The myth of the Instant Success

-Deacon Wardlow

I was recently having coffee with some entrepreneurs in Boulder, CO and the topic of "gazelle companies" came up. These are companies who increase their revenue by about 20% every year (doubling in sales/scope every 4-5 years).

There's a myth of "instant success" out there. People hear about an app company being bought for a billion dollars, companies which are competing in the same industry as you "magically" grow their sales to three or four times your level and yet they have the same (or smaller) sized business. What's the "secret sauce" or magic mix involved? The answer is simple: hard work, persistence, creativity, and determination.

The companies I work with who are the most successful are also the most active. They play the numbers game. These companies fill their sales funnel to overflowing acknowledging they may only close on 10 opportunities out of 100 - they opt to quote 1,000+ opportunities. When they can't quote as much, they look at what they're quoting and remove the obstacles for the client to buy their product or service - they take a hard look at why they lose opportunities and fill the holes so the next one wins.

The successful companies are out there, in front of customers as much as they can be. If they're local - they hit the local market so hard every client in a 50 mile radius knows their name, their product/service, and who to call. If they're national you'll note they're heavily marketing online, active in social media, and hitting every tradeshow and event they can to get in front of national clients.

An "overnight" success is rarely anything but. If you feel your business is in a slump and you're confident you could be better - push back to the companies you work with. Don't let vendors just provide product - they should be actively helping you with marketing, sales resources/tools, digital assets for your websites, and partner with you on tradeshows. If your vendor doesn't step up as a partner, take a look around and find someone who will help you grow. Their success is (ultimately) tied to yours. Don't settle for a vendor when you can have a partner.

In business - the market doesn't reward laziness nor will clients come beating down your doors if they don't know where you are. The harder you push and strive, the more you'll see those efforts rewarded. Perhaps you won't win every deal - but the more you're out there - the more deals will ultimately come your way and you to can be an "overnight success" that leaves the competition scratching their heads at how they can stay in business against you.

Note all posts - thoughts - writings- etc. are strictly the viewpoint of me and me alone and do not reflect nor speak for Vantage LED’s beliefs, attitudes, thoughts, etc. unless specifically noted. Direct emails can be sent to deacon@spectacularmedia.com for queries and/or assistance.

Digital Signage 101: Do not leave sales to chance, know your partner and your product.

-Deacon Wardlow

While some element of chance (whether fortunate or unfortunate) plays into our lives, winning or losing an opportunity rarely comes down to luck. Timing, ability, proficiency, and competency all come into play regardless of what's being sold/bought.

Repeated winning isn't a miracle or lucky draw. The salesperson who's a constant winner has an excellent team supporting them and (more often than not) has taken it upon themselves to be an expert in what they're representing.


In a market where it seems like there's a new competitor with a new offering at a lower price right around the corner, sales can be daunting (and it's even more daunting for buyers who see 100+ options and don't know which way they should go). Education is the key here. Competence = confidence for both the seller and the buyer. We must take it upon ourselves to learn as much as we can and stay on top of things so we can give fast (and simple) answers to complicated questions. A knowledgeable person can slim the choices down and eloquently explain why their particular solution is the overall best option for a buyer.

This doesn't mean a salesperson has to go out and become an expert in whatever they're selling (nor should the buyer study long and hard on options before a purchase). Buyers and sellers need to know enough to be confident, the companies who produce the things being bought/sold (in my instance, Digital Signage systems and software/cloudware - but perhaps it's computers or lighting or something altogether different) - those companies should be the "go to." The partner to the seller and buyer should be the provider of product who can quickly and easily thin the herd of choices and make it clear why their product stands out as the best choice.

