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How much of your business is from phone calls, and how much is from customers that come to your shop? With me, about 90 percent of my business is from phone calls. What walk in business I get is usually wanting "stickers", or price checkers. Some days I spend the whole day in the shop, and others I aint in there for more than a couple hours. Some customers complain they can't catch me in when they need to see me. I always tell them to call ahead to save a trip. Thinking more and more of maybe going home based next year. I like the storefront, and my rent is very reasonable, but working from home has alot of perks too.
------------------ John Deaton III Deaton Design 109 N. Cumberland Ave.,Harlan, Ky. 40831 606-573-9101
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hey john, your shop sounds a lot like my shop as far as customers. i find my best customers are the ones i have dealt with before thus they call to place an order. my shop is located on a very busy street just east of downtown and the state capitol complex.
I get some walk-in and have gotten good repeat business from some of them. from time to time i get a "tire kicker" though.LOL
posted
John, I have only been in business for a little over a year hope fully for at least another 30 - 40, and 99% of my business is phone. I am home based and wouldn't give it up for anything..
Just my 2 cents..
------------------ Jason & Valerie Davie Jason Davie's Signs @ Designs Starlight, Pa 570-798-0268 signman@nep.net
Posts: 10 | From: Starlight, Pa USA | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
Mine is about the same as Jasons.. 99 to 100% phone. I'm also home based.. I will admit I'm getting a little cramped for space here though. The thought has crossed my mind to open a full shop... maybe in a year or two...
later on...
------------------ Mark Barnhill Vinyl Creations Antioch TN. mark@vinylcreations.net
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Having been storefront and homebased, I can offer this advice.
If you're a storefront and you aren't in your shop most of the time, what's your main reason for being in a storefront? Most want the exposure. For others it may be more room.
Bottom line is, if you're a storefront, you're pretty much expected to be there to service customers all the time during reg biz hours. For this reason I hired employees. That gig worked very well for a number of years.
Knowing I had 10 yrs behind me, I decided to go homebased again after my employee left. I actually didn't wish for the walk in traffic any longer. I needed to turn down some work in order to take care of what two took care of for a long time, so I picked the work I wanted, and let go of the work I didn't want.
I presently have NO sign out front, so anyone driving by will be reluctant to come in. Therefore, all my present and future biz is by phone. And I'm as busy as I wish to be, actually busier.
I honestly thought I'd go under if I didn't have the storefront so I lost alot of sleep over that decision. What happened instead, what many of you told me is, I'm able to be with my family more yet get the work done.
I'm rambling... all my current biz is via phone. When in the storefront, 95% was by phone. So I didn't have a good enough reason to stay there.
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My landlord just informed me that he has sold the shop and that the new owner "might" keep everyone as is and if not I have until the first of the year before I have to move. I live in the country about 6 miles from town and 2 of the miles are dirt road :-( I have a huge shop (Enclosed barn with cement floor) and a small studio type building that is perfect for my office. All this is right next to the house. Did home base business the first couple of years and stayed low keyed. Now that I have been up town it seems business is really great. Most of my work starts from phone and fax. Maybe about 25% walk in. Keep thinking that if I can not find another good location that is affordable then maybe home base will do now that I have built up a fair amount of customers. My shop location is so perfect right next to the main street of town it sure is going to be sad to loose this. I always figured that if I ever lost this great location I would just move it back home..... It's not that easy now Decisions Decisions?? I run the shop alone with no hired help and my hours have been long and seems like days off are far and few. Have to admit I really have gotten to like the town life during the day. Did I say I like town?? wow :-) Nancy
------------------ Nancy Blohm Design-A-Sign King City, CA 831-385-1062 fax 831-385-4999 bloomer@tcsn.net
Posts: 29 | From: King City,CA USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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I like not having major local exposure... it gives me the flexibility (and time) to take a day off when I want and I dont have to answer phones all day.
I'm definitely glad I have a website though. That's where most of my sales come from and it pulls in a fairly decent 350 potential customers per day. I'm glad I dont have to deal with that many walk-ins or phone calls!!
