Xmo Strata boss’s hard-hitting book
12th February 2007
Xmo Strata boss Steve Martin has written an explosive book blowing the whistle on alleged scams, frauds, dodges and health and safety breaches which allegedly occur throughout the sign industry.
Mr Martin has a growing reputation for his tough and uncompromising stand on legal, health and safety, and ethical issues – and the book, which is available on Amazon (and by order from good book shops) pulls no punches. Some of the information has come from a firm of specialist fraud investigators who are “very familiar” with the sign industry.
Specific individuals and companies are not named and shamed – but despite that, author and publisher aren’t taking any risks: the manuscript was apparently read by two barristers, in separate chambers, before publication.
It has been written in a private capacity – the publisher insisted that Xmo Strata is mentioned, so that the author’s vested interested is ‘declared’ to readers - but the firm gets only two namechecks in nearly 30,000 words.
Safety, quality, tricks and lies: dirty tricks in the British sign industry, and 100 questions your sign company doesn’t want you ask is unlikely to win the author many new friends in the sign industry. The book claims to unveil a grim catalogue of alleged seedy practices which, he says, cost customers millions every year.
The author knows that the book will upset people – he acknowledges as much in the opening pages – but says he is quite prepared to take any resulting flak, and that he hopes that it hastens “the demise of those firms who are so mired in bad practice that they are unable to plan their way to a more ethical style of business.”
The essential premise of the book is that it arms the customers with a battery of probing questions which will help them to differentiate between good, and bad, sign companies – and the intended reader is the customer, not those in the sign industry. The marketing emphasis for the book is in the retail, facilities management, and oil industries, and sectors of industry and commerce which spend most on signage. He is careful to state – repeatedly – that there are many reputable and well managed sign companies, but his portrayal of the industry as a whole is not flattering.
Amongst those who have obviously had sight of the manuscript – and who are quoted on the back cover – are health and safety specialists, and a senior manager from the customer side of the industry.
The book is not all accusatory and negative. There is advice on being a ‘good customer’, with a commentary saying that good customers tend to get better service; there are useful checklists and website addresses; and those firms who work hard to keep their credentials and business practices up to date will probably welcome a book which is designed to pose problems for their less well-managed competitors.
Safety, quality, tricks and lies: dirty tricks in the British sign industry – and 100 questions your sign company doesn’t want you to ask is published by Arima at £14.95 (ISBN 978-1-84549-172-7) … if you have the stomach for it !