Don't wait for a miracle solution to come along, don't trust in luck of the draw or being first to the table. Knowledge and expertise is key. Manufacturing and product providers need to deliver more than what they make, they need to support you and the end-user with experience and education. When you need an answer quickly, can your partner get the right people involved to deliver or are you left in the dark? First to the table is excellent, but don't get beat out by someone coming in last minute who has a bit more industry knowledge, better technology, and a stronger partner. Test the waters when you can, ask questions which may seem crazy because one day, someone will ask you that same question and expect an answer. Don't leave it to the moment you need help to test whether you'll get it or not... Make sure your partner is educating you whenever possible and available to answer the hard questions when they come around.

Vantage LED has white paper resources and more educational material on the website (http://www.vantageled.com), please check it out when you have a moment. Note all posts/thoughts/writings are strictly the viewpoint of me and me alone and do not reflect nor speak for Vantage LED’s beliefs, attitudes, thoughts, etc. unless specifically noted. Direct emails can be sent to deacon@spectacularmedia.com for queries and/or assistance.

Digital Signage, Need to Know: Importing LED Signs From China, Re-visited

China sourcing is alive and well, and when properly designed, controlled and managed, products made in China can be very impressive. But,  any serious American company utilizing China as their manufacturing source will have an on-site quality engineer, or preferably an engineering and production support team because with China “you get what you inspect, not what you expect”.

Apple does not phone in a sales order to its Chinese factory for 1,000,000 new iPhones, whatever the next generation, then sit around and drink wine and play ping pong until the boat arrives. 

Let’s face it, for today, China still has a “cost of labor” advantage. But, it’s rising fast, and sometimes when you factor in shipping, communication costs, and hassle, many companies are starting to practice “on-shoring”- bringing production back to the US.  

Some companies utilize Chinese production facilities and actually “rent” time for their own proprietary production run. They may have discovered a well-engineered and manufacture sub-component and then applied strategic modifications to improve its performance. It’s not the typical “off the shelf” standard component but it may have started off as one. There are many ways for the “China Connection” to be successfully exploited and maximized.

So, it does not matter if you are a major US LED sign manufacturer, Apple, Boeing, GM or thousands of others, somehow China is in your operation’s life- for better or for worse!

My concern centers on the LED sign product designed and engineered in China, built in China, Inspected and certified in China, and shipped from China without American talent involved in the process at all. Just like when ordering from the “Mail Order Bride” catalogs of the 1800’s, what you get may not be what you expected. And it’s probably harder to ship your double-sided 4x8’ LED screen back to Shenzhen than putting that person on the stagecoach and sending her back to Chicago.

My worry falls into 5 categories and while I will not identify Chinese manufacturers, these are personal experiences and first-hand accounts from industry professionals.

NRTL certification (Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory certification- sometimes generically called UL certification), design issues, hardware quality, control software usability, and communication are the 5 Horsemen that ride roughshod  across the backs of LED sign importers. 

So let’s start:

NRTL Certification: It’s been a big deal in the LED Sign Industry and in the last 5 years more and more Chinese Manufacturers are paying attention and becoming ETL, MET or whatever “testing lab” certified. That is generally a good thing. No one wants unsafe or poorly constructed product on the streets, it‘s foolish and dangerous to pretend that certification is unimportant.  

The claim that Chinese product shipped, does not match the specifications of the product submitted for NRTL certification was alleged by 3 separate contacts, unrelated to each other.  In other words, it was alleged that they send the Lexus to the testing lab and ship the Yugo to the US.  Simply inspect (for example) the quality of the electrical wiring insulation and the way electrical supply lines are secured. If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, think it over.

Since most of the world does not require NRTL certification, some wonder if the Chinese effort to provide NRTL certification is to merely placate the US market rather than to improve the product.

Design Issues: Oh where to start? Let’s be simple- for years one US distributor of Chinese products had a high failure rate of the LED signs they sold- real high. Water intrusion, cabinet hinge issues, locking issues, odd mounting holes in the cabinets that had to be plugged up were just a few concerns. 

Then, during one ISA Trade Show a Chinese Marketing Director revealed the truth “In China, most LED signs are mounted within a water-resistant structure or shroud that protects them from the elements. In the US, many small LED signs are simply put on a pole without any surrounding protection- not designed for this.”