------------------ Mike Pipes Digital Illusion Custom Graphics Lake Havasu City, AZ http://www.stickerpimp.com
Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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Mornin' John, Ya know I'm home-based, and 80%+ of the biz comes from the phone. I'm located on the main hwy between the two largest towns in the county and quite a few folks just stop in. If they see the truck in the drive, they know I'm here. In this small community there is another approach. At the grocery store, the video store, various social, sports, school functions, someone will come up to me and start with the line "I've been meanin' to call you, I need..."
------------------ Bill Dirkes Bethel Hill Signs Butler, Ky. Goodnight Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are.
Posts: 591 | From: Bellevue,Ky. US | Registered: Aug 1999
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John, I'm kinda-sorta home based as my shop is right next door to my house. Been that way for 26 years, and has worked out quite well. Less than 1% of my business is walk in, and most of those are customers that have originally contacted me by phone. Tried yellow pages for a while, but about all I got was tire kickers. Personal referrals seem to be my best source of business.
The same seems to be true of the other shops in our area. Everybody else works out of their garage, barn, basement, whatever, except for a couple of large shops that specialize in big time electric signs.
My personal experience has been that if you are a small shop, stay home based. If you are a big shop, find a reasonably priced industrial location. If you're in an expensive storefront, you've got to do a lot of work before you can start putting any money in your pocket.
------------------ Jerry Mathel Jerry Mathel Signs Grants Pass, Oregon signs@grantspass.com
Posts: 916 | From: Grants Pass, OR USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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posted
My response is a bit different than those that I've read.
The initial contact is via phone. The only phone orders I get are usually job site signs and no parking type stuff. I never find that I can sell gilded carved dimensional signs over the phone.
After a brief phone chat, I set an appointment for the potential customer to either come to my place or if it would serve their needs better, I go there.
If I go there and we make a good connection, I always try to get them to my shop to see the drawings or samples that I think would interest them.Once they're here, they can see more possibilities.I always try to close the sale in my office with a deposit and signiture on the work order. I also find that when someone sees that you have an investment more substantial than a tackle box and garage, they're inclined to display more trust and cash.
------------------ The SignShop Mendocino, California "Where the Redwoods meet the Surf"
Posts: 6810 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
John- I just moved my shop back to my home, June 1, after being located in a high traffic area. It has been great! I won't ever go back! IT'S HOME BASED FOREVER! This summer was great being home with the kids and making a living at the same time! All of our friends are envious of what we do, by being home together and both working in the family business. I guess we take it for granted sometimes.
I have alot of people here to thank though that gave us their input and helped so much in our decision, especially Donna. I really got the idea to move back home after reading her posts in her move home. Anyway we're here now, busier than ever, a $30,000 annual raise, and 95% of our customers do business with us by phone, fax, email or their place. Walk-ins are about 5% but that's what we wanted in the move. Walk-ins for the most part cost us money and time, price shopping.
If you do good work you won't have any problems. My 2 cents worth.
------------------ Eddie Kitchens Signs, Etc Atoka, TN EKitchens@msn.com
Posts: 30 | From: Drummonds, TN, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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when we first started out we were in town with 3 other shops, when i decided to build a building on my own place, about 2 miles from town alot of my customers asked if i was going to loose business...well that was january of 99 and now we're adding on an aditional 1600 square feet and all 3 shops in town are out of business. we've got enough work on the books for a 40 hour week for the next month and more comes in about every day. plus i can get up, walk 50 feet and sit back down, what a comute. I wouldn't trade home based for anything. not to mention we've increased our income by 50% each year for the last 3 years, i maybe get 1 tire kicker a week, man i hate those!! sorry for rambling but i guess what i'm trying to say is if you produce a good product and keep your customers happy, their referals alone will keep you ahead of the game!
------------------ Shawn Setzer Signs by Shawn Troy, MO 314-462-3317 kmccor01@mail.win.org
Posts: 241 | From: Troy, MO, USA | Registered: Jan 1999
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