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Does this ever happen to you?

Stacey K

Stacey K

I like making signs
General chit chat here. Do you ever do a job and think you could have done better and get really nervous the customer won't like it only to find out you worry for no reason? This happened last week. I got a call that a guy was NOT happy with his current truck vinyl as there were folds in the letters etc. and he wanted to go with someone else so he called me. I did find a few folds which is unacceptable but overall I didn't think it was that horrifying as I've seen much worse, so this made me nervous right off the bat. He ended up adding a few extra hours to my day with extra removal I hadn't planned on and I ran out of time to make a few letter replacements where the rivets got the best of me. I told him I had to replace a couple letters and fix a couple things and he seemed OK with that and we left it as is. I just talked to him again and he had inspected it again over the weekend and found no issues except a couple little things which I already had on my list. He said he absolutely loved it! Of course red and blue will always trump red and black LOL I have been worried for a week for nothing. Next week I will be adding some additional lettering and replacing those letters I don't like.

I should have told him we needed to do this in 2 sessions instead of thinking I'm wonder woman. I'm really lucky this ended up OK, it could have been a real disaster. Lesson learned - again - don't bite off more than you can chew in a day if there's a time restriction. Stupid.
 
rjssigns

rjssigns

Active Member
Delivered a museum sign last year.
Client looked at me and said "What's wrong don't you like it?"
I said: "It's just the fact that after you do something for the first time you figure out a better way to do it." :doh:

Anyway, a few days later I got the check with a handwritten note saying he loved it.
 
Notarealsignguy

Notarealsignguy

Arial - it's almost helvetica
I overthink everything. If a mistake bothers me, I will point it out to the customer. It is pretty rare that they are not ok with it. I think that most people don't like to be an ass, so when you tell them you will fix something they would rather be accommodating than to be that guy that wants you to waste your time over nitpicky nonsense. If you hide the problem then you are the ass and they will have no problem going after you.
 
Pewter0000

Pewter0000

Graphic Design | Production
Ooooh there are a few clients where we think "Oh no, this guy's gonna be picky..." or "I really could have installed that better, they're gonna hate it" only to find out later that it's fine. Sometimes I'm looking at so much signage I forget that other people don't know what to expect, I guess.

Or, someone comes in with a crappy logo that will look bad no matter what you do with it, but they're happy anyway.
 
R

Rocco G

New Member
I think that we are all too picky with our signs. The vast majority of the time, the customer doesn't know what we would consider mistakes. Way back when, on my very first sign with 3D elements, I was sweating bullets because all I saw were things I'd have liked to do differently or "fix". The paint wasn't 10000% perfect, one of the raised letters was ever so slightly out of line, etc. The second the customer saw it, a big grin appeared on his face and he was thrilled. Plus I found out later that he thought he had gotten a bargain so don't be afraid to charge enough. Now I'm not saying to do garbage, but we need to learn to know when to stop picking apart our own work and say it's finished. Were they satisfied enough to pay you? That should be enough. I used to try to make everything perfect but way too many years of doing this has taught me that it's not needed. I'm a big believer in thinking that "good enough" usually isn't but it doesn't have to be "perfect" either.
 
C

CanuckSigns

Active Member
I had an install last month, Had to install on a saturday, client wasn't on site, but I had a drawing with measurements so I went ahead and installed the window graphics. It looked great.

I got an email from the client on Sunday morning "I like the window graphics, but there are a few things I'm not happy with, lets talk on Monday" I spent all day Sunday worrying the client was gonna be pissed and make me redo the work. Called him Monday and it was a tiny piece of vinyl that needed to be trimmed a bit better. I ruined my Sunday worrying about it! lol.
 
Notarealsignguy

Notarealsignguy

Arial - it's almost helvetica
I think every decent business owner is overly critical of their work That plays into why they went to work for themselves. It kills me that customers are fall over happy with some of the absolute worst work that has left our shop because I want to complain with them. But at the end of the day, it's about making money, not impressing people. As long as you are very self aware, you can find that sweet spot of not going overboard but still making your customers very happy. Over or under that point is not the place you want to be.
 
mfatty500

mfatty500

New Member
Seems to me that people don't care what it looks like, fits right, etc. As long as they get quick. Thanks to Amazon
 
Notarealsignguy

Notarealsignguy

Arial - it's almost helvetica
mfatty500 said:
Seems to me that people don't care what it looks like, fits right, etc. As long as they get quick. Thanks to Amazon
Click to expand...
I dunno. I think there are plenty of people that want something decent, will pay for it and will wait for it. However people are tired of getting garbage when they are being sold on something good. They just buy cheap because they assume that's what theyre gonna get no matter how much they pay.
 
V

Vinyl slayer

New Member
I'm kinda prone to anxiety, and I take extreme pride in my work. So, I'm constantly worried. :) I like to think I"m great at what I do, but there are times when things don't go perfectly. I totally get what your talking about.

