The Right Practice

Like many other sports fans, I watched the Heisman ceremony last weekend and was very impressed with all three candidates. They were all great ambassadors for sports and any one of them would have been a deserving winner. However, it was the response to a question by the eventual winner, Sam Bradford that caught my attention. The question was “how were you able to be so accurate in your passing, completing over 70 percent of your passes, this year? His response was “I worked on my technique and practiced it over and over”.

This response immediately brought back a life changing moment I had the opportunity to share with my daughter, Christina. It happened shortly after she made the decision to leave her successful gymnastics "career" and take up golf. We had been to the range a few times and she was doing pretty well. However, I was still a little skeptical she would stick with it. OK, I was very skeptical. My daughter was/(is) very social and loved the talk. These were not the traits I would expect to see as enhancers to becoming a successful golfer. Regardless, I was pleased that she wanted to try her hand at the game, so I encouraged her.

The moment happened when we were on a vacation in Florida. I noticed that the PGA pro at the course we were playing was filming a lesson. I asked her if she would be interested in getting an experts opinion on her potential and also receive a video of her lesson that she could keep. She was so excited. We set up the lesson for the next day.

When we arrived at the lesson, I immediately knew I was in for something special. Gary, the PGA pro made a special connection with Christina. It was obvious that he cared. Our lesson was for a half hour, but that didn't matter. He was working with a kid that showed some potential and a passion for the game. The lesson lasted for two hours and he never looked at his watch. My daughter had found one of her mentors.

The moment happened about half way through the lesson. Christina was hitting shots and Gary was taping. All of the sudden, he stopped and asked her to come over and view the tape. He asked her what caught her eye. She started reciting the things he had mentioned were wrong in her swing. He asked her to look past herself in the frame and look at the background. What we noticed was a group of “golfers” hitting balls with some of very bad swings. Balls were going everywhere but straight. It was actually very funny.

Now for the lesson:

Gary informed Christina that practice without a purpose was a waste of time. It is not the quantity of practice as much as it is the quality of practice. Many years ago, I read the definition of insanity is doing the same things we have always done and expecting different results. Exactly! Here was the perfect example. The members of this course were primarily very successful retired business men, but here they were paying money to practice a flawed golf swing. They could have just as easily have spent the money to go to a PGA professional to correct their swing.

My takeaways from this lesson are the following:

1. If you are going to take up a new interest, find a mentor or professional in the field to assist in shortening the learning curve and eliminating bad habits at the beginning.
2. As you proceed down the learning curve, stay in touch with that mentor to assure that you stay on the path to success.
3. Practice with a purpose. In the work environment, I see so many people that remind me of the golfers on the range. They come in and do today just what they did the day before.
4. Continually evaluate your performance and look for ways to improve.
5. Practice, practice, practice. Winners work hard when nobody is watching in order to perform when they are. When asked if Christina could be a good competitive golfer, Gary's response was it depends on how much she wants it and how hard she works.
6. Pay it forward. My daughter has a life long friend that has her best interest at heart. It is her responsibility to Gary and the game to pass on the knowledge.

Through the implementation of these takeaways, you will greatly increase your chances of staying in the groove.

The Groove

I was sitting in my office today and I could not get a Jeffrey Gitomer quote out of my head. Mr. Gitomer stated that, "the only difference between being in the groove and being in a rut is the depth of the hole." What? Why was this wacky quote sticking with me? I couldn't understand why it was resonating with me at that moment. I had to figure it out. When I first read this comment, I filed it as just another consultant cliché. So why was it now dominating my thoughts?

Then it hit me. I remembered when I was a teenager getting stuck in a snow bank I remembered that my solution was to put it in drive and hit the gas. When that didn't work, I did what every teenager does; I hit the gas again. The only thing I accomplished was turning a groove into an impassible rut. More importantly, I remember my dad's only comment, "if hitting the gas made the problem worse the first time, what made you think hitting it again would solve the problem."

