Drive past any home for sale or apartment complex and, chances are, you’ve seen the handiwork of metro Atlanta’s DeNyse Signs Inc. and Sams Signs.
Both companies made their mark supplying all sorts of signs, especially for the real estate market. Even after the housing market crashed, they churned out “foreclosure” and “bank-owned” signs to meet demand. But that’s limited work in an industry that has been their main source of income for a generation. Business is down dramatically now and not expected to pick up until 2011.
A lot of businesses are using the downtime in this recession to rethink their strategies, make changes and update their look. And sometimes that’s something as simple as a sign.
“There’s always going to be opportunities for growth, even in a down economy,” said Lori Anderson, president and chief executive of the International Sign Association, an Alexandria, Va., group that represents some 2,600 sign companies. “A sign is the least expensive marketing tool that a retail establishment can have. It can get many more people in the door.”
Here’s how the two Atlanta-area companies say they have reinvented themselves during this recession.
Sam’s: Cross-training and COD
At Sam’s Signs, every employee has been cross-trained to do several jobs, a necessity for a company whose work force has shrunk from 90 to fewer than a dozen in the last 18 months.
“We intend to continue cross-training employees in the future,” said Gabriel “Sam” Bai, whose uncle, Sam Bai, started the Atlanta company with partner Marilyn Barlow 25 years ago with a table and one telephone. “We don’t want to get stuck again in the future. The latent positive effect of this economy is that it has forced us to rein in extraneous expenses.”
The recession has helped the company wring out expenses in other parts of the company as well. The warehouse is stocked on an as-needed basis. Materials are bought cash-on-delivery. No credit. Period.
“It’s better to pay as you go,” Bai said. “That’s the only way I like to do business now. Then we’re not hurt.”
In addition to tighter expense controls, the company has diversified.
“We don’t restrict ourselves to real estate anymore. If we had, we’d be out of business,” Bai said.
The company branched into electric signage about two years ago, moving beyond the printed versions. It has proved to be a good strategy because the company “started noticing something was off” about the economy and housing market three years ago. Sams now does signs for the travel and hospitality industries. Buckhead Bar & Grill, The Ardmore Hotel in Midtown and Hyatt Place showcase some of Sams’ work.
Despite diversifying, “it remains a daily struggle just to survive,” Bai said. The company needs a steady stream of work to offset its debts. So it relies heavily on its automated equipment to survive. Automation allows the company to react quickly to fill orders.
“Everybody is hoping the economy will turn around in the new year, but the reality is, there isn’t enough stimulus within the economy.”
DeNyse: Diversifying, updating
Even bank failures have a silver lining.
DeNyse, which has made a name for itself over the last 26 years providing signs for apartment complexes and other businesses, is now creating signs used by banks that take over failed banks. It’s a good gig, considering Georgia leads the nation in bank failures.
DeNyse recently handled the Southern Community Bank takeover. Everything from name plates to the big outdoor sign to anything with the old bank’s logo was replaced with United Community Bank’s signature. UCB took over the Southern system, which includes branches throughout metro Atlanta and North Georgia.
“We’ve had to change and diversify,” said chief executive Jennifer DeNyse, who started the business with her husband, Allen, making hand-carved wooden signs in the basement of their home.
The Douglasville company also is doing a lot of maintenance of businesses’ existing signs. The recession also has retailers looking to sign makers and suppliers to update their work and provide lighting in areas such as parking lots “because crime is up.”
It’s also focusing more of its attention on its sign business in cities including Dallas, Charlotte and Orlando.
“There’s still a pretty good amount of work there. We’ve opened ourselves to a larger area than just Atlanta to keep the flow of business going,” DeNyse said.
“We’ve had to be more ingenious about service work. We do apartments, shopping, retail, subdivisions. You name it, we do it. The only expansion now is in the service end. Businesses need to keep their signs on.”
Maintenance work is a bit of a change from the days when the company was busy with orders from homebuilders and developers for new projects.
While other industries were already feeling the pinch from the recession, sign makers like DeNyse continued to do well through most of 2008 since signs are among the last items added in a development project.
While other industries had wholesale layoffs, DeNyse “braced” itself.
“We set aside money. We cut wages,” DeNyse said. “We didn’t invest or expand our business. Over the past few years, we had been reinvesting in equipment, expansion and other office needs. We limited that knowing the economy was headed for the downturn.”
The company didn’t go untouched, however. It wound up laying off workers. Its work force went from 125 in 2008 to about 80 now.
The company is staying busy as best as it can.
“We don’t see the economy, for us, picking up until late 2010 or early 2011,” DeNyse said.
“Most of the times our projects can take up to a year,” she said. “[But] we’re not seeing anybody turn over new dirt. We’re not seeing any permits being pulled for new shopping centers, new apartments, new subdivisions.”
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