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redicelander,

Thanks and your welcome!

Martin

You know what? No it don't. You know why? Because if you're hungry enough, tired (of being broke) (have no real workable ideas) enough and want it bad enough...? Nothing will stop you from going out there and kicking butt and taking NO prisoner's!

When you KNOW you've got something they want (signs) and they've got something you NEED (money)...at a price they LOVE? You WILL get out there and make the sale--over & over, again & again! Trust me! :p Hell, I'll even ask for referrals! LOL!

Thanks, Martin! YOU are truly a life...and a future saver!

hisham88,

Would You be willing to share the intereting idea my post gave you to implement ?

Thanks,

Martin

SDotSpells,

Yes, selling signs is a impulse buy for the business owners and most buy due to the fact that they get the sign now and don't have to wait, like they would if they bought it on ebay or online somewhere.

Martin

Congrats Martin! You are a true entrepreneur. May I ask how long it took to get your shipment from the time you placed your order?

Was there no problem with them shipping to an individual rather than a company or did you order as a company?

ikme,

What i did is call the supplier in china that i'm getting my signs from and made a deal with them for a set price for shipping if i buy 2 or more cases of 20 signs and so i pay around $2 per sign for shipping.

If you order your signs from rhode island novelty and order a case or 2 of 20 signs from them you can usally get them to offer free shipping.

I hope this helps,

Martin

I love this post!
How about this - lets say you have a biz you are trying to get in with to do a website - mobile site - whatever. Box up a sign and send it to them for free with some sort of letter saying "now all the passerbye's will know you are open - how about all the web (or mobile) surfer/searchers?"
Follow up with a visit and say "I see you got our sign - anything else we can help you with?"

I have been getting a few emails from people asking for me to supply them with the suppliers i buy my open and atm signs from, so i figured i better share that with everyone and not just a few, so here you go.

I buy my open signs from: rinovelty.com

if you call rhode island novelty and tell them you would like to order a case of 20 open signs, they will give you a discount price of just $10.80 per sign.

and i buy my atm signs from:

alibaba.com/product-gs/387058759/LED_Sign_ATM.html

alibaba.com/product-gs/295079977/LED_Signs.html

you will also have to call or email the 2 companies above to get the lowest price per sign if you order a case of 10 or 20 atm sign. I pay between $10 and $12 per sign.

I hope this helps and if anyone actually tries this idea, please post here your success story or email me, as i like to read them.

Thanks and I wish you much success,

Martin

very informative and inspiring way to make a business w/ LED. I'm taking notes of this post. Thanks a lot!

ADukes81,

You might have read the idea on a few of the other forums i post to or you might have read it on my website where i share my money making ideas for free.

Thanks,

Martin

Yep you've read this and the other items before... from Don Alm.

Thats nice, man...

I´m happy for you, the only reason I can´t do the same is that here in Spain the mindstate / culture are sooooo different.

Almost imposible to do the same.

but anyway.. kudos to you!

Thanks everyone for all your input and positve feedback.

I hope at least one person who read this post will take action on this idea and make money with it.

Also, if anyone does try out this idea will you please post back here and share your results with all of us.

To your success,

Martin

Quentin,

Thanks for the QR code idea.

I'm working on tieing in QR codes with some of my other biz ideas as they are becoming more and more popular as most people are only buying smart phones now.

Thanks again,

Martin

RatRaceWatch,

I don't worry about no soliciting policy, i just walk in wearing casual dress cloths with a sign in hand and ask for the owner or manager and i make my pitch. In 8 years of sales i have only had, that i can remember 2 businesses ask me to leave and don't come back. A tip i learned a while back from a top sales man was, if you see a No Soliciting sign on the door, that mean the owner can't say no, so come in and sell me something...lol

I hope this answers you question's and helps,

Martin

RatRaceWatch,

I target mostly corner stores and retail stores. You have to let go of the what if thoughts you have and just do it and see what happens, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Good luck!

Martin

I don't know of any 'no solicitation law' in Florida. This type of sale isn't something where that will even come up most of the time.

If they have it (the sign), then you aren't even walking in.

If they don't have it (the sign) then they need it. And most of the time, they have already thought about getting it but, just haven't. That doesn't mean that they will buy from you but it does increase your chances.

You will literally know inside of 30 seconds of conversation whether or not someone you are talking to is a real prospect or not. Certainly not enough time for someone to call the cops on you.

I bet if you put in a solid 8 hours of door knocking in a real closely targeted businesses area, especially where there are new businesses, you could go through a case in a day.

Once you do a few hours of this, the fear is gone and it's all about the cash in your pocket.

Christian Amador,

Thanks and yes my signature products below are very interesting, so why havn't you bought them...lol just joking

All the best,

Martin

LongTail Silver,

I would say you should place an ad on craigslist to hire sales reps on a commission basis to sell your signs, but your profits will be very low like $10 doing things this way and that's fine, but as easy as it is to make sales selling signs, I would just perfer to do it all myself and make bigger profits, but that's just me.

