We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tom Numan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Tom, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

Radikal Neon operates in an industry that is *almost* as old as time itself. Ever since humans discovered trade, they’ve needed signs to advertise their wares – and that’s where we come in!

Being apart of such a traditional industry has its upsides, but also its’ downsides. One of the most glaring downsides being the antiquated process of getting a quote prepared for a client, for their custom sign. It was never a very straightforward process, pricing can confusing to understand, quoting takes a lot of research and drawing, plus the materials are often even tough to understand for someone outside of the industry. All of this just to give a potential client a price, this process can often turn clients away, as the process becomes convoluted.

Having noticed this huge hurdle that clients face when engaging us for some custom signage, we decided to research tech based solutions to this problem. We quickly found that while a solution wasn’t going to be straightforward, if we did figure it out we’d be one of the first companies to do so – and reap the rewards of providing a seamless customer experience. Imagine a world where a client can be their own sign designer and see the quotes in real time too. That’s our utopia.

So, after a few months of dev work, we finally figured out how to take the guesswork out of the quoting process, and made our online Custom Neon Builder (linked below), this was over 5 years ago now – but it still stands the test of time being the most innovative online tool for clients to get quick indications of costing, all while handling the design elements themselves. – a process people not only find useful but enjoyable too.

Our Custom Neon Builder is often imitated but never replicated, and we continue to improve it, and will roll it out for other forms of signage beyond LED Neon in the near future.

https://www.radikalneonsigns.com/us/create-custom-neon-sign-quote/type/

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m Tom, the owner and founder of Radikal Neon – alongside my business partner Brandon we spaces more beautiful.

The journey began when I first tried to get my hands on my own neon sign. One of the main things that I quickly discovered about traditional neon signs was that the glass used was easily broken (especially when shipped), and released toxic gasses when it did. An expensive and timely craft, while often being a pain to install for the client and costly to run, simply wasn’t as sustainable as modern lighting solutions should be.

So, as problem arise I attempt to solve them. I searched high and low to see if more modern technology would be able to replicate the look without the downsides. That’s when Tom discovered LED Flex Neon in 2013. Even though it was a fledgling technology at the time, his experience in the lighting design arena told him that this medium was the one!

LED Neon turned out to be an environmentally friendly, user-friendly, and wallet-friendly alternative without all the downsides of glass neon. Just like that, the ultimate evolution of the traditional neon sign was born, and it’s been shining bright ever since – today having gained over 40 friendly faces with Radikal operations in 5 different countries it’s been a blast so far, and we still feel like we’re getting started!

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Honestly, the best strategy I’ve found to create new customers – and retain existing ones is super sharp customer service. Quick response times, helpful solutions to their issues, great general advice around our signs, and owning mistakes when they occur.

These experiences are the cherry on top of a great product. We find our clients are more likely to talk about how helpful we were to their peers, than how great the signs actually are. There’s no better recommendation to create new business, than a word of mouth recommendation from someone you know/trust!

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

Funny story, Brandon and I go way back beyond the beginning of Radikal!

We met during our college years through mutual friends some 10 years ago. One night out at a popular bar in our college town made a big impact in both of our futures.

Me being the disruptive so-and-so I can be had found myself in a bar fight, outnumbered and surrounded by no one I knew. Then out of nowhere like a knight in shining armor Brandon emerged having seen the events unfold. He quickly defused the situation, and likely saved my ass from an imminent beating. Suffice to say we quickly became good mates, someone that will have your back having only just met you is likely also going to make a good business partner as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.radikalneonsigns.com/us/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/radikalneon
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/radikalneon
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@radikalneons
• Other: https://www.pinterest.nz/radikalneon/