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Hows Business???

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ERUS37

New Member
hello everyone, just want to touch on the subject. How's Business?
Here in SC it's been slowing down by the day, not much work, everyone want to low ball, and our competition want to do the same job for 20.00 less. How are we going to survive this drought?
I understand that times are hard, but when will it end? Does anyone has any suggestions on what to do next? Is your company slow also?
I'd like to know the thoughts out there

Thanks In Advance,
Erus37
 
Mosh

Mosh

New Member
Busy, you have to do the work that is out there. Lots of shops think certain jobs are "below" what they do. We do anything that comes in. We also screen t-shirts and that part has not slowed down at all, in fact has grown. If you don't have any work you are either pricig too high or not looking hard enough. I would bet pricing is alot, cause there is alot of comp out there now a days.
 
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ERUS37

New Member
your right Mosh, i think i'm good with pricing, maybe even too cheap, but you know when u give a customer a price of 95.00 for a 24" x 9' banner and then he tells me he can get it online for 60 bucks, come on!!!!! THATS CRAZY! Yeah, i can match that price, but when his buddies get wind of that i'll be doing 60 dollar banners, design, hem, grommet, for a lifetime of pain in the a$$e$.
 
kstompaint

kstompaint

New Member
This time of the year has always been slow for us. This year is a little worse than average but not much. It's tempting to give in to the low-ballers, but if you are putting out quality work, you shouldn't have to. I lose jobs on price pretty regularly. Quite a few of the jobs we get are former customers of the guys who are beating me on price. Their work sucks and I just figure many of my customers used to be theirs and the ones they are winning over now with these ridiculous prices will most likely come to us in the future when they realize that they got just what they paid for.

As for variety, I agree with Mosh. I rarely actually say "no" to a job. Sometimes I say it with my price and then if you get the job it's worth it even if you don't really want to do it.

$95 for a 2'x9' banner with design, print, finishing and grommets? That's half price, screw that. If I'm workin' all day for nothin' it'll be on my own stuff.
 
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scene329

New Member
Some of these shops are way over priced and I don't have any sympathy for them loosing business. In this day and age you need to lower rates and make up for it with volume.

Don't have the work.. earn it.. It's time to get away from just "local" business anyway. Anyone agree?

Also, too many shops have terrible websites which turns customers away. A crappy looking site makes potential customers think you've got a crappy product.
 
kstompaint

kstompaint

New Member
scene- I disagree. Most reasonable people are willing to pay a little extra for a superior product that is produced locally. I'm not about to compete with crappy banners being peddled on ebay by people with pre-school design skills. The customers that buy those get what they deserve. Most people buying what we sell are also in business and understand that we all need to make a profit. Buy the cheapest product from a questionable source and cross your fingers that there are no problems with it... and if there are, good luck getting them solved.

I'd rather buy a solid product from somebody with a weak website (or none at all) than be fooled into buying a p.o.s. by a fancy site.
 
Craig Sjoquist

Craig Sjoquist

New Member
Well I'm use to a roller coaster cash flow but since the job losses for many and nothing being done to correct it .. I've kicked into high gear on doing anything I have tools and know how, in fact today painting a inside of a house a office next ..I also scrap metals hustle my 7 websites trying to sell products to services like even sign waving on a corner

prices I'm locking in higher if I can cause inflation is here and will grow. let the low bidder get there work... they will not last seeing sign shops shutting down they are to lazy to go find good work and no faith in there work or taking it to eat

Look for businesses and nich work that is needed they still got to sell that product or service.. the strong improve what they have going with a new image or signage and a harder sale to get things sold

New businesses are popping up all over cause they lost there job the people will make a job, so if you don't have work get out there and find it or try something new, just keep moving and careful on cash flow
 
Farmboy

Farmboy

New Member
I don't agree with lowering your price and "hoping" for more volume. Sure you can pound the pavement and do all kinds of whatever you need to do to get the volume up, but then you have to look and see if your really ahead. Then what happens when you've satisfied all those people looking for the low price? Just last week a shirt shop down the road closed it's doors running on this same idea. Guess who's picking up their work. And you guessed it, people are saying well so and so was only charging us this amount, to where I point out that so and so isn't charging that price any more...are they. It always gets slow this time of year. We are fourtunate to offer signs and shirts. Some of the newer people into the business aren't going to like to hear this, but being established is big. Stay steady, offer a good product in a timely manner, be good to your customers and they will be good to you.
 