I wish you luck and please keep me posted on your results if do end up selling signs.

Thanks,

Martin

big jeffrey,

I have never had a problem getting an order. I have had an order take a little longer for delivery than i was told it would, but when ordering from china, ect. you have to exspect delays sometime.

I hope this answers your question.

Thanks,

Martin

Dammit man! You keep coming in and hitting us over the head with these awesomely brilliant #$!@* ideas! Every time I read this thread, it's like I'm reading something new! What are we going to do with you??

Stfuser, please read the entire thread.

mr2monster,

No, i don't add sales tax to my sign sales, i just clam my earnings at the end of the year and as far as a license goes, it might be better to be legal in your area, but in my area they don''t enforce it, so i'm not worrying about one untill i'm told to get one

Thanks,

Martin

big jeffrey,

I think what has happend is that the suppliers i listed have been getting a boost in orders or requests for their signs and have decided to raise the price as the demand for them has increased.

I'm looking for new suppliers that have cheap prices on led open and atm signs and i will post here once i find some good suppliers.

Thanks,

Martin

Martin, I just order 5 ATM signs from your new source. Plan to test the market here in NYC $40-50 for each sign . I will keep you posted.

There is plenty of room for you to make money with LED signs even if there was a few other people using this idea in Chicago I would say the chances of you guys bumping heads would be slim, so just run with it and see what happens, as you won't know until you try and take action.

All the best,

Martin

agonce,

Way to take action!

You are proof that my ideas are legit and profits can be made if you just take action.

All the best,

Martin

There is to much competition online that is why this idea work much better offline selling the sign business to business as you know they need the sign and the business owner knows they need the sign, so as long as your price is good and your signs look good making sales is easy.

I'm going shopping tomorrow alright; shopping for stores needing signs!

!! They DO?!? For who? The business owner?

After doing some research, I've come to realize that if you can buy an "Open" sign for $20 and re-sell it at $50, that is still a good deal for the merchant. Atm signs seems a little bit harder to find, still working on that.

Now, here's an interesting twist that I don't mind sharing. And, I'm going to town this morning to do some visual research, lol. Since the economy is not he best (have you ever passed by or even lined up for food stamps or general relief), it's apearant that a lot of people are getting financial aid.

I had no idea what an EBT card is until recently and what it is, it's like a credit card that gets loaded with government funds like food stamps, general relief etc. if you qualify.

It is my understanding that most food stores accepts the car and some liquor stores and gas stations that sell food. The 99cent store and the
Dollar Store accept them but not Big Lots. Anyway, you get the picture. Oh, and I also think that some fast food places takes them.

Long story short but I also wanted to add that my area is really depressed and a lot of people that you would not even think, are actually living on food stamps. To reach a level of not being able to support yourself is embarrassing to many and they don't want others to know about it.

Most stores or should I say all of them (that is why I am doing my research today) do NOT have a LED sign saying EBT ACCEPTED HERE! Question is, would the store feel weird about advertising that they do accept the card? I'm sure some will but that's probably only a small fraction.

Online, these signs go for $89 to over $200. Alibaba hardly has ANY manufacturers. So, even though the concept is great, finding the signs and finding merchants to buy them might be a different story.

Just thought I'd share, Eva

I would say a separate "Open" sign and one that says atm+EBT+cash, since with general relief lets people buy non-food items. There are signs like that but they are too expensive.

As far as out-sourcing, Martin already touched on that in an earlier thread. I would tend to agree with Martin=out-sourcing does not give you the margin, Eva

If you read the thread more carefully there are actually action takers here. What about yourself, how many sales do you have? Me, yeah, I've been taking action but I'm working on a bigger project than what's suggested in this thread so yes, again, there's "action" going on.

Looking forward to hear about your success, Eva

yukinara,

There have been many people who have taken action on my money making ideas and have made money with then. My Pizza Cards Profits idea (see sig below) has been a huge success for many people, so for you to say without knowing that no one has taken action and made any money that is wrong and false, as i have many emails from students that are making money and taken action with my ideas.

Thanks,

Martin

saras,

I am actually working on a WSO that will be sharing 10 unique and creative ways I have made money with offline, but thank you for your support and positive comments.

All the best,

Martin

SDotSpells,

Thanks for the kind words regarding my money making ideas and my up coming WSO.

Yes, I employ the same tactics in the winter as I do in the summer, the weather dosn't change anything other than what I or my sales reps wear

All the best,

Martin

NewParadigm,

Thank you very much for the great ideas and I will looking into your ideas more to see if they can be implimented and be profitable.

All the best,

Martin

celente,

Your very welcome and I hope you are able to use my idea and make some money with it.

To your success,

Martin

saras,

Thank you and I will let you know once my WSO goes live for sale.

