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How do most people lose weight? They don't will it to happen and hope for the best. Successful weight loss comes after you develop and stick to a plan of diet and exercise. 

Getting the most out of your signage budget is similar. You have to develop and stick to a facility signage plan that takes into account all the aspects of great signage and helps eliminate the problems you most often encounter with your signs. 

To get started writing a plan, it's helpful to understand why you need a plan in the first place and the key questions to answer. 

Why a Master Plan?
A master plan might sound a little sinister, like something a criminal mastermind would cook up in the lab. But if you think about it, the master plan is what  helps the criminal mastermind achieve his ultimate aims.

With a plan in place, everyone knows what to do, what to expect and they will be less likely to cause problems and delays. It also helps when someone steps outside of the guidelines. You can look back at the plan, revisit the guidelines and make corrections. 

Without a plan, you will experience some of the classic problems with maintaining consistent facility signage — new management looking for a "change," a vendor who doesn't stick to guidelines, or urgent situations trumping the guidelines. 

Building the Plan
You can begin to build your master facility signage plan by connecting with your marketing or advertising departments. These departments often build corporate brand guidelines that govern things like letterhead, business cards and even email signatures. These guidelines should govern your signs as well.

Then, you want to ask some key questions. 

• Do you have an overall brand guideline to begin working from?
• Do you have an outline of all the sign "consumers" in your facility and know who interacts with what signs?
• Do you have a hierarch of visibility mapped out?
• Do you have a visual map of how the signage guidelines for each group of sign "consumers" are organized?
• Do you have established restrictions on how much a sign can stray from the guidelines, if at all?
• Do you have an implementation plan for creating and posting signage?

As you answer these key questions, you are actually developing your facility signage plan. Each question requires forethought and collaboration with key stakeholders like vendors, employees, customers and your signage partner. Developing your plan may also require working with other facility managers and the marketing department of your company. 

Wanting better facility signage and achieving that goal are two different things. A facility signage plan can help you achieve your facility goals, maximize your budget and eliminate signage problems you have experienced in the past. Let's get started writing that plan.