question for shop who make 3m$/year

[bigben]

First, I'm very sorry for this stupid question. There is a shop here who make an average of 3m$/year. They have an lx800 and a fb500. They don't have their own installers. How many sqft you think they sell per month?

I'm writing my business plan, and that question came up in mind...

 

[cdiesel]

No way to answer that question with any degree of certainty.

Are they selling wholesale at dirt cheap prices? Those two printers are enough to push $3m/year at low prices.

No installers? So are they subbing that out and it's included in the sales?

I'd be more worried about how you plan to do things, not what someone else is doing. How do you intend to generate sales? What clients will you pursue? How will you acquire or do you already have equipment?

 

[bigben]

No way to answer that question with any degree of certainty.

Are they selling wholesale at dirt cheap prices? Those two printers are enough to push $3m/year at low prices.

No installers? So are they subbing that out and it's included in the sales?

I'd be more worried about how you plan to do things, not what someone else is doing. How do you intend to generate sales? What clients will you pursue? How will you acquire or do you already have equipment?

I was just wondering. I know they don't do alot of wholesale and I'm certainly not following them as a model. But if you say they can do this with those equipments at a "regular" prices, I have my answer.

 

[artbot]

it's not about the machines or the prices alone. for big numbers you will need a very talented aggressive sales staff, poach some guys with big accounts already set up, etc. this is not, "if i build it, they will come" territory. you get to $3m by getting to $300k then $500k then $750k and so on.

 

[MikePro]

how'd you get my accounting info? i'm totally gonna fire my snoopy butler.

 

[cdiesel]

If you're asking strictly if an LX800 and FB500 are capable of producing $3m/yr worth of vinyl, then I say no. Not by themselves at least. We have an LX800 and FB950 (the FB500's older, bigger brother) and three other printers, a Zund, and a ton of other misc equipment, along with about 20 experienced, efficient employees. Could you do it with just the two printers? Possibly, with zero room for error, three shifts, and a whole bunch of high dollar work.

Like art said, you don't get the $3m by building a business plan and buying some equipment. We try to set incremental, obtainable goals and build on them.

Are you just starting out or revamping your current business plan? This is the first question to answer so we can help.

 

[bigben]

Like I said before I don't want to "follow" them. I'm just rewriting my business plan. My goal for the next year is 400k$. Then I was just wondering if thoses equipments would produce 3m$/year with the right staff, setting, etc. sure I want to make those numbers in the future. But one step at the time.

 

[National Sign Co. - Print]

They are full of ****...

No way they can even half that. # even running inhouse 24/7 full retail. May be a nice sales # but actual billed is no way 3M..

Trust me!!

 

[artbot]

also, i wouldn't concern myself with gross sales. if it takes $2.8m in cog to net $200k from $3m, you don't need that many headaches for a $200k payoff. each shop should have a niche product that no one can compete with. you'll do better as a specialist selling to the country, then being a blow it out the door local competitor.

 

[HulkSmash]

3 mil a year. 2.7 mil in overhead

 

[National Sign Co. - Print]

3 mil a year. 2.7 mil in overhead

Adam,

I know that for sure is not your P&L ....

If so why bother that is super low margins. Tons of risk and cash for low return...

 

[Speedsterbeast]

Maybe they Run 3M products all year, or the run 3 Mil. thickness material all year.
Actually "M" means thousand, so I even sell more than those guys.

 

[DoubleDown]

Thought I would chime in. Completely possible to do this depending on what they sell. Yard signs and banners, no way but niche printing for shorter run high dollar pieces, in a heartbeat.

Example, we print a bunch of test diapers on very thin plastic material for a big client, maybe 100 at a time, charge $50 per print which is 10"x8" and takes us no time to setup and print..maybe 2 hours at most AND we were undercharging! So you do the math, things like this are better than a profit of a thousand cuts and overall sales means crap, its the net profit at the end of the day.

Pick a good area, make up a niche, but do not do normal sign stuff, you will kill yourself and lose money and sleep and life.

 

[mikefine]

If I were kind of figuring round numbers, as a starting point to put something on paper,
I would use variables of 10. That would be a retail selling cost of $10.00 per square and a take home in your pocket of 10% of the sales. I think Colorado nailed it: "3 mil a year. 2.7 mil in overhead." I don't do the big sales numbers like Merritt, so maybe that universe is different. But after everything is said and done -- a slice of the profit pie to expenses, insurances, credit card processing, Uncle Sam -- variable of 10 works for me. Others agree?

 

[jasonx]

If I were kind of figuring round numbers, as a starting point to put something on paper,
I would use variables of 10. That would be a retail selling cost of $10.00 per square and a take home in your pocket of 10% of the sales. I think Colorado nailed it: "3 mil a year. 2.7 mil in overhead." I don't do the big sales numbers like Merritt, so maybe that universe is different. But after everything is said and done -- a slice of the profit pie to expenses, insurances, credit card processing, Uncle Sam -- variable of 10 works for me. Others agree?

Your wages shouldn't come from this.

You should get 10% if you don't work in the business.

If you work 50 hours you should get compensated for your time. The net profit is your Return on Investment.

If you're running a business and have money invested in equipment etc and you're only getting the net profit. Then you will probably make more money getting a normal job and leaving that money in the bank.

After all it is called a business and not a hobby.

 

[sfd2122]

It is very possible depending on what they are selling. There is a company in San Deigo that does no install, has some printers and just a couple of employees and their sales are at 11 million a year. All they sell is retractable bannerstands. They buy the stands direct from china and have them shipped over. Now this is just an example of how a company could have sales of 3 million a year with thos e two printers, but without knowing what they are selling it is just a guessing game as to how they have that many sales.

 

[visual800]

What OP mentions is wwhy so many businesses fail. People dont look at strategy or growth scale, they look at what others make. Big mistake. I must love the sign biz cause i was broke many many years in the beginning

 

[omgsideburns]

"In the back door, out the front." You don't have to make everything to sell everything.

 

[SIGNTIME]

Adam,

I know that for sure is not your P&L ....

If so why bother that is super low margins. Tons of risk and cash for low return...

yea but who's to say the owner's salary of $250000 isnt in that overhead figure ... id be happy with that salary and a 300k profit

 

[HulkSmash]

Adam,

I know that for sure is not your P&L ....

If so why bother that is super low margins. Tons of risk and cash for low return...

as old as this thread is. I was referring to the company the Original Poster was talking about... and being sarcastic as to what their overhead might be.

!