2023 Wide-Format Rising Star: Aaron Dalton

In South Salt Lake City, Utah, Aaron Dalton, account manager at Vision Graphics, sees his job as more than a paycheck. Despite being “totally cast into” the industry from a young age, he’s pursuing his print career with eagerness and a willingness to learn.

Like a lot of kids, he wanted to grow up and be just like Dad. Matt Dalton, Aaron’s father, has a long history in print. Prior to becoming partner and vice president of operations at Vision Graphics/SBR Technologies, Matt worked for a company that focused on blueprinting and plan printing. During that time, Aaron got hands-on experience with the equipment from a young age.

Eventually, Matt joined the team at Vision Graphics, and in 2009, Aaron began spending his summers and weekends during high school at the shop, doing installs and manning the machines. After high school, he headed off to Utah State and played football, which eventually led to a mindset shift and a goal to play in the NFL. This dream continued throughout college as he wrestled with what he wanted to do for a future career.

“Given the fact that I changed my major five times up there, I think speaks to not really knowing what I was going to do,” Aaron shares. “I got to the point where I had to really start deciding what I was going to do.”
Despite having some time away from print during college, he always came back to his roots. “It [print] runs through my veins,” he says.

Eventually, after years of part-time work and completing an internship at Vision Graphics, Aaron took a full-time sales role in September 2020 during the height of COVID-19. Despite it being a tough time to start a new career, he fell in love with the environment and hasn’t looked back since.

Although Aaron’s official title is account manager, he — like the rest of the team — helps where needed. From building quotes and contracts, bringing in sales, managing projects, and visiting clients to installing graphics, any given day can be a mixed bag. Vision Graphics has a full-service, in-house installation team of six, but Aaron’s not afraid to step in and do the work. “I love it,” he says. “I think it’s a good quality for any team, for everyone, to be able to manage and at least help out when help is needed.”

That teamwork mentality is something that gets him up and excited to go to work every morning. That and the uniqueness of each project he gets to work on with his clients. He takes that same teamwork approach into his sales meetings. “I don’t want anyone to feel like I’m trying to sell them or upsell,” he shares. “I think everyone knows that we have a good brand; there’s good brand awareness around our image, and people know that we are not the least expensive. They know that we’re not the most expensive, and I just try to focus on anything but price.”

He’s of the mindset that if the client trusts him to know he wants them to succeed, everything will fall into place. Brent Jones, vice president of Vision Graphics, highlighted this exact quality in Aaron in his nomination.

“He rarely approaches a project with the idea to sell graphics,” Jones wrote. “Instead, he is thorough in his ability to team up with a client, understand how their project looks from their side, and create a vision of a finished job that achieves an objective.”

While Aaron has a “sales pitch,” he focuses on building relationships and repeatable business first and foremost. “It’s not good for me if I get one sell, even if it’s got some pretty good dollars behind it,” he explains. “We’re way better off to earn a relationship that is going to continually bring in work and keep the presses running.”

Heading Big Projects

One partnership that showcases Aaron’s relationship-building skills is with the Utah chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Parks (NAIOP). Each year, the nonprofit holds several events with the goal of raising money for a specific charity and encouraging networking amongst developers, owners, and professionals in office and industrial real estate.

For the last three years, Aaron has worked on its biggest event, called NAIOPOLY, helping transform a commercial development space into a life-size Monopoly board. His second year heading the project just wrapped, and he says it’s his baby.

Inside the space, Vision Graphics puts together a 120’ square board that features property spaces, custom backdrops, and tons of graphics to create the board-game feel.

“It’s great for us because we get to showcase pretty much everything we do, from rigid substrates to the dye-sub printing to the floor graphics,” he says.

It’s that freedom to be creative and develop something new year after year that keeps it exciting. Plus, everyone going to the event is a potential customer – someone Aaron wants to have a relationship with and turn into clients, which he says has happened several times over.

“Aaron is responsible for surveying the site – making sure to accommodate pillars, walls, and other obstructions, and envisioning the entrance, stage and traffic flow,” Jones explains. “With Aaron’s ideas, the drink vouchers now mimic the Monopoly property cards, custom NAIOPOLY money, and 3-dimensional elements that bring the board to life. The NAIOP won’t go anywhere else. While this is one example of Aaron’s work, many of our clients depend on him to guide their projects toward successful outcomes. And, while some projects may be more mundane than others, his attention to detail and client focus increase the value of our offerings.”

Learning Lessons

Whether it’s understanding new software or listening to people who have come before him, Aaron’s desire to learn and grow is evident. “I learn something new every day, every week,” he says.
One lesson that’s stuck with him through the years: Over-communication is key. “Always, always send the extra email,” he says. “Never assume.”

Aaron’s commitment to continuous improvement is evident, and it’s this attention to detail that Jones commends. Looking at his short-term and long-term goals, Aaron wants to progress and develop as a consultant. When he first joined Vision Graphics full time, he set a monetary amount he wanted to hit, which he says is important, but he stresses the value of goals that aren’t connected to compensation.

“If you’re only worried about making money, I think you’re going to end up hating what you do or get burnt out, and there is never enough money for anybody,” he says.

He believes “good things will come” as he focuses on growing his industry knowledge. He finds issue with the world view that you have to get a finance degree, go to grad school, or get a CPA to be considered successful.

“I’ve got tons of friends who all listened, and they all did that, and gosh, so many of them are miserable with what they do,” he says. “They look at me and where we work, which isn’t a Morgan Stanley, and it’s not a Goldman Sachs, but there’s more to life than just getting a big paycheck.”