There it was. A literal example of a metaphoric comment. I then thought back seven years to my first conversation with the Staff at Sign Craft. In this meeting, I made it clear that " satisfaction was strictly forbidden". I could see in their faces what they were thinking - "What a pompous jerk". In fact, some of the employees took this comment as a personal attack and accused me of threatening their jobs. Nothing could have been further from the truth. I was actually giving them the key to job security. The world is always changing and there are so many examples of leaders falling because they did not keep up with the changing landscape of business.

My job in 2001 was to move Sign Craft out of their rut and find a new groove. Being open to change was not good enough, Sign Craft needed to demand change. This does not mean that we did not celebrate our successes, it just meant that even in success, we looked for ways to improve. It also meant that we needed to evaluate everything we were doing and determine those that were not working and do something different.

That was seven years ago and the Company has come a long way. However, my message to the staff will still be "satisfaction is strictly forbidden." This has been my message every year. Our objective is to stay in the groove though the implementation of continual improvement. We recently completed our evaluation of the organization and staffing of the combined Sign Craft /Atlas. We completed this task in four steps. First we determined the best structure for the combined company. The next two steps were to determine the necessary skill set for each position and then to match the skill sets of our staff to those positions. The final step was to put the right people in the right positions.

To implement this process properly, we had to set aside our feelings towards our staff and concentrate on what was best for the business. This was difficult, but necessary. The final result we believe will be the foundation for a better and stronger Company going forward. Several people were moved into positions that better fit their capabilities and chances for success. The bottom line is we are better suited to meet or exceed our customers expectations.

My commitment to the Guardians of Sign Craft is that I will never be satisfied. I will continue to look for ways to improve the overall organization. Our focus in 2009 will be to on solving our customers pains with regards to signage. All of our efforts will be focused on continual improvement, primarily in the areas of communication and delivery. 2008 was a great year. We increased revenues in tough economic times, we completed two acquisitions, we strengthened the quality of our staff, we improved our IT capabilities and systems and added some very strong clients to our family of customers. I am certain that we all are aware that the economic climate for 2009 is not pretty. This does not give us a free excuse to accept mediocrity. By removing the word "satisfied" from our vocabulary and focusing on continued improvement, we will improve our products and services to our customers and increase our potential for growth.

I am proud of the accomplishments of our Guardians in 2008 and look forward to continued successes in 2009.

Is Your Sign Working For You?

You wake up in the morning and drive to work and the first thing you notice is that your sign is not illuminating. Great - Just what you needed. All you hear on the TV and radio is how dire the economic situation is becoming. The headline in the Wall Street journal today was “fears over the financial and automotive sectors as well as the broader economy showed no signs of abating.” Your customers are cutting out spending and your revenue has begun to decrease. In order to survive this downturn you are committed to cutting expenses. Surely putting off fixing that sign for a few months is the right thing to do.

When business gets tough, it is important to conserve cash. All expenses should be reviewed and justified. However, the decisions on what expenses need to be cut can be tricky. While putting off the service on the sign may appear on the surface to be a good choice, it could result in additional reductions in revenue.

A quality working sign brands your business and attracts new customers. We all can remember times when we were visiting a new city, driving down a street looking for a restaurant and made the decision based on the sign. According to the US Chamber of Commerce, on-premise signs draw in as much as 50% of a new business’s customers. According to the SBA, without a well designed properly functioning sign, a commercial site cannot function at its full economic potential.

The converse of this is also true. On the same trip to a new city, we can also remember not stopping at a restaurant because of the condition of the sign. Consciously or unconsciously, we all make decisions about businesses based on the visual appearance of the premises. Your sign is a vital component of this perception.

On my way into work this morning, I noted no less than 15 signs that were either not illuminating or in some state of ill repair. This amounted to over one sign per mile. What is the message these businesses are projecting to the public?

In tough economic times, the competition for decreasing consumer dollars increases. Money spent on the appearance of the premises, branding and advertising can be easy targets for reductions because it is difficult to quantify the return on investment. However, I would contend that expenses that support or enhance revenue streams should not be reduced and quite frankly should probably be increased. Consumers frequent business that project confidence. If a business’s signage is outdated, difficult to read or in ill repair, it is sending the wrong message to the consumer. As stated in Vital Signs – Vibrant Communities, “Nothing says open for business like a good sign”.

