ST Editors Visit Signarama Downtown in Louisville

VISITING SIGN COMPANIES, seeing their operations and talking to their owners, managers and staff create essential learning experiences for those of us who write about but have never worked directly in the sign industry. So, it was our very great pleasure to drive 100 or so miles down I-64 West from Cincinnati to visit Signarama Downtown (SD) in Louisville, KY, co-owned by CEO Maggie Harlow — who is also our “Business of Signs” monthly columnist — and her husband Brian Harlow.

SD’s building certainly made a big impression; it’s a large space, not that we were expecting a strip-mall storefront. Maggie bought the building in 2020, mere months after the pandemic began. Originally constructed as a warehouse for railroad-delivered grocery supplies, the building most recently served as an antique mall with several divided spaces for display. Now with the offices upstairs and production equipment downstairs, the building remains an interesting workspace, one we imagine employees would enjoy walking into every day.

When we arrived, among other jobs, SD was printing short-term avenue banners to promote possible future locations of the Sundance Film Festival, which apparently will be relocating from Park City, UT to a larger city that can offer the infrastructure required for the growing annual event — both Louisville and Cincinnati are on the list. Whoever is awarded the annual job once the new location is chosen may be looking at a 10-year contract for the festival signage.

Signarama Downtown’s production team members working on Sundance Film Festival avenue banners.

Should Owners Be the Top Salespeople, Too?

SD currently employs a nine-person sales team as well as seven project managers. Maggie has on occasion moved employees from one role to another, depending on their suitability for the job. A project manager has become the receptionist. Another sales team member is now the purchasing manager. Maggie is able to assess the strengths of her employees and find better homes for them if their original positions are not the best fit.

“A lot of shops let their best salesperson drive their shop,” Maggie says. This can result in too much leverage on the part of that salesperson over other departments, for example, with X’s projects getting priority.” Maggie states she was guilty of this back when she topped all the other salespeople of her company — and it’s something that many owners practice, she says.

She credits Ray Titus, the founder and CEO of United Franchise Group (parent company of the Signarama franchise), for pointing this out as a fault, not a strength. “‘Your problem is that you eat your young,’” Maggie reports Titus saying, meaning she would not allow her salespeople to grow and thrive. She says it took her a full year to “detox” from that practice and mindset, and to remove herself from selling, but the result has been increasing success capped by record sales in 2023 — in addition to considerably more harmony within the sales team.

Maggie Harlow, co-owner and CEO of Signarama Downtown, in her office.

Purposely Changing From National to Local

For a while SD pursued project management for national projects after receiving a tip from a customer who was interested in senior living. Several years ago, Maggie decided to shift the focus to local clients. “I can’t overstate how nice it is not to have to call vendors in other states to do a survey,” she says. The April 2022 acquisition of another Louisville sign company, whose clients were entirely local, helped. Maggie wanted to keep all those employees (nine in total), as they had been necessary in supporting that shop’s local sales. However, a few refused her offer and a couple others dropped away, but the employees who did transition to SD’s ownership have worked out very well. Maggie herself spent two weeks with the staff at the acquired shop’s location to see what the culture was like.

Charging for Design, Working With Interns and Apprentices

This 20-year-old sign company counts itself among those that do not offer free design work as part of the sales process. Maggie admits the policy of getting a deposit, even a modest amount, has cost SD some sales, but she has no plans to change and wishes more sign companies would stop giving away design concepts in efforts to make sales. SD also does not allow customers to contact their designers directly; instead clients must coordinate with sales or project managers. This allows her designers to work in a focused environment and regularly achieve their goal of 20 designs per designer each day (depending on the complexity). SD will allow customers to consult with designers if the customers insist, but at a cost of $150 per hour, which a few are willing to pay.

The shop does some work with interns for design via a connection with one local high school — two members of SD’s current staff started as interns from that school. The shop also works with the US Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration for apprentices in graphic design.

Two members of Signarama Downtown’s design department.

Let Managers Be Managers

Maggie describes herself as part-time. “My job is to connect with employees, get to know them,” she says. “I feel like an executive coach more than the boss.” She leads the company’s weekly meeting but her managers — Claire Latta (sales), Austin Merritt (installation), Christa Watson (design), Thomas Nance (training) and Evan Sanders (production) — run the company. She heads a foundation in her son’s name — Maggie and Brian’s son is world-famous rapper and entertainer Jack Harlow — and serves on boards for local nonprofits in leadership-coaching roles.

At the end of our visit we were taken out for a very nice lunch by Austin, Christa, Thomas and Evan, who regaled us with SD’s wildest installation stories from the field, how the design department can manage 20 designs per designer each day, everyone’s favorite recent project and more. We had a super-fun as well as very informative time, and we’re already looking forward to the next time we can drive west to Louisville to see what new and interesting things Signarama Downtown is doing.

For more of Maggie Harlow’s advice on the business of signs, visit signsofthetimes.com/harlow.