Pricing help

[HulkSmash]

I don't sub out design. I can also install myself I choose not to. Here is how I reached the pricing and it works. I learned it here.

Artwork:
Artwork 1 hr minimum - $75.00
Scanning Charge (Coaster) - $25.00
Font Search - $25.00
Color Matching - $25.00
Proofing (Digital or Email) - $25.00
PITA Charge - $25.00

Total: $200.00

Installation:
1.5 hours drive time (45 mins to go to anywhere in my area with traffic) - $75.00
.50 hours on site (locating, measuring, prepping, installing) - $25.00

Total: $100.00

Printing:
2 ft x 2 ft material x $6.25 sq. ft. = $25.00

Total: $25.00

Add it up - $325.00.

Now I may sub out some of the work like install that comes out of my profit I have other work to do where its sometimes more profitable to hire someone to do this for me so I can work on other projects.

2 year life expectancy of signage. 730 days. $325.00 / 730 = $0.45 a day for brand exposure. Go try and get a Yellow page ad or a Bus Bench ad for that.

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

Addy i love how you brighten my days.

You obviously took your 200 you mentioned above and made up a quick reference to why its that much... ..fail

1. What are you scanning? You have the logo digitally, just needs to be recreated at a higher resolution.
2. You can sample the digital logo, so why are you charging for color matching.
3. You charge to send your customer a proof? This isnt 4over.
4. PITA? What's so Pain In the Ass about this job. Takes like 8 minutes to finish.

5. I find it kinda hilarious you charge more PER HOUR for inhouse design, than you do for OFF SITES installs.

 

[HulkSmash]

Adtechia EXPECTS most of his new business clients to last 24 months.... this makes sense when you consider that most new businesses fail within the first 3 years.... I assume that Adtech has knocked off 12 months to allow for the parlous state of the US economy.

At NO POINT did Adtechia say that this graphic would be made using vinyl with a 2 year life expectancy. Two years applies to the costing model he's using ONLY. This is based on graphic cost divided by expected days of use...... $325 for the graphic.... 730 days. If you want to be anal about it divide £325 by 1825.... this will give you the daily cost for a graphic made from 5 year vinyl.

Other advertising mediums frequently use cost per day or cost per impression as part of their sales shtick.... using the same principles to sell signage is something I've seen quite frequently in the past.

I really don't get all the harrumping and finger poking... if Adtech can sell a window graphic for $325 why aren't we congratulating him and finding out the secrets to his selling techinques? More importantly why are you doing the same kind of work for 1/3 the price?

If you think about this with a modicum of logic Adtechias pricing system could be great news for you.... if there were MORE people, be it brokers or producers like Adtech maybe, just maybe prices might start going up for once... instead of falling constantly. It doesn't matter if you regard brokers as the scum of the earth... if they're out there talking to sign buyers, upselling our products.... basically doing the kind of professional selling work most sign makers are $hit at you might just find that the buying public start thinking that $325 is a reasonable market price.... a tide which lifts all ships so to speak.

You might be happy selling a graphic like this for $90 but tell me that you wouldn't like to sell the same thing for $325 and I'll call you a big fat liar. Making money is GOOD thing.... if you aren't up for it what are you doing in business?

FIRST OFF:

2 year life expectancy of signage. 730 days. $325.00 / 730 = $0.45 a day for brand exposure. Go try and get a Yellow page ad or a Bus Bench ad for that.

Read again THANKS.


SECOND:

You realize brokers (addy) want to pay pretty much DIRT for our high end product, and then want to turn it around and sell it for GOLD?

Who the hell would pay 300+ for a 18 inch sticker? Not even God.

Andy, maybe you should become a broker? :Oops:

 

[rushworks graphics]

so your basing it on business life expectancy, not material life expentency? thats a new one on me! whatever works best you addy..... i know for a fact if i turned around to anyone around here and told them a 1.5' diameter graphic will cost them $325 i'd be openly laughted at!

 

[splizaat]

Are you HIGH?!?! $325? LOL. And a SCANNING Fee?! How would that NOT fit into the 1 overpriced hour of art you are charging? PS - the art is already scanned...you're looking at it!

.25 hr art @ $65/hr = $16.25

18"x18" Printed 3165/Laminated 210 = $24

1hr Install/Drive @$65/hr = $65

MAYBE i'd charge $105.25 and even then i'd feel REALLY bad...I'd probably knock the install/drive down to $32.50 and total would be $73....