To view Vital Signs - Vibrant Communities, please click on this link.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtyBFzGry7I&eurl=http://www.signs.org/

Clarity of Message

In the famous words of Forrest Gump, "I am not a smart man", but it would seem to me that the Treasury has a huge perception/credibility problem resulting from their recent about face on the use of the TARP funds. My focus is not on the actual use of the funds but in the way the Treasury surprised the markets and congress with the announcement and the lesson that businesses can learn.
As background for anyone that decided to tune out all the negative news, the treasury scraped their original plan on how it is going to distribute the $700 BILLION recovery plan. The treasury spent two solid weeks in late September negotiating with congress to devise the plan to purchase distressed assets from financial institutions in the hopes that it would encourage these institutions to begin lending again. This plan was made public and the treasury had already begun to distribute funds under this plan. Then, without prior notice, the Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson changed course and announced that the funds would be directly injected into banks and other financial institutions and on unclogging markets that fund consumer debt.As I stated, my point is not on which of these strategies is correct. This is a difficult problem that quite frankly makes my head spin. The issue is the clarity of communication and the impact of ambiguity and/or surprise. In response to Mr. Paulson's announcement, members of congress made comments like, "Mr. Paulson has his hand on the tiller and has to do what he thinks is right, but it would've been good to communicate with the markets and congress his thinking" and "such a rapid reversal raised questions about the department's future plans for the rescue funds."
I believe we sometimes forget our stakeholders when we make decisions. None of us live in a vacuum. The only thing I remember from High School Physics is that “every action has an equal and opposite reaction.” I find this to be true in so many aspects of business.
Surprises are very rarely a good thing. Our stakeholders do business with us to fulfill a preconceived benefit. It is our responsibility to bring clarity to this expectation in order to meet or exceed it. If we are trying to bring the highest quality product to a customer that is looking for value or on time delivery, we have increased the chances for conflict because our focus in not congruent with their needs.
Conversely, we also go into interactions with a motive. It is also our responsibility to provide clarity to the stakeholder of our expectations. For Sign Craft, this could be the furnishing of all the appropriate information in a timely manner in order for us to meet their deadline or their adherence to our credit terms.
When both sides have a clear understanding of the expectations, potential conflict is significantly reduced. However, it is not completely mitigated. With the introduction of time and outside influences any transaction has the potential to break down into conflict. Examples would be the impact of one party not meeting their delivery date because a subcontractor missing their deadline, a truck breaking down or weather. The issue is not the outside influence, but the how, when and where the effected party communicates with their stakeholder.
For example, if our product is purchased by a purchasing manager that works in a Corporation, our customer is the Corporation. However, we also have a responsibility to that purchasing agent that made the decision to use our company. When issues arise, it is how you react that determines the quality of a company. Issues will arise. Therefore, a fluid system must be in place to handle these issues. The following are the necessary steps to this system:

Do a detailed analysis of the situation to make sure the issue and the impact on the transaction are completely understood. The key word is detailed. Issues have a tendency to snowball because of solutions that are not well thought out or implemented hastily.

Determine if the problem can be resolved without impact to the stakeholder. If the answer is yes, get it done.

If the stakeholder is impacted, notify them as soon as possible. The goal is to bring clarity to the situation and to bring the transaction back into balance as quickly as possible.

This notification should be made to the person that is personally invested in the transaction. Include this person in the decision making process. This stakeholder’s reputation in their company may be at stake. By allowing them to become part of the solution, they may be able to mitigate damage to themselves, their company and ours.

Once a solution is determined, bring clarity to the solution for both parties.

Rectify the situation as quickly as possible.

Be prepared for other issues that could arise because of the change.

Communicate with the stakeholder when the transaction is completed.

