Where Can I Find New Sign Workers? This and More of Your Questions Answered for September

Where can I find new employees?

We’ve been getting so many questions like this! Given the sign industry’s size, dispersion, range of materials, equipment and types of signs out there — not to mention the different and unique positions within a sign company — unfortunately, there is no one, good answer to this question.

What we can offer is the incredibly funny, offbeat, but also insightful experiences of hiring employees that our Shop Operations columnist Dale Salamacha, his partner Rick Ream and others on staff describe in the episode of their YouTube show entitled “Finding Good Employees And Our Epic Fails” (see signsofthetimes.com/09211). And if you like what you see, subscribe to Dale’s channel, “Media 1 Wrap This,” named after his and Rick’s Sanford, FL sign company.

What is the best way to ensure vehicle wraps are level or following the body lines you intended during installation?

John Duever of Vinyl Images in Fenton, MO, an accomplished wrap installer and trainer, sent the following advice:
Part 1: The first thing is to speak to a client and make sure the expectation is perfectly clear on which body line is the “level line.” Your idea of what is level could be completely different than what the client deems as level. Talk directly to the client about this and make sure you are on the same page. Use this as an opportunity to educate your client and increase your value to them.
Part 2: To ensure your wrap follows the body line you intend during installation, a very well-placed temporary hinge is crucial at the beginning of the installation. Hinges can be magnets, tape, people power, anything to make sure that once the panel is where it needs to be, it will not move. I then slit the backing and make this temporary hinge a permanent hinge by exposing the adhesive and using my application squeegee to begin the install.

I have paid an annual bonus for many years, but I’d like to change things so my staff no longer thinks it’s part of their guaranteed salary. How can I do that without upsetting people?

It’s definitely too late to launch a new program this year. Your staff would be angry and demotivated if you drop your bombshell in the crucial last quarter. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a good time to present a new system, such as paying all bonuses quarterly based on profit or revenue targets, so your staff gets a better sense of your financial peaks and valleys. This will also help them understand their bonuses are based on your business’s financial performance, and that there’s a real upside to having a great year. With that new appreciation, they should be geared up for a good holiday period and looking forward to working hard in 2022.

How can I get better at business writing?

Permission marketing expert Seth Godin did a blog post about this. This question was his headline, and his answer was simple: “Don’t do business writing… Write like you talk, instead.” So before writing your next email blast, social media post or even window sign, try saying your message out loud — then write that down.