What’s a Sign Company Worth?

Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada.

• Hollywood.
• Radio City Music Hall.
• London Underground.
• In and Out Burger.
• McDonald’s Arches.

What is common between all of these?  They are all signs.  And yes, they are all man-made. Most likely by a company that specializes in designing, building, and installing them. Let’s see what a sign company is worth… The sign industry provides us with retail signs, billboards, and many indoor and outdoor corporate and institutional signage. There are over 30,000 sign businesses in American making $15 billion and employing 100,000 people. Rule of Thumb A sign business’ value is between 2-3.5x on SDE plus cost inventory and tangible assets, or 45-60% of annual revenue plus the cost of inventory and tangible assets. Three factors can help maximize your sign business’ value –

1. Show and Tell – your customers pay you to develop your marketing materials. What could top that? Do good work, and build on it. Your new customers want to see what you have done, and most importantly what you learned, and how you can innovate to deliver something new and fresh.
2. Hunt in packs – sign is a fragmented industry. One company cannot have all the offerings an institutional client needs. So how to service them? Think pack hunters. It is ideal to collaborate with competitors, with proper NDAs in place of course, and work in a team.
3. Staff Training – innovate. Think outside the box. Build on your successes. This however is only possible when your employees are trained and committed. Ensure that your team is receiving the needed training in the latest designs, materials, and digital tools. If your employees fall asleep at the wheel, guess what happens to your business?

While producing this video, I reflected on the Stone Age or the Flintstones. Even they had signed. The Parthenon has inscriptions. Signage of that age. Saint Peter’s Basilica has Latin inscriptions. The Taj Mahal has Persian inscriptions. And I am sure the streets, homes, businesses even in Mesopotamia had signed. They may not be like the ones we now have in Las Vegas or Times Square, but they were there. Sign businesses existed then, and they exist now. As Charles Darwin said – It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most adaptable to change.  Bharat Kanodia – Founder and Chief Appraiser