posted
I just gave a quote to a real estate developer for: 100 16"x16" red coro signs, cut in a star shape, with the word "SOLD" on them, with double sided tape on the back.
They said they wanted to be able to take them down and reuse them. I explained that the coro would not stand up to being taken down and put back up, and suggested they use pvc instead. So i gave them a price for this option as well.
Long story short, they choked on my price. They expected a price more along the lines of $200 for all.
Before I say what price I quoted, I would be interested in hearing what you folks would have charged.
------------------ MacElite, aka John Rodgers Prodigy Sign Systems Atlanta, GA
Posts: 58 | From: Lawrenceville, GA, USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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posted
mac....learn this lesson early....2 people to stay away from for sign work....REAL ESTATE PEOPLE AND LAWERYS.....both make ridiculous amounts of money, and want everybody else to work for nothing....dont know if its that their plains stupid or ego, they belive THEY are the only people in the world that is worth what they make on a sale or bill you hourly.....next in line are used car lots....
------------------ joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-944-5060 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND
Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
Close behind these 'twits are antique dealers. If there was ever a group of people who give new meaning to the term " buy low, sell high" it is this bunch.
------------------ Bill Preston Fly Creek, N.Y. USA signpntr@capital.net
Posts: 943 | From: Fly Creek, N.Y. USA | Registered: Jan 2000
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posted
The realtors I've delt with have been the same way. If you did do the work for them for $200 then they would look for someone to do it for $150. You would never have their business...they would always keep shopping. Let someone else have their business unless they want to take your quoted price. I've told a couple of them they were getting a heck of a good price from their last supplier. They probably won't stop price shopping but I'm not going to help them get rich for nothing. What do they get?? 10 or 12% of the sale price. $100,000 home they're making $10 to $12 thousand. They can spend a little on their image. I shop around too, but usually at some point I find happiness with the price I'm paying and stop wasting time shopping especially when the quality of the product and/or service suffers.
------------------ When good things happen...that must be a sign!! Tony McDonald DBA-Ace Graphics & Printing P.O. Box 91 Camdenton, MO. USA (573) 346-6696 <daddyo@advertisnet.com> <tony@brownbeverage.com>
Posts: 1196 | From: Camdenton, MO. USA | Registered: Oct 1999
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posted
Hiya John, I would take a guess & say about $8.00-$12.00 each depnding on how much I would have to pay for the blanks. If I was greedy I would go on the high side. The whole job should take less than a day. A few things I noticed about realtors. One is that they compare sign prices using their standard franchise catalog but, they want you to make their signs custom. They like to make up their own pricing. And they rarely pay upfront or on-time. One option you might want to offer is the die cut outdoor posterboard signs that one of the screen print catalog companies make. Something similar to "vote for Joe for county Sheriff" in the shape of a badge. Havin' fun, Checkers
------------------ a.k.a. Brian Born Harrisburg, Pa 717.652.9073 members.home.net/sign-it/ This isn't Burger King, you can't have it your way.
posted
Actually, I wouldn't take offense to the realtors. The fact is that there are companies out there "training" them to think that way about the price of signs. Dee-Signs is one of them.
A few years ago, I got a call from a realtor who wanted a price on one 24"x6" rider D/F, red on white, that read "For Rent". I quoted him $20. I thought he was going to have a heart attack. He said Dee-Sign had them for $1.89 each. And, he was right. They did. Only, it was a stock item printed on Duron (painted pressboard) and he would have had to have ordered a minimum of 20 of them. I find that most reators really don't pay much attention to the fine-print.
It is still up to us to educate them as we should any customer. Some of my best customers are realtors these days.
posted
I'm with glen, Dee Signs is the discount king. But while all the realtor bashing is going on, Here's my story.
Don't bother with the residential stuff. I Give them the dee-sign magazine when the say it's for residential signs. I tell em to call me when you need COMMERCIAL signs.
