Digital Signage, Need to Know: 'Tis The Season To Maximize Your LED Sign's Effectiveness.

The end of year Holiday Season is a prime time to maximize sales for retailers. While the future of the US economy may not hinge on every dime collected, as the media promotes, December does boast at least a 25% increase over the average monthly retail volume. And for some small businesses, strong December sales can be the difference between “ongoing” and “defunct”. Effective use of an on-premise LED sign by the business owner can add that extra boost that everyone is hoping for.

For churches too, the Holiday Season is prime time for LED sign usage- events, information, and spiritual messaging! This is their time to put that LED sign to work and recoup their investment by great communication and information sharing. Churches have different parameters for success than a retail operation but new worshipers, smiling board members, and a spike in Holiday giving makes everyone happy.

Here are five quick suggestions to maximize LED sign effectiveness during the Holidays, or really on any day:

• Show- Don’t Tell.   Drivers have seconds to view your message, that is a very short exposure time.  Advertising is imagery and drivers may have the time to read words and translate them to your intended image. Or maybe they won’t have the time or focus. Just display an image. Attention spans are also short at 45 mile-per-hour, so be efficient and shoot your best shot. I always recommend professionally produced content.

• Color Is Better. The impact of a full-color LED sign is 300 percent that of a single-color display with grayscale shading variations. With the price of full-color LED signs approaching the cost of a single-color display the extra cost is more than worth it. Go color, color is much more effective.

• Brevity- Keep It Simple. In keeping with bullet point "Show- don’t tell", if you are using a text-oriented display message, “less is more”.  If you’re selling hot dogs (for example), leave your creative writing skills at home and opt for “Delicious Hot Dogs .99” instead of “Come on in and sample our delicious hot dogs, only .99”. Like the Geico commercial, everybody knows this, but why do so many LED signs require messages that scroll on and on and on?

• Be Community Friendly. So many LED signs are blinding at night and that can be a nuisance to drivers trying to drive safely. With all the normal Holiday distraction, being momentarily blinded by your LED sign is not the way to attract new customers. I know several LED signs around town like this and why the owners insist on annoying every night-time passerby is anyone’s guess. Also, why waste money when there is no traffic or minimal traffic- turn the sign on and off via your scheduling software.  Use that software also to turn down the LED sign brightness at night. Remote network control is a plus- you no longer need to be at the office computer!

• Political Correctness. And finally- relegate your political opinion, religious beliefs and humor to your online blog, church, or man cave. At best you’ll alienate ½ your customers with your political opinion. Watch your attempts at humor, as well, because you may not really be as funny as you might think and people are easily offended. Everyone already knows what the true meaning of Christmas is supposed to be so if you need to remind them, do it gently unless you are, of course, a church! Your goal is to increase sales and you need all of your customers to do that.

So, if you are using an LED sign to boost your sales or promote your organization- the Holiday Season is a perfect time. Be smart, and follow a few common sense ideas to make it work for you. Remember Santa is “making a list and checking it twice…” and he knows if you’ve been LED sign “naughty or nice”.

This blog post represents my personal perspective and does not reflect the opinion of Vantage LED, Inc. or SignVine, Inc. or any other person or organization. Thank you to Vantage LED for allowing me to pen a guest blog every 3 weeks. If you have constructive feedback please email me at michael@signvine.org.  - Mike Prongue 

Digital Signage Need to Know: Creating Lifetime Fans

- Mike Prongue

Money, money, money, net operating profit, return on investment- how to get it, how to make more of it. That’s what business is all about- right? And, the LED sign industry is a prime opportunity to do just that- make money. There is a need for a cost effective way to advertise on premises, there are great product and software solutions available and you, the LED sign dealer, can marry supply with demand and make a boatload of money.

There are two schools of thought on how a business should become successful-

• A quantitative approach to tightly managing costs and expenses, tracking every nickel, working those MS- Excel spreadsheets and the budgets, or,

• Taking care of the customer and bonding them to your business as a lifetime fan.

The truth is you need to blend these two approaches- watch the numbers closely and take care of customers. Flexibility is the key when making decisions translating the numbers into policies and business decisions that impact the customer. Lose the word “never” and take care of the customer. For example- “we never refund purchases beyond the stated one year timeframe.” 

Each potential exception to a policy needs to be evaluated based on the financial consequences, long term. So you don’t refund a service call charge of $500 because it’s 30 days past the stated warranty period? Why should you fork over $500, you told them the rule and your one year warranty is more than fair? Why, because the customer has choices and refusing to lose a nickel today, can cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars over the next 30 years.

