If you have a shop vehicle...Letter it up nicely, I feel that vehicle advertising is the most effective means of advertising, other than word of mouth/referals of course.

Mailing flyers or brochures is also a good way to get the word out that you are in business.

But if you are not willing to wait for customers to come to you then you pretty well have to go to them. That means parking your vehicle at one end of the business district, walking down the street, entering EVERY business establishment and introducing yourself to the boss, leaving a business card andshowing any pictures you have of work that you have done. I used to pick up their business cards too while I was there and when I got home I would scan and digitise their logos. A couple of weeks later I would drop off a miniature copy (6"-12" square) of their logo mounted on sintra that they could either mount on a wall or sit on their desk (or throw away). That kept me in the front of their mind and also showed them I was capable of doing work for them. (It was also good practise!)

I mentioned parking the car and walking. The reason I say that is that it is a hard thing to do...walking into a business cold and trying to sell yourself to them. In a car it is easy to just drive by and pick and choose where you want to stop. When walking you are more liable to go into the unlikely places and in actual fact they are sometimes the most beneficial stops. Play the cold calling game on percentages, keep track of the number of calls and the results. If you get 1 job out of 10 calls then you can reasonably assume that if you call on 30 businesses in a day you will probably wind up with 3 jobs that day.

An additional word of advice...When first starting out and being hungry for work it is very easy to underprice jobs. If one of your contacts points at an existing sign and asks how much you would charge to do "something like that" explain that you will have to check out prices of materials and will return the next day with a written quote. This gives the impression that you are professional in your dealings and allows you to calculate the price correctly instead of off the top of your head, which always ends up with someone getting the short end of the stick. (usually the sign shop!)

Best of luck to you Tisha!

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Dave Grundy shop#340
AKA "applicator" on mIRC
"stickin' sticky stuff to valuable vessels and vehicles!"
in Granton, Ontario, Canada
1-519-225-2634
dave.grundy@odyssey.on.ca
www.odyssey.on.ca/~dave.grundy
"A PROUD $ supporter of the website"

Join business organizations...
One of my bosses belongs to the rotary club, the other to a corporate contact club, the sales girl started her own "tip club" of corporate sales people who exchange leads at informal lunches.
Seems to work... I bust my ass every second of every day to produce the jobs they bring back from lunch.

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Compulsive & Neurotic by day www.pierrepont.com
Anti-Social & Paranoid after 4:30 slamgrafyx.cjb.net
but Basically Happy in Rochester, NY
slamgrafyx@aol.com
apathy's catching up quick... but I don't care

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PKing is
Pat King of
King Sign Design in
McCalla,Alabama
The Professor of
SIGNOLOGY

As Dave suggested, one of the top producers for new work I'd say are those cold calls we all love so much.

A couple tips that help: get lots of sleep the night before, and go cold calling AFTER making an appointment with someone that already wants something. It puts you in a very positive mind frame. Do something special for lunch, then continue on. Make it an adventure. Allow yourself to shop in one store, then cold call in the next. Whatever works.

It's like designing... ya gotta feel good to do a good job.

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Donna with Graphic Impact, BC Canada
proud $ supporter of this site
gisigns@sprint.ca

I'm in a very little town - 350 - and do a lot of work the next BIG town over - 1200. I did join the Chamber of Commerce and that has already paid for itself.

I also went back to a couple of the former clients that I had done work for at another shop (it was sold to people who had never done signs). I went back to the past clients that I got along really well with and told them I was up and running. When I did work for them, I made SURE it was the absolute best I could do, and then some. Once that got put up and 'seeable' the word of mouth started spreading.

I also was going to do the checking in the back of the newspaper for certs of assumed names, but I'm so swamped with work that I don't have time.

Working by yourself out of your home, you need to be sure to be organized. Someone had told me to take a day a week for selling. And running those stupid errands that totally screw up your day as far as getting anything done!!! Cuz you gotta do everything yourself.

I also found that being up front and honest is good policy. Most of my people are really understanding. Right now I am Gramma-sitting in Mpls and no work is getting done this week til I get back home. I've got people that understand that their stuff would have to wait, this is a family thing and that comes FIRST.

Oh, and take pictures. Especially of before and after stuff. Smile thru your teeth, don't piss anyone off ...yet, and get out there with your best stuff! I do NO advertising, not even in the yellow pages til they come out next (and just a free listing) and go totally on word of mouth right now. And on my invoice I have a blurb at the bottom that says something about your sign is your business' image...thank you for trusting me with that image...please tell a friend.

And put this place at the top of your favorites. I did. The folks here are the best and heed their advise cuz I know I would rather learn from someone than screw it up myself THEN learn! I've only had my own shop since Aug last year. And only graduated sign school in May, 97. E mail me sometime if you really wanna see someone ramble on, and on, and on...

I am by no means an expert on getting work, but there are a few things to consider. What is your passion? What types of signs do you want to do? Windows? Vehicles? Banners? Once you answer this question, then TARGET your clients. If you want to do vehicles, find out who has vehicles to do. Is there a local carpet cleaner with 50 vans in his fleet? Do you them around town? If so, find out all you can about this prospective client. Then, when you're armed with information about his business, make an appointment and go see him. Make him an offer he can't refuse. If you land the account...BINGO...you will have steady work. A couple of accounts like these and everything else will be gravy. If he's happy with your service...and that has to be top notch...he will tell his friends and your phone will be ringing. Do the best you can on each job and success will come automatically. Just remember one thing...you work for your customer and he or she is the one you have to please. Don't get carried away giving them something they don't want or need. Good luck with your new business.....

Keep It Simple, but Fresh (your work that is). Oh yeah, the customer isn't always
right, but it's your job to make them think
they are.

Bamaboy

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Robert Fair(Bamaboy)
Creative Images Studios
Fayette, Al. USA
"Stay Fresh, Be Creative."

Kinda fun when you're at the gas station when a pumper truck pulls up alongside and the guy driving it says, "HEY you good lookin red-head!!!" and you know he's REALLY full of S***T!!!!!

Depending on the size of the market you are in, and what type of work you do, you can check with the Building Inspection Department of the City and see who is taking out a permit for construction or finish out of a business. When I was trying to get my business established, I did that a number of times with good results.

I also did park the car and walk from door to door in business sections of town as suggested by some. I generated quite a bit of business with that. The door to door part may seem intimidating but has never really bothered me because I do it every weekend in the ministry.

Fontking1a mentioned finding the local carpet cleaner with 50 vans. In the early 80's, I built the outside sign for the Dallas branch of a company called Texas Tool & Fastener. They had beautifully lettered vans and I commented on how nicely they were done. The gentleman I was dealing with told me the company formerly had really ugly graphics on their vans. A sign person in Austin, who had gotten sick of looking at those awful vans, took it upon himself to design a graphics package for their vans and approached the company with a rendering showing what he could do for them. His rendering included a new logo. The company was quite impressed with his presentation and he got to letter many vans. Out of respect for his gumption and skills, I did not even try to get the job of lettering the Dallas fleet, although we were certainly capable of doing an equal job. I felt he deserved the job of lettering those vans also.

To piggyback on fontking1a and the story above, if the local carpet cleaner already has lettering, he may still be interested in something better. Whatever he has can probably be improved with your creative touch.

I hope some of this helps. Almost all of us have been in your position.

David Harding
A Sign of Excellence