Life Expectancy = 4-5 years...

 

[splizaat]

\You might be happy selling a graphic like this for $90 but tell me that you wouldn't like to sell the same thing for $325 and I'll call you a big fat liar. Making money is GOOD thing.... if you aren't up for it what are you doing in business?

Well firstly, it takes one RIPPED OFF customer to get pissed and make google reviews, forum posts, facebook posts and twitter posts. And when I walk into the business next door, I don't like being laughed at when I tell them I did the guy next door's 18" sticker for $325. I'd rather do three jobs and hold my head high than be known as the guy who rips everyone off. How do you sleep at night?

 

[Mike Paul]

This thread is headed to the hall of fame forum...

 

[andy]

FIRST OFF:

Read again THANKS.


SECOND:

You realize brokers (addy) want to pay pretty much DIRT for our high end product, and then want to turn it around and sell it for GOLD?

Who the hell would pay 300+ for a 18 inch sticker? Not even God.

Andy, maybe you should become a broker? :Oops:

.
Sign brokers want to pay DIRT cheap prices so they can maximise their profits... shock horror. Buy cheap... sell high....

This is the fundamental principle behind private sector enterprise the world over. The difference between input cost and output price is the main generator of profit.

I assume that when you're manufacturing "high end" sign products you yourself seek to drive down input costs and maximised the output price... otherwise profit will be a theoretical concept not a solid financial fact on your balance sheet. Maybe you volunteer to pay your suppliers double their quoted price for raw materials and never haggle for a better deal?

Sign brokers want to buy a sign product for $200 and sell it for $600.... and the problem with this from the sign manufacturers perspective is what exactly? If you quoted $200 and were paid $200 I just don't see what there is to whine about?

We do lots of work for agents and third parties... they're quoted a price which provides financial rewards to us... if they accept the price we do the work...... what happens to the goods after they've left us is none of our business and something we just aren't interested in. I have no doubt that some of the projects we've delivered have been sold on for many times the amount we charged but this is utterly irrelevant....our invoices were paid in full so we made money and left enough on the table to allow our clients to earn a living.

Brokers don't set your prices... you do. If you aren't prepared to allow your customers the ability to make money then this type of work isn't for you.

 

[HulkSmash]

.


If you quoted $200 and were paid $200 I just don't see what there is to whine about?

First off, who's whining? we're QUESTIONING $325 for a 18 inch sticker. You'd have to be brain dead to accept that as a customer. Hell if i was selling 18 inch decals for for $320, Wraps would be 10's of THOUSANDS of dollars, i'd be retired already.

If i quote a job for 200. And someone offers me 400 for it. I won't take the extra 200. Makes me look desperate and dumb. I sell my product for what it's worth, nothing more, nothing less.

If i quote
$200 to a broker, he'll want it for $110. I HATE brokers. Always trying to undervalue my chit. I outsource channel letters wholesale. I never ask them if they can do it cheaper than what they quoted. I respect their product and the discount they give it to me at. It's the same principle.

 

[andy]

Well firstly, it takes one RIPPED OFF customer to get pissed and make google reviews, forum posts, facebook posts and twitter posts. And when I walk into the business next door, I don't like being laughed at when I tell them I did the guy next door's 18" sticker for $325. I'd rather do three jobs and hold my head high than be known as the guy who rips everyone off. How do you sleep at night?

If brokers with more professional selling techniques managed to drive up the accepted market rate for a project like this to $325 would you take it?

Clearly my earlier post was waayyyy to complex.... hopefully you'll get the gist this time.

 

[HulkSmash]

If brokers with more professional selling techniques managed to drive up the accepted market rate for a project like this to $325 would you take it?

Clearly my earlier post was waayyyy to complex.... hopefully you'll get the gist this time.

IF ..............IF IF IF IF IF IF IF IF IF IF IF IF if.....

if i could magically make 5983 billion show up in my bank account i would.


Clearly you live in a fantasy world. The day professional selling techniques makes a product sell that's this small for that much, is the day my material costs jump up 500%.

 

[splizaat]

If brokers with more professional selling techniques managed to drive up the accepted market rate for a project like this to $325 would you take it?

Clearly my earlier post was waayyyy to complex.... hopefully you'll get the gist this time.

