Why give away free sign information?
Why do I give valuable sign information away for free? I have received several e-mails from regular visitors to this blog regarding my Free Sign Buying Guide packet. For those of you are unfamiliar with this concept, I have created a free information packet exclusively for potential clients in my market area. While that sounds simple enough, it is actually a very valuable resource that I only offer on my web site Columbus Ohio Free Sign Planner . My Free Sign Planner contains an excellent range of information on the 6 basic types of signs, photo examples, real-world benefits of each sign and includes practical budget ranges.
In addition to making this Free Sign Planner information freely available to clients in my market area, I have also created a more generic version of the packet for other sign shops. This generic Sign Buying Guide is available to any sign company who wants it and you are welcome to download every page image for free. Using the free pages you can easily create an entire, aesthetically pleasing and valuable information booklet for your own customers (there is an example picture of how I create the booklet at the bottom of the page). You can also use each sheet as an individual information page for specific customer requests if you wish. In addition, if you want to customize the planner to your specific sign shop you can purchase the entire packet, in full vector format, for a nominal fee that helps me keep the website & this blog up and running.
Now, some of the e-mails I mentioned before contained praise for making the information available to everyone, free of charge, and expressed appreciation for taking such a bold step to help the sign community at large. Some of the messages; however, were considerably less than enthusiastic. These sign professionals are concerned that I am “giving away sign industry secrets” or “making the custom sign industry seem too simple” or (my favorite) that I am “making it too easy for customers to get a custom sign…” Now, before you laugh, I believe that these concerns are valid (though limiting) viewpoints that I would love to address. Frankly, to be accused of making the sign buying process too easy actually makes me very proud. After all, my sign company’s tagline is “A Pro Sign Made Easy”, so I must be on the right track.
So, why DO I give away my sign information for free? Being in the sign industry is fun and exciting but, ultimately, it is pretty important to sell profitable signs. I have found that, in order to consistently increase my sign company sales, it always a great idea to become a valuable sign resource for my local market area. By providing such a useful resource like the Sign Buying Guide / Sign Planner to my potential customers I have dramatically increased my visibility in my community. In addition, I have also improved my reputation for being a credible and reliable business professional while accomplishing multiple objectives…
- Provide pertinent and valuable Sign Product information to prospects.
- Provide information on the “Benefit for each type of sign”… in other words, what actual benefit will the prospect enjoy by choosing a particular type of sign.
- Provide information on the value of signage and the importance of having a quality sign.
- Provide a pressure free, easy to use, guide to help local organizations actually purchase a sign.
- Identify sign customers who are “value focused” instead of “price focused”.
- Identify potential sign customers who are currently motivated to act on their sign needs.
- Eliminate “Sticker Shock” for new organizations who have never purchased a sign before.
- Provide an easy way for new sign prospects to identify what type of sign they wish to get and begin to plan for an anticipated budget amount.
- Help the prospect begin to actively think about their sign project.
- Help the prospect actively prepare for the getting an effective sign from a reputable sign professional.
I firmly believe that every sign business will benefit from implementing a similar Marketing process in their sign company and, remember, you are free to download each one of these useful Sign Buying Guide sheets for your own prospects and customers.