I've been thinking (that explains the smell of burning rubber!) about how I sell design work as part of, and in addition to, signs themselves, and I had a brainstorm (the smell of wet burning rubber!) that the next time I design a custom sign, and am asked for a price, tha I answer that the sign is free... but the design is $X. Buy the design, get the signs for "free". Obviously I'm not giving away the signs; the price covers all of it, but the idea is to focus on the design - the IDEA - as having value, as opposed to the object (the sign). If, as we all seem to agree, a sign is greater than the sum of its parts - more than paint, wood, vinyl, etc. - then, isn't its value contained in the idea, in its design? Given that premise, does it not make sense to sell the idea, instead of the object? After all, isn't that what "graphic designers" do, for far larger sums than most of us ever see for our ideas when they are "OAFS".
Comments?
------------------ "A wise man concerns himself with the truth, not with what people believe." - Aristotle
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. - Raoul Duke (Hunter S. Thompson)
Cam Finest Kind Signs 256 S. Broad St. Pawcatuck, Ct. 06379 "Award winning Signs since 1988"
Posts: 3051 | From: Pawcatuck,Connecticut USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
When I used to send out postcards to drum up more business, I had been tempted to say something like, "Stop in for your free sign" on some of the postcards.
When the customer would come in and ask about getting the "Free sign" the idea was that I would hand them a sign which was screen printed with the words Free Sign.
Realizing this would get people p'd off, I didn't do it.
In efforts to educate/re-train customers that design work is a separate fee, I think the first step is conducting business as if this is a normal routine, it's how we do business, and that's the way it is. Put it in writing and make a shop policy sign. Then you don't feel uneasy about it and the customer knows they are not being singled out... it's business. It says so - right there. Sign or graphic design rate $xx per hour. On a large scale project perhaps you could bill for design as a percentage of the total project cost? We might ask Dan Sawatzky (sorry if I spelled it wrong) about this.
Since sign customers have not been "educated" to the same degree as we have been when we go to a Doctor or Dentist or Veterinarian and have to pay for an "office visit", or when we call a Heating & Air Conditioning person or an Electrician or Plumber to our home or place of business and have to pay a "service call" you know - the fee just to get them to come to you - (I even remember my parents paying the TV Service Man to come into the home and fix the TV!) most sign customers would think we were crazy if we charged them for taking up our time to talk about their sign needs. And yet that's exactly what these other trades do. They charge us for taking up their time.
A lot of car dealers and repair places charge for "diagnostic services". We use up their time, they charge us. Oh... you think our price for that tune-up is too high and the front end work is too much to spend for that car? Well it's only parts and labor... just pay the diagnostic service fee on your way past the cashier".
It's a fine line (is it the suit & tie?) that separates sign makers from people who "only" sell design work. Personally I feel we are way more versatile and valuable. How many "designers" can use power tools or install signs in any number of configurations, or actually paint or hand letter or hand carve anything? How many of them are able to produce their own designs in numerous media or "substrates"? In spite of our value being higher, sign customers have been trained by all our predecessors and ourselves to expect us to design signs for them and IF they like what we have done, they will go ahead and place the order for the sign(s). They expect to not be charged for the design time because "nobody else charges me for a sketch". It's a battle that only a persuasive salesperson and an attractive portfolio which shows WHY your signs are worth what you charge, can gradually win.
Establish and charge for shop rate during the design and "figuring it out" phase. Besides including all your expenses to operate a business, shop rate should also include profit and something for unpredictable events and an amount of compensation that makes you feel it was worth it at the end of the day.
Give the customer the option to pay in advance for the design time or to pay $xxx to get things started and guarantee them their total bill will not exceed $xxx. Make them happy and produce their work for less than your maximum estimate and they think you're great. "Hi Mr. Smith... your sign is ready to pick up. Originally I thought it was going to be about $1200 but it went a little quicker than I thought so it comes to only $987. We accept cash or checks" Smile.
I realize you can't predict exact time spent in a lot of cases. Customers want to know ahead of time what it's gonna cost. Give a range rather than a firm amount.