These are the 4 x 8 lease/sale/build to suit. Keep the high-end work and let the rest go. Since I don't do any advertising, I send fruit baskets to these guys during the holidays and Birthday cards/chocolates to the Sec. who places the order with me. TAKE THAT DEE-SIGNS! (and all of my local competetors who can't get their foot in the door with all those full color mailers & free-bees)
They have refered all those new tennants who need every sign you can think of, - thats where the real money is, and thats where you get full price and a repeat customer.
Make friends, Get rich.
------------------
Posts: 1328 | From: Centreville, VA | Registered: Oct 2000
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you know, glenn... i can agree on your point about trying to educate your clients but it does seem that there has to be a point when you stop.
we have a client base that deals with us because we offer excellent work at decent ( we ain't the highest priced shop in town but we are far from the cheapest) prices and we service our customers far better than most of the shops around us.
there are ways to avoid this situations... don't quote over the phone unless you get to call them back. find out where they got your name. weed out the people that are obviously shopping around for price.
i used to get real "p.o.'d" when these things happened to us. i have learned to get over and have grown thicker skin. i just don't take it personally anymore. potential clients have the right to spend their money with whoever they deem fit. if they want to go "bottom line" then let them get what they pay for.
i do get tired of the "i quoted a job today and the client choked" stories. it's a fact of life. there will always be someone out there willing to work for less. always. i just don't plan on being one of them.
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: 6451 | From: Saint Cloud, Minnesota | Registered: Jun 1999
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you know, glenn... i can agree on your point about trying to educate your clients but it does seem that there has to be a point when you stop.
we have a client base that deals with us because we offer excellent work at decent ( we ain't the highest priced shop in town but we are far from the cheapest) prices and we service our customers far better than most of the shops around us.
there are ways to avoid this situations... don't quote over the phone unless you get to call them back. find out where they got your name. weed out the people that are obviously shopping around for price.
i used to get real "p.o.'d" when these things happened to us. i have learned to get over and have grown thicker skin. i just don't take it personally anymore. potential clients have the right to spend their money with whoever they deem fit. if they want to go "bottom line" then let them get what they pay for.
i do get tired of the "i quoted a job today and the client choked" stories. it's a fact of life. there will always be someone out there willing to work for less. always. i just don't plan on being one of them.
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: 6451 | From: Saint Cloud, Minnesota | Registered: Jun 1999
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Well, as I see it, you can never stop educating your customers. I almost lost a $50k per year customer when I did.
I know realtors can be frustrating. Its hard not to let them iritate the crap out of you. A long time ago, I asked the Lord to teach me patience. I've been getting realtors as clients ever since!
posted
Well, thanks for the info, folks. I believe I got one response that answered my question as to how much they would charge for this job, which is what I was really interested in. I quoted a price for $10.00 ea. for the coro version of these signs, which appears to be inline with the response I got here.
I do not feel this post was just another "customer choked on my quote" post. I feel I had a legitimate question here. I quoted my customer a price of around $1000.00 for a job and later that day the customer gets their second quote from speedy ****-a-rama at $300.00 for the same specs. When this happens, I WANT TO KNOW; (1) is my pricing that far off? (2) if I am that far off, what can I do to get my prices in line?
Are there companies out there that sell blanks that are already cut into various shapes, ie., stars, circles, ellipses etc. I have never heard of a company that does this, but that is all i can think of.
thanks folks
------------------ MacElite, aka John Rodgers Prodigy Sign Systems Atlanta, GA
Posts: 58 | From: Lawrenceville, GA, USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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posted
I found the title of this post to be kind of a redundant statement Mac, you probably never will figure out how the other guy came up with a price soooooo much cheaper than you. Like Bruce pointed out, it's a fact of life that will always be there. My experience with these type things is that they usually fall into three types of catagories. One, the guy is set up to do dirt cheap work at dirt cheap prices making a small profit off a sizable hassle, he has an answer for the star shape possibly a supplier or he hiself has a die, two the guy is an idiot and is losing his ass on the job, and thirdly, and I find this one to be the most common, he quoted the price for a different job, ie. the star shape was screened and not cut out. BTW, I haven't worked for any realtors in 15 years.
------------------ George Perkins Millington,TN. goatwell@ionictech.com
"I started out with nothing and still have most of it left"
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