Sign Pro in Idaho Falls, Idaho is a full-service sign shop that prides itself on providing high-quality signage to the surrounding businesses in the Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana region. While they’re capable of almost any sort of sign installation, they really excel in dimensional carved and engraved signage—servicing the area’s brick-and-mortar businesses for decades and earning the trust of the community.
The shop uses a CNC router and Sign·Foam high-density urethane to create their carved offerings. CorelDRAW software is employed during the design process and EnRoute software for the routing.
However it’s not as simple as receiving a design from the client and pushing a button on a few programs, as Sign Pro President David Whitehead explains.
“If you have a customer who comes in and says, ‘My nephew designed this logo for us,’ and it doesn’t look very good, you have to have really good customer service in a situation like that,” he says. “We have to show them what they came in with and fully progress the idea they had. But I’ve been doing this for thirty years, and over time, you naturally just get ideas about what would look better.
“If you take the time to show them something nicer, they’ll usually go with it because they see it and it’s a million times better.”
And Sign Pro is a business centered around excellent customer service and wholehearted upselling. It’s a mindset that their salespeople adhere to—and it almost always results in a better experience for both parties. “What we typically do here is try to create an atmosphere where we take things to the next level,” says David.
For example, the property manager of Brauser Ranch emailed Sign Pro wanting a sign to hang from the pre-existing structure at the entrance of the massive property.
“The client bought the ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. That entrance structure was already there, and we designed the sign to complement that and to really grab your eye,” explains David. “The property manager was just expecting a basic sign, but we wanted to do something cool.
“We went fully dimensional with Sign·Foam so it would last. We routed the letters in a prismatic style so that, with the gold leaf on the letters, it just really pops.”
David’s son, Bailey Whitehead, is one of the shop’s salespeople. He expanded upon the manufacturing process of the ranch entrance sign, saying, “We just grounded down the Sign·Foam into our desired shape. We work with layers, usually one-inch thick, on top of each other. So ‘Brauser’ is one layer, ‘Ranch’ is another layer, and the entire background is a completely different layer all glued together.”
A similar Sign Pro sale-and-installation occurred at a local car dealership, where there was already a very solid pre-existing structure holding up a below-average sign. Timberline Auto came to Sign Pro looking for an upgrade, who, in turn, put their special touch on it to achieve a unique look.
Sign Pro came up with the concept on their own—giving their logo a dimensional appearance that would complement Timberline’s look. “An auto dealership wouldn’t typically have a carved sign with the name of their business, but ‘timber’ is literally in their name,” says David. “They also have a lot of hunting mounts and a wilderness theme inside their location.”
In fact, the new sign looks so good that it even caused a traffic accident! “There was a lady who rear-ended someone in front of her because she was watching us install the sign,” says David.
If you’re interested in seeing Sign Pro’s impressive roster of carved and engraved signage, visit their website (gosignpro.com). There’s nothing wrong with getting inspired by the competition!