(3-tier pricing) "I can make you a low cost, plain looking but effective sign for $100 to $175 depending on design time"
"I can take additional time on the design and use some more eye catching effects to make it stand out more than the "average" sign for $225 to $310. Here's some photos of signs like this..."
"If you want to have the absolute best sign I can make you, I'll spend extra time designing it, and give you the highest quality workmanship and attention to detail. A sign of this caliber will typically cost between $750 and $1200 depending on design time and material costs. Look how outstanding these turned out for (whatever business)"
The value of the sign is not only in the idea, it is also obviously in what it DOES and how well it does that. This would include evoking a mood or feeling, imparting an assumption about the kind of place which uses a sign that looks like this. It could give the appearance of rock solid long term reliability - a business that will be around and has been around for years and years - stability. It can look "trendy or now" It can look formal or casual, exciting or reserved. The sign does it's own job of silent marketing. Some might even call it subliminal. Properly designed, it will attract the type of customers the business seeks. OK so funeral homes don't really have a walk-in trade but you get what I mean :-)
Hopefully most people will realize we're not talking about the Private Parking - Violators Will Be Towed signs and that this is more applicable to creating an "identity" sign or sign system or sign concept.
As far as giving the customer something free, instead of telling them you're giving them the sign free, how about offering incentive for them to purchase your highest priced item - a deal where if they order your most expensive version of their sign, you will throw in "free" the appropriate layouts for business cards or letterheads. This would be a $XXX value if they paid for it separately.
------------------ EmpY® is also known as Mayo Pardo. Has wandererd Australia, currently in Elgin IL. Soon to be cutting stuff on my router table. 847 931-4171
posted
Empty. How good can you be, As I saw you on the LiveCam and chat board and making supper at the same time! Your words are very true as "How much do you give away!" No One wants to show off thier work and not get paid anything in return for it. Our pride is in the quality no matter if it's you and I in the same local, bidding on the same job! Truth to the matter is that most people believe in the free estimates.. And with this they think that you will include the Design. I had 2 persons ask myself today if I could design what they are thinking... Sure I could have said that I charge by the hour on this project...But instead I said that anything I design is the property of"Airbrushed by Raven/2001" If you wish to purchase the work it is so much for design and so much for each sign. CAM.... You really don't think this will work! I do Murals on tanks and vehicles..If I design something and paint it on the surface in which I sold to the customer...All hard labour and materials included. And they damaged the subtrate (Sign/Vehicle/Etc.) I will give them a new one for free because of the full costs are within the price of the design. (In Your notes it says to give all Signs for free!) Think about it my friend! You are in business to make not Break your Bank!
Raven/2001
------------------ Raven/2000 Airbrushed by Raven Lower sackville N.S. deveausdiscovery@sprint.ca
Posts: 4327 | From: Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia, Canada | Registered: Jan 2000
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Mark, that is the absolute truth. and this is why I do not bid on jobs or let the customer show me exactly what he wants in regards to design unless its their logo and logo colors.
posted
This post was thrown out to be thought-provoking, and it worked!
And no, I don't think it's going to work as a sales idea, not as presented, although the inevitable wiseguy who decides he wants twenty "free" signs would be good for entertainment purposes. Mostly it was to re-focus the idea of value from the sign itself, to the idea behind the sign. The "idea" consists of ALL the variables that Empy mentioned, such as the impression the client wants to make on the public.
This started from a conversation with a fellow letterhead about selling a window lettering and sign package to a client. The client was questioning the price for the work, and my response to him was "tell her the sign and window job is free, but the design is $2000." The point is that by selling our work with the focus on the tangible product, we often end up not being fully compensated for the value of the idea.
And when you think about it, in a world where anyone with $5k for a computer and plotter can call themselves a sign maker, the idea is all we've got to set ourselves apart.
------------------ "A wise man concerns himself with the truth, not with what people believe." - Aristotle
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. - Raoul Duke (Hunter S. Thompson)
Cam Finest Kind Signs 256 S. Broad St. Pawcatuck, Ct. 06379 "Award winning Signs since 1988"
Posts: 3051 | From: Pawcatuck,Connecticut USA | Registered: Nov 1998
| IP: Logged |
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