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I've been asked by a local awning company to provide a "pricing system" for their sales team to use when they sell "logos" on awnings.
What they really want is a "square foot price" which I'm not willing to provide. I think there are just too many variables for a simple square foot price to work.
Have any of you guys come up with a pricing system that you feel comfortable allowing a "sales team" to use for pricing?
FYI: I use a method of painting that is basically the same as the one in Glenn Taylor's step-by-step guide for painting Sunbrella awnings.
What my awning client wants to avoid is having to show me every job and wait for my quote before bidding a job. They want a "logo pricing system" that their salesmen can apply to a bid without consulting with me first. Any suggestions?
[ April 20, 2012, 08:10 PM: Message edited by: James McLain ]
-------------------- Jim McLain McLain Studios 1203 Main Street Asbury Park, NJ 07712 jlm@mclainstudios.com Posts: 42 | From: New Jersey | Registered: Aug 2004
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Most awning work is simple copy and or simple one color logo work,....if you use a mask method complexity would not be an issue,....In the past when we had to do billboards by the sq ft we would have a three tiered pricng schedule one for plain simple copy,...one for cartoon and clipart and or outlined copy and one for pictoral work. I see no reason you couldn't come up with one to suit awning work,...first I would figure a price by letter height and number of letters on a simple line of one color copy,(Say an average 8" line of caps two words ten to twelve letters as an example and base that on your hourly rate and the time it would take you to complete the job at your hourly rate plus materials and markup, then divide that by the number of letters and you should have the rate for 8" letters etc)...the next tier would be for high lined or intricate script copy and a third for simple logo work,....base it on how much time it takes you to do each type of job and charge accordingly allowing for some shop profit and or at the very least your shops hourly rate. I would add a special setup fee for complex logos and digitizing bitmap based logos the same as I would for vinyl since you intend to use paint mask. the pricing in essence should be the same as vinyl but to include your paint and time to paint added on top of what you would normally charge for cheap vinyl.
edited to add,...from past experience I would consider the room it is going to take in a small shop for a clean area for the material to dry and to do the job in a clean manner,...if a job is any volume at all it can monopolize production area very quickly and hold up other work that could be done while it is drying,...awnings are not like panel signs you can't just pile them up in the corner of dusty shop space to get them out of the way of other work,they need a very clean production area..
[ April 20, 2012, 09:01 PM: Message edited by: Tim Barrow ]
-------------------- fly low...timi/NC is, Tim Barrow Barrow Art Signs Winston-Salem,NC Posts: 2224 | From: Winston-Salem,NC,USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Thanks for your input Tim. I can tell you've had some experience in this area. The point you bring up about space is especially true. Thank goodness I own my own building and have plenty of excess space. It's one of the reasons I'm willing to entertain painting these big pieces of awning. I don't think I would do them if I only had a small shop.
I have no problem pricing the work MYSELF, it only becomes a problem when the awning company sales team prices jobs. They "SEE" things a lot differently than I "SEE" things.
I just had an issue where the awning salesman sold a complex multi-color logo with small script type way way too low. From his perspective it was just a "simple" logo and it was "small so it shouldn't be a big deal." It was actually a big deal because it was a 4 color process logo that had to first be simplified to something that could be cut as a stencil and secondly even though it was small, it was quite tedious and time consuming to paint because of lots of small details and a tiny script slogan. Anyway....
What I'm looking for is a system that will allow a NON-Sign professional to come up with a price that is at least in the ball park of profitable most of the time. I just have not yet found a solution that helps someone that does NOT have any experience painting, cutting stencils, digitizing, mixing colors...etc "SEE a job the way I see a job."
Generally I find that the salesmen mis-categorize the jobs into a lower cost category (sometimes way lower). I'm not sure if that's a function of them trying to land the job by being cheap or if they truly don't see the jobs the way I do.
-------------------- Jim McLain McLain Studios 1203 Main Street Asbury Park, NJ 07712 jlm@mclainstudios.com Posts: 42 | From: New Jersey | Registered: Aug 2004
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Sounds like you have the same bunch of idiot salesmen there as we have had here in the past,....you just can't fix stupid,...maybe a meeting with examples is in order to educate the idiots (which will probably just confuse them with facts)but worth a try,....
edited to add,...I dislike salesmen by their very nature due to the fact they often consider their objectives taking priority over yours as part of the production staff and as a service not a necessity in their sales strategy,...wish I had a quarter for every time a salesman promised my services over the weekend without a rush fee and or so much as a thank you to meet his monthly quota or to seal a sales deal without even asking,...we could go out to eat an expensive steak dinner and have many mixed drinks and still leave a big tip then leave with a bag of quarters left over
[ April 21, 2012, 11:36 AM: Message edited by: Tim Barrow ]
-------------------- fly low...timi/NC is, Tim Barrow Barrow Art Signs Winston-Salem,NC Posts: 2224 | From: Winston-Salem,NC,USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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