Company of the Day: Stokely Outdoor

Markets: Oklahoma

Address: PO Box 141277, Broken Arrow, OK. 74014-1277

Phone: 918-402-9016

Stokely Outdoor operates a plant of over 806 billboard faces including 8 digital faces in Oklahoma.  The company was started by Bill and Sarah Stokely in 1978.  Bill’s son Sam and his wife Jillian Ray Stokely now own and run the company.  In 2019 Stokely added 36 billboards with 144 faces across Oklahoma.  All the signs were new builds.  Billboard Insider talked with Sam Stokely

Sam what’s new in the past year?

We put up 12 new structures.

How did you get in the out of home business?

I grew up in the same business with my family. They also have a commercial division as well that did signs for regular businesses growing up in the business I saw all the different employees and equipment and headaches that went on in the shop. So when I started my business, I subbed out all those departments and don’t have those day-to-day headaches that my parents put up with. Running a lean, mean operation with not a lot of overhead or employees has been the key to our success, allowing us to put profit back in the building new signs.   We currently only operate in Oklahoma, but we do have state wide coverage…Me and my wife have been running the company for maybe 15 years and it seems like the first five or six years we were stumbling around in the dark because at that point my parents are already retired 10 years before that, so really a lot of it was trial and error….This is a great business to be in. It’s a ton of fun. My landowners love me because of the income source they were able to receive for no upfront cost on their behalf. My customers love it because I send new business every day.

Sam Stokley’s short course on out of home sales

Our sales efforts are always done in person building relationships with our customers. We don’t use any automated platforms for sales calls or tactics like that. In fact, I hate to admit it my website is out of date doesn’t even reflect our current inventory.   We’re looking to update it soon…My favorite part of this business is the sales meeting. Meeting customers and finding out more about their business and seeing how my service can help them. Every little town I build a sign in,  I go meet each business owner in person every business owner in that town wants my service but not everybody can afford it. That’s why I go in person to help qualify f or relationship can withstand a long partnership…My sales guy John Dean is an experienced enthusiastic person who has sold for Fairway and Lamar in the past. We go out as a team and do our sales efforts.  It’s easy to be lonely or lazy when you’re by yourself.
When John and I  go together, there’s camaraderie and we challenge each other. It’s a competition who’s going to get the next sale so we’re both always hustling.

Whose digital billboards do you use and what have your learned?

I build all my signs to be able to be converted to digital.  I keep track of demand.  If I get at least 4 clients asking for a particular location I convert to digital.  I use Daktronics digitals.  They are a leader in the field.  I also purchase a 10 year  upfront warranty.  It costs a lot but I don’t have to worry about if something breaks.

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