What is Your Secret Ingredient to Success?

As John Lewis, President of Direct Sign Wholesale, visits sign businesses across the western U.S. in the Signage Success Tour, he is recording “secret ingredients for success”. In his recent blog post from Arizona he talks about relationship building and how that impacts signage success. I really enjoyed reading John’s blog post about relationship building. Networking and building long-term relationships has always been something I found to be useful in business and success. I’ve learned over time that there are many ways to build customer relationships. I believe that every interaction you have with a customer contributes to building the relationship. The most important factor I’ve learned is to always ensure the customer feels important. Here are just a few of my key ingredients to building relationships:

Research. Before meeting perhaps do a search on Google and LinkedIn. You might have common interests, which can spark a dialogue. Most often people are drawn to those who have similar interest to themselves.

Ask Questions. When you’re getting to know someone, or learning more about a company you ask a lot of questions. It’s also equally important to ask their opinion. For instance, on Direct Sign Wholesale’s Facebook we often ask our fans which use of channel letters is more effective. We not only show that we value your insight, but also encourage you to share your experience and knowledge.

Gifts. I like gifts – don’t you? Sometimes it’s the small things that matter the most, so a gift can be physical or tangible. I found that online gift cards work very well.

Compliment. When giving someone a compliment it’s not only important to let them know that you like it but why you like it. Key: always be genuine!

I look forward to reading more from John and what he discovers along his journey to finding the secret ingredient to success. He’s heading to California next so be sure to bookmark the Signage Success Tour blog. If you want to share your secret ingredient with John Lewis, feel free to contact him directly. We want to hear about your awesome sauce!