This is just one example that importers (and customers) face when assuming that an LED sign is “an LED sign”. They are not all alike, universally.

Hardware Quality:  If I had a dime for every time I found a re-manufactured LED module shipped on a new LED display… well, I’d have a big stack of dimes. Even when confronted with this assertion over and over the manufacturer claimed an “accident”. The truth is that when you push too hard for a deeply discounted price, unique ways are found to meet that demand! 

Power supplies, wiring, cabinet construction, controllers, electrical sockets, and more can fail on any manufacturer’s product. But if you believe that a well-made US LED display is not significantly more reliable than a Chinese designed, manufactured and shipped LED sign then there is some wet land in Florida you might be interested in. 

Sure, some Chinese sub-components are well designed and used on US produced LED displays. I have no argument here. But when that reasonably good product becomes part of an LED sign totally originated in China, the overall reliability is a lot less. 

It’s your hair, pull it out if you want to!

Control Software Usability:  I like Science Fiction. How many times in a movie have I seen the control panel of some captured alien spaceship? A well-meaning scientist accidently activates the control panel and suddenly it’s all aglow with strange shapes and symbols that meant something to some being from some world, but is gibberish to humans. 

Well, for me, trying to use Chinese control software is exactly the same experience. It is designed for an engineer or someone with a lot of patience and time. I am neither of those.

Communication: What do you expect? As Americans sometimes communication is difficult within our own borders- different accents, different manners, different customs, and different time zones.There are tremendous communication issues involved in a trade relationship with China- 8,000 miles, 10 hours difference on time zones (or more), language, meaning of words, and the frustrating time element required to resolve anything. And, oh... find a decision maker, I challenge you!

If you have a problem on Monday, it can literally take until Friday to get an answer that has been misunderstood and must be asked again. What you think you are saying, is not what they may be hearing. If you are impatient, check with your doctor for a prescription of tranquilizers because you will need them.

To the Chinese Manufacturer’s credit, they usually appoint a representative that is well-versed in English. That does not solve your problem. It merely gives you a shoulder to cry on and someone to share in your misery.

It’s a complex world. Just ask Boeing. They access 500 suppliers, many international, to obtain 3,000,000 parts to build their 777 Dreamliner Jet Airliner. And you thought you had problems!

Boeing had to make a lot of choices to assemble their supplier list. If every supplier is operating at 100% efficiency and without incident, it is still a monumental task to integrate the vast universe of variables together to create the end product- a safe, well engineered, state-of-the art machine.

LED signs do not, of course, require 3,000,000 parts, but smart choices still have to be made and all the facts have to be known when choosing a supplier. Quality, technology, reputation, and communication are the time-tested factors of success. 

Choose wisely, choose USA.

These comments are my personal perspective and do not reflect the opinion of Vantage LED, Inc. or SignVine, Inc. or any other person or organization. If you have constructive feedback please email me at michael@signvine.org.  - Mike Prongue

 

Digital Signage, Need to Know: Are LED Billboards Safe?

New technology is not instantly accepted and used, regardless of its value, effectiveness, cost, or efficiency. There are many reasons why it takes time for users to get "on board" with even the coolest innovation. LED technology adapted for use in LED sign, including billboards is one such innovation.

There is a statistical science to how new technology is accepted by society. This is called the "Technology Adoption Lifecycle" or diffusion model, and a simple summary from Wikipedia can be read here Summary.

What is says is that there are 5 categories of users of new technology within the standard bell curve with time on the "X" axis of the graph:

Category               Percentage
-------------------    -------------
Innovators               2.5%
Early Adopters         13.5%
Early Majority          34.0% 
Late Majority          34.0%
Laggard                 16.0%

Over time, the Innovators comprise 2.5% percent of the population- those were the people who perhaps rushed out to buy Apple 1s in June of 1977. Or maybe, in the LED sign industry, the Innovators were those customers who purchased something like a DCI message board that used relays and light bulbs insanely complex programming- before the introduction of today's RGB comparative "miracle".

