We are in a small strip mall. There is a print shop at the far end who is impossible to do work with so we just don't get along. A few years ago the owner stormed into our store demanding that we stop selling business cards, and we just were like "whatever dude, go away." Its not like we advertise business cards, but if one of our sign customer's asks, of course we can help them out.
Fast forward a few years, and he's got signs up in his windows advertising "Full color banners" "lawn signs" and "vehicle magnets." Our reaction was GOOD FOR YOU. All of that stuff he has to outsource, and we all know they aren't really big ticket items in the first place. If he wants to fish the bottom of the barrel, so be it. I did ask our landlord to have him remove the signs that said "SIGNS" since it is a sucker move to have someone obviously looking for us get confused and go into his stupid store. (an aside, he'll tell us he sends customers to us ALL THE TIME. Yes, the customers who were looking for us in the first place. We do the same thing, the people who need their id's laminated and documents faxed we send down to him, too.)
Anyway, a little while ago a guy came in requesting a quote for a stupid joke decal for his car. I quoted him our minimum charge, and he went on his way. A few minutes later, my partner noticed print shop guy measuring a car door outside my shop. Hahaha. wouldn't you know it, he's going to spend an hour getting artwork ready, uploading files, ordering vinyl (which will probably be a printed vinyl decal, not cut vinyl) and installing a tiny sticker for less than $50. And yeah, I know, you never know who is walking in the door what they might bring you in the future, but this has a 99.99% chance of going nowhere.
It just cracks me up. I should pass all of my budget customers to him, it will give me more time to focus on the ones who really matter.
Fast forward a few years, and he's got signs up in his windows advertising "Full color banners" "lawn signs" and "vehicle magnets." Our reaction was GOOD FOR YOU. All of that stuff he has to outsource, and we all know they aren't really big ticket items in the first place. If he wants to fish the bottom of the barrel, so be it. I did ask our landlord to have him remove the signs that said "SIGNS" since it is a sucker move to have someone obviously looking for us get confused and go into his stupid store. (an aside, he'll tell us he sends customers to us ALL THE TIME. Yes, the customers who were looking for us in the first place. We do the same thing, the people who need their id's laminated and documents faxed we send down to him, too.)
Anyway, a little while ago a guy came in requesting a quote for a stupid joke decal for his car. I quoted him our minimum charge, and he went on his way. A few minutes later, my partner noticed print shop guy measuring a car door outside my shop. Hahaha. wouldn't you know it, he's going to spend an hour getting artwork ready, uploading files, ordering vinyl (which will probably be a printed vinyl decal, not cut vinyl) and installing a tiny sticker for less than $50. And yeah, I know, you never know who is walking in the door what they might bring you in the future, but this has a 99.99% chance of going nowhere.
It just cracks me up. I should pass all of my budget customers to him, it will give me more time to focus on the ones who really matter.
