Monthly Archives: March 2022

Is it possible to always swim UPSTREAM?

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Is it possible to survive while bucking a trend.

Conversely, is it possible to survive by following popular opinion?

Having a discussion with a fellow contractor it seems that the popular view on signage is for many people to go for the cheapest option.

This is VERY understandable, as money currently seems to be tight for almost EVERYONE.

The difficulty with accepting the cheapest quote is you may land up getting exactly what you pay for – as in you may find that the sign that you get at a bargain price in fact doesn’t last very long which will mean that you may land up paying twice for the cheap signs to last as long as the guaranteed signs. But enough of a ramble, this is not the intention of this blog.

The current trend is POPULAR. Do what the masses ask for – or demand.

The difficulty with following the popular trend is that the prices are often set by what the BUYER believes is reasonable. This subjective opinion is based on the buyers FEELINGS, but has absolutely nothing to do with COSTS.

Now for longevity or sustainability of a business, one cannot sell below cost, as if one does, you are only going to go broke at the pace of your loss – the smaller the loss, the longer it will take to go bust.

General practice for costing generally entails calculating the COST of all inputs – material, labour and whatever INPUT costs there are, add your mark-up and you get your selling price. There are obviously cost variations depending on one’s personal circumstances.

If a sign business is not quoting this way they are not covering all costs, and if all costs are not covered, how do they survive in the long term?

So what is a business to do? Follow the trend and slowly drown and go out of business, or feel as though you are always swimming against the stream and get the tit bits that come through by sticking to time tested quoting methods and marketing like mad?

If you are in the market for signs that will make your business visible, are prepared to pair fair value and want the security of knowing the business you deal with has been around for a while (over 20 years) and is intending to be around for many more, contact SignForce on info@signforce.co.za or call +27 (0)11 440 7525 or WhatsApp +27 (0) 82 558 6413

Find out more about SignForce by visiting our website at http://www.signforce.co.za

Hoe to REVIEW SignForce.co.za on Google Business

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How to place a GOOGLE BUSINESS REVIEW for SignForce.co.za

Like almost every modern business SignForce do our best to market our sign business and signage services in every possible way.

One way that we find very beneficial is for prospects and clients to rate SignForce on Google Business.

Because Google reviews are so important to our marketing effort – and, being human, we often forget to ask clients to rate SignForce, when we do remember to ask for Google Reviews one of our biggest challenges is when tech dinosaurs ask HOW do we rate SignForce.

After much research and many tries – it is not as simple from a developers perspective because, once again being human, we look for the easiest way to do repetitive work, which means cookies on our machines tend to direct us to the back end of the Google Business site, which is not helpful for clients and prospects.

Aside from Google Reviews being a helpful search tool for prospective clients looking for SignForce – or any supplier of almost any product almost anywhere in the world – Google Reviews also help businesses like SignForce because the largely unsolicited reviews are definitely unbiased, and help prospective clients see the good and bad – mostly fair – reviews of SignForce. It does bare some ugly truths about the failings of SignForce, but we at SignForce are of the opinion that these negative reviews can only help us make, sometimes unrecognized, corrections to how we operate.

If you are willing to assist SignForce with our marketing, or have had such a bad experience that you are willing to take the time to comment publicly, the following are the steps to rate SignForce.

Step 1: Search for SignForce on Google

Step 2: In the right of your business search results, click the button / icon / text Review or Write Review

Step 3: You should then get a page with 5 stars and the next page you can enter a comment if you wish.

Alternatively, if you are more tech savvy, are logged into your Google account OR know all the details in order to log into your Google account, you can click on the following link and it should work.

https://search.google.com/local/writereview?placeid=ChIJIUcQdcxylR4RLwxpFXf-EiA

If or when you are in the market for signs or require advice on signage, contact SignForce on either info@signforce.co.za or call +27 (0)82 558 6413 or WhatsApp +27 (0)82 558 6413

Find out more about SignForce by visiting our website at http://www.signforce.co.za

Right vs Wrong – And how it impacts signage

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Right versus Wrong

Good versus Bad

The Grey area between two extremes

And HOW does this relate to LIFE and SIGNS – or SIGNAGE

All of us alive in this ‘interesting’ time that to look at the world round us thinking a number of thoughts, some of which are likely to include thoughts along the lines of: How did the world get into this mess? Is there anything I can do to change the world? and What side do I support (if any)?

Wars have been fought, lost and won over the ability to control how people think. While propaganda is nothing new, it is very likely that due to modern communication methods, propaganda is currently at a level never experienced before. And knowing this, how does one decide who and what information to trust?

In days gone by it was believed that if it was written, it was true. I remember my grandmother telling me that. Why would anyone take the time to write something fake?

That said, in the new world of disinformation – or misinformation if you will – it is often extremely difficult to separate true from false and hence  right from wrong, and as such, equally difficult to thinking a number of thoughts, differentiate RIGHT from WRONG – or maybe is is better to say RIGHT from NOT RIGHT!

The entire world seems to have gone insane, with everyone telling THEIR BEST STORY – true or not – in order to sell their agenda, which is ALWAYS rose coloured, and for the absolute good of the world, humanity and any future generations that may reside on this planet. (And if you believe that PLEASE contact me as I have an extremely brilliant deal on a bridge, a harbor and a great batch of military hardware!)

By now you should be asking what does the world in turmoil have to do with signs and signage. Well nothing and EVERYTHING!

On the one hand the world gone mad has everything to do with signs – and how they are interpreted, even if they are not necessarily the PHYSICAL signs that #SignForce produce.

But in reality the world is where it is because of (in the writers opinion) weak world ‘leaders’ who value votes over life and livelihoods, and as such are too afraid they may be out of work if they rock the boat – so they don’t rock the boat and never take responsibility. Weak leaders have allowed dictators like ‘dear leader’ and putin – two among a WHOLE BUNCH of evil politicians – to push the boundaries and push the boundaries and push the boundaries – all with impunity, until the original boundary is unrecognizable.

In signage we work with various colour reference systems – RGB, Pantone and CMYK to name three. These are reference charts that allow businesses to maintain consistent colours in all their marketing materials. Having these reference methods prevents tiny changes – known as the JPD – Just Perceptible Differences – that while the change may not be noticeable in a single iteration, will be extremely noticeable over time.

A simple example. Say a business has a red that is their primary colour for all marketing material, but they don’t have a specific Pantone red. When the sign company makes the client’s first sign, they use the red the client is happy with, but no one makes a reference of the colour. Now, when the company makes the second sign, because there is no specific reference, the person mixing the paint looks at the red and makes it just slightly (lets say 1%) different to the original. Now imagine if this happens 10 or 20 or 50 times. By the time the 50th sign is made, the new red may have absolutely no relation to the original red.

Another point about signs and the world gone mad is (if we don’t look at the climbing costs because of the lack of raw materials) is that signage is physical, constant and consistent. One can rely on signage to deliver, consistently, for the life of the sign.

If you are looking for a silent salesperson to promote your business, day and night, contact SignForce to let us show you how.

Contact SignForce now on info@signforce.co.za or call +27 (0)11 440 7525 or WhatsApp +27 (0)82 558 6413

 

Find out more about SignForce by visiting our website at http://www.signforce.co.za