A friend's/customer's experience with buying a sign franchise.

[Marlene]

sorry to say this but this is yet another person with no idea about our business thinking they could just buy into it with no talent needed. just a few tools and off you go, you are now a sign maker. just because the person was pushy selling the idea to her doesn't mean much as she was the one who was making the choice. it may feel like they took her for a ride and took her money but she willing gave it up thinking any idiot can be a sign maker. lesson learned

 

[Pat Whatley]

I was really skeptical about getting into this business and talked with tons of sign owners as well as FASTSIGNS Center owners and all had nothing to say but good about FASTSIGNS.

I did some serious research into converting my shop to a franchise and FastSigns was FAR AND AWAY the only choice. I talked to three shop owners by just randomly googling phone numbers (instead of using selected owner numbers FastSigns provided) and each one was bonkers happy about the decision. In the end the initial franchise fee was the only thing that kept me from making the leap.

 

[Ponto]

An unfortunate set of circumstances and sounds like due diligence was lacking.....likely fell prey to an upbeat sales pitch.

JP

 

[binki]

I ran across and Embroid me location that was in the same boat. I went in a purchased a number of fixtures and equipment and the woman was just in tears of losing so much money. I felt bad for her but she was getting out and was able to sell just about all of the stuff in the shop. It was sad to see but it happens every day with non franchse places also. We see it every few months in our little downtown area. Place goes in, we do the windows, 3 months later someone else is moving in and we do them again.

 

[player]

I was really skeptical about getting into this business and talked with tons of sign owners as well as FASTSIGNS Center owners and all had nothing to say but good about FASTSIGNS.
It's been almost a year and things are really starting to ramp up for our new center! FASTSIGNS has had great training, sent reps up to see us and guide us and has even sent their tech guy up to make sure we're all dialed in!
We get a known name on our front sign, we get referrals, webinars, our own website and a ton of national franchises who automatically buy from FASTSIGNS exclusively. We have a question, need a profile, have printer problems, need advise, they're just a call or email away!
One other thing we get is way better pricing from vendors because we belong to a really large buying group! We save almost $100 a roll on IJ180, just cause we're a FASTSIGNS Center! Equipment is way cheaper too!
We can see what other centers are doing for business and compare their numbers to ours. It's amazing to see how many million dollar centers that are out there!
Yes, we do have to pay royalties, but it's totally worth it with all that FASTSIGNS does for us!
If you have any questions please feel to give me a call and I would be happy to discuss them with you.
Here are some videos and pics of our journey!
http://graphiclabstv.com/fastsigns/
And no I am not a paid spokesperson!
And I love Signs 101...so much to learn!
Greg 406-459-5531
greg.painter@fastsigns.com

I missed the name of your franchise.

 

[GAC05]

I missed the name of your franchise.

:Big Laugh

 

[CES020]

One other thing we get is way better pricing from vendors because we belong to a really large buying group! We save almost $100 a roll on IJ180, just cause we're a FASTSIGNS Center! Equipment is way cheaper too!

You do realize we all get those same discounts too, right? It's called "Negotiating" and works on supplies and equipment really well.

 

[visual800]

In this town we have more franchises pop up and be gone very quickly, im talking in months. Im referring to restaurants. Every one of these that opens and closes is in neighboring towns thriving. I blame it first on the " you are gonna be rich" attitude pitched upon them and then on then just not being business people and thinking these things will run themselves. I started out with a jig saw and some one shot and it was 10 years before i made money. I paid dues as most of us have. I have no regrets. Sooo the flip side of coin is buy a franchise turn key for say $75k up front and go thru a little struggle period before making a little profit, but i would not want the stress of owning one. To each his own.

 

[Turnergraphics]

OK so which franchise was it?

I've looked into a few franchises over the years. Subway, ups store, etc. One store usually does not produce enough income to warrant the costs and fees. The only gurantee is that you'll send 5 percent of sales to corporate

 

[Desert_Signs]

We save almost $100 a roll on IJ180, just cause we're a FASTSIGNS Center!

No you don't.