How to Get That Additional Sign Sale – Reloaded

“We don’t need another sign. Everyone knows where we are.” I’ll bet you’ve heard that at some point in your signage career. In this case, however, you’ve looked at the prospect’s business site and know there is a productive new sign location.

How do you convince the prospect of the value of that channel letter sign? Our January 2011 blog post discussed an interesting piece of data from the University of San Diego’s excellent “Economic Value of On-Premise Signage” study. It was the estimated dollar sales (revenue) value of adding an additional on-premise sign. The study estimated that an additional on-premise sign typically results in a gross revenue increase of 4.75%.

That number is an excellent chance for you to make a compelling sales argument – a selling point that your competition has probably overlooked. Take this number and run with it. Here is how. During your initial site survey, find out your prospect’s annual gross revenue (if they won’t provide that, take your best guess.) Let’s say that number is $723,461. Multiply that by .0475. That comes to $34,364.40. (See the numbers below.)

That is the estimated gross revenue increase your customer will receive from adding this set of channel letters to their site.

Your sign proposal price:                               $3,500

Prospect Gross Revenues:                             $723,461

Annual sales increase from new sign (4.75%):   $34,364.40

Estimated sales increase divided by proposal price:   9.82

Estimated number of days until payback:   37.18

Estimated monthly revenue increase with new sign:  $2,864

Est. Daily revenue increase with new sign:          $95.46

Estimated hourly revenue increase with new sign:  $11.93

Then take that monthly revenue increase number ($34,364.40/12 = $2864.) Compare that figure with your proposal price. The spreadsheet shows your price is $3500 including installation and permitting. That means your channel letter sign will pay for itself in gross revenues in 1.22 months ($3500 divided by $2864.)

Not bad. But how else should your prospect view that number? Another way of looking at that figure is the number of days that will pass before the letter sign pays for itself in additional gross revenue. You calculate that number by taking the number of days in a year and dividing it by the number of times the sign pays for itself in a year. In this case, that calculation is 365/9.82 = 37.18 (See numbers above.)

That is the number of days until this channel letter sign pays for itself in additional gross revenue for your client. Again, this is very good proposal data – how many investments pay for themselves in 37 days? Then, turn that monthly revenue increase of $2864 and turn it into a daily number. That calculation is $2864/30 = $95.46 estimated additional gross revenue per day.

This “silent salesperson” is quietly bringing in this much money for your customer EVERY DAY. Last, how much is the hourly revenue from this new sign? $95.46/8 = Means this channel letter set is paying your customer an estimated $11.93 per business hour (based on an 8 hour workday.) Employees normally cost money. This “employee” quietly brings you that much per hour. A relentless salesperson who produces daily, never complains and never asks for a raise.

Ask your prospect: why not add this “employee” to your payroll? This employee has only a one time cost, but then produces revenue – permanently. No strikes, no coffee breaks, no sick days. We’ve put together a free spreadsheet (in Excel 2003 Windows format) that will calculate all this data for you – just put in the top two numbers and you are done. You can download it here, or e-mail me at DSW and I’ll send it to you. You can also download the University of San Diego’s “Economic Value of On-Premise Signage” study here. Your selling points should center on this one primary theme: this sign produces new revenue that you would not otherwise have had, and pays for itself quickly. Why not put this silent employee on your payroll? In your proposal, couple this selling point with your ongoing general signage benefits, such as:

* Increased foot traffic

* Greater location visibility

* Expanded brand awareness

* Greater dollar return per square foot

* Better return on other advertising

These points can also help you to build value and close more channel letter sales. You may not have the lowest price, but you deliver the most value. Excellent.