It has long been stated that “location, location, location” is vital to the success of many – if not most – businesses. This is equally true for a professional sign shop that is newly established or in early growth phases, in particular, for those that offer digital print and cut vinyl products as a mainstay. Outgrowing the space? There’s research for that, too.
While more than 35 site criteria are force-ranked by Sign Biz for its Member location at start-up, and a few are always top of the list. For a new enterprise, research reported by the Small Business Administration shows that up to 49% of new customers patronize the business because they saw the exterior sign. When a shop moves, typically in their 4th to 6th year, many of the same principles apply.
So a visible location is vital to growth. But this viewership must be qualified: Cars on a freeway will be removed from the traffic count. Cars can’t fly (yet) and so they are not going to spin off the freeway to your door. Instead, a busy thoroughfare directly in front of your shop, with traffic not traveling more than 35 miles per hour is ideal. So this means, no “light industrial” or warehouse zoned facility for your new business. Up to half of your growth will be “zeroed out” when customers can’t see you. The free white paper below explains why.
What else? A well qualified business area, in terms of potential buyers with a mix of large and small companies. The revenue reports directly support the Sign Biz business model, which includes a visible location in a business environment with a minimum of 1500 vertical market businesses. These are the “pre-qualified” businesses as determined by a benchmark $100,000 study commissioned by Sign Biz Inc. The results are intellectual property owned by the corporation, and shared with Sign Biz Members during their formal training program. “The total number of businesses that make up a protected territory for a new Member may include 5000 or more in a database such as Melissa Data, but with the vertical market business count totaling 3000. We assure that minimum is achieved for each new Member’s territory,” explains Young. “It has been verified that a region with 1500 Vertical Market Businesses within range of a sign shop can yield annual revenues of a million dollars or more.”
Over many years, site selection has been refined and the time it takes to find a great lease site can take several months. But the results speak for themselves: The Sign Biz network of sign shops leads in high-revenue sites, according to third-party studies. See a recent report here.
“There are many, many factors that have contributed to the success of our Members’ operations,” said Young. “From cutting edge dynamic sign systems, and hiring procedures, to group buy discounts and a close-knit family of like-minded and successful entrepreneurs, each piece is part of the overall model, and well supported.”
One more factor: The on-premise sign. It needs to be illuminated. If the center won’t permit illuminated signage, it is not likely to be the right demographics nor location for starting up your beautiful and busy new business.
So there you have three big factors of 35 that come into play in the site selection process. For more detailed analysis, download a very well-documented free white paper here!