The other user categories gradually catch on, and the product "takes off" and becomes accepted.

Where are we with the LED sign billboards? I don't think anyone can say for sure, but my guess is we are somewhere in the Early Majority. By the time the Innovators, Early Adopters, and the Early Majority have accepted LED sign billboards about half the market of people who will eventually buy LED sign billboard will have accepted them and will own one.

What's stopping the rest of the customers? Perhaps cost, waiting for even better technology, understanding the true cost versus financial return of the product and I think social acceptance, including the perceived safety of LED sign billboards by communities and "laggards", as referenced above, must be considered.

A recent study by the US Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration entitled "Driver Visual Behavior In The Presence of Commercial Electronic Variable Message Signs" (Report), concluded that drivers did, in fact, take an instant longer to look at the LED sign messages than a static-message billboard. But the distraction time was well under two-second safety threshold established. The LED-message glance took  0.379 seconds, while glances at static billboards took 0.335 seconds. This was not statistically significant.
  
Digital billboards are referred to as Commercial Electronic Variable Message Signs (CEVMS) within the study.

The study summarizes, “The results did not provide evidence indicating that CEVMS, as deployed and tested in the two selected cities, were associated with unacceptably long glances away from the road. When dwell times longer than the currently accepted threshold of 2,000 ms [milliseconds] occurred, the road ahead was still in the driver’s field of view. This was the case for both CEVMS and standard billboards.” 

Now that the safety objection has been surmounted we can move on to other objections to the roll-out of digital billboards. The digital billboards I see look a lot like static billboard with extended duration messages and intentionally understated graphics.

If you don't like billboards in general, that may be. But there must be a balance between commerce and a pristine right-of-way, it's not just a case of "all or nothing"

This digital billboard phenomenon is not a nefarious invasion. It's merely an easier and more profitable way to stage outdoor media. But, as they say, "You can overcome objections, but not excuses!"  What is the next excuse, uhh, objection?

These comments are my personal perspective and do not reflect the opinion of Vantage LED, Inc. or SignVine, Inc. or any other person or organization. If you have constructive feedback please email me at michael@signvine.org.  - Mike Prongue

Digital Signage, Need to Know: Cheap is, as Cheap does.

One evening this past week, as I prepared to click over to Netflix to watch a movie, the old sitcom “Leave it to Beaver” was on.  Wally, played by Tony Dow, the older of the two kids who star in this American classic, was lamenting the fact that his sarcastic and hard-headed friend Eddie Haskell, played by Ken Osmond, could never change his behavior and he said something like this:

“You could slug him a thousand times and he’d never get the message- Eddie is Eddie!”

Well, that is exactly the attitude of some sign companies who still sell LED Signs on price alone, cheap price alone!

We’ve slugged them and slugged them with information. Heck, they “slug” themselves each day with unhappy customers, repeat service calls, and technical issues: LED signs that dim after a few months for example, but some never seem to “get the message”.

Many LED sign companies have gotten the message, but sometimes when their customer  screams “Price!” they run back to those importers who advertise their product on “price” alone- those importers who steadfastly deny all they know, hear and see to be true when they advertise that “All LED signs are alike!”

Really, there is never a reason to sell on price. I know, I know… you are thinking “that one guy across town said he’d only spend $8,000, so I had to import a ‘burner’ to make him happy!”

Let’s try to shift your LED sign paradigm a bit! Shall we?

When you buy a watermelon that is an expendable item, right? When you buy an X-Box or a TV set, for example, those are items that have value because they entertain you. These items are commodity items, or consumer items. Other items such as a refrigerator or a kitchen range have value because they help you live comfortably as we can store and process our foods effectively.  They have utility value.

Sometimes a person can save money by “going cheap” on commodities or consumer items. A cheap range may be all that is required if a person only cooks once a week. Or if a refrigerator is for occasional use in a vacation home, then you can argue that a basic model may suffice because it’s not relied upon daily. 

