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what is your weighted average sale?

I

iceracer

New Member
I'm trying to get some numbers for this biz course I'm taking and would like to get some numbers if possible?

What is your weighted average sale?

How many different categories do you have?
Do you differentiate different types of signs?

What is the ratio of labour vs material costs per item?

I Look forward to reading some stats......Terry
 
Pat Whatley

Pat Whatley

New Member
Terry, I'm sure you mean well but what you're asking for are the keys to the kingdom. Few people here are going to be willing to openly hand out that information.

Plus, this question alone
What is the ratio of labour vs material costs per item? is about 8 pages long in my year end paperwork. I kept up with a majority of the orders over the course of the year so I could do a cost/profit analysis of everything we did. Speaking of that I was SHOCKED when I saw the figures. Where I thought the profit center of the business was and where it actually turned out to be could not have been further apart.
 
signmeup

signmeup

New Member
Pat Whatley said:
Speaking of that I was SHOCKED when I saw the figures. Where I thought the profit center of the business was and where it actually turned out to be could not have been further apart.
Click to expand...
Pat can you elaborate on this without giving away the farm?
 
Pat Whatley

Pat Whatley

New Member
I would have sworn to you I was making good money on business cards and postcards. I hate doing them but they looked like profit centers when I can sell a $25 box of cards for $125 and then do reprints which only take minutes to reorder. Turns out that the originals were the least profitable thing I produce. Reprints are good money. I jacked up the price of the original order to the point I probably won't do anymore (and that's okay) though I do still toss in the occasional free set with a van lettering job.

My profit center turned out to be real estate work. I would have sworn to you that I made very little on a majority of the orders just so could make good money on their bigger orders. The figures showed that I've been making damn good money on the smaller orders even though I'm competing against a dirt cheap wholesale to anybody local printer.
 
I

iceracer

New Member
what does that mean anyway
Click to expand...
It is the price of the sale that you are most likely to get, or the most common sale.

To the others, this is legit, I am in a course here in Toronto at the
Toronto Business Development centre.

I've been in the industry for over 20 years as an employee and now am starting my own business after losing my job after 14 years with one company, so this is part of my research.

Have I taken the wrong approach here?

Thanks, Terry
 
I

imagep

New Member
iceracer said:
It is the price of the sale that you are most likely to get, or the most common sale.

To the others, this is legit, I am in a course here in Toronto at the
Toronto Business Development centre.

I've been in the industry for over 20 years as an employee and now am starting my own business after losing my job after 14 years with one company, so this is part of my research.

Have I taken the wrong approach here?

Thanks, Terry
Click to expand...

The question that you asked is very legitimate and appropriate, but we are sign makers, not accountants or financial analyst. I have a BS degree in Business Admin with concentrations in both economics and finance, and I still have no idea what you are asking, even after reading your explaination.

Are you simply talking about the gross dollar amount of our average sale? Or are you talking about the actual production cost of our average sale? Or are you refering to the fixed overhead cost of our average sale? And is that per item or per invoice (in my business we frequently have multiple items on the same invoice)?

Ask the question in a manner that even a cave man, oops I mean graphic art professional can understand and I think you may get some answers. Personally, I have no problem with sharing that type of info.
 
signmeup

signmeup

New Member
iceracer said:
It is the price of the sale that you are most likely to get, or the most common sale.

To the others, this is legit, I am in a course here in Toronto at the
Toronto Business Development centre.

I've been in the industry for over 20 years as an employee and now am starting my own business after losing my job after 14 years with one company, so this is part of my research.

Have I taken the wrong approach here?

Thanks, Terry
Click to expand...
What does this have to do with weight?
 
Billct2

Billct2

Active Member
I see you have done a lot of work both in learning the trade and now the business of the trade.
What you are asking for is probably only available from franchise operations and larger manufacturers, and they probably wouldn't share that info.
I'm impressed with the work Pat has done in tracking profits.
I remember meeting Jay Cooke and he was tellling me thsy had done a similar thing and discovered that they had a product they enjoed selling and producing and thought was a money maker, it wasn't and they had to adjust the price accordingly even if it meant losing that part of the business.
It's something I should work on more.
 
Pat Whatley

Pat Whatley

New Member
Wait, he said weighted average sale. My average sale would be somewhere between a 4'x8' mdo panel and 3'x10' banner so I'm going to say my average sale weighs 22.4 pounds.
 
threeputt

threeputt

New Member
Our labor constitutes about 22% of the job. And our materials bill is about 20%.

Average ticket about $115.00 US
 
S

SqueeGee

New Member
This is a great topic and one that I would contribute to in the contributing member section. I wouldn't feel comfortable sharing this in the open section.
 
Craig Sjoquist

Craig Sjoquist

New Member
average sale is $200 .. window splash ... hand lettered..lately because of enconomics... better customers.....better sales ... results proven ...sales increased...
6 months it might be differant
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
I can't believe I can't find a thing to respond to this one. I have no idea of what's going on here, but I'm gonna start working out this weekend and continue to shed those pounds to become more competitive in my business practices.


And here all along I thought people were interested in our workmanship and not my appearance....... :omg:







..... but I ain't givin' this up....:bushmill: :bushmill:​
and I don't know liquid ratios vs. regular tonnage.






.
 
SignManiac

SignManiac

New Member
The last sign I shipped from Fl to NY weighed 400lbs and cost $260.00 in freight to get there.

Last month I had fourteen jobs that sold for $18,500 total or an average sale of $1,321.00
The month before that was thirteen jobs for 18,000 total / average $1,384.00

This is fairly typical for me.
 
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