How to Use the EOS® Scorecard™ for Your Sign Shop

October 18th, 2021

In this article, we’ll be discussing how to use the EOS® Scorecard™ for your sign shop. This is an element derived from the business book Traction by Gino Wickman.

“EOS” stands for “entrepreneurial operating system.” The book it comes from is all about how you can change your management style for the better to improve your business. The book also discusses how you, as a manager, can align your employees toward the same goal, look toward the future of your company, and ultimately make it create traction in your market.

From the lessons of Traction, shopVOX wanted to create a post in which we discuss how you can create more accountability within your team dynamic.

What’s the answer to the question of how you can do this for your own organization? It’s by using an EOS® Scorecard™. Let’s learn more about this and how you can apply it in your sign shop.

What Should an Employee’s EOS® Scorecard™ Look Like?

Example #1: Graphic Designer

Our first example of an employee scorecard will be for a hypothetical graphic designer in your shop.

Let’s say that John Smith makes $1,000 a week. For your business to be profitable in this scenario, you should ensure that this designer provides work that is three times the value of what it costs to employ him.

Note that the $1,000 figure is purely hypothetical. When you make up your own scorecards, you should take into account everything it costs you to employ one single person. That would be compensation, insurance benefits, taxes, etc.

If the $1,000-a-week John Smith is to remain profitable for your company, he would need to design $3,000 worth of work every week.

Example #2: Sign Maker

Next, let’s look at the sign maker in your shop. If this person, let’s call him Kevin Smith, also makes $1,000 a week, then he needs to produce three times his value.

In the case of a sign maker, the work generated could be designs that were just approved or even work from the prior week. Where the work comes from doesn’t matter. What’s important is that, at the end of each week, your sign maker is generating at least $3,000 worth of work for your business.

Example #3: Sign Installer

Third, we’ll take the example of Joe Smith, a sign installer with your business. He makes $1,500 a week and so must generate $4,500 worth of work each week.

Now, because Joe Smith is an installer, he must install signs worth $4,500 every week, whether that amounts to one job or eight jobs.

Example #4: Salespeople

Our final example here is for your sign shop’s salespeople.

The EOS® Scorecard™ for salespeople is the most complex of all of these. That’s because salespeople have to provide three times the value of every employee in your organization together, not just three times their own value.

Why?

It is a salesperson’s job to feed the funnel. It rests solely on your sales team to provide jobs to the rest of your organization.

Without sales, your graphic designer has nothing to design. Your sign maker has nothing to make. Your installer has nothing to install.

This is all a way to say that your salespeople have to earn their keep in your business.

Review Your EOS® Scorecards™ Weekly

Once you have your EOS® Scorecards™ for each employee, you should review them weekly. That doesn’t mean you should be meeting with your employees every week to tell them if they have failed to meet their goals.

That would actually be counterproductive. 

The point of doing this is so you can produce measurables that you can then use to help your employees improve themselves. If someone didn’t hit a target multiple weeks in a row, you can use this issue as a coaching moment. Help this person to overcome whatever is challenging them so they can get back to being valuable.

As you review your sign software and other financials of your shop on a regular basis, try also to use these EOS® Scorecards™ as ways to motivate your employees. By showing them their weekly goals, you’re giving them something to strive for, a target they can see and hit every week.