An LED sign is not a commodity no matter how determined the ad in the magazine declares that it is!

An LED display is called upon frequently to run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It is the “face” of the business that is projected to new customers and the community. It is the “pitchman” always promoting the business. 

Here is how you show the customer that they can afford a quality LED sign having it paid for from the increased sales the new LED sign provides.

You’ve heard it before but here again is the process:

• Determine what life-span you wish to assign your LED sign installation. For the sake of argument, be conservative and say “5 years.”

• What is a realistic interest rate for commercial financing,"8 percent”?

• Assume a percentage increase in the customer’s business from the new LED sign,“15 percent”.

• Assume a gross margin percentage for the business, “25 percent”.

• What is the current sales level of the business, “$600,000”?

Do the math:

The finance cost of $20,000 at 8% interest for 5 years is about $405 per month.

If sales increase at 15% from the current $600,000, at 25% margin, how much new income is there available to pay for the LED sign?  ($600,000*.15*.25) = $22,500 per year or $1875 per month.

So the sales increase from the LED sign should cover the cost of the financing and add an additional $17,640 to the business’ annual income ($22,500 – ($405*12 months)). It's a "free" sign!

Why go cheap? Why suffer with poor, cheap software? Why project the face of your business or non profit concern with an LED sign that operates intermittently?

Customers have a belief that “X” dollars is all they can spend or that's all the project's worth. It is your job to dispel that myth stuck in their head. Slug 'em with some information, or an example to keep them from buying an LED sign they'll regret for years.

Other considerations when selling LED signs:

What do you do when you have a non-profit? How do you make the return on investment point?

Each new member of the church’s congregation, or each new member of the Elk’s Club (for example) adds to the success of that non profit. Ask the question:

“How many new faces will the LED sign attract?” Or, if that question is too precarious, ask how much money the non profit spends on bill board or TV advertisement that will not longer be required.

A local church had suspended it’s billboard ads, and then suddenly a new LED sign popped up at the church! Someone was on their toes at that LED sign company!

Another suggestion is to challenge the customer and have them drive around the town and look at the LED signs that don't work! Who makes them? No-name Nellies... imports. Show them the LED sign carcasses that litter the sign poles in your town.

On premise advertising works. That is an undeniable fact. 

It works better for all parties concerned when the product is a high-quality,  and domestically engineered and manufactured. Say it… “USA, USA, USA!”

All I've needed to know in life was learned from Wally Cleaver, "Golly, that sure is neat!"

These comments are my personal perspective and do not reflect the opinion of Vantage LED, Inc. or SignVine, Inc. or any other person or organization. If you have constructive feedback please email me at michael@signvine.org.  - Mike Prongue

Digital Signage Sales 101: China, Stack 'em Deep, Sell 'em Cheap

- Mike Prongue

In a prior life, long ago and far away in 2011, when I dropped that envelope into the mail box I knew it was real. The address on the label was a Chinese Visa Processing Center in Houston, Texas and this Florida Boy was actually going to the 2012 LED China trade show in the city of Guangzhou. After the trade show the plan was to visit our LED sign manufacturer in Shenzhen.

 

Doing business directly with a Chinese LED sign supplier is an adventure of astounding proportions. Since this is the 21^st Century, by my calendar, it’s obviously impossible to visit the early days of the California Gold Rush. But, my imagination can take me there and it had to be like doing business with a Chinese LED sign supplier.

 

First you have to get there. “There” is only 9,500 miles away from Pensacola, Florida and would require flying to New York City, then on to Anchorage, Alaska, to Taipei, Taiwan, then to Hong Kong. You cross the border into China and find some way to get to your destination. We were doing the trip “on the cheap” so we rode a train. It was a great social experience but unless you want to drink warm Tsingtao beer on a crowded train for 3 hours.  I’d recommend taking a direct flight!

