17 tips for easier sign sales

I’d like to share some of what I learned as “on-the-job training” over the last thirty years in outside sales and design in commercial signs, electrical and neon signs and vehicle graphics. When I got started, I thankfully had some outside sales experience before attempting outside sign sales. I had sold industrial paper products for a short time but found it terribly boring and not a very creative way to make a living. So I quickly switched to a much more interesting variety of products: creating and selling custom signs. Signs are much more appealing to make and sell.

I worked in the sign business until August 2014, when I suffered a stroke. I landed in the hospital—set back both physically and mentally. I continued to do some design work, mostly logo design and multicolor T-shirt designs, with help from a friend with good skills in CorelDraw. The points that follow can help you close a much higher percentage of sales than most sign salespeople.