I have been visiting here for years just to stay informed.
I have a very small buisness. I am a installation / service only buisness, 2 trucks, 1 crew, no commercial shop, no sales, not even a listing in the yellow pages. I have stayed buisy for 16 years doing installations for local sign shops. As times have slowed, installs for my buisness have all but stoped. Our workmanship is always held to high standards. I have installed many national brand signs as well as quality EDS signs. I am licensed, bonded, insured, and have an electrical license for my area.
My question to you all is this:
With new sales non existant I feel that service work is my only option for survival. What do I need to do or can I do to get service work form large national companies?
Like; Wendy's, Dollar General, O'Reilly, Electronic Express..., you get what I'm looking for.
When I do nightly surveys and see all of these signs out I cringe. I know that I could give them good quality service and help keep me out of the red.
How can I get work from these companies?
Thank you for your reply, though it is not what I was wanting to read.
It sounds like I will need to drop trying to get these accounts for now.
I am an installer, not a sales man, but with the current economy, I have had to get involved to keep the truck busy.
Does anyone have any suggestions they are willing to share that might help me convince potential customers to allow my company to do their mantinance work?
Thanks for any help.
Here are my two cents...If you are not a salesman to get these potential customers....get one! Offer someone a small percentage to find you work. In this current economy everyone seems to be looking for extra work. Have them go on night patrol, contact the customer, seal the deal, and in turn you give them something for their trouble. We cannot be good at every facet of business. Hire a salesman!!!!
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National companies require a large amount of bonding and insurance.
It helps to have a professional website and a professional presentation, like you, the owner, presenting yourself in a way where these nationals will deal with you.
Generally, it takes a professional sales person with the connections to get you these accounts.
Usually the nationals work with large contracting sign companies, like Coast (Anaheim CA), Superior Electrical (Long Beach CA), Sign Methods (Signal Hill CA) who have the BOOM TRUCKS, reputation for doing this type of work, have all the SUB CONTRACTOR connections in every state (takes management and coordination).
The signs that are out for a reason. Usually the manager at the retail end is so overwhelmed with work, they constantly forget to make a maintenance service call. When the call is done, usually the warranty has run out and the national SIGN company servicing the account will not do it. So, alot of loop holes extend the time something is done.
To send one person, in a truck, out to one site, 10 miles away, in a big city like LA, Sacrmento, Dallas, Salt Lake City, may take 3 hours. No one has three hours to waste going out, taking down neon, bringing it back to the shop, making a pattern and then going back out. It is still 3 hours if it is neon. Two hours if it is flourescent lamps.
Most of the problem lies in Americans have become lazy, poor managers on many levels, service plans running out, and maybe a few more items I missed.
Start SMALL. Go after regional accounts (companies) with 5, 10 or 15 stores. Local pizza companies, fast food restaurants and other types of companies that have the money.
By the mere fact you are in installation is a HUGE plus for you.
I predict the SIGN INDUSTRY, which most don't see, moving more into SUBCONTRACTING to installers and VERY, VERY soon, WHOLESALE fabricators.
Explanation on that. A lot of sign companies that fabricate now, will, in the next 3-5 years, begin to OUTSOURCE that work.
The overhead is getting worse and worse. No one sees it, until its too late.
Mike Burke
CHATTERBOX DESIGNS, INC.
Los Angeles, CA
www.chatterboxdesigns.com