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Church Pricing?

icex

New Member
I sometimes give discounts to churchs but i swear some push it.

A guy calls and asks for a price on a 6x2 banner full color etc. I tell him a price + tax. He asks if we can go lower since its a church. I tell him no. He asks if we can do it for a flat price which is $3 more than my price plus tax...

Another one my neighbor goes to. We offered to donate ONE sign to them since they dont have much money. The guy brings in the old sign and said give us 2 please. I explain I will donate one and they can pay for the other.

How do you deal with churchs?
 

fresh

New Member
There are a LOT of small churches near our shop. I typically don't give them more than a 10% discount on anything, but as long as they can give me the appropriate tax form, they are tax exempt. Remember, churches are businesses, too.

On occasion I've donated small banners to customers who have spent money in our shop within the last 6 months or so. The people who come in asking for hand out, I inform them that I already donate to various charities of my choosing.
 

Jane Diaz

New Member
We usually give churches or non-profits 10% off. We just say, "that is our company's policy". But that being said, we do do things for OUR church for less, sometimes even free. I will say if they ASK for a discount, I usually stick with the 10%, if they are too pushy, no discount. If it is a cause we all 4 agree we want to help, and they DON'T ask, we might give them more.
One other thing you could consider...if you do it for full price, you could hand them a check for a donation when they pick it up. That also is usually tax deductable it is a verified charity.
 

bob

It's better to have two hands than one glove.
...How do you deal with churchs?

Churches, governments, political apparatus, not-profits, etc. not only pay full price, they must pay up front.

If you don't collect up front from these sorts of clients you stand a non-zero chance of getting stiffed. Any entity that has resources but cries poor should be considered guilty until proven innocent.

"Charity's fine, subscribe to mine..." Fagin in Oliver!
 

icex

New Member
Churches, governments, political apparatus, not-profits, etc. not only pay full price, they must pay up front.

If you don't collect up front from these sorts of clients you stand a non-zero chance of getting stiffed. Any entity that has resources but cries poor should be considered guilty until proven innocent.

Luckily, church #1 paid up front.
Church #2 has yet to, but their suppose to pickup and pay today.
 

MagnetStew

New Member
Being a Christian I have found the best way to deal with other Christians in a business environment is just like everyone else. Unfortunately, most don't practice what they preach and have to be treated like "godless heathens." :smile:
 

graphicwarning

New Member
Churches, governments, political apparatus, not-profits, etc. not only pay full price, they must pay up front.

If you don't collect up front from these sorts of clients you stand a non-zero chance of getting stiffed.

This!!

It didn't take me long to learn it was easy to get stuck with churches, and hospitals, and political campaigns. If I did ever get paid, it easily ran into many months or even years to get paid, with a huge waste of resources to do so.

Eventually, I just insisted these customers pay in full, upfront, or continue on down the road.
 

JgS

New Member
Churches are a great place to network. I got a lot of business from members of the church just because some kind words were said about something I made for them. Just saying... do something nice for them and they may return the kindness.
 

CES020

New Member
Churches tend to have a huge problem, in that they decide most everything by a committee. That means everything you do will have to be approved by a retired lady that worked as an admin in an insurance company, an engineer from a big company, some woman that is a CPA, or balanced a check book once, etc, etc.

Last deal I made was "I'll donate sign related items to you as I can, under one condition. You have no input into what I do. You take what I give you. Nothing I do will be presented to or approved by any committee."

It's worked well. I haven't heard from them since :)
 

fresh

New Member
Churches tend to have a huge problem, in that they decide most everything by a committee. That means everything you do will have to be approved by a retired lady that worked as an admin in an insurance company, an engineer from a big company, some woman that is a CPA, or balanced a check book once, etc, etc.

Last deal I made was "I'll donate sign related items to you as I can, under one condition. You have no input into what I do. You take what I give you. Nothing I do will be presented to or approved by any committee."

It's worked well. I haven't heard from them since :)

My sister-in-law, who is a stay at home mom in a posh community, has asked me to quote 4 different projects... Each one has to go before a committee, and by the time the committee gathers to discuss said project, they have already moved on to something different.

The last one was a $40 banner. :banghead: Spoiler Alert: it didn't happen, either.
 

rjssigns

Active Member
Only deal with one and they've been great. For over a decade we've been doing all the signage for their annual picnic.
 

klemgraphics

New Member
Maybe I've been lucky but I deal with a few and they never ask for a discount(I occasionally will discount though), always pay promptly, and never hassle me about much. The ones that I deal with though are decent sized and not hurting for money.
 

petepaz

New Member
depending on the church they make a lot more then you think. you look around the church and see the windows and artwork not to mention all the gold, bronze and chrome. how much do you think it cost just carpet a church? there is a church my my house and the preacher/ reverend drives a dodge viper??????? no discounts.
just raise the price 10% in your quote so you can add a 10% discount line at the bottom
 
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