Assure that the stakeholder is satisfied with the outcome.
This is a very over simplified system. It is not difficult, but it is rarely followed. Clarity of communication can only happen when both parties understand the motives of the other party. This is true in all aspects of life. When issues arise, we must slow down and make sure our solutions continue to be congruent with the needs of the other party. In the case of the Treasury, announcing their change to the public without sending up test balloons or discussing the changes with congress resulted in frustration in the congress and an immediate 400 point decrease in the markets.

Pillar Awards

Sign Craft Industries was recently nominated for a Fishers, Indiana Chamber of Commerce Pillar Award. We were in the category of Business of the year.   The other nominees were Community Home Health Services, St. Vincent Carmel Hospital, WestPoint Financial, MacDougall Pierce and Meyer Najem. These are fantastic companies and we were honored to be included in this prestigious list.  Our heart felt congratulations goes out to the winner, Meyer Najem.

While it would have been nice to win,  I still view the nomination as a significant milestone for Sign Craft. 

There we were standing next to the big boys.  We were not up for small business of the year.  It was Business of the Year.  This has been a long hard journey for many of us.  It was not that long ago that we were a small company that only serviced product we produced.  Over the past seven years, we have generated a compound annual growth rate of 29% in revenues and 20% in Guardian employment.  It was gratifying to realize that others outside the Company recognized the hard work and dedication of our Guardians in expanding our market presence without sacrificing quality and/or service.  

It was especially nice to have the recognition come from the Fishers Chamber.  This Chamber is extraordinary.  It is run like a business with a focus on their Mission Statement.  I cannot say enough good things about the leadership provided by their President, Christi Wolf.  The Chamber received a five star accreditation  from the United States Chamber of Commerce. This is their highest rating and very few Chambers achieve this level.

Finally, we are very proud of the Sign Craft Guardians for their involvement in the Fishers community.  Fishers is a fantastic place to live and work and was recently named by Money magazine as the tenth best place to live in the nation.  The magazine cited Fishers strong economy, home prices, and good schools as factors placing it in the top ten.  Our Guardians recognize that for Fishers to continue to progress, it will take the continued involvement of the corporate community.  Our guardians are committed to assisting with the design of a progressive sign ordinance, involvement on chamber committees and any other opportunity where their participation would be beneficial.  In addition, the Company is committed to providing sponsorship to Chamber events.

Nomination for this prestigious award was further validation of the value of hard work and dedication to community.  Sign Craft is committed to Fishers and we are proud to be viewed as one of the communities best businesses.  With an eye on growth and community, who knows some day we may just win the Pillar. Congratulations again to Meyer Najem, but also to all the Sign Craft Guardians that made our nomination possible.

 

SLOW DOWN TO GO FASTER

Why is it that certain thoughts and comments resonate with us? I was reading a book and came across a comment that I have read a hundred different times about a hundred different circumstances; but this time it caught my attention like never before. The comment was "we need to learn to work smarter, not harder to get ahead." I believe the reason this comment caught my attention is the turmoil in the world, at Sign Craft and in my personal life. While the world turmoil is at best challenging and at worst down right scary, the turmoil at Sign Craft and in my personal life is actually very exciting.

I have found that turmoil is usually caused by change. Note that this change does not have to be negative to create a stressful environment. Most people do not react well to change. Change normally involves taking a risk and risk has a tendency to increase the blood pressure. However, I am less interested in the reaction to change and turmoil than I am in the process I witness people take to new situations.

My slogan has been "slow down to go faster". What! Is that an oxymoron. How can you slow down AND go faster. When I read "we need to learn to work smarter, not harder to get ahead," it brings me right back to "slow down to go faster". I believe the basis of both of these comments is in the attitude, planning, education, communication, follow-through and review. In my observations, new situations are often met with bad attitudes meshed with ill-planned, un-researched solutions that are poorly communicated to those performing the project with no follow-up or review. Amazing how in these situations we get the same lackluster results. It is possible to change theses result by focusing on these key points. I will shortly discuss all of these below:

Attitude

A common reaction to change is to immediately go to the negative. Certain individuals can always come up with reasons why anything outside the norm should not be done. Please do not think they are not creative, some of the reasons they give are very creative. It is not that they do not care. I have found some of these naysayers to be the most dedicated and hard working individuals I have ever worked with. They are just pessimist and adverse to risk. Unfortunately, I would contend that pessimist have a tendency of making sure their fears are realized. I am not saying that all new ideas are great and should not be viewed with a bit of scepticism, however, opportunity does not always come directly and drop in your lap. Attitude and the willingness to do a detail review of new opportunities are critical. As stated by peace Pilgrim, "If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought."

