Too many sign shops!!

[Craig Sjoquist]

Just to put my $2 billion in.

Yes indeed a good dozen shops within 2 miles from me ..1 a block away if that .. oh well

But who cares that's life nothing is fair ... you adjust do what others don't and a whole lot better, which means you can get more for it.

You should see how much other sign shops illegally advertise and some how low for it lol

SIGN WARS in Orlando ya think lol lol

 

[sjm]

Sign shops our my best clients.

 

[eddesign]

Quality work

Hey I have never heard so much crying over the competition. Competition is good for you. When you play sports do you cry about all the other teams.No you go out and show them who's the best. Going on 27 years in the biz still love it. PS: having a problem with a shop go have a sit down with them thats how we do it in jersey

 

[Dan Antonelli]

Selling commodities is ultimately the problem. But selling design is hard. It requires a lot of work on self-branding, presentation, and client education. That's why so few bother to understand that philosophy, and more importantly, how to market that philosophy.

Everyone loses when you sell vinyl by the pound and square foot, especially you.

Sell something no one else offers, and you'll be amazed how easy it is sell, and command the dollars you deserve. Sell the same thing they perceive they can get down the road, you're in trouble. And if the problem is truly perception, and not reality, than you haven't done a good enough job in establishing the true reality of the differences.

Which brings me back to my first point, which is, design is hard. Commodities are easy.

 

[Techman]

All the more successful guys are all saying the same thing... Why is that?????

Selling commodities is bad, selling a marketed plan is good.,

 

[ProWraps]

hey im that guy!!!! im that guy that opened two years ago, while you were an "established" sign shop.

i did it better, faster, longer, harder and more efficient that you!

i focused ALL of my attention on my business day and night while never losing faith and learning what you were doing wrong so i could do it right.

im that guy! and while you were complaining, my company went right to the top!

we walked into a flooded market, flooded it even more, and became the #1 wrap provider over shops that were doing it for over 10 years!

we innovated the advertising practices of our market which now, all of our competition mimics!

i guess we just got lucky

 

[Tony Teveris]

This is how Gerber got into the sign biz. Back in the late 70s the GSP division was looking to expand but they were not sure where to go. Someone picked up a phone book (remember those) and went through the yellow pages and noticed the number of pages for sign makers. The rest is history.

 

[jiarby]

Antonelli is right...

Don't sell substrates, sell marketing solutions. That's why ad agencies charge HUGE money, because they are creating the solution to the customer's problem. You are just printing it!

The customer calling you for a wrap doesn't REALLY want to spend $$$$ to put vinyl on his vehicle. He want to increase traffic to his business so he makes more money.

Show him how what you do will get him what he wants (more traffic & sales) instead of quoting $xx/sqft for vinyl that he doesn't really want to buy to begin with.

If your only competitive advantage is price then you have only one direction to go.... DOWN!

 

[tomence]

+1 for ProWraps
Been in business for 20 years doesnt mean you are better than rest of us that started small or 1-2 years ago.

 

[ProWraps]

exactly right. what i have found is that it usually means you are out of touch with technology, dont know how market in a digital world, utilize social networking, and no longer have a FRESH drive to do what it takes to remain king of the mountain (this by no means applies to everyone that has been in business for a long time, im only refering to the ones that havent kept up and are pissed about losing ground).

ALL of which i exploited to the max when it came to the "established shops" (granted, even though i knew NOTHING about wraps, i had a serious background in design, web, and business. of which, MANY shops still have none of).

times have changed. when your green your growing, when your ripe your dead.

they say the average life span of a self employed career is 5-10 years.

im sure, in 5-10 years, when im well into my 40's, someone that has my knowledge, my drive, and my ingenuity, will come along, and capitalize on all the things i will be failing in at that point and i will be the dinosaur.

hakuna mattata. OOOHHHHMMMMMMMMMMM.


edit: so i dont sound conceited.. the reason why i know this, is because in my last business, my retail store I WAS THE ONE COMPLAINING. i sat back, watched all my competition take my market share, and did nothing to help myself. i wallowed in my self pitty. this was a tremendous life learning experience for me. not to mention it made me realize it was completely the wrong business for me. which is why i never tryed enough to stay on top.

 

[tomence]

Once you get older you get lazy and the new generation will take over. Its always been like that so why bother complaining about them instead we should help them. Funny story i was talking to my friend who i learned lot of stuff from him and i said arent you scared if i take your customers and your business. He replied there is more shirts and signs to be made than there is shops and people to do them. He says i dont care if you open your shop next to me we always will have work. Thats why i dont understand why ppl here are crying like little babies about somebody that works in their basement, instead of focusing about their own business.

 

[mtmdesigns]

bottom line is half of the sign industry people are flakes, When you show up on time and get your work done with good quality it stands out. The competitor works in your favor because, the lack of work ethic some have in "today's" society. You get what you put into it.

