The Sign Connection: Looking Ahead

We expect innovation in inks and substrates to improve adhesion on UV printers and offer us a wider range of products we can produce while being kinder to the environment. We believe there will be a resurgence in the US in the interest in sustainability. Longer term, we look forward to increased efficiency with end-to-end workflow solutions combining JDF and PDF workflows and improved color management.

What will it take to thrive in this environment? We believe it will be a combination of operational excellence—running the business efficiently with a focus on improving both margins and customer service—while finding new and better solutions to help our customers grow their businesses.

I remain confident about our industry and its long-term prospects. The key is ensuring that we manage our businesses well in order to be in a position to take advantage of the continued growth and opportunity I believe exists for us.

At FASTSIGNS, the team is focused on achieving our four key strategic objectives: increasing our franchise partners’ profitability; increasing our franchise partners’ profitable sales volume; increasing the value of the FASTSIGNS brand; and further improving our franchise partners’ satisfaction with us. We have developed a robust outside sales and sales management support program; sophisticated multi-channel, multi-touch integrated marketing campaigns with measurability; and we have launched a mobile-enabled website. We are about to launch an integrated point-of sale, e-commerce and management information system that we believe will revolutionize our centers. Our franchise partners benefit from our technical team which provides end-to-end tech support on hardware, software, workflow and color management as well as unbiased, detailed equipment, ink and substrate testing and evaluations. We have created an extensive library of custom actions and scripts—to increase efficiency and speed up workflow—and answers to frequently asked questions to reduce the time spent on troubleshooting, problem solving, and training staff. We are working hard to bring even more savings to our franchise partners, negotiating with vendors on equipment, substrates, supplies and services using our buying power as leverage. We are providing tools and training to help our franchisees sell higher margin products and services.

We are focused on growing the number of FASTSIGNS locations though selling new centers as well as conversions. We signed 10 conversions in 2010 and expect to more than double that in 2011.