Creating lifetime fans will help your business by having a devoted group of followers, great word of mouth advertising, and a lot of friends rather than just strangers who are marginally appreciative of your hard work and business efforts.

If you think you have what it takes to deliver truly extraordinary customer service, these four steps will help you get there:

1. See the world with “customer eyes”

Many customers, if not most customers, are skeptical and really do not expect anything extraordinary from your company. They just don’t want to be ripped off- they do expect some service but they really are not hoping much beyond what's on the sales contract.

When Circuit City opened their Louisiana stores, in the 1990s, many customers in the New Orleans market simply could not comprehend being able to return an electronics purchase if they didn’t like it. It took many months for the customer base to really believe that such a “liberal” policy (for its time) could even be possible! The customers in that market had been subject to such anti-customer policies for so long they saw retailers as their enemy. Creating a “Wow” moment for people with such low expectations was fun and easy.

Remember that most customers are hopeful, but they also have had so many marginal purchasing experiences over the years that they may be skeptical. Whether the issue is a great 5-yr on-site service warranty for their LED sign, they hear you but they may not really think it’s real.

Credibility must be established and maintained. And customers are looking for the “catch” or for you to reverse what you stood for when the going gets rough and an exception must be made. Consistency is important.

2. Defer today's profits until tomorrow

A true customer-centric business will see increased revenue and profits long-term. That doesn’t mean you have to squeeze every dime today until 12 pennies are created. There is tomorrow and sometimes extending world-class customer service will cost more in the short run than you may like. But, if you continue to execute the plan, keeping the customer in mind, you’ll see a larger financial return down the road.

If the bean counters, the accountants, in your organization crack open their MS-Excel spreadsheets and start doing a cost versus benefits analysis of your customer service programs they will short-circuit your efforts. It is hard to account for long-term customer loyalty with today’s numbers.

Creating lifetime fans of your business is not always about today, but rather tomorrow. Like any good gardener, you have to plant the seed, tend to it, and WAIT to watch it grow.

3. Be original and surprising

How much easier is it to follow than to lead? What keeps people from leading boldly? Fear is one reason. Sometimes its fear of being original and allowing their true selves to create uniqueness and surprises in the customer service offering. 

Returning to the retail example of Circuit City Stores, one bold move that dramatically increased revenue and improved customer service happened when a program was implemented that offered “Same day car stereo installation or it’s free.” The program was hated in the stores at first because it put pressure on the local installation team to increase their productivity or work for free. A bold plan in retrospect, but once implemented it improved customer service. Right away the 2-3 day backlogs for electronics installation went away and almost every store was on “same day” installation with almost no free installs, anywhere. Customers no longer had to wait up to a week in some places, for their car stereo installation to be installed and the customers thought it was fantastic!

There’s nothing wrong with “stepping out there” with a leading offer or testing a surprising new idea. 

Many companies fail to do this because they stay in a “safety and comfort” zone. It’s nice and warm in the zone and you probably won’t take much criticism. But if you can differentiate your business from the other Sign Companies in your area then you become a leader. If you are not a leader in your region, then what are you? There are leaders, and there are…?

Do something unique and surprising and see what kind of response you get.

4. Create a culture of customer service

Whenever articles are written about customer service Nordstrom’s is always used as an example where a culture of customer service was created. You could return anything to them and they’d take it back while their customer interactions on the floor also embraced the spirit of always “saying yes.”

There are many ways to create a culture of customer service. A culture is not a month-long program giving away glass alligator ashtrays to everyone walking in the door! It is a long-term commitment and a way of life.

A culture starts with the leaders and is something that is turned into a way of simply doing business, a habit. Decisions are made that support the customer. Respect is given to the customer.

Much negativity is infused into organizations by internal negative dialogue about the customer in meetings and one-offs. Trying to stop this frustrated “joking” and putting the external customer (the ones who buy stuff) at the same level of respect as the internal customer (staff) is a must.

You need to spend time living in your customer’s world- feel their emotions, their worries, their concerns, their joy, their frustration. Talk to them, survey them… get information in whatever way you choose. Then do something to improve the experience!

Once the customer condition is identified, everyone has to get into the boat and proverbially “row in the same direction” to improve customer service. From the way phone calls are answered, to empowering the associate to fix customer issues, there are hundreds of ways to stand out in the customer service arena of your business.

It is the responsibility of sign shops to surprise, astound, delight and “wow” every customer they encounter, every day they are in business. When this happens, all of the bean counting could stop, all of the MS Excel spreadsheets could be burned and you’d still be successful.

I am realistic and I know that those spreadsheets are not going away, but you have to decide if you want customer service to be the dog that wags the tail of profits. Or, do you want a profit margin goal to be that dog that makes that profit tail work?

