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Just looking at it from the other side of the fence... If you are going to take this vow - one which i will support in my company - You need to also vow to do the following: If you want to be treated like a professional contractor you need to be professional in every aspect of the word. Show up on time as promised. Stop making promises you have no intention of keeping. Communicate accurately and honestly. Take care of the product like its you would want someone to do for your product. Get your paper work and photos in promptly without thirteen follow up phone calls. Don't disappear once you get the deposit. Better yet put the deposit in an escrow account to prove good faith. I think we all suffer from an industry that is plagued with sub par contractors - both locally and nationally. I just think if we are going to vow to do anything as a group we should first agree to make this industry the most professional trade on the jobsite. Instead we are often viewed as something less then the cable guys. That's a shame too - we really are the most multi skilled of all the trades that visit a job site. Again Just looking at this from my side of the fence.

Well the Community Organizer of Signs Of The Times Magazine is asking people of the sign industry to find a way and support it. What a good question, the Sign Hugger is all over this one too. I wonder what he wants OTHERS to do, that of which he SHOULD be doing? I know he thinks he supports the sign industry through his magazine, performs a platform of information exchange, but in the way the electric sign industry needs to be served, he fails to meet those needs. He serves/supports only The International Sign Association, his advertisers, and the large National Sign Companies. When it comes to the smaller shops, suppliers / Distributors, Neon & Fluorescent lamp manufacturers, all which is the larger makeup of the sign industry he either doesn't ask the tough questions, doesn't want to get involved, or chooses to purely only support what supports his interests and his magazine. Sadly to say and being quite frank, some of you may not want to hear this BUT, the majority I just named is faceless, voiceless, and isn't organized with each other and it's left to do nothing more but follow, and that's what they want you to do. It's easier that way, it's an easier crowd to sell to. You see, they want you to believe you're the "Movers and Shakers" so you'll clap your hands at them, and feel good doing it. But that's just a marketing pitch for you to feel good about yourself, and that you're a integral part of what makes this industry work. It's true, but only if YOU believe and do what your nicely suggested, or believe what you're being told. Now, they have to clap for themselves to get it rolling, that's marketing, that's the setting of the stage. I think this site has done a very good job of supporting what is REAL in our industry, carving through all the misnomers, myths, and false marketing claims. Matter of fact, you merely support this industry in a large way by merely logging in and participating. BUT, YOU....have to participate. We have too many people "comfortable" riding in the passenger seats of this carriage, with too few horses actually pulling the cart. We got some strong horses pulling, but too many people just enjoying the ride. Maybe what the Community Organizer is talking about, getting "involved". I don't think you need to only support and buy from Vendors who spend money to be at a convention, or be an advertiser in a magazine. I think you need to support those manufacturers that sell based on Integrity, honesty, and real quality products that sell themselves, market with facts, THAT helps our industry, and THAT displays our industry in a great light to sign users, not ones who just "Market" We have too many marketers in our industry, I know our industry IS about Marketing, but NOT BAD marketing. Our Industry alone has too many people in key or leadership role/positions that are marketers, Marketing = Something executed but never explained. They just want to collect and move on, sort of like those fly by night sign companies who only sell on cheap statements. They just want to Bullshit their customer, throw up a sign and collect a check, never look back on what they sold or what will/can happen to in the next year. I get emails and phone calls from topics and threads I start, or from topics others have started, but it's harder to get those individuals to openly express in the public what they tell me. Why? Share something, Gripe about something, Rant about something, Tell US about the new project you did, Tell US worked for YOU and what didn't. You all are only going to get back what you put into it. In the last couple of years this board has made a difference by "holding feet to the fire" as the Community Organizer put it, let's make a bigger difference now and create a bigger change. The Trade Magazines like the Community Organizer, and the empty suits in the Sign Associations won't do anything about the REAL problems within our industry because it'll hurt their pocketbook. One of our biggest issues when it comes to our industry has been the cheapening and the whoring of our industry. It's been caused in a couple of ways, In a lot of ways by our trade magazines and in a lot of ways by our associations. The thing they both have had in common is the Omission, to acknowledge or act. There are a couple of theads that have downgraded it, but let's focus for now on an integral part that WE can fix right now, something that can have a quick fix. But it requires "Participation" on a grand scale. HERE'S WHAT'S BEING PROPOSED AN ASKED FOR HERE ON THE SIGN SYNDICATE.COM BY IT'S MEMBERS Starting January 1st, 2012. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE demand a deposit or payment within 30 days of invoice from the National Sign & Service Companies AS WHAT IS REQUIRED BY MOST STATE CONTRACTORS LAWS.....or DON'T do the work. Stand your ground, have the fortitude and deny the work. National Sign Companies, this goes out to you. There are a lot of you that are good companies that pay on time, and there are a lot of you that abuse your suppliers and subcontractors. We know who both of you are. Let's have the best of you continue to pay on terms or pay a deposit at initiation. Let's look at who has good reviews on our National Sign & Service Review List WHILE denying the worst of you OUR ability of hard work in a timely manner, to help you serve YOUR clients needs, your further requests will fall on deaf ears leaving you alone to complete something you probably shouldn't even have in the first place. The Sign Associations won't EVER help us in this matter because they've combined both Sign Suppliers and National Sign Companies in a annual summer summit and they're too worried about membership fee's based on employee count, these Nationals pay their lunches, and if you think an Association will EVER attempt to discipline their members with breaking their Code of Ethics/Conduct whether it's their high paying member or their Chairman, forget about it! You have a better chance of Magic Mouth forward thinking on honest marketing. You should ask, has a large national member ever been suspended or booted? NOW, I've been doing my part by not even taking on calls from National Service companies in the last 3 years, as I believe this work should return to the local contractors, and I won't let them dictate to me how much to charge for gas and travel, or how much to charge for components and time Anyone want to play the serious game of Chess, or do you want to continue to waste time with checkers and hound your money and BEG for it???

As technology changes its important to keep pace or get left behind. There are a lot new widgets, apps, social, RRS feeds, tags, Alt tags, email interface, SEO masters, CRM software, email list management, tech tools, you name it its happening. The most surprising or shall we say the most rewarding new tech that has effected the closing rate while impressing big and small customers alike has been digital signing of contracts / deals. We use My linkto manage, sort, sign and initial all my contracts. We then simply email them to the customer or client who are amazed by our technological achievements ( makes us look like were in the game )and we find them sending us back signed docs. The beauty of this online email digital document signing is that all the documents are in easy to create ( we use word )and store doc files for later use. Once one creates different doc one simply makes a change to the name of client and Walla! Done. When time permits Ill share more cool stuff with fellow Sign pros out there looking to gain an edge in the new way in which we all conduct business. Enjoy