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VEHICLES - Do you produce artwork before or after deposit?

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grdshute

New Member
Hi everyone.
So in my shop when the customer asks for pricing on vehicles we usually ask lots of questions to get an idea of what they want, give them an expectation of cost and show them previous work. However sometimes this isn't enough to instill confidence in them which is why we'll spend 10-20 minutes drawing up artwork as we don't want to give them a quote until we know exactly what they want. Now I know what a lot of you are going to say, that you'd never design something without a deposit but my question is HOW do you know exactly what you're going to charge them then? How can you get a deposit for just an ESTIMATE that may change rather than a detailed quote? I'm trying to get my head around this as I'm getting a contract drawn up for vehicle graphics but there is no point of putting down everything in writing if your price can change due to amendments that may occur during the design process? Thanks in advance for your help :rock-n-roll:
 
B

BIG EASY DOES IT

New Member
Each quote is for specified items. If more is added then you add more onto the quote. An Estimate is just that it's an estimate with no guarantee of final price. It's solely to give them a ballpark. As far as design. It shouldn't be that hard to collect the design fee up front if the customer is truly serious.
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
It's a gut thing. Most of the time, you don't give much more than prices and time frame based upon samples they see in your shop before getting a deposit.

That's why a 3 tier pricing system works so well. They are only estimates/ranges. Things will change as they change their minds.

Not a truck, but today a job came in as the guy called, said he had been to 3 other places and the prices were all over the place and he didn't know what he was gonna get in the end. I took the time to explain things to him, give him some ideas on costs and he's coming in tomorrow morning with a deposit check and ready to assume more costs, if he sees something he likes more. The same works for a wrap or any other kinda sign. You can give ranges and go from a Plain Jane, to a middle of the road.... ordinary sign to a super-duper real nice setup. You need to talk with them and find out their real needs, budget and then design something around that.
 
LEGEND

LEGEND

New Member
Typically, we'll take a second to conversation on what they want on the wrap. I'll inform them about our hourly design rate, then estimate the time it'll take to design what they're inquiring about. Finally, i'll add that to the cost of the wrap itself and go from there. It all varies at the end of the day though, some designs are very simple and some not so much...Take the time you think it'll take to design it, then multiple it by two... that usually works...
 
G

grdshute

New Member
Gino said:
It's a gut thing. Most of the time, you don't give much more than prices and time frame based upon samples they see in your shop before getting a deposit.

That's why a 3 tier pricing system works so well. They are only estimates/ranges. Things will change as they change their minds.
Click to expand...

Gino, could you elaborate on what a 3 tier pricing system is please? Thanks
 
K

Kwiksigns

wookie
if it is a wrap, sometimes I take a non-refundable $500 deposit just for design and give them a few mockups with pricing, of just one side. Once we get an idea of what they want, whether it be partial or full, we design the entire vehicle. Once we have settled on design I collect another deposit when we print a proof on the material. I wouldnt do it any other way. And this is rare. We have submitted one side of a vehicle before without deposit and they never pan out how I want and it was always a waste of time and then they have something to shop around.
 
OldPaint

OldPaint

New Member
ESTIMATES......... are exactly that............not set in stone and nothing makes it the final price of work provided.
as for artwork........design...........I DONT DO WRAPS, so all of mine are pretty simple to begin with. this is what i give an ESTIMATE ON. will give them a printout if asked......but its mostly text/logo(theirs) and i can tak pic of the vehicle and put the lettering on it to show them what it MAY LOOK LIKE.
vehicles i usually dont get deposits on........as i got the vehicle.......and they dont get IT till THEY PAY ME))))
on board/wall/window signs.....i give estimates based on $10 sq ft.......easy to figure.........can go up or down from there..........double sided 4 X 8 alumipanel:
32 sf per side X 2= 64 sf. X $10 = $640.00......+ COST OF ALUMIPANEL))) CAN GO UP OR DOWN....depending on content.
 
G

getcustomized

New Member
Yea a lot of people call me and want a free design and then they will decide if they are going to buy it. But thats not gonna fly with me.

I tell them to pay $250 non refundable initial artwork set up fee, then I credit that to the actual wrap itself when they approve the design. If they say "well what if I don't like your design?". I tell them that I will tweak it until they do like it.
 
Marlene

Marlene

New Member
people forget that what we sell isn't like a car or some other premade item, we are selling something that needs to be custom designed and that is a service in itself. showing them other jobs that have been done should be enough to give them an idea of what you can do.
 
F

fresh

New Member
we scale up the vehicle, and put boxes around the areas we plan to letter / wrap. i explain in the quote if its for one, two, or full color design and that the price is for the specified areas if we add areas or change the type of vinyl, the price will change.
 
A

Andy D

Active Member
TXFB.INS said:
the 3 tier system is the "GOOD, BETTER, BEST" comparison.

here is good way to explain the system.
http://www.rowmark.com/downloads/GoodBetterBest/SignDesignSeminar.asp
Click to expand...

Nice link, Thanks!