Smart money goes to customer service. Try it… you’ll find it to be much easier and more fun!

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: SignVine Crowdfunding- How It Works!

My last blog entry introduced the idea of SignVine's online fundraising efforts to help non profits raise funds to purchase a changeable message sign for their facility. Now this entry will describe what a campaign looks like, and what SignVine does to make the campaign a success.

A key benefit of using SignVine is that all the information regarding the campaign is at a central location where everyone can learn, participate and donate. It will contain the organization’s name, their story, their sign drawing, and funding goal. It will also feature how many " Viners" have donated, amount pledge to date, and how many days are left on the campaign along with two ways to donate:

•  Give & Receive A Gift is the most popular which requires the donor to become a part of the SignVine community as a Viner where they can pledge support to your campaign, leave comments, and register their address for their “Thank You” Gift.

•  Quick Donation are for people who solely want to support a campaign and are content not to receive a gift.

Both donation choices will have the option for the donor to remain anonymous, otherwise the donor will be listed on the Viner's tab.

Tell The Story
The Gardener leads the charge into the campaign from the very first day by working with SignVine to craft the online story. The history, cause, and drive of the organization must be outlined with purpose showing their heart to the world! Every campaign must have a purpose bigger than itself. If a church needs an outdoor LED sign to advertise the Christmas Tree sale, the story is not the sale, but what good the money collected from selling trees will bring. They sell the benefit, not the activity. Whatever narrative a Gardener creates, it will become the reality for his organization.

Support The Story with Pictures and/or Video
Factual, but creative video content, along with dynamic pictures of the Non Profit
organization is crucial. A picture (and video) truly is worth a 1000 words. Non Profits are encouraged to seek help from SignVine but also use their own internal talent. Until you ask, you may not know that the son of one of your Deacons is an expert in video production!

Working With SignVine
Unlike other crowdfunding sites, SignVine will stay involved. You are not just renting space on their website. The team at SignVine works with you to help achieve a successful campaign.

All monies raised (net fees) are given to the Non Profit Organization. This is not an “all for nothing” campaign- they end the campaign wealthier than when they started.

What SignVine Does To Help:

• Work with the Non Profit to Plant the SignVine Campaign on their and with a  unique link, ex: www.signvine.org/yourorganization

• Provide suggestions and help with writing the narrative story about your organization.

• Provide help to produce the video for the organization

•  Provide online resources that the Non Profit can use to organize and mobilize their team, track results, and spread the word to the community.

•  Write and distribute a press release concerning the campaign and efforts.

•  Contact local media, like radio, TV, and newspapers asking for support.

•  Additional marketing support in the community based on need.

•  Provide a dashboard to track progress and provide updates to the pledging Viners.

•  Stay in contact with the Non Profit.

The Benefits SignVine Provides:

• Expert help to stage, promote and market the sign project to raise the necessary funds.

• SignVine.com is a place where the Non Profit's voice can be heard and people can catch a video glimpse of the story 24 hours a day.

• A default SignVine gift system associated with the campaign, and they'll automatically ship them to your Viners.

• A financial system to process donations (Cash donations can still be accepted and entered. Ask them how).

• An organization with vast experience in the Sign Industry and partnerships with reliable sign companies.

• Real people to assist the Non Profit and provide overall guidance.

The Role of the Non Profit
The role of the Non Profit is all about execution and passion. The Gardener is the person who is actually in the "garden" each day tending to the SignVine Campaign. The Gardener measures progress and adjusts the processes day-to-day. It is a big job. SignVine advice is to choose a Gardener wisely for it’s through their leadership with the help of SignVine that a campaign will succeed.

The Gardner is the cheerleader, coach, and quarterback all rolled into one.

Next step is to build a team within the Non Profit group to execute the campaign. A campaign can be a lot of work. This online donation campaign will require online effort. It will be tough, it will worry you at times, but done with spirit and determination it will be fun and successful.

Whatever the game plan requires- everyone plays the game differently. Perhaps the plan is for each person to call businesses in the area. Perhaps the plan is to send an email to everyone in the church with the unique SignVine link to your campaign and ask them to post it to their Facebook or Twitter account.

The Non Profit owns the Campaign. SignVine provides the tools, the visibility, and the online resources for a Non Profit organization to have a successful campaign. The SignVine goal is to coach and encourage an organization and provide the guidance for success, but most of the actual day-to-day hard “gritty” work is the responsibility of the Non Profit.

SignVine knows the crowdfunding model works, but it’s not a guarantee. The true elements for success lie within the Non Profit organization. If the campaign does not fund, the cause is more than likely based in execution of the actual fund raising effort- the feet on the street.