Planning

Details, details, details. Most of our costly errors are created by not spending enough time in the details. This is the cornerstone of "slow down to go faster." We all have a tendency to get into routines. Routines are the ruin of planning. Because we believe we know all there is to know, we take shortcuts and circumvent the planning stage. The best planning systems created can be crushed by assumptions. By going through the planning process and including all that will have an impact on the outcome, we can eliminate routine and assumptions. Not all people are detail oriented. That is why it is crucial to have a detail oriented person involved in the process that will champion the planning phase. At Sign Craft, this falls on the GM and the Project Managers.

Education

We all get so busy that it can be difficult to keep up with the changes happening in our chosen field. This again leads to answers based on past experiences and is dangerous when the business environment is changing. Business is always in a state of flux. Even if there are not revolutionary changes happening in a specific industry, the interaction of that industry with the overall economy, and its employees, customers and vendors demands that we remain educated. Education is as easy as reading trade magazines, interacting with the leaders in your field, attending seminars or classes and several other conventional or unconventional methods of increasing our knowledge base. The death of many businesses has been the lack of knowledge of dramatic changes. Without knowledge, we can not prepare and potentially profit from changes and or advances in our given industry and the economy as a whole.

Communication

I have heard time and time again how nice it would be if we did not have to rely on anyone else for success. Unfortunately, this is very rarely feasible. Proper, timely and appropriate communication is the cornerstone of success. This is true for both internal and external communications. This is also a far reaching topic that others have spent years researching. My intention here is to highlight the importance of communication.

In the sign industry, quite a bit of time elapses between the placement of the order and the delivery of the sign. Unfortunately, the norm has been little or no communication with the customer during this “dark period”. Often, the first communication is that the signage will not be delivered on the due date. This is unacceptable. The customer should have a clear understanding of the status of their order at all times. In addition, they should not be surprised by what they receive as the final product. Finally, bad news or any news where the tone could be misconstrued, should not be done via email. It should be delivered by telephone or face to face.

Internal communication is no less important and is very similar. We all have to rely on others to get the job done. It is important that the information moves up and down the chain of command fluidly and accurately to assure that the customer receives a quality on time product. Again, errors occur because of assumptions. Through the use of proper communication, assumptions can be eliminated. Proper communication would encompasses the right people being informed at the right time with accurate information. It also is important that all the pertinent questions have been asked and answered, all the answers to open questions resolved and conveyed to the appropriate people and that any new questions that arise are directed to the right person. It is a ever moving circle of information.

Follow through

This is as easy as doing what we agreed to do. Again, this can be external as well as internal. Again, we must rely on other people. The basis of this reliance is a trust that the other person is doing what they agree to. If this is not the case, than communication needs to begin again and a new agreement reached. Problems will most always arise when we vary off the agreed upon plan. This is also true with customers, employees and vendors.

Review

Where proper planning is the foundation for the short term, review is the foundation for the long term. By doing an analysis of each process and/or job, we are able to determine where we could improve. This improvement can come in many forms such as efficiency, profitability, customer satisfaction or safety just to name a few. In addition, by including all parties in the review, we exponentially increase the benefits derived out of this review. However, these benefits are only as good as the changes we incorporate into the new processes/jobs. Review without implementation is a waste of valuable resources, time and money.