If you are asking if I think an 18" Sticker off my printer will ever be worth $325, the answer is NO. I'm with everyone else - I charge what my product is worth, not more, not less. When a roll of 30" vinyl starts costing $1500, I'll start charging $325 for an 18" sticker - that'll probably be around the same time that pigs grow wings and start to take flight.

and this...

Brokers don't set your prices... you do.

...is absolutely RIDICULOUS. So to get a broker to charge the $100 that this is worth installed, I have to charge $15 installed to the broker? You ARE a broker, aren't you. Do you go on craigslist and pay $15,000 for a $5,000 car since it came from an auto broker? hey, the sales technique was good though wasn't it?!

 

[HulkSmash]

So to get a broker to charge the $100 that this is worth installed, I have to charge $15 installed to the broker? You ARE a broker, aren't you. Do you go on craigslist and pay $15,000 for a $5,000 car since it came from an auto broker? hey, the sales technique was good though wasn't it?!

 

[GAC05]

Original poster is in Texas and Addie is in Florida, maybe he was quoting in Pesos'.
At current exchange rates that 325 works out to about $26.00 USD.
He could be low-balling......


wayne k
guam usa

 

[splizaat]

Original poster is in Texas and Addie is in Florida, maybe he was quoting in Pesos'.
At current exchange rates that 325 works out to about $26.00 USD.
He could be low-balling......

Funny you should mention this. I already thought about this with Andy who seems to be from UK, currently living in La-La Land, except UK to USA means he would be charging $426!

FOR SALE: PRINTER, LAMINATOR. ALL MUST GO! Taking up Brokering Signs!

 

[Jillbeans]

2 year life expectancy of signage. 730 days. $325.00 / 730 = $0.45 a day for brand exposure. Go try and get a Yellow page ad or a Bus Bench ad for that.

And that is almost a direct quote from the email I got the other day from Sign Craft talking about my friend Artie Schilling's sales methods.

Number 9



Today's magic words for sales:

"Don't letter your van..."



Art Schilling [East Coast Artie's, Surfside Beach, SC] has spent a lifetime making and selling signs. Just the other day he was telling me about a prospect who stopped by the shop to ask how much it would cost to get his new van lettered. It was a conversation he's had a million times:



Art: "I can do a nice lettering job on your van for $500."



Client: "Wow--that much?!"



Art: "If you keep it for three years, the advertising will cost you 45 cents a day. But don't letter your van. Maybe you'd be better to use that 45 cents a day for a newspaper, radio or Yellow Page ad instead..."



Client: "But I won't get anything for that kind of money!"



Art: "Right. But here's a 24-hour-a-day, 7-days-a-week advertisement that reaches 20,000 people a day. It's a rolling billboard! And for $150 more, I'll do it in reflective so it lights up at night for readers, and is a safety feature to boot."

 

[Locals Find!]

Hey guys your arguing about my price of $325 based on an 18" sticker. If you look I am only charging $125 for the sticker installed. The rest is what I get for artwork.

If someone wants me to do artwork they pay my rates. They are more than welcome to find some lowballer who doesn't think his time is worth anything to do it for less, and bring me the finished camera ready artwork.

If I gotta bump another design job like postcards etc.. that I am going to get the same or better for. I am going to charge to make up for that. I am not in business to give stuff away. If brokers are trying to beat you up on price you can say NO! just saying, your still in charge of your own business. Its not like we come in holding guns to your heads or your children hostage. Grow a pair!

 

[John Butto]

Irene is coming to town up here and am thinking of getting away somewhere. I am taking into consideration of going to Cape Coral, FL just to see this Adtechia guy and take some pictures of a real signmaker with high quality business and art skills.

 

[JR's]

Irene is coming to town up here and am thinking of getting away somewhere. I am taking into consideration of going to Cape Coral, FL just to see this Adtechia guy and take some pictures of a real signmaker with high quality business and art skills.

Hay John can I come with you? and if he is making a good profit mybe he will buy the first round. ;-}


JR

 

[HulkSmash]

Irene is coming to town up here and am thinking of getting away somewhere. I am taking into consideration of going to Cape Coral, FL just to see this Adtechia guy and take some pictures of a real signmaker with high quality business and art skills.

Ill save you the trip.

Addys facebook!

 

[John Butto]

"Hey MA, where's the MEATLOAF"