IMPACT Award Finalist: Accurate Signs & Engraving

Positive Signs

Engraver is in the Groove

Jim Mapstead calls himself a “serial entrepreneur.” He’s been a bartender, designed and built custom furniture, owned a lumber yard and hardware store, and, for the last 19 years, owned Accurate Signs & Engraving, Inc.

The Phoenix company is a leader in commercial and industrial engraving (name badges, desk name plates and building interior signage), and corporate reward and recognition programs. It has a large, diverse customer base, but draws the bulk of its revenues from manufacturing thousands of plastic tags for commercial installations required by utility companies.

When the recession drained the once-lucrative electrical contracting business, Mapstead went after a new target: solar panel installers. The booming industry powered a 15 percent jump in company revenues last year. Their goal now is becoming the nation’s largest solar panel installer tag provider, while keeping the personal touches that are their own calling card.

“Without good customer service, businesses won’t exist,” Mapstead notes. “How do we want to be treated when we go someplace? We all know that, so we provide that for our customers. If we screw up, we don’t go hide or blame somebody else. We take care of it. That’s why customers stay with us.”

His business looks nationally while Mapstead thinks locally, with community involvement his personal passion. He serves on numerous boards and commissions, including the Sunnyslope Village Alliance and the Phoenix Parks and Conservation Foundation. He also chairs the board of Local First Arizona, helping Arizona businesses grow while streamlining and protecting the non-profit’s finances and business practices.

“It’s a core principal,” says Mapstead, whose employees receive four paid hours monthly to engage in charitable causes. “The better I can make my community, the better my business will succeed. I live in a great community, and what can I do to help better that community?”

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Accurate Signs & Engraving
(602) 944-3587

The 2011 IMPACT Awards will be presented at a luncheon on Thursday, May 19 at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa. Will you be there? Click here to reserve your seat for the event.