TheSnowman

TheSnowman

New Member
I'm w/ Farmboy. Our shop has been around 30 years. Yes, we are slow, but I refuse to work for free...I'll go work somewhere else first. We still have a ton of regular customers that have only used us over the years, and are very thankful for them. If someone comes to us, it's because of our reputation of doing things right, not because we are cheap. Personally, the cheap customers I don't even want. I'd rather work for someone else than work for what they think I should work for. That's just me though. Others wouldn't want that.

We are way busier than we were a month ago, so glad for that.
 
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pointjockey

New Member
pretty steady in ATL. Don't wait for customers to come to you. Businesses are crying but they are also looking for ways to attract business. We are doing tons of banners these days.

I also have 7 brand spanking new businesses that are opening up. We nailed everything from Channel letters to business cards, even a Billboard.

My gut is that we will see even more layoffs and greater unemployment in the next few months. Mid-level managers that were making 120K a year will not ever see that kinda of money again for awhile. These guys and gals will open new businesses. I meet them almost everyday while networking and making PR calls.
 
Vital Designs

Vital Designs

Vital Designs
We're steady but I see an upturn as our competitors are dropping like flies. The competitors that are still in business are not taking care of their customers because they are overwhelmed. If you position yourself to weather the storm you stand to gain market share in the long term.

I have gained 4 decent sized customers already this week because of this phenomenon.

And of course as said above...MARKET YOURSELF!
 
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cajun312

New Member
I picked up two good jobs, one for a hospital, one for a doctors group, both quoted last fall, both approved the morning after Scott Brown won that senate race.......
 
signgal

signgal

New Member
I'm in the same area with Craig and it's slowed down a lot but what kills me are the people who weren't ready for it. This is a heavy tourism and real estate area and we started feeling the crunch, literally, 2 yrs back. Duh! When it slows down, prepare... prepare for it to come back up! Work on your website, find new ways to network and market your business. Figure out what you do best and look for a way to make money at it. Stress what you can offer that the other guys can't and if you can't figure out what that is... You better spend some time on that because you will NOT be able to say you've been around for 10, 20, 30 years like some of these guys, if you don't have anything more to offer.

Cheap prices=cheap signs and that does NOT add up to longevity!

I refuse to make cheap signs!
 
gabagoo

gabagoo

New Member
I believe if you have an established customer base then you are going to get through this and stay moderately busy.

Getting new business is the challenge as the main customer base may not be ordering as much as in previous years due to economic conditions.

Newer sign and graphic companies have the largest challenge as well as those exisiting companies that may have taken on to much overhead before all this came down.

I speak for myself that when dealing with custom work like signage or any trade, that your existing client base has a certain comfort level with you and your company. Most people don't want to look around to save a few dollars and take a chance that the new guy comes in late or completely misrepresents what the finished product should have been.

We have all seen it ,and know how guys can cut corners in any trade to get a job.

Be up front with customers and give them options if they are not happy with what you have quoted. Educate them as to how there are different materials for different jobs and you can save them money, but at a cost to how long the sign may last.

I have countless times brought up in my conversations with customers the different grades of vinyl and how they will not be able to detect the differences after the job is complete, but will start seeing trouble a year or so in. Many have no clue and appreciate YOU being honest with them.

I personally have been pretty busy but I also have lost an employee and I am trying to take up the slack. I go home tired but content that I have got back into doing the entire job. It's fun again!!!

Stick in there guys!!!!
 
gnatt66

gnatt66

New Member
bump just to say that im WICKED slow. i gotta get out there and market myself more. as soon as race car season is over (couple weeks) some new postcards and perhaps knock on a few doors too!.

p.s. im starting to begin to learn to screenprint too...hopefully i can get that to a sustainable level as well. can't wait..ive wanted to print shirts since i was like 5.
 
Techman

Techman

New Member
Some of these shops are way over priced and I don't have any sympathy for them loosing business. In this day and age you need to lower rates and make up for it with volume.
Click to expand...


Pure bullshit
 
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