Instant Custom Signs – Drew Brims' Blog

I am convinced that sustained success cannot be achieved in the absence  of consistency.  Consistency is one of the cornerstones to success in any enterprise be it business, or sport.

I was reminded of the importance of consistency while taking a ski lesson during our March Break vacation in BC. Mike, our instructor (a level 4 which is the highest ranking attainable) was speaking and demonstrating consistency in executing the three phases of a turn.  Without consistency in all three phases, we can never become good or great skiers.  I won’t belabor the details of the three phases but you skiers out there should know what they are (if you don’t, take a lesson and learn them).

While riding up the chair lift with Mike, we were chatting about life, where we come from and what we do in the off-season.  As it turns out, Mike has a landscaping business in the Peterborough, Ontario area.  He is the third generation to be involved in this business – now there’s consistency!  Bill asked what my line of work was and when I told him we make signs, he related his experience with his local sign shop.  Until recently, he had been very happy with the quality of work from his sign supplier and they had been doing business for many years.  However, something changed in that organization last year and the quality of a job delivered was not what they were accustomed to – inconsistency.  I didn’t get all the details but his issues were unresolved and now he will be taking his sign business elsewhere.  If Bill is experiencing this inconsistency, then the other customers at the sign shop will also be experiencing it. A steady decline in clientele can be expected.

Consistency in the face of adversity is also important. Managing staff issues or equipment failures sometimes requires us to adapt to ensure that the end result is a positive experience for our clients.  Sometimes that means using alternate methods to achieve the same result.  I began writing this on a piece of paper because my laptop crashed while on vacation and there was no-one there in the mountains, an hour outside Kelowna, to fix it.  Rather than wait until returning home and getting the laptop fixed, I hand wrote this, transferring it to a digital file later because it’s important that I be consistent in publishing my content.

One of our clients recently sent an accolade to us in response to a job we had done.  He said it was great that we consistently delivered what we said we would, when we said we would. Accolades to us are unsolicited remarks from customers which we read out at our weekly Production Meetings.  They are the first items on the agenda and the entire team is present.  For us to be consistent, I feel it is important for the entire team to be on board and to hear how our customers feel about our work.

Consistency is something we strive to achieve all the time at Instant Custom Signs and I know the results speak for themselves.  We could not have retained repeat customers for 10, 12  and 15 years if not for consistency.

How about you? Have you experienced these kinds of inconsistent results with your suppliers? I would love to get your comments.  Here on my blog, you’ll get commentluv.  That’s great for you bloggers out there. By leaving a comment, you can leave a link back to your own blog.   But you don’t have to be a blogger to leave a comment. I’d like to hear from all of you!

Happy signing,

Drew.

Tags: Commitment, consistency, Drew Brims, ICSigns, Instant Custom Signs, Marketing, relationship, Signage, Signs