Building on Success at SignDog
SignDog | Puyallup, Washington
SignDog owner Donnie Juntunen has always loved being creative and solving problems – pretty much the perfect qualifications for owning a sign shop. But he didn’t get into the sign industry until he was 29, trying his hand at many other things first, including bartending, BMX racing, owning other businesses, and achieving a college degree. Now his sign shop in Puyallup, Washington is flourishing.
We talked with Donnie about how he decided to enter the sign market, what his shop specialties are, and how his latest move let him establish a production area that helped double his sales in just three years.
Tell us how it all began?
Donnie Juntunen: I got into the sign industry back in 2012, when I was 29 years old. I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit and tried my hand at various businesses, but none really stuck. I was a bartender before going into signs and recently graduated from a liberal arts college with studies in sustainable business and audio/video creation. I naturally think in a creative and problem-solving manner, and I love to use my creativity.I have raced BMX bikes since I was four years old. While racing in my twenties I met Brad Moore and we hit it off. He had opened the original SignDog and had been running it for nine years when I met him. The shop was in Ellensburg, Washington, a small college town in the middle of the state.
“The expanded color gamut of both TrueVIS printers is a real advantage.”
Brad was travelling often over the mountains to the Seattle/Tacoma area to race bikes and I asked him if he’d be interested in going into business together in my area. We opened SignDog in Puyallup in March 2012. He sold the Ellensburg location’s equipment and customer list to an employee, but retained the SignDog name, and eventually moved over full time to our location. We ran SignDog in Puyallup together until middle of 2015, then he moved several hours away to Anacortes, Washington and we decided to split up our partnership.
I purchased Brad’s shares and the sole rights to the SignDog name, colors, and website domain. Brad opened his own shop in Anacortes, Washington, called SignDog NW. We’ve been operating here successfully ever since.
What is your facility like now?
We are located on the edge of town, on a busy road with lots of industrial companies around us. I purchased the building in March 2020, right before the pandemic happened. This location has been an immense success for us. It has given us stability, control over our growth, room to expand, and a street presence. We have doubled our sales in three years since being here and receive many compliments about the look and feel of our space.
We have about 3,400 square feet, with 2,400 on the ground floor and a 1,000 square foot mezzanine. The mezzanine is where all of our production happens.
Downstairs, we have two vehicle wrap bays large enough to fit vehicles up to 35-feet long. There’s one bay on the left of the building, one bay on the right, and in the center is the lobby area, bathroom, and offices, with the mezzanine above.
How many employees do you have?
We have five full-time employees, one part-timer, and we contract out to an installer for our electrical signage work.What would you say are your shop’s specialties?
We like to tell people that we specialize in “signs on walls and stickers on cars.” We can do everything from exterior and interior signage, including directional signage and yard signs, to fleet and vehicle graphics including lettering, and partial and full wraps. And, of course, we do window graphics, wall graphics, banners, and decals.Do you offer print-and-ship?
We do print and ship items out to some of our customers, however we don’t have an online setup for people to design their sign and then ship.
Who are your clients, and how do your clients find you?
Our clients are typically small and medium-sized businesses in our area. They mostly find us through referrals. We don’t do any real advertising, other than spending about $175 a month on Google Ads.What printing equipment do you use?
We have three Roland DG printer/cutters: a 64-inch VersaCAMM, a 54-inch TrueVIS VG2-540 and a 54-inch TrueVIS VG3-540.We decided to add the VG3 to keep up with our production needs. The expanded color gamut of both TrueVIS printers is a real advantage. In the VG3, we’re running a CMYK, light magenta, light cyan, light black, and orange ink configuration, which consistently gives us vibrant, high-quality prints without any problems.
Focusing on vehicle graphics, how would you describe the growth of that part of your business?
Our vehicle wraps business has doubled and accounts for at least 50% of our sales now, versus about 25% a few years ago. We find that our customers are also moving more towards full wraps rather than lettering or partial wraps.We only do B2B vehicle graphics; we refer out any requests for color changes for personal clients. We prefer that our work helps our clients make money for their businesses. We mostly wrap fleet vehicles, with the occasional food truck or trailer. No motorcycles, and rarely any boats. We are really in the wrap space for businesses only.
Why do you think your clients choose to work with SignDog?
Clients can count on us to provide excellent print quality, good communication, reasonable pricing, and refreshing creativity. In addition, we pride ourselves on being responsive and creative, with state-of-the-art production equipment. We’re not dated.In addition, we deliver on time, and we make the whole process as smooth and easy as possible by asking the right questions up front and trying to see the hurdles before they’re there.
It’s simple, really – other sign shops provide the same types of products, so we try to excel in our approach, our production quality, our humor, our communications, and in being “authentic” all the way around.