posted
I don't relish this guy's misery or that he posted it.
I think it points out some obvious flaws and is a great example that can be applied to damn near any business model whatever the trade may be.
There is no easy way to start or run a business....
Chasing a quick buck and greedy ?????
There will always be someone ready to take your money and promise you the world.
Posts: 724 | From: Florissant, CO | Registered: Dec 2001
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"How do you sell something you know nothing about"
If you're a good salesman (i.e. - know how to sell), its really not that hard. I do it all the time. Did it this morning in fact.
After reading the article, they are both at fault.
Lets be honest here. Sign franchises are not in the business of selling signs. They are in the business of selling sign franchises. The keynote speaker at a SignsNow Convention said so nearly 10 years ago.
But the fault also lies with the article's author, DH.
Time to do a little "fisking"....
"After some months of doing everthing by the SIGNWORLD book I was still suffering very slow trading and ongoing losses..."
OK, why? Odds are he's in a high-traffic area, has plenty of marketing material to pass out and is properly equipped.
Could it be he's a poor salesman? Possibly.
Could it be that part of the problem is the economy itself? Possibly.
"....I asked for help to try and kick start the business but was told I need to put my prices up and don't sell on price. Yea right....you will never get any work! It's a ****ty competetive dog eat dog business."
Yep. It certainly can be. But Signworld's advice is correct. Don't sell on price. I don't. Picked up a $6000 project last month by selling the customer what he wanted and killed him with service. I've got work coming in from two clients who complaint was about a lack of service and creativity at the other shops they had been doing business with. Neither client ever once mentioned anything about price. Neither did I.
"Your lucky if your gross profit ends up at 50% with this model. You have people working out of their garages with low overhead slashing prices, large sign shops that have everything in house getting the larger jobs because they can competively do it less expensive."
Awww....you have competition. That's why you don't sell on price, folks. I know several shops that would kill for 50% gross profits. Be glad you don't sell TV's for a living.
Here's something for the author to chew on.... How did those larger shops get so large? Do you think someone just had a ton of money lying around and said to himself, "Hey, I think I'll start a large sign shop!" Ever wondered how that shop started, how long it took to get there and the amount of blood and sweat the owner put into it?
Oh yea and all the really large companies that use a great deal of signage...HAVE THEIR OWN SIGN SHOPS!
Yeah. So? Maybe you should have gotten a job with them rather than try to take the short cut by buying a franchise.
Don't forget the internet...any one can order the bread and butter business you want online for half the price you can do it for.
So why don't you do it?
'One more thing.... CITY REGULATIONS are getting tougher and tougher to put up signs.
He're a clue....familiarize yourself with the code. The local inspections department will be more than happy to help you. BTW, any chance the garage shops and large shops don't have to deal with them as well or do you think they get some sort of special dispensation?
You basically make a sale and go back and research wether you really have a sale or not. THESE ARE THINGS THEY DON'T TELL YOU!!!
I see. So, in other words SignWorld is at fault for expecting to use that bubble between your shoulders for something other than a hat rack. Here's another clue...Research what your selling before you give a price. Its a part of "quoting". I hear its all the rage at the successful shops.
I'm a pretty good salesman and businessman (well I may have to re-evaluate the businessman part after being suckered into this one).
After reading this "whine", I have to agree with the "re-evaluate" part.
"So from a salesman stand point I'm damn good however how do you sell something you know nothing about!
If you were as good a salesman and businessman as you say, it seems to me that you would have already known the answer to that before you bought the franchise.
I'm sorry. I have little sympathy for the author.
If the Franchisor has made any fraudulent claims, then sue them. Its your responsibility.
If you're just PO'd at them because everything didn't come out smelling like roses as you think they should, well boo-frik'n-hoo. That's life. Deal with it.
No business - franchise or independent - comes with a success guarantee. The only thing the sign business does guarantee is the need for a lot of hard work, quite of bit of sweat, a bit of blood and the occasional sleepless night.
.
[ December 31, 2008, 04:21 PM: Message edited by: Glenn Taylor ]
posted
Glenn, I do agree with most of your points. Well written and presented from a good business man's point of view.
I also agree with Stephen that it is an interesting read from the standpoint that most of this dude's problems are ones that a large percentage of people trying to jump into the sign business experience... yes, like Glenn pointed out, there are ways of overcoming each obstacle, but I think the author is not happy that many of these were not pointed out to him.
Whether he should have had the common sense to realize these or whether the franchiser should have told him is probably debatable, but like Stephen said, there are a lot of telling points in his rant. I have seen at least 6 shops (in 10 years) in the small town of Atmore (8,000 people) start out and run into these exact same problems, and are no longer around today.
They see making signs as a get rich quick business and don't realize that there is quite a bit more to it than they realized. These shops have no clue of the value of a sign, so they lowball themselves into a hole and eventually lose out.
So, I do agree with Glenn's assessment of this would-be vinyl-slapping millionaire, but (thankfully for a lot of us who've made signs for years) it sometimes ain't quite as easy to make the whole thing work as the people selling the equipment would like you to think....