I actually use a three tier system for almost every aspect of pricing, except I call it A,B,C

So like Material:

Coroplast is a A and gets the lowest material mark-up because it's a materiel we stock, it's easy
to move and load on the printer, it's easy to cut & it has a lower "threshold of perfection" because it's a temporary sign.

Omega Board is a C and gets the highest material mark-up because it's not a materiel we stock, it's not easy
to move and load on the printer, it's not easy to cut & it has a higher "threshold of perfection" because it's a semi-permanent sign.


Customers:

An A customer get's better prices because: they have a low quote to jobs placed ratio, they pay on time, easy to work with, often provide ready to print art, etc.

A C customer get's higher prices because: they have a higher quote to jobs placed ratio, don't pay on time, hard to work with, always need multi-able layouts that they don't even proof
and expects free redo's even though they approved the art, and they always try to beat down the price, etc.... We tend to fire "C" customers
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Andy D said:
Nice link, Thanks!

I actually use a three tier system for almost every aspect of pricing, except I call it A,B,C

So like Material:

Coroplast is a A and gets the lowest material mark-up because it's a materiel we stock, it's easy
to move and load on the printer, it's easy to cut & it has a lower "threshold of perfection" because it's a temporary sign.

Omega Board is a C and gets the highest material mark-up because it's not a materiel we stock, it's not easy
to move and load on the printer, it's not easy to cut & it has a higher "threshold of perfection" because it's a semi-permanent sign.


Customers:

An A customer get's better prices because: they have a low quote to jobs placed ratio, they pay on time, easy to work with, often provide ready to print art, etc.

A C customer get's higher prices because: they have a higher quote to jobs placed ratio, don't pay on time, hard to work with, always need multi-able layouts that they don't even proof
and expects free redo's even though they approved the art, and they always try to beat down the price, etc.... We tend to fire "C" customers
Click to expand...


I'm confused. That's not at all what I have in mind. :popcorn:
 
A

Andy D

Active Member
Gino said:
Well, that makes two of us. :iamwithstupid We'll just hafta wait until someone smart comes by and explains this high math and theology to us.
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Com'on Gino...It's not really as complicated as all that, and it's not really my system.

To sum it up, it's a way to apply the 80/20 rule: 80% of the jobs and of your customer will take up 80% of your time and resources, but only provide 20% of the profit.

Vice Versa 20% of the jobs and your customer will take up 20% of your time and resources, but will provide up to 80% of the profits.

It's my way of "teaching my garden to weed itself" by weeding out the lower profitable customers and jobs via pricing.
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Andy D said:
Com'on Gino...It's not really as complicated as all that, and it's not really my system.

To sum it up, it's a way to apply the 80/20 rule: 80% of the jobs and of your customer will take up 80% of your time and resources, but only provide 20% of the profit.

Vice Versa 20% of the jobs and your customer will take up 20% of your time and resources, but will provide up to 80% of the profits.

It's my way of "teaching my garden to weed itself" by weeding out the lower profitable customers and jobs via pricing.
Click to expand...


But you said you use a three tier system for everything, but you only mention A & C. What happened to B ?? In both scenarios, you left out B. More like a 2 step system.

And it still doesn't make sense, even with your explanation. Sounds as if you are just manipulating numbers. Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining or coming down on you..... I just don't see the logic or connection to what was being discussed.

Okay, back to your regular programming. :peace!:
 
A

Andy D

Active Member
Gino said:
But you said you use a three tier system for everything, but you only mention A & C. What happened to B ?? In both scenarios, you left out B. More like a 2 step system.

And it still doesn't make sense, even with your explanation. Sounds as if you are just manipulating numbers. Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining or coming down on you..... I just don't see the logic or connection to what was being discussed.

Okay, back to your regular programming. :peace!:
Click to expand...

Yeah, my bad, I knew I was getting off topic and I didn't want my post to run on forever, so I left out the B example
hoping people would extrapolate it in there.
 
B

BIG EASY DOES IT

New Member
What I believe is Ginos system is also the system we use.
We use a tier pricing system based on how much business the customer usually do with us.

1-25 signs a month gets tier pricing C. This is our biggest markup. This is walk-in customers also as well as customers we don't believe will choose us or will go with another shop no matter what. We get these price hunters often.

25-75 signs a month gets tier pricing B. This is 80% of our customers. Mid level markup. We are still making decent money and the customer is getting prices that beat most competitors around here. So that keeps these customers coming. These are the main bread and butter customers. If you are a 1-10 but you consistently come to us we give you this tier anyways. If we want your business or are trying to get the job we will normally use this tier.

75+ signs a month get tier pricing A. These are 5% of our customers. These are the guys that I will see 3-5 times a week for various items and signs. These guys do high volume for our shop and as such deserve better pricing. We want to keep their business as much as possible and because of the volume they get our best pricing.

There is always middle room for people. Or we want your business but don't think your ever going to return for more stuff so maybe we will give you between A and B. I think this is the idea Gino goes by also.


So yes their is pricing and manipulation of numbers but our system is more based on the return aspect of the customer.
 
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