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Direct competition?? Nail 'im! A Letterhead??...........smile first!
------------------ St.Marie Graphics & Makin' Tracks Sound Studio Kalispell, Montana stmariegraphics@centurytel.net http://www.stmariegraphics.com 800 735-8026 We're chiseling every day of the week! :^)
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I remember wrestling with this the first time we hosted a letterhead meet and I was inviting folks from far and wide and realized that I was neglecting to invite those that are my direct competition to enter my space. I quickly went through my changes and mailed invitations and followed them with phone invites. None of them showed. We chat when we meet on the street.
Felix, one thing that I've learned over the years, is not to put down the competition in front of a customer. That type of self promotion is often offensive, as it should be. We can compete respectfully. Oh, there is a difference between who we are and what we do. I can compare my work to theirs without dissing the person.
------------------ The SignShop Mendocino, California "Where the Redwoods meet the Surf"
Posts: 6806 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Isn't it strange, but I'd bet that before most of us found this site, we too didn't have the letterhead spirit in the manner we do now.
Having said that, I tend to stay away from direct competition for several reasons:
- I've had them pound on my door and give me an earful for taking away their customers (the customer walked out on THEM), and one threatened me that I'd 'better never do vehicle lettering, just stick to signs or else!' (I rarely do signs)
- I went to welcome a new local francise, and he barely gave me eye contact and was on total guard. Not a pleasant visit although I remained pleasant to him.
- There are only 3 that stripe for bodyshops in this town. Each bodyshop has gone through all 3 of us over the years, getting mad at one, trying the other, etc. I pulled myself out of that pool, tired of the disloyalty at a moment's notice. I'm pleasant to both of them, however one of them is one that stomped into my shop one day and told me to stick to doing what I know best, and that was spitting out little cheapo signs. (a few customers had wandered from him and searched me out on their own and Mr. Overpriced was not a happy camper)
So as you can see, my direct competition isn't exactly the kind you'd want to hang out with over a coffee. I guess they're hungrier than I, and for that I sympathize. I guess they need the support that we offer on the bb when times get tough, because getting tough with me backfired and didn't make them any richer.
Just as a sidenote, I'm the only female in our town or other close by towns that does what I do, all the rest being men. That could be a problem for some of them perhaps?
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Hi, Felix, I'm not sure I understand the question-- maybe it wasn't all there on my monitor. At any rate, the competition I have is scattered over a fairly wide radius, and this is a predominantly rural area. Most of them I know, and we all get along fine. We all tend to stay in our own backyard so to speak, and we also give each other credit for doing decent work. Donna, the fact that you got an unpleasant visit from one of your competitors says a whole lot more about him than it does about you. For a male competitor to do this makes me wonder if he isn't a little short in the department of gonadal wherewithal. His crack about "or else" could be taken as a threat, but of course difficult to prove. The other thing is this, if he is any good at what he does, he should have his own following and not have to worry about you or the other painter-person. Just my 2 cents.
------------------ Bill Preston Fly Creek, N.Y. USA wpreston2@stny.rr.com
Posts: 943 | From: Fly Creek, N.Y. USA | Registered: Jan 2000
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I don't consider any other shop to be my competition.
I went to another local home-based shop I knew about, they moved into town about the same time I did. I walked up their driveway, saw the husband working in the garage on some MDO, extended a business card to him while introducing myself smiling brightly and churning on the charm.
I received a pretty courteous response, and when his wife came out to help him he introduced us. We ended up talking for quite a while about various things, like which brand materials we use, what suppliers we use and what supplier carries what material.
Competition, huh?
Well, later on in conversation I mentioned letterheads, turns out they're letterheads too.. but neither of us knew this about each other at first so I think our first friendly impressions were quite genuine.