We need to learn to work smarter, not harder to get ahead. Slow down to go faster. Both of these statements demand that we engage our brains to derive better solutions. Throughout the day it is easy to find examples of people doing a process exactly like they did it the day before. When you ask why the do it that way, they will reply either, “this is the way I was taught” or “this is the way I have always done it”. If you follow up with the question, is this the best way to do it? They will often look at you perplexed. Many have not been asked to become part of the solution.

At Sign Craft, we want all of our people to take a critical eye towards their responsibilities and come up with a better way. This is not a one time look. Every job should be looked at as a chance for improvement. By working smarter, we can increase efficiencies and better serve our customers.

Comments on the acquistion of Atlas Sign

I am writing this entry in response to the numerous questions about the future of Atlas Sign. As with any combination, there are rumors surrounding the transaction and the future of both Sign Craft Industries and Atlas Sign. As we stated in our press release dated September 15, 2008, we have a high regard for Mr. Gilley, the prior owner of Atlas, and the Atlas Sign Company. Over the past 25 years, Atlas has built a great reputation and a solid customer base.

In the near term, it is the intent of Sign Craft Industries to continue to operate out of our current facilities at 3150 Rand Road Indianapolis, IN under the name of Atlas Sign and 8920 Corporation Drive Indianapolis, IN as Sign Craft Industries.

We are beginning the process or evaluating the best long term solution for Sign Craft and Atlas Sign with a primary focus on best servicing our current and future customers.

For the current Atlas Customers, it is the intent of Sign Craft Industries to honor the contracts and warranties in place from Atlas Sign Company and incorporate the Sign Craft commitment to on-time deliveries of quality products and services. We are excited about the opportunities this combination of two fine companies will bring to the market and look forward serving your signage needs.

Thank you for your continued support and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at 317-842-8664 Extension 320.

Recent Growth

The past few months have been as interesting as any I have experienced in my short 30 years in business.

At the beginning of 2008, I set a goal for Sign Craft to more than double its revenues in two years. This was a pretty lofty goal considering we had already grown by over 400%. So what made me so bold?

The answer is both complex and simple. Nothing is achievable if a goal is not established and progress towards that goal is not monitored. Conversely, anything is possible when a stretch goal is established as the guiding light of all activity.

While there are many proponents of this logic, it is not as easy as it sounds. Day to day activities, people issues and tough times are just a few of the distractions that make a goal just words on a sign. When this happens, the goals are hung right next to the mission statement and forgotten.

Goals are not accomplished if they are not internalized and lived. Through this process, goals take on a life of their own.

When I established the goal, I announced it to my staff and certain other key Guardians. I also expressed it to many of our business partners and associates. Publicizing my goal sharpened my resolve and made it difficult to renege. I then constantly reiterated the goal. This was again intended to keep our focus on the prize. However it also generated buy-in by the key management team who were critical to the plans success.

What I did not expect when I set this goal was the economic downturn we are now experiencing. Many believed that based on these events, I would reset the goal to a more “achievable” level. Not a chance. A goal is set to guide us though hard times. In fact it is in hard times that creative solutions sometimes create the best opportunities.

That has been the case for Sign Craft. By taking the time to invest in technology and hiring the best people, we were able to continually improve our core competencies and strengthen our balance sheet. This allowed us to not only weather hard times but flourish.

Companies, as with people, normally react in one of three ways to hard times. They either look at them as opportunities, challenges to survival or catastrophes. Those companies that plan for bad times are prepared and are sometimes able to find great opportunities at favorable prices. This was confirmed again today when JP Morgan Chase announced the acquisition of Washington Mutual at a discount.

In 2008, Sign Craft has chosen to look for opportunities and have taken the necessary steps to profitably grow the business. These actions put us in a position to complete two very favorable acquisitions that will add quality annuity clients to our already strong customer base, dramatically increase our fabrication, installation and service assets and capabilities and most importantly add fantastic personnel to the team.

I am a firm believer in stretch goals and I believe that this goal is a primary reason we should be close to our double by the end of 2009. In addition, I am a believer in good people and Sign Craft has the best. The moves we have made this year would not be possible without their buy in to our stretch goal and more importantly, their dedication and hard work. I am forever in awe and grateful.