How's about this one?

[jimbug72]

Got a call the other day...

Customer: I need a sign that says, "blah blah" how much is that gonna be?

Me: What type of sign do you need?

Customer: A regular sign

Me: Will it be used indoors or outdoors?

Customer: Outside

Me: How will it be mounted?

Customer: I got an old sign out here on posts. I want to put it on those posts.

Me: Will it be single sided or double sided?

Customer: Both sides

Me: What size is the sign?

Customer: Medium.

Short pause while I try to collect myself.

Me: Umm, Do you have any measurements?

Customer: No, looks like it's about yay tall. (I'm assuming he's showing me the height with his hand... over the phone) It don't look too big.

Me: We will need you or someone to get us some measurements to get you a quote.

Customer: You can't just give me a ballpark price? I won't hold you to it.

Me: No sir, sorry. I will at least need to have an approximate idea of the materials needed.

Customer: (Sounding a bit disgruntled) Ok, I'll have to go find something to measure it with, and I'll call you back.

He calls back later that day with some measurements. Shockingly, he was offended by the price estimate. Hasn't called back yet. I sure hope he finds a better price somewhere else.

 

[Christian @ Visual Graphx]

That's a, based on your information this sign could cost $200 to $20,000.

 

[James Burke]

It's terribly important to offend these types early in the process...always.


JB

 

[2B]

Our sales guy has several replies for people like this.

• "from the DETAILS you have provided, I can estimate the sign will cost more than one dollar"
• " I only work on number trades, you give me numbers, I give you numbers. Until you give me all the numbers, I can't give you numbers"

 

[TimToad]

Had the exact same experience yesterday about a 15 foot box truck. Wants a full wrap all four sides, but needs to "test the waters" to see if his $2,000 budget is enough. We always ask for contact info first "in case we get cut off".

Is a local mover with a fleet of several trucks, all with just minimal die cut graphics.

Threw all the useful questions at him in rapid succession. Rivets? Big one's? Little flat one's? Supplied artwork? Condition of body? Fiberglas? Have you considered a partial wrap or diecut?

Gave it the old college trying to cut through the purposeful evasiveness he was projecting and in less than 2 minutes crunched the square footage and informed him that he was about 50% underbudgeted for what he wants.

Response: How much for just a 4'x4' logo on each side and smaller ones on the rear and upper nose?

Sheesh! I'm sure he repeated this exercise with multiple other shops playing dumb with everyone of us.

 

[Gino]

Yeah, this happens quite a bit. It's basically someone acting dumb (maybe they are dumb) to shop around prices. In this way, they can always say, well, I didn't say exactly.

After 2 or 3 minutes of this dumbness, we always tell them to give us some written idea of what they want, a picture and some idea of the size. It that's being rude, so be it.

As for toad's situation, anyone either has to bring the truck in or some pictures and closeups of the vehicle in question. Also, an idea of what is gonna go on it.

 

[equippaint]

Yeah, this happens quite a bit. It's basically someone acting dumb (maybe they are dumb) to shop around prices. In this way, they can always say, well, I didn't say exactly.

After 2 or 3 minutes of this dumbness, we always tell them to give us some written idea of what they want, a picture and some idea of the size. It that's being rude, so be it.

As for toad's situation, anyone either has to bring the truck in or some pictures and closeups of the vehicle in question. Also, an idea of what is gonna go on it.

As soon as they start with the vagueness I do the same thing. Go draw what you want and give me dimensions and we can go from there. You waste your time first before dragging me in.

 

[Gino]

As soon as they start with the vagueness I do the same thing. Go draw what you want and give me dimensions and we can go from there. You waste your time first before dragging me in.

Hahahahaaaa........... that's kinda what I've been saying for a long time about the dumba$$ questions and thought patterns around here. Put a little something into it so I know you're not just spinning my wheels. AHh, how do I print this ?? No pictures, no information, no details about anything. Go look at their profile and it's empty. Sheesh, and they're breeding.

 

[JPR-5690]

Since we also do digital and offset printing we get questions like this alllll the time.

We've started to enjoy just coming up with exorbitant prices just so we don't have to deal with the classic

"y'all do business cards? how much?"
when we ask what quantity they want -
"uhhh idk like 50?"

and then there's always the old

"well I can get this online for a lot cheaper how come you're so expensive"
we usually see these clients about two weeks later after their online order came in and the quality was shyt.

my favorite so far?