Other shops in town havent been quite as openly friendly but only one has ever been nasty with me... this is the shop that, when I went to buy a small amount of a vinyl color I didnt have, actually wrinkled and creased the vinyl as he rolled it up. I put my money back in my wallet, looked him dead in the eye and said "Well, looks like you just wasted good vinyl cause I sure as hell don't want it now.".. then walked out.
Anyway... All you can do is extend a friendly hand for a handshake, it's up to them to ignore it or slap it away. You'll be able to tell the difference between the real shops and the wanna-be's this way. Real shops ignore the competition and focus more on their products and service. Wanna-be shops need to fight for their piece of the pie and will stab you to get it.
------------------ Mike Pipes Digital Illusion Custom Graphics Lake Havasu City, AZ http://www.stickerpimp.com
Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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Years ago I too was one of the only female signwriters. Everyone was friendly. Everyone was helpful. Now with all the FastSpeedyNowSignarameewwws.it is different. I still stop in ......I still am friendly.....but not all of them are nice. Too bad for them. I would certainly invite all competition to your meet. It could be interesting!
------------------ surf or MoJo on mirc Cheryl J Nordby Signs by Cheryl Seattle WA.....! signsbycheryl@hotmail.com
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My direct competition is about 30 miles away. He does great work, and we get along great. We call each other if we run short of something, tell each other about new items we hear about, and never butt heads. He does work in my town and I in his. His quality in signmaking is very high, and he has alot of knowledge and I listen to him and vice versa. Maybe if we lived in the same town, it might be different, but I don't think so. The two other sign shops here are printers that added vinyl signs. We don't do the same kind of work, so I really don't consider them competition. All in all though, I treat em all nice, and if they don't, then that's their problem.
------------------ John Deaton III Deaton Design 109 N. Cumberland Ave.,Harlan, Ky. 40831 606-573-9101
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i am good friends with a lot of shops here in town. we talk about the sign biz on a regular basis.
i use a local electrical shop to do my fabrications on larger projects and it seems to work out well for both of us.
i know one guy who is a one-man shop like myself and when one of us is in a crunch for materials we help each other out. our rule is, "If I got it, then you can borry some if you pay me back when you get some." LOL
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Ther are NOT and never will be enough sign businesses to take care of ALL the work to be done.Competitors ACT like competitors.Letterheads ACT like Letterheads! My thoughts are... at lest a friend of mine is getting the work,instead of a COMPETITOR!! Heck I send work to other shops,just so my customer knows I am looking out for them. IF you yourself view other sign shops or other people as your competitors.Then they will be.IF you view them as friends and treat them as friends.Then that is what they will be.USALLY "Letterheads" are friends FIRST. Hope this helps
------------------ PKing is Pat King of King Sign Design in McCalla,Alabama The Professor of SIGNOLOGY
Posts: 3113 | From: Pompano Beach, FL. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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The owner of the shop closest to me is throwing a LETERHEAD MEET! He must not be a bad guy! I have met several of the local guys around here, hope to meet more of them at Duck Soup. I didn't meet any of them until I came here and found out that sign guys do play good together! I met Pat after "meeting" him here. I get along with them fine, done subcontract work for a couple of them. We have all bid on the same job a few times, but usually the phone book tire kickers. They have sent me customers, I've sent people to them for stuff I don't do. I do alot of work for a shop a few towns away, he does my screen printing. Works out great. I've also discovered that if I treat my customers right and do quality work, they don't go looking for anybody else.
competitors act like competitors and letterheads act like letterheads. i have no problem doing for for others as long as they don't try to take advantage. hey, let 'em try if they really feel the need... someone can only take advantage if you let them.
i know of some "letterheads" that lie and steal from each other and then try to come across as some high falutin' christian soul who has nothing but love and kindness in their hearts and souls. too bad for them.
but then... there are true patrons of the "letterhead" spirit that take you into their homes and show you the time of their lives. hey sonny.... thanks for the commerce time. loved the hospitality you and peg showed. absolutely inspiring. you ever come up our way, there is gonna be a big 'ol steak dinner waiting for you guys.
a guy like mark fair that always seems to have a couple of minutes to spare when one needs a blast of down south humor... you crack me up, bubba!
a guy like david wright that listens to rants and raves that occur in life and has some of his own to share. too bad about the tigers, tho. not that the blue jays are doing much better... lol! bet dinner on the game sunday, dave?
hey, i could on and on.... but the in-laws are waiting to go to dinner. hmmmmm.... chinese buffet in the twin cities tonight!
you all have a great one!