-------------------- Jon Jantz Snappysign.com jjantz21@gmail.com http://www.allcw.com Posts: 3395 | From: Atmore, AL | Registered: Nov 2005
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Gee Glenn, you didn't leave us much to whine about. You really think we can succeed just by thinking more and working harder? Where's the fun in that?
-------------------- Chapman Sign Studio Temple, Texas chapmanstudio@sbcglobal.net Posts: 6306 | From: Temple, Texas, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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WARNING: Long winded post is about to commence.......
3
2
Last chance...
1
About a year after my parents separated, my dad got one of those "get rich seminar at a ritzy hotel" letters.
It was free but "only to a select few."
He had been a bit down and was burned out where the shop was concerned. He decided he wanted to go and asked me to go with him. As the day to go approached, I could see he was getting a bit excited.
All I could see were red flags popping up.
We got there and my father made sure we sat in the front row. I could see that there were quite a few "select few" attending as well.
Well, the "MC" started the show. He must of have been a radio dj in a previous life. He had that hypnotic kind of voice that you hear on those movie trailer voice-overs.
Then came the main guy. He wanted to play some games and pass out some cash.
"Who drove here the farthest?" Gives the winner 20 bucks.
"Who has the most keys on a keyring?" I win 20 bucks. Lunch money for both of us.
Then the guy gets into his spiel asking who wants to make money. He ask again in a slightly louder voice. Most of the "select few" respond in kind. He shouts even louder, "Who wants to make money?!!" The select few respond again.
He gives a lecture on how to sell. It was a good lecture. He had some of the select come up to the front to do a little role play. All in all, a very educational lecture well worth the time.
I could see my dad was really getting into it.
We had been there for an hour and a half and still had no idea how they were going to make us rich. I knew the hook was coming. I wasn't disappointed.
The lecture ended with loud applause and up strode Wilford Brimley's long lost twin brother to the platform.
Coupons! Make money selling coupon books!!
They made millions doing it and now they were going to help you do it too!
Buy these coupon books and sell them for double even triple your costs. Why, they sell themselves! Buy them now after the seminar and we'll let you have them at 50% off!
And boy did they. After the show all those select few made a beeline straight to tables in the back of the room, Wilford Brimley's twin taking all that cash, checks and credit cards with that grandfatherly smile that could melt even Hillary Clinton's heart.
And there was my father. Writing a check for $600 so he could "get in on that deal" and make some money. I tried to stop him. I failed. He ended up with a dozen or so cases of coupon books in the back of his 380SL convertible.
We get back into town and drop the cases at the shop. A four hour drive. He's still excited.
The next day he puts some of the coupon books on the front counter at the shop and sets a neatly lettered showcard next to them.
He just knows all the walk-in clients will buy at least just one.
They don't.
He goes to some of the shops of clients and offers them a commission on every coupon book sold if they simply let him put the books on their sales counter.
He just knows all the walk-in customers will buy at least just one.
They don't.
Three weeks go by. Dad isn't quite as excited as he once was.
Another three weeks go by. Realization that he just threw away $600 begins to sink in.
He's upset. Those crooks!
Naturally, I have to open my mouth.
They didn't lie to him. Everything they said was true. They simply put it in the best possible light.
Downtown. A little old lady, African-American, is dropping off coupon books at the stores she's been visiting for years. She gets her part of the cut from the coupon books sales. She never got rich. She was certainly making more than what she got from her Social Security check.
I found out about it the following year when one of the stores called me to letter the side of their building. During my visit to their store, I saw a stack of familiar coupon books sitting on the counter next to the cash register.
I got to meet Mrs. Aycock while I was lettering the wall. She was making her weekly rounds to collect her money and deliver new coupon books. She was a wonderful person to talk to. Always had a smile. I asked her about the coupon books. Turns out she had been selling them for over 20 years. She had heard about them from a friend who had selling them and decided to give them a try. Said she sold quite a few back in the 70's. It was good money. Not so much by the mid-90's. Still, she managed to take home $100 each week.
My point is this story (and it is a true story) is "expectations".
Reading DH's whine about his franchisor said more to me about what was wrong with him than about the franchisor themselves.
DH said he was a good business man and a good salesman. Unfortunately, his franchise isn't meeting his expectations. And as people are often wont to do, he puts the blame squarely on the franchisor.
What his vent told me is that he isn't the saleman nor the businessman he thinks he is.
I don't mean to be harsh and unkind. I'm just trying to be realistic and direct.
Franchise shops have as much an opportunity for success as any shop. But if they fail, five will get you ten it isn't because of the franchisor.
Okay. I'm done.
.
[ December 31, 2008, 06:36 PM: Message edited by: Glenn Taylor ]
DrCAS Custom Lettering and Design Saint Cloud, Minnesota
"Things work out best for the people who make the best of the way things work out." - Art Linkletter Posts: 6451 | From: Saint Cloud, Minnesota | Registered: Jun 1999
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posted
The shop I work for started as a SignWorld franchisee. They now have 2 locations. Just opened a brand new 8,000 square foot building last year. Have 12 employees, 6 company trucks and do several million a year in business. Maybe it was the writer of the rant that was at fault.
-------------------- Dennis Goddard
Gibsonton Fl Posts: 1050 | From: Tampa Fl USA | Registered: Apr 2000
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