What extent do you go to when wanting to land a new good customer?

[TheSnowman]

We have a huge factory that does car parts here in our town, and the "other guy" in town has ALWAYS gotten all their work. I never got a phone call, email or anything. That makes me feel like they are fairly religious to whoever they use once they choose someone.

For some reason, they finally listened to a worker that I know that is employed there, and they gave me a call. The person I met with said "we'll see if you are less expensive" and that kind of perked my ears up a little.

I am generally totally against giving any kind of discount to land new customers, and my price is my price. If you don't like it, there's the door. After seeing the incredible amount of signage inside the factory, I kind of left that meeting feeling like I wanted to land this one.

That being said, it's not a huge order, but for my one man shop, it would keep me busy for a couple of days.

I guess my question is, do you guys start cramming down your price to where you are still making money, but not as much as you normally would on this stuff, or do you just keep it at "your price" and if you land it, you land it?

I just emailed my quote, so we'll see what happens. If someone is already quoting this feeling like they were secure in their price, and they're lower, then they deserve it I guess, because I'm pretty low on price for not just being in a wholesale situation on this one.

 

[Kottwitz-Graphics]

My concern with giving customers a break on their inital order is they will want to keep getting those prices, and if they change, you are automatically screwing them...

Now if you want to make an impression, figure your price, and then add an extra 10%. Quote the new price, but say that for quantity discounts, you can knock off, say, 10%. They think they are getting a deal, and you look like your trying to work with them. Just remember, everyone likes getting a disount, and if you give the illusion of one, they will be happy.

 

[Bly]

If you have to sell your work for less than your usual rate why will they be a "good" customer?
A good customer to me is one who pays more than my going rate.

 

[TheLairdGuy]

Hey Kraigsnowden!

I think everybody has that "big fish" client in the area that would be great to have. Since I don't sell signs (I deal with plastics/vinyls/print media/etc), I can't give you an exact How-To guide when you're dealing with bigger customers, but I'll tell you a little bit about what happens on our end when we deal with larger clients.

It's awesome you've got a friend inside whose helped you at least become apart of the process here; that's a big help to get your foot in the door. Something really helpful to do is keep an attitude of detachment. How do you feel when a sales rep comes knocking on your door and reeks of desperation? I'm sure you have a process of sorts (Meet first -> do initial sketches of sign -> Submit for approval and pricing -> Execute), and whatever that process is stay faithful with it.

Be cautious when people bring up "we'll see if you're less expensive." There's always the danger that if you don't do a good job of finding out why they reached out in the first place, they will just turn around with your price and tell their incumbent to match it (which he will if he doesn't want to lose the business).

Something you can do to combat this is bring it up early! When you're in front of a potential customer who you know does business with "the other guy," ask about why he reached out to you. If there's a problem, ask him what that problem means to him. It could be a money issue; it could also be a frustration or time type issue, but you won't know unless they tell you.

You can also follow up the "We'll see if your lower cost," statement with a question. Ask him, "Hey, if I quote you and I come back cheaper, are you willing to commit towards letting me have the oppurtunity for your business on this job? Because the last thing I want to do is waste your time waiting for quotes, and my time putting this proposal together."

There's usually a price concession for really high volume customers, but that's a general rule of thumb, and I'm not sure how much it will apply in your specific case.

Feel free to PM me with any questions!

 

[Gino]

Many, many things are taken into consideration when trying to land a really big account.

Once you get the hang of it, it will make it easier and easier to land more of the same, thus not putting all your eggs into one basket.

When you were there looking around, can you honestly say to yourself, you could do each and every sign there either the same or better ?? If so, at least you're on the same playing field workmanship-wise.

Generally, I play down the cheaper than other guy routine and go in with.... we know what we're doing, so I know we're comparing apples to apples. However, are you having a turnaround problem or is he/she getting their prices too high and you feel it's time to move on ??

Since quality is the same, I'm sure we can meet your deadlines if they're getting tighter. However, it takes such and such to fabricate these signs and if we meet your deadline...... are we expected to still be cheaper, if we've met all your other demands ??

If so, let's cut to the chase and suppose you tell me what where we're supposed to be at in order to get your..... err all of your work.