------------------ Bruce Bowers DrCAS Signtech
"how great are His signs..." Daniel 4:3
i am a proud supporter of this website!
Posts: 6464 | From: Saint Cloud, Minnesota | Registered: Jun 1999
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Shucks, I only know one other letterhead around this area, and that's Tim Barrow. There's not many people I don't along with in this business. Everybody's got their clientele, and they get one of mine or I get one of theirs, well, that's the way it happens. One of my best friends lives @ 40 mins. from here and we have almost the same type of clients (few signs, few stripes, LOTS of BIKES). People talk to each of us about the other all the time. Sometimes, we'll talk junk just to see what gets back to the other (note: if you try this for fun, call them right after the "gossip-wagon" leaves. Keeps it fun on their end, too...) He helps me with my computer-related problems, and I help him with his freehand stripin'...
Another friend was just some lil' dope-smoker I worked with a local company. I helped him get in the art dept. (cause he hated the parts dept.), and now he has one of the most successful small vinyl shops around. First, because he has a genuinely GREAT business sense. Two, he has the personality. Sometimes, his layout isn't everything it could be, but I'd never tell him.
On the other hand, there is one striper in this area that I won't "bad-mouth", but I will tell someone that his work is well, sloppy. The bad thing is, the only people that don't see it are the cheapskates, the gotta-have-it-right-now's, and the race car circuit (I believe that would probably count as combo of the previous two).
But overall, in this area, direct competition or Letterheads or quick-shop, everybody is cool!!!
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Maui is truly a small island. There are 6 other shops in the industrial area I am in. 4 within a half a block. All 4 have bought wholesale Gerber Edge stuff from me in the last month.
One guy has a CNC router and cut some contour plaques & letters for me recently. Another is a good 4 color process shirt printer I send people to.
If I drive an hour I could visit another 8 shops and I've done work with half of them already. There are a few burned bridges between some of us, but overall everyone on this rock already knows how small it is and that helps people treat each other well.
If I ever held a small regional meet I would be honored to show off my shop to any of them, as well as strengthen the friendships between us.
------------------ Doug Allan Island Sign Maui, Hawaii
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I own a small shop in a college town. The population for the surrounding two counties is about 100,000. With every new phone book I discover several new shops and home operators. There are 30+ that advertise their business and many more that do "signs on the side". That's a lot of people doing signs. I am sad to say that I have met only a very few.
The shop owners I've met and talk with on a regular basis, I get along with fine. They are talented artist and Letterheads. They're quick to offer a hand if needed. I've made sure they know that any materials or help I can offer is theirs for the asking. We've gone after the same jobs a few times and have even compared notes on slow to pay customers.
I like this kind of relationship very much. It would bother me to "take a customer" of theirs and I would not knowingly pursue one. If I were swamped I would,and have, sent customers to them. I think this is a healthy way work in a market like mine.
As far as all those other folks go, well, I just don't have or haven't made the time to pay them a visit. I see the work they do around town and can tell at a glance the franchise stuff from some others but I'm often hard pressed to put a name or face to the work.
As I said, I'm a small shop. I've been at this for a long time and have a good customer base. My stuff is all paid for so I don't really need to try to "compete" for every dime in the marketplace.
Wayne
------------------ Berry Signs & Stripes Hattiesburg, MS Signs, lines, lettering & other neat stuff.
Posts: 82 | From: Hattiesburg, MS | Registered: Jan 2000
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