Profile: Sign It, Cornwall, Ontario
SignCraft Magazine, July / August 1991
A stone's throw from where the Deer and St. Regis Rivers run together and flow
up to the St. Lawrence, over on the Canadian side, is Cornwall. Among the 46,000
other busy people you'll find working there are Nancy Beaudette and Noella Cotnam,
the owners of Sign It.
Sign It was started a decade ago
in the summer kitchen of a farm house about 10 miles
outside of town. Nancy had been working as a sign painter
until that time, and Noella was commuting to Montreal,
where she worked as a draftsperson. "Nancy
and I got to talking about opening a shop," recalls Noella, "and it seemed
like a great opportunity."
Since that time they have moved twice (they're now
in a 2000-squarefoot shop), have a full-time designer, and employ two part
timers. Sandblasted and carved wood signs make up about 70 percent of the
work at the shop. The remainder is made up of truck lettering and other "knock-out" type work. "We've also
been experimenting with foam, and have been doing some mixed-media type things.
We prefer more involved, specialty type jobs. Right now we're working on the
interior design of a supermarket. It's fun work, and it's satisfying, too.
We're doing some 3-D papier-mâché figures in addition to the signs.
It's nice to be able to step back at the end of the day and look at what you've
created."
When they first opened the shop, Nancy and Noella advertised
through newspapers and direct mail. Now most of their business comes through
referrals and repeat customers. Sign It has always been aware of its image. "We get public exposure
at city trade shows and county fairs," says Nancy. "It's a 'touch and talk'
approach to informing people, as opposed to high pressure sales. We work to
stay informed about the sign industry, and attend as many workshops and seminars
as we can."
Nancy and Noella believe that their showroom is one
of their strongest sales tools. Whenever a new customer calls, they always
try to have them come in and see the showroom. "When they come in, they see
what we can do. The nicest compliment we can get is for a client to say,
'We've seen your signs all over town.' We try to keep the atmosphere comfortable
and relaxed, so they feel at home when they come in. The showroom isn't big
- only about 16' by 16' - but it does the trick. I wouldn't have a shop without
one."
The division of responsibilities is something that
has evolved along with the rest of the business. Noella, now 37, does most
of the fabrication and woodworking, and Nancy, 30, does a lot of designing
and quite a bit of the hand lettering. Mark is the graphic designer and all-around
right-hand man. "We
try to keep the division as flexible as we can," explains Noella, "and that's
good because it enables us to help each other out when things get busy."
Nancy and Noella decided to add an "office manager" when the bookkeeping began
to get ahead of them. "there was just too much to do," Noella says, "and it
began affecting the creative side. We were losing track of our accounts, and
that's bad. Linda was working for us part-time on a grant, and when we found
that she had done bookkeeping in the past, we decided to move her into that
capacity. We've been putting more energy into finding better suppliers - supplies
are pretty expensive up here."
Noella thinks the biggest difference between the industry
in the two countries is that it's easier and less expensive to get supplies
in the States. "Customers
are about the same everywhere," she says. "If they have money to spend, they
want to spend it wisely. That's why they go for a better product. We're very
busy here - I can't believe we're in the middle of a recession. I don't know
if it's the same throughout the industry or not, but things are really busy
for us." They enjoy the variety of work, and Nancy says that even the routine
jobs are a nice change of pace. "Right now we're operating at a comfortable
capacity. We'll deal with growth as it comes. We're really having a good time
with the work we've been doing, and we enjoy a new challenge."
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