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This is a really compelling idea.
- Thread starter Jon Aston
- Start date
Replicator
New Member
Another great link Jon . . . Thank you !
Pat Whatley
New Member
So what the article is saying is to do twice the work, for the same money, and maybe, just maybe you can justify raising your price.
I've got a better idea...why don't you charge what you're worth to start with?
grampa dan
New Member
A few years ago I knew a guy who was a developer. He had a high end subdivision that he was having a very tough time selling. But instead of slashing his prices he gold plated the fire hydrants, put up very classy street signs and went after a HIGH END clients - after RAISING his prices considerably first of course. He sold out the subdivision really fast! then went on to do three or four more phases - all just as successful and more than double what anyone else was charging.
In our shop we are known for making high priced signs. I make EXPENSIVE SIGNS and I'm proud of it.
We use high quality materials... 30 lb HDU instead of lower cost 15-20 lb like everyone else. This premium material is easy to sell if I show the customer the difference in quality. I run my fingernail into a small sample of 15-20 lb - then hand my customers a piece of 30 lb Precision Board and ask them to do the same. SOLD!
We only do three dimensional work in our shop. It puts us in a league of our own, for my definition of dimension is not merely carved or sandblasted. Our work IS 3D in a big way. On the projects we get I seldom have competition as no one else I know of does similar work.
We design all the projects we build in house, meaning I can design to my own building skills using materials and methods we like to use. I don't have to dumb down my designs nor build to normal standards. Customers pay a healthy design fee up front. If they don't then I send them down the road for there are plenty of folks out there who don't value the design.
We build landmarks each and every time we build a sign. As such they provide outstanding value to our customers and work much, much harder than the typical sign out there. If a sign works it's worth a LOT!
I believe my customers are one in a thousand for not everyone appreciates the type of sign we do. Not everyone is willing to pay for it either. The ones who want the type of work we do happily pay for it and recommend other similar thinking people to us.
Last year I only wrote a few dozen invoices and yet we made a very comfortable living. Best of all I did the projects I loved! I had FUN!!!
I don't want to do all the signs in town... only the BEST ones.
It sure beats working for a living!
-grampa dan
In our shop we are known for making high priced signs. I make EXPENSIVE SIGNS and I'm proud of it.
We use high quality materials... 30 lb HDU instead of lower cost 15-20 lb like everyone else. This premium material is easy to sell if I show the customer the difference in quality. I run my fingernail into a small sample of 15-20 lb - then hand my customers a piece of 30 lb Precision Board and ask them to do the same. SOLD!
We only do three dimensional work in our shop. It puts us in a league of our own, for my definition of dimension is not merely carved or sandblasted. Our work IS 3D in a big way. On the projects we get I seldom have competition as no one else I know of does similar work.
We design all the projects we build in house, meaning I can design to my own building skills using materials and methods we like to use. I don't have to dumb down my designs nor build to normal standards. Customers pay a healthy design fee up front. If they don't then I send them down the road for there are plenty of folks out there who don't value the design.
We build landmarks each and every time we build a sign. As such they provide outstanding value to our customers and work much, much harder than the typical sign out there. If a sign works it's worth a LOT!
I believe my customers are one in a thousand for not everyone appreciates the type of sign we do. Not everyone is willing to pay for it either. The ones who want the type of work we do happily pay for it and recommend other similar thinking people to us.
Last year I only wrote a few dozen invoices and yet we made a very comfortable living. Best of all I did the projects I loved! I had FUN!!!
I don't want to do all the signs in town... only the BEST ones.
It sure beats working for a living!
-grampa dan
SignosaurusRex
Active Member
Sarge? Is that you? When did you move? Where ya been ya old arse?
RebeckaR
New Member
I don't understand this kind of thinking. Seems a bit skewed.
I like making signs too. I also like being paid for for my work and receiving what it's worth.
Yes, I could lower my prices and sell a whole bunch more stuff, but I would be working more and making less. Doesn't make any sense to me.
Techman
New Member
This is such bullscatt.. All three points are nothing but boasting. Geeses, It's really getting old watching this constant spewing of pure bullscat. Everything he says is totally contrary to every law of economics and business. IS he running a socialist commune where his help all works for FREE!!!!
And then this undercutting theory is just about the weakest point in his entire thesis. Running a business model on nothing but undercutting is surely a path to destruction. We al know a business cannot undercut and still maintain a good product. that is a fact of simple economics.
legacyborn
New Member
ericmitchell29
New Member
A bit off topic here but... I think "sign shops" and I use that loosely because there are so many that just have a vinyl cutter and a cheap price tag on their work... They have absolutely ruined the landscape. Look at work back in the 50's 60's etc... Decades were known by their signs, it was part of the culture. Now, its a 4x8 sheet of mdo and a couple colors cut out of a $100 dollar cutter squished into a space that should have had plenty of room to begin with.
Maybe I'm crazy and I just like what this country used to look like back when it was all Route 66 stylings but... it makes me sad to see whats out there now. Signs are an art... and I'm by no means putting myself in that category of a good artist... but look around, the majority of signs in my area and I'm sure yours... are hack jobs. It just ruins the landscape in my opinion.
