TechLinkOne develops new business for manufacturers of in-store marketing displays and brand identity elements. Our end-user clients are national and regional retail/food companies ranging from Kroger to The Coca-Cola Company. We focus on questions important to our clients. Does the message increase sales? influence what is purchased? speed up a decision? or improve customer experience in a retail environment?Our formula is to match the message with the customer’s experience. A host of considerations like language, images, and placement are used to create the message content for a sign. While persona, time, and relationship define the customer’s experience. An example scenario:THE GOAL: Speed up customer order decisions at the Grill station in a hospital.CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE: Medical staff with limited time to eat lunch in the hospital cafeteria. Lunch is the busiest time of day. Capacity issues create long lines that deter business. Crowd size obstructs the view of the menu. MESSAGE STRATEGY: Raise menu to a height that can be viewed by all during crowded times. Use specific food images to speed up processing. The brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text. Bundle food offerings into combinations (Entree, side, and drink). Combo meal offerings reduce order time by 33%. Boredom increases the perceived wait time. Provide distraction information to reduce the perceived wait time. People can overestimate actual wait times by 36%.OUTCOME: Did the content, layout, placement, colors, images of the sign speed up order decisions? Did more customers stay in line to place orders? Did the sign message(s) impact any other dynamic in the retail space?Before designing or manufacturing anything, a message strategy is developed to create a desired outcome. We judge our success and failure on the actual outcome of our messages. The final result is an in-store sign program that makes a measured impact.

VGS is one of the most comprehensive manufactures of signs and displays in the United States. Fantastic design with a brand strategy think-tank second to none. I dub Don Healy, founding partner of VGS, “Willy Wonka” of the sign industry. Don has more ideas about product development than Mr. Wonka has candy.The craftsmanship from this company has no limits. When upscale Cartier wanted an illuminated ribbon to wrap their building, a 10-foot bow with 7500 White LED bulbs and 12-foot aluminum/LED tiaras - VGS made the design a reality with lightning speed. Both Cartier and GRID2 won a DDI Gold Award for exhibit and design ingenuity. First class all the way around. To have this high-end capability is one thing, but their ability to create low-cost national programs under the same roof is unthinkable. Highlighted by their global menu board program for Subway. The same team, equipment and setup build and ship over 14,000 menu boards to individual stores all over the world.I love this company for many reasons. If you can think it - VGS can build it. Please take a look at their website to see incredible work in a multitude of industries.

Always on the cutting edge of lighting and graphics production, LSI Images support national menu board programs ranging from Burger King to Popeyes Chicken and Biscuit. High quality and low cost are not benefits you see at the same time. You see it at LSI Images. When you are a division of LSI Industries, you access world-class metal fabrication, state-of-the-art printing capabilities, and brilliant lighting solutions. In 1996, Rick Jordan and Scott Sharon had the foresight to combine these specialties and quickly pick up market share. It took no time at all to attract major accounts like Burger King and McDonald's. A continuous improvement in materials, product flexibilities, and energy saving strategies keep business coming in.A restructuring of LSI Industries absorbed the menu board focus into LSI Graphic Solutions. A move proving to provide more comprehensive support to their clients. This company thrives on innovations and generated breakthrough solutions to our clients.

First sales position after college. What a great place to start. I spent six weeks in the plant learning about steel and steel fabrication. I will never forget how those guys (all men) put me through the wringer. I had no concept of hazing until I met that group face-to-face. Loved every minute of it. From there, it was six weeks in purchasing and then time spent in various steel specialty products. After an intense introduction to everything steel, I worked the remainder of my time as an inside sales person. Central Steel and Wire is a highly structured organization and provided an education into not only how things worked, but why they worked. After all these years, I still find conversations about steel exhilarating.

Two years with the White House Communications Agency - the last year of Regan and the first year of Bush Senior. I was just a kid. The novelty of traveling with the President and Vice President of the United States never wore off. Looking back, it feels like we used string and cans to support presidential communications. I would love to know how it all works now.The scope of the job was to set up communications support; that mimicked what was at The White House, as the President and Vice President traveled. Everywhere the president was anticipated to be on his trip; we had to create secure radio and telephone support. Coverage started from the moment Air Force One landed. I remember plugging a phone line into the plane. We worked with everyone involved with a trip. From Secret Service agents to White House staff. This was a fascinating look at communication. We operated under a “no fail” policy while getting a clear understanding what would happen in every case if we did fail. I consider my time there an unbelievable opportunity, and I soaked up every minute of it.