"what kind of printing you do"
-digital, offset, and wide format at the moment
"well yah but what kind"

 

[TimToad]

The first words out of any of our mouths when these calls come in is that we don't provide quotes "sight unseen". If they can't swing by, email us straight on photos, any logos and information desired and at least height and width measurements.

This guy wasn't being rude and I was looking up his company on the internet as I was quickly asking questions and roughly crunching the numbers. No harm, no foul. Start to finish was less than three minutes.

He just might think that's the way to do research. He could come back today and the couple minutes of help will pay off like it usually does for us.

 

[Jeremiah]

My friend, and competition in town who also does banners, insists that the national average for a banner is 5 to 7 dollars a square foot. Any amount of colors and even if he has to do all the artwork. And he is negotiable on the orice.if he thinks the customer will walk. Obviously he is very busy. I insist that all are one color and each additional color increases the price.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

Old guy calls me for a bid and I said sure, email me the pic. 5 mins later he calls back and asks what I think. I said, I'm tied up at the moment but I'll look at it before the close of business today. I emailed him a quote around noon. At 9PM he calls me asking what's up? I said I e-mailed him the bid this afternoon and he said "Oh, I haven't checked my email" '

I proceed to tell him the quote ($4500-$5500) and he got angry. He said that sign is only 3'x6'. and I told him my calculations showed it was about 6-7' by 14'. He said I was incorrect because in the picture he sent me, he measured his wheels on his car and figured the sign must of been 3' x 6'. He said he KNOWS his car isn't 14' long in the photo and the sign is smaller. I kindly explained to him that because of all the "panels" on the sign, that leads me to believe that is not 3x6 because a sign company wouldn't use a bunch of panels for a 3x6. He tells me that we're not talking about "the theory" of how it should be built, but that the sign IS 3x6. He started to get snippy with me and I politely said, "Well, I'm sorry we have a misunderstanding in regards to the size of the sign." He said: "No, it's not a misunderstanding, you just don't know what the right measurements are" I said "Ok sir, I looks like we're not going to be doing business together, have a good evening"


See for yourself: https://www.google.com/maps/@33.814...4!1sgTl3IHZGhKnjbGOwVAL8dg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

 

[Evan Gillette]

Old guy calls me for a bid and I said sure, email me the pic. 5 mins later he calls back and asks what I think. I said, I'm tied up at the moment but I'll look at it before the close of business today. I emailed him a quote around noon. At 9PM he calls me asking what's up? I said I e-mailed him the bid this afternoon and he said "Oh, I haven't checked my email" '

I proceed to tell him the quote ($4500-$5500) and he got angry. He said that sign is only 3'x6'. and I told him my calculations showed it was about 6-7' by 14'. He said I was incorrect because in the picture he sent me, he measured his wheels on his car and figured the sign must of been 3' x 6'. He said he KNOWS his car isn't 14' long in the photo and the sign is smaller. I kindly explained to him that because of all the "panels" on the sign, that leads me to believe that is not 3x6 because a sign company wouldn't use a bunch of panels for a 3x6. He tells me that we're not talking about "the theory" of how it should be built, but that the sign IS 3x6. He started to get snippy with me and I politely said, "Well, I'm sorry we have a misunderstanding in regards to the size of the sign." He said: "No, it's not a misunderstanding, you just don't know what the right measurements are" I said "Ok sir, I looks like we're not going to be doing business together, have a good evening"


See for yourself: https://www.google.com/maps/@33.814...4!1sgTl3IHZGhKnjbGOwVAL8dg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

View attachment 140655

Not sure I would eat at a place with a hay baler in the yard, ha ha.