All the best,

Martin

kylemarvin,

Hiring sales reps on a commission basis works as that is one of the ways I was selling my LED signs, so if you can get a great price on signs and can still make a decent profit for yourself after paying your sales rep commission, then by all means do it and save yourself the time and energy having to do all the work on your own.

To your success,

Martin

cash89,

I have been finding good or better deals on eBay over Alibaba for buying wholesale or bulk led signs, so check out eBay first before ordering from any where else.

All the best,

Martin

Yes, you will have to pay import fee's - unless you get the sender to lie and say they are samples or a gift, but if its looked at by customs and noted, the second time you try to buy 2 or more of these and have to import them, you will have to pay fee's.

Another thing to pay attention to is that a lot of the signs bought from taobao (which is the cheapest), non U.S. eBay, Alibaba and Aliexpress is that the electric plugs aren't made for U.S. sockets so you have to change them over or buy an adapter. A lot of the sellers won't tell you this because they are just middlemen and aren't actually from a factory.

Fat Wolf,

Sometime the things we see around us every day are the things we over look and don't see the opportunity right in front of us to make money with it, there are ways around everyone in their area to make some money if they just take notice.

All the best,

Martin

I subscribe to the well-established rule - "Know your market". Before investing in 20 signes, I'd drive around the business areas I hope to target, to insure someone else hasn't already sold many of the potential customers.
If some stores already have the same "Open" or "ATM Inside", it could take longer to sell the 20 and might even require selling for less, or driving further which would limit the profits.

So simple and brilliant idea.Thanks for sharing.

Lol, I made some money back in the day with the fake security cameras and I was a little sneaky and sold the name and address of everyone that bought one from me for a fee to a real local security company

All the best,

Martin

genuinenine,

I'm happy to hear you enjoyed the free money making ideas on my
site http://NicheBizIdeas.com and I do hope you are able to make
some moneywith them and if I can be of any help to you, please
feel free to ask.

All the best,

Martin

I like seeing other people say they tried the idea and it worked for them, even if just a little. Anyone selling these signs should definitely buy a handful of the other varieties and throw them in the trunk. I would put together a catalog and order form for every sign you keep in stock and some others. It's very possible to still sell people on signs you have sold out of or don't normally buy. Now, I think there's a limit to the number of signs one business owner can really throw in one window, but it's good to be able to sell. For businesses that already have an "open" sign, go ahead and walk in and see if they have an atm if it's the type that might. Anyone with a lot of traffic or a need for people to have cash may have one. If they don't have an atm maybe they want one...? ATM companies will place free ones if it makes good business sense and give the store owner a cut. Otherwise they can buy one and make more profit per atm use and take on the risk of it not giving a good ROI.

I'm actually just starting out selling merchant accounts and there's a big fear of wasting my time or not doing well (i.e. not paying the bills). I've sold all sorts of low ticket products in the past to consumers, and I've provided customer service to big time executives and other high net worth individuals, but something about walking into a business to sell merchant services gives me pause, even though I know what I will generally say and so forth.

I might try something like this- a quick and easy sale to break the ice and get a small relationship built- and an easy way to quickly identify the decision maker. Then say something like, "by the way, who are you using for your credit card processing?" followed up by some sort of statement that I happen to sell that and focus on low pricing and a local point of contact. Get a monthly statement to send off to the analysis team and set up an appointment a few days later to go over the savings with them. I could be wrong, but this might give me the motivation I need to get out there. The reasoning is I would get upfront cash in my pocket everyday while I go out and sell merchant accounts, which pays more but takes a bit longer to get paid. Any thoughts on that?

As far as the LED signs, I think some store managers would also pay for this- either from a small discretionary fund they can use or out of their own pocket to get more business. It's not hard to imagine the additional sales that will come in during the early morning and evening hours and typically a store manager gets a good amount of income from bonuses tied to store sales.

Also, if you are able to sell a chain store you have 2 huge advantages. Let's say for example you are able to convince a local CVS drugstore (or whatever is common in your area.) You can immediately go across the street and tell the Walgreens manager that you just sold a sign to CVS and maybe they want one too. You can also then go to all the other CVS stores since you now know that particular store (or whatever works for you) is able to buy one. Now these are just examples- can be any type of retail location.

Sometimes it can be challenging to think up different areas to visit after you have been to a bunch of the major areas around you. Now, you could just drive down a street for 30 miles or so, stopping in as many places as possible. Something else you could do (if you have found a chain you can sell to) is find some free routing website and plug in all the locations for that chain. Along the way, you'll likely drive on some roads you never thought of before. I know there's a free website that optimizes the route for free, but I forget the website (I used it to maximize a store circular sale one day LOL)

*edit* Also, combine this b2b idea with a b2c idea such as knocking on doors selling discount cards or whatever. You can prospect during the daytime when small business owners are likely in their stores and in the evening go around to homes selling something else.