K, I don't rant much but there it is.
haha
Maybe I'm crazy and I just like what this country used to look like back when it was all Route 66 stylings but... it makes me sad to see whats out there now. Signs are an art... and I'm by no means putting myself in that category of a good artist... but look around, the majority of signs in my area and I'm sure yours... are hack jobs. It just ruins the landscape in my opinion.
K, I don't rant much but there it is.
haha
Just Another Sign Guy
New Member
welcome to the club Eric...
and as far as Mosh you left out the part about paying your group of 'mexicants' $20 a day...(before i get flamed those are his words not mine).
my favorite part of your nonsense today Mosh is the lowering of prices because you have no payments. I know MANY shops with no payments but we all want to be paid back for the investment(s) we have made AND we need to charge accordingly for when we have to replace or repair equipment...but i know...i know. you do such HIGH volume, you don't do this for a living you do it for fun...if that is the case how about you start making some nice signs instead of the junk on your website? oh and even though you aren't in the business to make a living your 'mexicans' (your words not mine) probably do show up for more than their love of making ugly non effective signs that break every design law known to man...and they would probably be much happier making minimum wage at least rather than the what $2.50 an hour you pay them...and you have the audacity to tell someone they were not doing the 'christian thing' by making fun of your work....what a loser.
and as far as Mosh you left out the part about paying your group of 'mexicants' $20 a day...(before i get flamed those are his words not mine).
my favorite part of your nonsense today Mosh is the lowering of prices because you have no payments. I know MANY shops with no payments but we all want to be paid back for the investment(s) we have made AND we need to charge accordingly for when we have to replace or repair equipment...but i know...i know. you do such HIGH volume, you don't do this for a living you do it for fun...if that is the case how about you start making some nice signs instead of the junk on your website? oh and even though you aren't in the business to make a living your 'mexicans' (your words not mine) probably do show up for more than their love of making ugly non effective signs that break every design law known to man...and they would probably be much happier making minimum wage at least rather than the what $2.50 an hour you pay them...and you have the audacity to tell someone they were not doing the 'christian thing' by making fun of your work....what a loser.
BE VERY CAREFUL!!! There will always be someone cheaper than you. If not now... soon!
Rooster
New Member
When your client base is brimming with guys who choose the lowest quote, you're bound to lose them to the next guy who comes along for a nickle a square foot cheaper.
I love my job, the stuff I create, I do with passion.
I own all my equipment, pay cash for my materials and own my shop.
Still I will not undercut my prices. I work smarter, not harder than my competition. Quality demands a price point above crap.
I love my job, the stuff I create, I do with passion.
I own all my equipment, pay cash for my materials and own my shop.
Still I will not undercut my prices. I work smarter, not harder than my competition. Quality demands a price point above crap.
Deaton Design
New Member
I try to get as much as possible for my work. I tell people when they come in looking for prices, I will probably be higher than most, but that I push quality and long lasting signs, and dont scrimp on materials. I always show them samples and pics of work Ive done, and usually give them references if needed. I dont always get the job, but I work hard to get it. The lowballers can fight it out amongst themselves.
And techman, the term "bullscat", dont think I have heard that before. Might have, but it made me laugh anyway. Sounds better than bulls***, and gets the point across too. lol. That was an interesting article though Jon...
And techman, the term "bullscat", dont think I have heard that before. Might have, but it made me laugh anyway. Sounds better than bulls***, and gets the point across too. lol. That was an interesting article though Jon...
pointjockey
New Member
frankly most of my prices have doubled already, if not completely, almost. Price increases on supplies, taxes, fuel, health insurance, food, you name it during the past few years.
I sell service, not signs. There is always a fool who will have a lower price. I love fools.
I just ran across another fool a few weeks ago. I lost a bid on a new retail store. I had called the owner and was told he was going with another company, I asked if he was certain that we were comparing apples to apples. Sure he told me. Two weeks ago we had some nasty wind, not sure where it came from but we had gusts upward of 75-80mph. As I was driving by the new store Saturday afternoon, I noticed that the brand new signs were hanging off of the building and monument. Drove up to take a closer look and noticed that the "PVC" material had actually been ripped off the building....LOL.
This company had actually mounted 5mm PVC directly to the brick, All 24 ft of it.....
The owner is now discussing with me about replacing the sign. The other company is in a heap of "scat". Quoted on the invoice under materials is 3/4 MDO. OUCH!!!!
I sell service, not signs. There is always a fool who will have a lower price. I love fools.
I just ran across another fool a few weeks ago. I lost a bid on a new retail store. I had called the owner and was told he was going with another company, I asked if he was certain that we were comparing apples to apples. Sure he told me. Two weeks ago we had some nasty wind, not sure where it came from but we had gusts upward of 75-80mph. As I was driving by the new store Saturday afternoon, I noticed that the brand new signs were hanging off of the building and monument. Drove up to take a closer look and noticed that the "PVC" material had actually been ripped off the building....LOL.
This company had actually mounted 5mm PVC directly to the brick, All 24 ft of it.....
The owner is now discussing with me about replacing the sign. The other company is in a heap of "scat". Quoted on the invoice under materials is 3/4 MDO. OUCH!!!!