I agree with a lot shared above. I just do my best. I'm not the owner, just the PM. but guess who has to redo it. This gal. loss for the boss, shame for me. I just won't send it out unless I'm ok, or the boss ok's it.

Install is a trickier wicket - still a novice and total noob. I only do little stuff, but I can apply a vehicle door decal with out a manual. ;)
 
D

DeadDoc

New Member
All of the time. This is my second go around in the printing industry and everyday this happens. This time I do mostly LF vinyl work with install, which is new to me as I used to only print posters on LF or 11x17 max size. I am always shocked when people say the love the work and I'm going in my mind, everything is crooked or something. Recently did a museum install and I was freaking out the entire time just to find out they loved it and want to do another exhibit.

However, on one of my first installs where I was shadowing, the install was crooked and the people watching us never told us. They ended up telling their boss the next day just to yell at us. Really? Ever since then I have been beyond super critical.
 
John Miller

John Miller

New Member
Back in BC "before computers" I was reverse painting a group of windows that butted against each other. The borders had repeating arches. The client went outside while I was working and was stareing at the work. He came in and pointed to something that was about 3% different than its opposite mate and said, "what's up with that?"
I just said, "that shows it's hand done" and went back to work. He walked away and never said another word.
 
gnubler

gnubler

Active Member
Yes, constantly. I'm plagued with self doubt, especially being new to not only the sign business, but owning my own business. I did an oddball job the other day for a walk-in who just needed a couple plaques made. It was a small job and not really what I do, so I told him I'd charge for an hour of labor and he told me to go for it. It's hard for me to grasp that I had to charge someone $70 for a few little pieces of plastic, even though I know it's all about time, labor, and being able to make something that someone else can't. I know I have to look beyond the actual monetary value of the materials and remind myself that I'm providing a service or fulfilling a need.
 
Ray Miller

Ray Miller

Owner
I know that many people will nitpick something apart but they're going to no matter what. What I think happens with most people is when they see their sign all shiney and neat they don't see the small mistakes or not quite a color match that we had spoke of earlier in the contract. They don't know the ins and outs of our business. In that regard they don't really know the tolerances of this business. Some are afraid to say something and the ones who do just have some good comebacks and offer to fix it if you agree with them.
 
David Wright

David Wright

New Member
Sometimes you they will have a real issue with something you overlooked or find hard to be a problem. Nine times out of ten when I tell them that I will take care of that right away and apologize for the inconvenience, they don't even bother taking me up with it. They just want to be acknowledged and be considered thoughtfully.
 
V

Vinyl slayer

New Member
just thought of a great story, along this thread. big share, I have been waiting for this opportunity.

"Move the Pipes"
We were doing this HUGE wall graphic on a brick wall. Indoors, it was a 30-year anniversary graphic to impress the share holders with an upcoming visit. It was inside, visible to the whole production/assembly line for this manufacturing part of the business.

They are doing theyre thing, while we are up on scaffolding installing a giant graphic - printed on Alumagraphic. (It's a very expensive and BIG deal). We are about a little more than halfway through installing the panels, and it's very much looking like the install is going to run into some pipes running vertically on the brick wall. This is not good, it's going to go through a prominant portion of the company logo.

So, we notice workers are watching us... can't hear them, but they are seeing this go up, and they see what we see... a problem. Supervisors start coming over, we all see the issue. The CEO comes out...


Rob. He looks at it. He sees what we all see. "Let's move the pipes". That guy knows how to solve problems by god. He got the maintenance crew out, to move the pipes - water pipes, re-direct them out of the way - so we could finish the wall mural. just like that.
 
Notarealsignguy

Notarealsignguy

Arial - it's almost helvetica
Val47 said:
just thought of a great story, along this thread. big share, I have been waiting for this opportunity.

"Move the Pipes"
We were doing this HUGE wall graphic on a brick wall. Indoors, it was a 30-year anniversary graphic to impress the share holders with an upcoming visit. It was inside, visible to the whole production/assembly line for this manufacturing part of the business.

They are doing theyre thing, while we are up on scaffolding installing a giant graphic - printed on Alumagraphic. (It's a very expensive and BIG deal). We are about a little more than halfway through installing the panels, and it's very much looking like the install is going to run into some pipes running vertically on the brick wall. This is not good, it's going to go through a prominant portion of the company logo.

So, we notice workers are watching us... can't hear them, but they are seeing this go up, and they see what we see... a problem. Supervisors start coming over, we all see the issue. The CEO comes out...


Rob. He looks at it. He sees what we all see. "Let's move the pipes". That guy knows how to solve problems by god. He got the maintenance crew out, to move the pipes - water pipes, re-direct them out of the way - so we could finish the wall mural. just like that.
Click to expand...
I thought you were gonna say the ceo came out and asked why tf did you spend all this money
 
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