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: Wow Your Customer

- Mike Prongue

As a regional sales manager in this LED sign industry I walk into a lot of LED sign shops in the Southern USA. I dislike the term “shop” to describe a storefront since I always thought of a “shop” as a low tech place where a cobbler beat a heel onto a shoe or someone strung beads onto a wire. 

Since the product we sell is electronic and “techie” to say the least, I’d expect the “shop” to really be a “store”, perhaps like a single cell version of a “Best Buy”.  Let’s pretend how your shop/store would differ if it were actually fined-tuned and perfect in execution of some simple ideas? 

I present the “top 10” things to do to wow your customer with a great first impression of your shop/store:

• Walk the Talk   If you sell LED signs, have an LED display. If it does drive 15% more customers through the door and you aren’t using one, what’s the problem? Your LED sign is your best demo unit. Show customers the wireless RF, show them the computer and show them how easy it is to use! Oh, yours is tough to use? Shop around for another manufacturer. Not all LED signs are alike.

• Shop Shirts    Baseball teams, army units, and Olympic squads all wear a common uniform. Where is your “Dale’s LED Signs” shirts for your team? Identity is important. How about magnetic signs for the cars and window tinted logos on the cars? Get everyone into the same boat and start “rowing in the same direction”.

• Greet Customer  Quickly  Sour-faces need not apply. Someone needs to say “Hi, how are you? I’m Dave and I’ll be with you in one second!” Phones need to be answered by the 3^rd ring saying-“Dale’s Signs, this is Judy, how may I help you?” at the very least!

• Create a Nice Break Area  The single-most unprofessional thing a small business can do is have food scattered out across the counter area. That Italian sub with the stinky cheese may be your favorite treat of the week, so take it into the back room. Even better go out to lunch- you need the break. When you come back from lunch, grab the vacuum cleaner and vacuum that carpet. It’s been 6 years since anyone took that task on (in some cases).

• Have “show and tell” product displays  Have a hands-on area that displays LED modules of different resolutions, a power supply, an IPC (industrial PC). Why not educate your customers while they wait for help? Some LED sign stores have actual functioning LED signs on display of different resolutions.

• Watch your Language  Do not use any bad language. Reserve your political opinions to your evenings in front of FOX News or MSNBC on your TV at home. Regardless of what you say, ½ your customers may be offended. Watch your jokes. Take down objectionable posters. What’s funny to you is not so funny to Reverend Jones looking for an LED sign for his church. Do not create a hostile place of business. What about those angry “no soliciting” signs plastered all over your door? Does that apply to Girl Scouts and the local High School band selling doughnuts? What a Scrooge. I wouldn’t buy a sign from you.

•  Create a Customer Service Area  Many LED sign stores are engaged in traditional sign businesses and have layout areas and drafting areas and other in the front of the store. Some of this is unavoidable but “hide the chaos” as much as you can and create a simple neat and clean area where customers can be greeted and talked to. Even the use of a couple free-standing, cubicle-used, room dividers can separate the customer area from the work area.

• Clean up the Production Area  Have a mandatory 10 minute break, once in the morning and once in the afternoon and clean up the production area. Customers are judgmental and may think the mess you create in your own work area is what you may do at their facility. With a clean production area, you can show your handiwork and skills to customers on safe, guided walk-throughs.

• Have a Website  Yes, you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you’ve had that “under construction” message on your website for 2 years now. This is 2013 and a website is an electronic you- a presence that the world can access 24-7. I can’t tell you how much a good website improves business credibility. Conversely, a minimal website shouts a different message to the world, perhaps an unintentional message. Google Adwords used within a region is a very successful new customer strategy. But they have to visit a website that is interesting and professional.

• Sundown Rule Time waits for no man, or woman. Your urgency is one of the variables that can win you customers. The old Zig Ziglar saying is “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care!”  The way to show people you care is to reply to their inquiry, finish their quote, or call them back. Don’t let issues extend into the next day- solve the problem now so you can sleep better tonight!

What I’m suggesting is turning up the heat and creating a friendly, neat, clean and impressive area to wow customers and to do business.

A lot of businesses are simply amazing with their execution of these 10 items and dozens more. Remember you only have one chance to make a good first impression.

You create your own reality so wouldn’t it be better if you had an store that people remembered in a good way?It doesn't take much work. Get your team involved and ask for suggestions on improving the customer experience.

These comments belong to me, Mike Prongue, and do not reflect the views, opinions, hopes or dreams of anyone else, anywhere else and this includes Vantage LED. I appreciate your constructive opinion which may be sent to me at michael@vantageled.com.  