 

[fresh]

Old guy calls me for a bid and I said sure, email me the pic. 5 mins later he calls back and asks what I think. I said, I'm tied up at the moment but I'll look at it before the close of business today. I emailed him a quote around noon. At 9PM he calls me asking what's up? I said I e-mailed him the bid this afternoon and he said "Oh, I haven't checked my email" '

I proceed to tell him the quote ($4500-$5500) and he got angry. He said that sign is only 3'x6'. and I told him my calculations showed it was about 6-7' by 14'. He said I was incorrect because in the picture he sent me, he measured his wheels on his car and figured the sign must of been 3' x 6'. He said he KNOWS his car isn't 14' long in the photo and the sign is smaller. I kindly explained to him that because of all the "panels" on the sign, that leads me to believe that is not 3x6 because a sign company wouldn't use a bunch of panels for a 3x6. He tells me that we're not talking about "the theory" of how it should be built, but that the sign IS 3x6. He started to get snippy with me and I politely said, "Well, I'm sorry we have a misunderstanding in regards to the size of the sign." He said: "No, it's not a misunderstanding, you just don't know what the right measurements are" I said "Ok sir, I looks like we're not going to be doing business together, have a good evening"


See for yourself: https://www.google.com/maps/@33.814...4!1sgTl3IHZGhKnjbGOwVAL8dg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

View attachment 140655

Because his wheels on on the same plane as the sign, right?

And if those lamps are 72", I agree with your measurement 100%.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

Because his wheels on on the same plane as the sign, right?

And if those lamps are 72", I agree with your measurement 100%.

I think so, I just use Google to measure it and it's usually within an inch or two. that thing is pretty nifty.

Go to satellite view and left click on one corner of the sign and then select measure and then click the other corner of the sign and it will tell you the length.

 

[TimToad]

My friend, and competition in town who also does banners, insists that the national average for a banner is 5 to 7 dollars a square foot. Any amount of colors and even if he has to do all the artwork. And he is negotiable on the orice.if he thinks the customer will walk. Obviously he is very busy. I insist that all are one color and each additional color increases the price.

If one includes the intrinsic value of the advertising, all the related labor, materials and processing costs, that figure is probably pretty close in most areas except for the highest and lowest cost regions.

Where the problem comes in is that some of us through either inexperience or from conscious effort to undermine their local competition, will take the wholesale price they can get something online and fail to include ALL of those factors into their pricing and denigrate the price structure for EVERYBODY. All it takes is a few bad actors offering banners for $2.00 per square foot or other types of frequently purchased signs for a while and an entire local market is dragged down.

 

[TimToad]

Old guy calls me for a bid and I said sure, email me the pic. 5 mins later he calls back and asks what I think. I said, I'm tied up at the moment but I'll look at it before the close of business today. I emailed him a quote around noon. At 9PM he calls me asking what's up? I said I e-mailed him the bid this afternoon and he said "Oh, I haven't checked my email" '

I proceed to tell him the quote ($4500-$5500) and he got angry. He said that sign is only 3'x6'. and I told him my calculations showed it was about 6-7' by 14'. He said I was incorrect because in the picture he sent me, he measured his wheels on his car and figured the sign must of been 3' x 6'. He said he KNOWS his car isn't 14' long in the photo and the sign is smaller. I kindly explained to him that because of all the "panels" on the sign, that leads me to believe that is not 3x6 because a sign company wouldn't use a bunch of panels for a 3x6. He tells me that we're not talking about "the theory" of how it should be built, but that the sign IS 3x6. He started to get snippy with me and I politely said, "Well, I'm sorry we have a misunderstanding in regards to the size of the sign." He said: "No, it's not a misunderstanding, you just don't know what the right measurements are" I said "Ok sir, I looks like we're not going to be doing business together, have a good evening"


See for yourself: https://www.google.com/maps/@33.814...4!1sgTl3IHZGhKnjbGOwVAL8dg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

View attachment 140655

What's that old saying about "if it's good for the goose, it's good for the gander"?

 

[CreativeCreationGraphics]

What's that old saying about "if it's good for the goose, it's good for the gander"?

Technically, he wasn't a client lol...they parted ways

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

What's that old saying about "if it's good for the goose, it's good for the gander"?

Nice try Tim, but this isn't the same.

 

[TXFB.INS]

I think so, I just use Google to measure it and it's usually within an inch or two. that thing is pretty nifty.

Go to satellite view and left click on one corner of the sign and then select measure and then click the other corner of the sign and it will tell you the length.

How do you measure using google?

when I go to satellite view I can see the scale of measure in the Bot R corner
when i click on the area I get the Long & Lat placement

have tried both FireFox & Chrome