is road frontage a plus or minus??

[Wraps ink]

I've always been a believer that a visible great location is always best but now days it seems little walk in jobs or tire kickers get in the way. I have gotten great business by being visible but wondering if I should make a move for more space at a cheaper less visible location. I have about a 2700sqft building but for the same money could maybe double the space. Anyone have experience or opinions on this.

 

[d fleming]

Moved from very busy frontage to around the corner last year for half the rent. Around the corner is working out quite nicely.

 

[SIGNTIME]

I would say while your trying to get established its a lus but for an established company not having to deal with " how much for a bumper sticker that says ______?" all day is more important, along with more space.

 

[TammieH]

I've always very strongly disliked "walk-in" customers, most want little jobs and they take up too much valuable time.
In the past, I've always worked at more industrial/commercial shops in which you rarely saw a customer face to face.

We get walk-ins now, luckily not too many, and we are not on a main street tucked back into an industrial park, no idea how they find us LOL...

 

[SightLine]

Other have hinted on what to expect. For 7 years we were on a frontage road. Highly visible facing the interstate a block from a main and busy exit. Very very little walk in business there. Moved in November to an industrial are but it is a pretty busy street for cutting between 2 busy main road so the road we are on does get a lot of traffic. We have had more walk ins here in 8 months than we would have in a year and half at the old location.

That being said, they can be annoying to a degree. Most are tire kickers wanting cheap things while they wait..... I am glad we moved though. We needed the space and have 20,000 more sf here which has been immensely helpful.

 

[Gino]

The real issue is if you have someone at the front door/desk/counter/sales area/show room to run interference.

I've always been a firm believer in keeping your shop outta sigh, so you don't get the annoying people who waste your time. The customers which really want work will seek you out and most likely make an appointment. However, as we grew, me personally, I did less and less work and basically ran the shop while employees did the work. If someone came in, the guys just pointed in my direction and I handled it from there. After being in business some 20 years, we got a shop on a major highway with high visibility. It still wasn't very accessible to walk-ins, but the visibility took us into a new level of doing business. On each of three walls we had 6' x 60' signs with just our name only. This was back in the '90's so our phone rang off the hook and we got a great deal of our quotes, cause I wasn't use to this kinda work. As time went on, I adjusted my quoting. What used to come around once a month or so, was coming once or twice a week. We increased employees and equipment in no time at all. We also had the ability to letter 10 vehicles at one time inside, while still doing 10' x 40' wall signs and still plenty of room for just about anything else. One wall alone was converted into a 14' x 48' adjustable sectional easel.

However, the thing was, I ran interference for the entire shop. They kept working and my duty was to schedule, quote and schmooze with potential and already established customers. To this day, I still run interference 95% of the time.

 

[ThinkRight]

The real issue is if you have someone at the front door/desk/counter/sales area/show room to run interference.

I've always been a firm believer in keeping your shop outta sigh, so you don't get the annoying people who waste your time. The customers which really want work will seek you out and most likely make an appointment. However, as we grew, me personally, I did less and less work and basically ran the shop while employees did the work. If someone came in, the guys just pointed in my direction and I handled it from there. After being in business some 20 years, we got a shop on a major highway with high visibility. It still wasn't very accessible to walk-ins, but the visibility took us into a new level of doing business. On each of three walls we had 6' x 60' signs with just our name only. This was back in the '90's so our phone rang off the hook and we got a great deal of our quotes, cause I wasn't use to this kinda work. As time went on, I adjusted my quoting. What used to come around once a month or so, was coming once or twice a week. We increased employees and equipment in no time at all. We also had the ability to letter 10 vehicles at one time inside, while still doing 10' x 40' wall signs and still plenty of room for just about anything else. One wall alone was converted into a 14' x 48' adjustable sectional easel.

However, the thing was, I ran interference for the entire shop. They kept working and my duty was to schedule, quote and schmooze with potential and already established customers. To this day, I still run interference 95% of the time.

And that is good business management !
Delegating the the work and responsibilities to the right people makes it all come together.
And the customers like dealing with the boss .