If you are dead serious, businesslike and professional, they will view you with confidence, which will carry over to your word, integrity and craftsmanship and probably land you the job in a 15 minute conversation.

Usually, the kinda customers you want are true business people and respect another business making a profit and a healthy one, so to remain in business. They just don't want to be railroaded everytime an order comes in with a little hike here and a little higher percentage there.

Use good sense in negotiating and you'll do fine.

 

[Techman]

Follow the business model.
Set your rates and follow the plan. Nothing else matters. Let them self disqualify. No matter. IF they do not fit your model then you will not suffer their loss.

Giving discounts in speculation for future work is what one does when their business skills are not up to the challenge. Giving discounts out of the business model does not work.

 

[Edna]

I have wayz of gettin my customers hooked on me.

 

[genericname]

No.

This is a great discussion. Let's not derail this one too.

 

[tsgstl]

Everyone's business model should include discounts for volume. I spend much less per $ with larger contracts as I do smaller ones so my business model reflects this.

 

[Bly]

Gino's got the right of it.

We have a large customer and they value fast turnaround and delivery on time over cheap pricing.

Can you ask your friend why they are looking at giving you a chance?

 

[TheSnowman]

I don't feel like I was MEGA off from my normal price. If they were ordering (1) then yes, but this was (50) 18" X 24" Aluminum Signs, so I gave them a pretty good volume discount on it. I told her that I was glad to quote whatever she had, but I didn't allude to the fact that I was trying to be the cheapest by any means.

 

[ForgeInc]

Everyone's business model should include discounts for volume. I spend much less per $ with larger contracts as I do smaller ones so my business model reflects this.

This.

 

[visual800]

Of course I drop my stuff if it means getting a larger client. I dont drop it much to the point of losing money but in this day and time jobs are hard to come by around here and i will do what I can to survice.

It depends on if your busy or not busy and right now we have NOTHING going on

 

[Jillbeans]

If it was me, and that place had been using the same sign guy forever, and if they were in my same town, I would submit my bid as if it was any other client.
I don't like taking work from other local sign companies (unless they are a new local hack)
The two other "real" local shops are long-time friends.
I try to lure in a new customer with my layouts and quality more than my prices.
I don't want to court someone into my shop with a blister-free hand job...I want them to want to hire me for what I can provide to them in terms of a great sign.
Even 50 factory signs need to look good.
Love....Jill

 

[binki]

First question I would is why come to me? What happened at the other place? Was it really price or something else. I think you need to know their motivation before pricing.

 

[WrapYourCar]

i wouldn't worry too much, just give them a fair price, if you're smaller than the other place i'm sure your overheads would be much less... so your quote is probably already going to be much cheaper. Spend less time worrying and more time working on your next customer quote imo

 

[TheSnowman]

Well I did a little more research, and according to one of my designers I use (that used to work for the competition in town, who does great work, and far as I know, we get along well) and she said that they did a few things for them, but didn't do a ton. It's a mega company, so who knows, maybe they've gotten things from non-local sources all this time. I guess I just figured since they had their stuff all over the website for job photos, that they had done most of the stuff there.

Either way, I didn't lowball, I just bid more competitively than I normally do. We'll see what happens.

 

[TheSnowman]

Just got an email back, didn't get the job anyway. I will probably just quote normal next time. She said she's glad to know of another place she can get this kind of work done, and wanted all of my tax information to get me "in the system". Who knows if it will ever develop, but at least she knows I exist now.

 

[Mosh]

I don't do anything different. The worst is when the first thing out of a new customer's mouth is bad-mouthing the last sign shop. That customer then gets fired on the spot. It is competition, but I can't tolerate people bad-mouthing other shops!

 

[Gino]

Now is your opportunity to call her and ask for a meeting of maybe 10 or 15 minutes of her time.

In the meeting you dissect what was bid on and the reasons you didn't get the order. Why did they entertain giving you the job and what went wrong. Tell her.... for your records, you are doing more and more of this work and her input would be greatly appreciated for other quotes. You wanna become more competitive, since your quality and service are already top notch. When she hears this stuff, you'll be surprised how quickly you'll get a.... ya know what, maybe you could quote me on this.


Good luck.............