 

[CentralSigns]

Well I'm only 28 and haven't been in the business a fraction of the time as some of you, but here's a little tip from me...

You can really set yourself apart from the competition by taking extra time to make your customers feel special...When someone talks to me about a sign, I've been preparing several different layouts for them to pick from, even on the very simple jobs. They like having choices. Plus, I always throw a really spruced up design in there, which often leads to them spending more money than they planned.

Some of the sign guys around here just type up a plain jane layout in arial black and that's it.

This young fella has the point. What I do is go to the customers business. They want a sign, I show up with my laptop and build it before their eyes. This usually amaises them sometimes you can come back the next day if there is too much to build. This gets more talk going between the customers and their business aquantences, and I often get a second or third job within days of finishing one, all by referals from the first shop. I also install at the customers location often they have a heated shop for me to decal vehicles in. This personal service does have a price, about 10-20% more. Think on that a bit.

 

[CentralSigns]

Show him how what you do will get him what he wants (more traffic & sales) instead of quoting $xx/sqft for vinyl that he doesn't really want to buy to begin with.
QUOTE]

Sold an accountant a couple of simple banners the week before tax time. 4 months latter she come back to me and said she had to hire double the staff and they were still swamped. Best tax season she ever had wished I had talked into the 2 banners years ago. I guess I sold her a marketing scheme for her business.

 

[Farmboy]

We are a "quickie shop". We get compliments on our products and the way our shop looks all the time. Mostly cause I give a damn! When you walk in it's clean, we're pleasant, there's no boxes piled in the corner, alot of finished product in a pickup area arranged orderly, all of our 1 to 12 piece shirt orders go out the door in a cloth tote bag that has our logo and what we do on it (people love these by the way). Being a quickie shop is how I decided to set us apart from everyone else in the area. So far it's working good, we're busy (and makin cash). Customers are happy and so are we.

 

[round man]

There is only one pie (your market) that pie can only be sliced into so many pieces before it gets to the point that the slices are so thin they aren't sufficient to be called a slice. There was time when one had to be able to produce artwork by hand that had to meet a certain standard,and or fall by the wayside,...All of you young upstarts should be greatful,...as 90% of you wouldn't have cut the mustard twenty-five years ago,...In todays current market place that is not an issue,..usually the issue is the amount of technology you can afford and your marketing skills,..This is not a fair playing field for some of us "old timers", but there are many of us who have adapted successfully to technology and carried on just the same,...a simple warning from one of us old timers who have seen technology replace hard earned work ethic of experience with technology,...the very market changes you have succeeded in taking advantage of may very well come back and bite you in the ass with the next new wave of technology,..rest assured the price of technology is not going to raise in value it will become more affordable for the next wave of "hacks" who will saturate a market even more till the lucrative slice of the "pie" will become negligable to the point it isn't sufficient. The software and printer manufacturers aren't going to quit trying to make their products cheaper and sell less of them,.....If you can find a market "niche" that is succesfull for you then great,,but if you aren't careful the ease of which you took advantage of a market instance may very well pass with time as did the hand painting skills of us old timers who most of you think of as the primary complainers,...If the truth were known I would go so far as to say most of the whiners are those who came into the industry less than twenty years ago as the first group who didn't need to have the art skills which were required prior to the recent technology which made those skills unnecessary.Be forewarned from someone who has been there,....the very thing which makes it so possible for you to succeed may very well be your downfall,don't ask me how I came to know this. As for me,... I am going back to school at 57 to learn to work within the technology field in a manner that is in high demand and very lucrative and let all ya'll rookies fight over that ever so thinner slice of the pie. As Dan put it "design is hard",....The definition of insanity is to try doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results,..,...

 

[tomence]

Thats what you are "Old Timer" your time has passed.

 

[iSign]

the old timers got something to offer here... punks like you are turning out to be, don't have squat to offer, just a bunch of whineyass questions... but at least the respectful punks can get help... punks like you will see a whole freakin lot less help from the multitude of experienced veterans on this board, because you are a self centered loser with attitude.. good luck...

 

[round man]

unless you have some sort of miracle potion Tomence you too will be "an old timer" sooner than you think,.,,if you last that long in the business,....I accomplished more on this business in ten years of my fourty years than most do in a lifetime,.,its been good to me and I am thankful,..raised three sons and grossed over 900k maybe even made my first million hell I lost count a few years back,... Heed my warning young man your attitude is your worst enemy

oh yea,..thanx Doug,....

 

[andy]

+1 for ProWraps
Been in business for 20 years doesnt mean you are better than rest of us that started small or 1-2 years ago.

Being in business for 20 years doesn't mean that you are any better than the rest of us who started on a small scale or within the last 1-2 years.

Us old timers at least understand the critical importance of spelling, punctuation and the need to construct coherent sentences.

Words are your raw materials my friend.