 

[ExecuPrintGS]

We recently just moved off of a main road through our town to just around a block down the road into more of an industrial area... We were really worried about the lack of visibility but since our new sign has been up outside we have had a ton of businesses in the industrial park come in that "never knew we were right down the road".

 

[Wraps ink]

Gino, I do the same here at my shop more and more and I'm finding that I am liking being more of the salesman/manager then back in the warehouse, It's tough to let go of the day to day work but I have trouble keeping up with the business aspect of things like returning calls, emails, etc. I want to grow ( but not too much, too fast ) so I'm finding that I need to be more accessible to my customers and be the face of the company. With that said I just had a walk-in on Friday who I asked how she heard of us and she said she drove by and saw our sign and location and before she left put a deposit down on a wrap. I also find when I deal with customers vs. my employees I can usually up sale them or close the deal quicker. My passion is design and doing wraps but I'm starting to love the entrepreneur aspect more and more.

 

[LoGl]

When I started in the sign biz I worked from my home...inside my home. I discovered that wasn't the way to go for me at the beginning. Then, 5 years later I had the opportunity to open a shop. It was a relatively small shop, but had frontage on a main street (in a small town). Roughly 2 years later I found a space that had a garage and was able to add many more vehicle lettering jobs to my agenda, it still was on a main street, in a neighboring town. Most people followed me over, no big deal...worked out great for many reasons. Back then I always liked having a place where people walked in. Yes, there were "tirekickers" but when you are trying to get established, you do what you have to...and it sure beat running around trying to follow up on leads that often were even worse prospects. At least when they came to you, they had somewhat intended on making a purchase. Then I began to have a family and went back to working out of my house. That didn't go so well (babies, deadlines and little space) so that was the end of that era. 8 years later I somehow ended up back in this business not quite as I expected. But the criteria for me to do it again (with a partner) was to have a space that included visibility again. He was established...I had lots of old connections and it got back up and running. Then, 2 years later (and running the business without a partner) we decided to move about 30 miles away, to an even tinier town. We bought a house on a main street with a big old barn.

At this point there were many pluses and minuses to consider.
Pluses: Big Barn -No Rent -Larger Space. On a main street where I could put a sign up. No commute to work. Ability to be around for my kids and work from home.
Minuses: Although on a main road...off the beaten path from my previous customers. Too close to home No commuting to work "office", but now need to run out to existing customers who may or may not drive to our new location.

As it turns out: I have never even installed a sign on the main street (only on my barn). I wanted to establish my place as a "walk-in" shop, but have found that via email and phone I have been able to conduct 90% of my business. The other 10% has been by making on site visits and having meeting at my clients place of business, or having them at my shop for a meeting. I never have to be at my shop at a particular time, although there is the assumption that I work or am available typically 9-5 by phone first. I have enough connections that I have kept many of my old customers and have established myself in my new town.

So...the moral of my story is....it all depends on how big a business you want to be...but where there is a will, there is a way...and in the end, if what you deliver is a good product and good customer service...you don't really need that frontage like you might think you do. You need to weigh out factors like how much competition you have in town, and wether or not you need that sort of "edge" to grab the customers. But if you are established enough...and know where to get your name out to, and how.....you will be just as busy as you want to be, in my opinion.

It has been quite the ride...24 years later. And it is still fun and challenging...and I'm always learning and growing...and exploring options and on forums such as this to make myself better. Thanks for listening. Good luck with your decision.
~Lori

 

[GWSigns]

The real issue is if you have someone at the front door/desk/counter/sales area/show room to run interference.

And that is why I am here!

My boss has been in the business for over 20 years, 5 here at GW.

For those 5 years it has been him alone or with one other person.

Now he can get out of the shop, attend meetings, approach customers, meet customers, and generally sell the business.

I handle all the walk ins, call ins, paperwork and ordering of supplies - in addition to being "mom" and picking up behind everyone

Found out this morning I am going to be learning how to operate the commercial sewing machine (skilled at home sewing, so it should not be too hard, just the threading process) and the stretcher for mounting canvases on frames!

Slowly but surely I am going to learn this business! You have to crawl before you walk AND the road to success is always under construction.