Digital Signs Need to Know- Is Anything Really ‘Made’ in the USA?

 - Mike Prongue

Can China compete with American manufacturing?  This legitimate question was raised a couple years ago in a Time Magazine article with the same title, by Michael Schuman (STORY) and I invite you to read it.

You may think of American manufacturing as simply rolling up into a “small ball of pity” and getting kicked around some dusty and abandoned factory floor somewhere in Ohio, by a team of aggressive Chinese workers. That is not true. China may be in the lead with total dollars output but that is not so surprising.

Markets are efficient and seek out the least expensive path, the path with the highest utility, to produce goods. Every country, including Japan and South Korea, has ridden the predictable economic life-cycle starting as an “infant” with only cheap labor, making simple products, to a maturing, high-tech, high-value, manufacturing adult. The USA has been a sophisticated manufacturing adult for over 50 years.  We design, engineer, assemble, QC check, evolve and market some of the most complex products and systems known to man. From sophisticated medical devices such as MRI systems, to devastating and futuristic weapons of war, to Boeing’s Dreamliner 787 jet airliner, the USA has the technology and capability that China can only lust after at this point.

The question this post asks is “anything really made in the USA”? The answer is sure- we make natural gas, oil, and iron ores as mining output.  Those items are made entirely in the USA as they have been dug up from American soil. There are also many other items, usually simple items that are totally made in the USA (although we can debate where the steel may have originated).

What about products that are comprised of multiple complex sub-components? What about Dell and HP, and Chrysler and Ford and GM and Apple… all icons of American manufacturing?  Do they “make” American products?

Some people say “yes, of course” while others say “no way”.

How can GM profess to have cars "made in the USA" when so many sub-components are made elsewhere in the world? How about Japan? Are Toyota and Honda American manufacturers too then, since they assemble so many cars here? Last look, Toyota Camry and Ford F-150 shared the top spots in the USA with Honda Accord taking the 3^rd spot for cars built in the USA (CARS). Well, are they taking the prize as the top American manufacturing  or not? Does anyone know anymore?

Does anyone care?

Here is what you need to concern yourself with:

•  American Designed and Engineered Who controls the drafting, design, engineering and quality expectations of the product? This is the most important part of the equation. Many times, an international component is used because there is no better product available. Certain sub-components may already be well-engineered and designed, but can be enhanced further with a beefed-up capacitor or a more sophisticated voltage regulator. This is where the “American designed and engineered” stamp determines the ultimate reliability of the product.

•   Manufacturing in the USA or controlled by USA quality teams If it’s not actually created  by American hands on American soil then it had better be produced in a foreign factory owned and managed by the American company. If the factory is not owned by the American company then having on-site quality control engineers present during manufacturing runs is essential. You get what you inspect, not what you expect.

•  Assembled in the USA If the well-engineered, USA designed sub-components are manufactured in a high quality environment, regardless of where the factory is located, integrated with other systems created and made in the USA, then assembled by American workers, this is a win-win. You’ll find that the proud USA airline manufacturer, Boeing, uses over 45 companies to produce its new 787 Dreamliner jet airliner. But it is assembled in the USA!

• Backed by USA warranty Okay, so now we have a high-quality system, designed to specification, engineered by experts, manufactured to exacting standards (somewhere), delivered to the assembly plant just-in-time, and integrated into the final structure. If it breaks and there is no rock-solid warranty behind it, it does not matter if it was made in front of the Lincoln Memorial or in a rice paddy in Vietnam. Having the surety of a warranty, preferably a 3^rd party warranty, one that transcends the manufacturer’s promise is a huge benefit!

• Supported by USA technicians and qualified  support people Having a product that can be supported by qualified USA technicians with “boots on the ground”; service conversations with qualified people who can support in the English language (and others); comprehensive product documentation that is not optional. Any manufacturer who wants to be taken seriously will have these available to customers.

It is a global business world. Do not be misled into thinking that any LED Sign company has a 100 percent horizontal manufacturing process where iron ore, trees (for paper), electronic components and screws are fed into the back door of the factory and a perfectly assembled LED sign comes rolling out the front. It just "don't work like that!"

Stuff comes from everywhere, made by everyone- doesn’t matter if it’s an LED sign or a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. You just have to do your homework and research the company, talk to their people, see their product in the field, and interview a few customers. 

The truth always comes to light. Just make sure it does BEFORE you invest in an LED sign.

These comments belong to me, Mike Prongue, and do not reflect the views, opinions, hopes or dreams of anyone else, anywhere else and this includes Vantage LED. I appreciate your constructive opinion which may be sent to me at michael@vantageled.com.