Does anyone work with a sign finance company?

[John Miller]

I've got a client who is interested in signs for two locations and wants to finance them.
Thanks in advance for your reply.

 

[TopFliteGraphics]

I know a wrap shop around town here that offers financing. Let me check with the owner and see who they use. Will post when/if I find out.

 

[DL Signs]

Send em' to their, or any bank for a business loan.
Signs are collateral lust like cars, property, buildings, furniture, equipment, or anything else.

 

[kcollinsdesign]

In the early to mid '80s market deregulation and dropping interest rates made credit attractive. We had a few arrangements with commercial lenders to offer credit terms to customers (we would provide the references and the initial application forms, the lenders would write the terms, secure the loan, and send us the money). With the advent of the internet, people could shop their own lending companies, and we no longer needed to hand-hold customers through the process. I would still model terms (what would this cost per month, over, say, five years) to help guide sales. When digital signs came to the forefront, the digital sign fabricators would offer their own finance deals (again, independent of us). By 2008, most of that collapsed. Digital sign prices came down and fewer customers were interested in sign financing. The last fifteen years or so I can't remember anybody buying signs on credit (we even stopped taking credit cards, saving everyone the cost of merchant fees).

Buying signs on credit may still be viable for some businesses, but now I leave that to the customer and don't get involved. Those that want to do it can figure it out on their own. I'm sure if you want to do the legwork, there still might be some gold in those hills, but it is a competitive lending market and the pickings are slim (a lot depends on your product mix). In the end I decided we were a sign company, and not loan solicitors.

 

[1upgraphics55]

Geneva Capital offers financing for signs and wraps. Here's our contact:

Wade Smith
Inside Sales Representative

Geneva Capital, LLC
1311 Broadway Street
Alexandria, MN 56308
Direct: 320-759-3598 • Fax: 320-762-8402
wade@gogc.com • www.gogc.com

 

[Hal D]

Back in the day when I was full time employed as a salesman, we worked with a couple finance companies here in Florida, especially when proposing larger scale EMC related projects. That was (we thought) one of the competitive advantages that separated us from our local competitors, i.e., we offered financing and we had the paperwork with hard $ figures to submit along with our proposal package. But it just never caught on due to the higher interest rates. The customers figured it out on their own that they could go to their bank or credit union and borrow the same money at a better interest rate. It didn't matter to me as long as the sale was closed, on the books and I got paid. I might have done a dozen deals or less with finance companies over a five year period, which is pathetic. Today, I always advise my clients that, if you have decent credit and a good relationship with your bank or credit union, there's your sign.