, and Todd Sallas of Coastal Signs & Graphics (Slocomb, AL) recommends laser welding for in-house sign structure fabrication.

PHOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO

SOFTWARE Streamlined Solutions

4 National Branding (Troy, MI) is auditing every piece of software they use. “If a platform is not working exactly how we need it to in a sign company, it is on the chopping block,” says 2025 Women in Signs Awards winner Torey Rouillon. “We move too fast and juggle too many moving parts to babysit systems that slow us down.” Meanwhile, Fastsigns of Harrisburg, PA has recently started playing with AI to generate scripts in Adobe Illustrator to automate mundane tasks like importing and placing multiple files, registration marks, easy sequential numbering and more.

MANAGEMENT Autopsy in Reverse

5 At a big project kickoff, nobody wants to ask, “But what if this falls apart?” According to psychologist Gary Klein, we are terrible at spotting disaster before it happens and excellent at explaining it afterwards. So run a “pre-mortem” at your next kickoff and pretend the project failed spectacularly. Ask the room, “What killed it?” and soon you will discover crucial problems while they are still cheap to fix.

MANAGEMENT Turn Anxiety Into Jet Fuel

6 Maybe anxiety isn’t your enemy. Tech entrepreneur Naval Ravikant admits it got him off the couch. Dr. Emiliana Simon-Thomas from Greater Good Science Center says the key is treating unpleasant feelings as information, not poison. Business owners can do the same. Nervous about payroll? Maybe it’s time to adjust scheduling. Anxious about sales? Could be the market telling you to sell smarter. Discomfort is a lousy roommate — but it’s also a hell of a teacher.