 The trade show, LED China, was amazing. Every aspect associated with an LED lamp was on display. You could talk to every Chinese manufacturer of LED signs, and see products on display from LED snowmen for your front yard to the most leading-edge LED applications you could only dream of! It was an awakening to the true scope and enormity of the LED industry that we are a subset of!

 

But alas, the glitz and glamor of the trip was behind us and we took the train back down to Shenzhen to meet our Chinese project manager contact who had always been our primary “face” of the company we purchased from. A nice enough fellow, with Americanized language and habits he was, and he picked us up from the lobby of the Marco Polo Hotel near the train station. 

 

Actually it was his “Girl Friday” who found us, sipping yet another Tsingtao (this time ice cold) in the lobby of the upscale hotel, and she ushered us to his waiting car. The city of Shenzhen was a welcome sight- modern, clean, with a great transportation infrastructure and the persistent air quality problems found in Guangzhou were not to be seen. The air was so bad in Guangzhou that there was actually a creosote-smelling film on the interior of the lobby windows. This was not the case in Shenzhen, a modern city, the first Special Economic Zone in China. It had exploded into a modern city of 10 million people, from the previous rice paddies, in less than 25 years.

 

We ate lunch at a local restaurant, tucked away on the second floor of a non-descript building overlooking a busy street, the first authentic Chinese meal we’d had since arriving. After lunch we were whisked off to the “factory”.

  

Clean, efficient, austere, coordinated, machine intensive, labor intensive and a developing force were my first impressions of the facility. If you wanted it, tell the man what you desired and for a price they would do it!

 Would you like?

• Your company’s name on each printed circuit board?

• Your company’s name and logo on each LED cabinet?

• Your choice of cabinet locking mechanisms?

• Your choice of controller or computer?

• White, gray or black cabinets? Any color you like for extra.

And if you wanted a better price, they never said “no”! How they arrived at a better (cheaper) price was the “trick”. For the price point we were offering to purchase their LED signs at, I wondered if they would provide cardboard cabinets in the future to meet that price point!

 

They would definitely “Stack ‘em Deep, Sell ‘em Cheap” for you once the wire transfer was complete. There was no doubt they could make them!

 

The conversations and negotiations with our Chinese host never touched on the subjects of “quality”, “failure rate” and “promises not kept”. I suppose for the dollar per square foot we were offering for their LED sign product, they thought we were not concerned! Perhaps we were not!

 

Any sign company back in the good old USA, who were actually purchasing these signs for their customer should have been waking up in a cold sweat right about then!

 

In the LED Sign Industry, the holy grail of reasonableness regarding LED sign selection is called "The 7 Key Elements of Digital Signage".  This list is embraced by the Digital Signage Federation and the list makes a lot of obvious sense:  Hardware, Software, Connectivity, Content, Operations, Design and Business (http://vantageled.blogspot.com/2013/12/digital-signage-need-to-know-boiling.html).

 

The Chinese supplier, granted evolving as they were, did not really meet the threshold of any of these 7 Key Elements. The hardware had high failure rates, the software was complex, the connectivity was simplistic, there was no provided content, operations were whatever they wished to do or say, the design was cookie-cutter, and the business plan was essentially “wire us the money”.

 

So, that is reality. Will China someday perform like the high-quality USA LED sign manufacturers? I don’t know what the future holds. But I do know what the present delivers.

 

While China was a tremendous learning experience for me, what I really learned was we have it pretty good here in the USA. Not only for our freedom and way of life but also for the products we manufacture.  Sure, it can be argued that all American-manufactured LED sign products include some globally acquired parts. So do our automobiles, the Boeing 777 Dreamliner and many other “USA Manufactured” products. That is the way of the world these days.

 

But what some USA LED sign manufactures add to the "7 Key Elements" is strong partnering. When these factors combine you can rest comfortably knowing you are delivering a 5 star product to your customer!

 

These comments are my personal perspective and do not reflect the opinion of Vantage LED, Inc. or SignVine, Inc. or any other person or organization. If you have constructive feedback please email me at michael@signvine.org.  - Mike Prongue