It really doesn’t take a marketing genius to realize that the more value you add to a customer’s experience, the more likely you are to not only keep that customer, but earn new ones as well. Which, of course, makes it the vested interest of every enlightened business (pun intended) to weave value into every aspect of its business model that in any way touches the customer. It only makes sense, right?

In the past, we’ve talked about how Meyer Sign & Advertising adds value through our approach to design, through our fabrication capabilities, our capital investments — and even how we navigate our customers through regulatory issues during the permit process. What we haven’t talked about is installation. After all, as the great American philosopher, Yogi Berra, once opined: “It ain’t over until it’s over.” Or in the case of our company, until it’s up, on, or otherwise attached.

So, just how does a sign company go about adding value to the down (up) and (sometimes) dirty business that is the installation process? Although our general manager, Ken Hitt, will be the first to admit that while it may not be as sexy as design and fabrication, installation yields huge opportunities for delighting the customer. The trick, as is the case with so many things that delight us, is to make it look easier than it is. At least through the eyes of the customer.

Change is the Constant

Perhaps the first thing anyone should know about installation is that what it lacks in panache, it more than compensates for in uniqueness. Although the basics of how a sign gets installed have changed far less over the years than how it gets designed and fabricated, the process is anything but mundane.

“They’re all different,” says Ken regarding installations. “They all have their own little subtleties. Even if you are putting the same type of sign on a different section of the same building, that section may have been constructed differently or remodeled at some point. Rarely are two jobs the same.”

The first variable of any install is the type of sign itself. “You have pole signs, which can range from retro-fitting existing poles or doing a complete foundation for a new one,” Ken explains. “You have wall signs, basic backlit cabinets, channel letters and individual letters (which may be on a raceway), non-illuminated panels that go on walls, or projecting wall signs that require a lot more work in terms of bracing.”

Ironically, Ken points out, high profile sign installations (such as the Xfinity Arena in Everett) are not necessarily the most high-end from a technical standpoint. An example of an installation that was both is the Lincoln Theater in Mount Vernon. “That was an interesting install because we were dealing with an old, old building, and it was a projecting sign…and a big one at that,” Ken recalls, “so there were a lot of things that had to take place inside the building structure-wise to hold the thing up. That was a little challenging.”

Begin with the End In Mind

Breaking the value-added formula down into its constituent parts when it comes to installation begins with keeping the end in mind during design and fabrication.  These steps have to take into account not only what the sign is going to look like, but how and where it is going to go as well, since these factors will affect the available design and fabrication options at those stages of the signage process. We’ve gotten really good at this balancing act in the course of our half century in the sign business. “It isn’t just wham, bam, throw it out the door,” laughs Ken. “We do as much pre-planning in the fabrication phase as we can to make the job of the installers easier, faster and better.” Which is to say happier — but stay tuned for more on that topic as we move along.

Beyond the design and fabrication stages, a well executed install gets down to combining the power of machines with the cunning of hands. The fundamental things truly do apply as time goes by, as the poet said. On the equipment side of the equation, Meyer Sign & Advertising has built a vehicle fleet over the years that gives us a range of trucks from 100 feet long down to 40 feet. If you wonder why size matters (sorry…couldn’t resist), keep in mind that the less you have to manhandle a sign on site, the less wear and tear and quicker the installation.

The Right Tools

“We have the big trucks so we don’t have to assemble the signs one pipe at a time on site and then have to add the cabinets.” Ken explains. “Not very many people do it that way, but it’s a controlled environment in-house, where we are assembling them, and the customer gets a better product with a lot less time and impact on the installation site.” Businesses appreciate our thinking this way.

Size definitely matters — which is why we have big trucks.

Less impact on the customer site also means less expense, since it is by far more expensive on an hourly basis to install than to fabricate (more than double in some cases, according to Ken). “Since we are typically on a customer’s site for no more than a day, we can be more competitive,” he elaborates. The breadth and depth of Meyer Sign & Advertising’s equipment roster also contributes to its competitive advantage by obviating the need to lease installation vehicles.

The Right Stuff

The importance of design, fabrication, and installation equipment notwithstanding, the most critical component of a value-added installation is the installers themselves. To hear Ken describe them, it’s easy to think of our installation team, which makes up nearly 25 percent of our workforce, as veritable blue collar Renaissance men. If that seems like hyperbole, Ken will patiently school you on just what it takes to wear an installers hat. And as it turns out, there are a lot of hats to wear.

“You have to know construction. You have to be able to think on the fly, because there are going to be (unique) issues that come up with every install, and they will never go exactly as you think. You basically have to have a good mechanical mind so you can think through situations logically. Installers are also required to have to have a medical card, a commercial vehicle driver’s license (which requires a physical).  You have to have an electrical card, which takes a few years before you can even take the test for certification — and with our bigger trucks, you even have to have a boom license. Oh…on the electrical side you are now required to do 24hours of training every three years — it’s really regulated.” Amen.

A Rare Breed

The best installers are a something of a rarity — perhaps in part because they are also something of an anomaly. On one hand, they have to be tough (“You’re either sweating death or it’s 33 degrees and raining,” Ken observes), on the other hand, they have to bring a certain “finesse” to every situation. “Signs are built to last,” Ken says, “not to to take abuse.” All of which makes the true rock stars of their trade, in his words, “a rare breed.”

“When  I first started in the business you could hire anyone off the street and train them,“ Ken recalls. “But now you just can’t. If someone tells you they are good AND available, they’re probably not that good. We have some good ones.” Ken emphasizes this last point. Which is why, he adds, it is so important to keep them happy (I promised we’d get back to this topic, if you’ll recall). When I asked what makes an installer happy, Ken laughs and immediately replies, as though telling an old joke, “An easy install, home on time, and a cold beer in the fridge. Nice weather doesn’t hurt, either.”

All joking aside, Ken points out that as hard core professionals are wont to do, installers like to have jobs that are worthy of their skills; and while our local market wouldn’t typically generate enough installation opportunities to keep a team of four such professionals engaged full time, the fact that Meyer Sign & Advertising handles installations for national brands such as Wells Fargo and Jack in the Box means that we have no problem keeping a talented installation crew very gainfully employed.

In an age in which technology often trumps talent, it should be reassuring to those of us who truly value skilled labor that the not-so-secret sauce to a value-added sign installation is, in fact, a specialized group of humans who defy outsourcing. So, the next time you notice a well-designed pole sign perched high above the road you’re traveling, consider for a moment that while the brand that sign promotes might not have been “born in the USA,” the crew that got it up sure as heck were.