KEY TO SUCCESS

Company: Randy’s Sign  Project: Finding that next job

Key to success: www.signsearch.com

Letters that hang on my wall as a reminder of the past. This was a set that was paid for and never used.

During the lifespan of just about every business there are times when you just aren’t sure where your next order is coming from, much less how you’re going to pay the rent, employees, buy food for the family or meet any of your other financial obligations.

I’ve encountered this feeling at least three times in the 20-plus years I’ve been in the sign business. In the first years I was in business, I was able to get one very healthy account in the form of Northern Telecom. This company had a significant local presence as well as a worldwide presence. The local branch was in the Research Triangle Park area, about 15 miles from my shop. The company was very healthy and growing by leaps and bounds. I developed a relationship with the local purchasing agent in charge of signs, among other things. When the phone rang, I jumped to meet whatever need that company might have. They were extremely solvent and accounted for about 70 percent to 80 percent of my production. They would occasionally order a sign, and when I went to install it they would have changed their mind and order something different. It didn’t matter to them, and they would pay for both orders. No problem! They were rolling.

Everything was going along smoothly until one day I was notified that all purchasing would now be done by an outside source. My gut wrenched, but I made contact with the outside source. There came a need for some large lighted cabinet signs. I had written the specs for these cabinets and had built and installed 10 of them previously. I received a package in the mail with a 50-page bid form that included drug testing for all employees, forfeiture of first born children, public flogging and worse. It would have taken a Harvard-educated lawyer to read and understand the contract. It was at this point I realized I probably wasn’t going to respond to this bid request, and I let this customer go. In retrospect, it was probably a wise thing to do because the company began a downward spiral and is now only a shadow of its former self.

This is an example of the “before.”

And this an example of the “after.”

I know you’ve heard the expression, “When one door closes, another door opens.” That seemed to literally be the case for me. Fortunately I didn’t have a lot of time to worry about business because another customer, Carolina Builders, filled the void left by Northern Telecom. I had done business with Carolina Builders from the start of my business because they were a close neighbor. While I had been busy with Northern Telecom, Carolina Builders had been busy buying small lumber companies all across the nation. I had been able to build a good relationship with this company as well, and when Carolina Builders found itself with over 300 stores in 25 states in the early 2000s they made a corporate decision to bring all stores under one corporate identity. The name Carolina Builders had little appeal in California, Washington and other states, so it was decided that Stock Building Supply was to be the new corporate name.

Corporate headquarters for Stock just happened to be right here in Raleigh, N.C. I knew most of the decision makers in the company and was asked to help design and plan the fleet vehicle graphic change. I got the contract to produce the vehicle lettering for the entire country and shipped out boxes of vinyl graphics daily for months. I was seeing Stock logos in my sleep.

In addition to vehicle lettering, I produced numerous banners and other signage for the company. When the time came to change the storefront signage, I got a call to survey all the stores in South Carolina as well as most of the stores in North Carolina and Virginia. I hopped in my vehicle and traveled the states for days measuring and taking pictures of all signs. I got the contract to produce and install this project as well. It became the largest project of my sign career to date.

My relationship with Stock Building Supply lasted for many years. Unfortunately, it seems as if all good things come to an end. Over time, my sign business had gotten tied strongly to the real estate industry. Stock Building Supply sold the building supplies that built the homes. They financed quite a bit of the building. My specialty was entrance signs for subdivisions, apartment complexes and other real estate related signs.

As the real estate market died in late 2007, so did my business. This time the transition didn’t go as smoothly. It took me a couple of months to find that next open door of opportunity. It came as a result of my wife listing our business on the Web site www.signsearch.com. I own a service vehicle with a Van Ladder bucket lift, and have done sign service and installation through the years. This wasn’t my favorite type of work or the focus of our business, but when the phone isn’t ringing, any business is appreciated.

Signsearch is a website that allows companies that need signs serviced or installed to enter the zip code of the service or install location and get a list of service and installation providers for that area. The listing in my ZIP code was a free listing, and I quickly had e-mail requests for installation and service calls. It didn’t take long for me to get back to the levels of business and income that I had before the real estate bust.

The free listing with Signsearch was great, but they soon contacted me and gave me the opportunity to purchase a premium listing in my zip code and also to buy banner ads in other zip codes across my service area. I’ve spent a lot of money over the years on Yellow Page advertising that almost seemed to pay for itself, and here was a free listing that knocked my socks off. The premium listing and banner ads in my best areas ended up costing me about what one month of  Yellow Page  advertising cost. In short, I’ve gotten so busy in this rotten economy, I’ve had to hire three installers and I’m working six to seven days a week. Thankfully there’s not an eighth day in the week.

These days, it’s mostly install and service work.

In talking with Peter Beenen, vice president of business development for Signsearch, while checking my facts for this article, Peter was telling me that while I was having great success using Signsearch, there were opportunities that I was missing out on. As a premium listing customer I am allowed to add an online store to my listing that is provided by Signsearch and includes over 200 vendors. With this online store, I can set my pricing. And when an item sells, I don’t have to do a thing. The item is drop shipped directly to the customer and a check is sent to me by Signsearch for the profit. If you can only sell the things that you produce, your income is limited. When you can sell items made by others, your income is unlimited.

There’s a lot more to the Signsearch website than I have described here, so check it out for yourself. While you’re there check out Broach Custom Signs to see what my listing looks like. At the home page, enter 27604 as the ZIP code, have a sign installed as the category, and raceway as what you want installed. While you’re there you’ll see that I have quite a few reviews from my customers. I attribute a lot of my success to the quality reviews by my customers.

Until next month, may you have new doors of opportunity open for you, and go out and try something new.