Customer sign pros

[zmatalucci]

It seems that everybody that comes into our shop is a designer or has a designer. Their ideas are far from good, and I can't be nice about it any more. I remember when I was younger, my mom would just take an order and paint it. NO sketch, No customer crap, No hours of revising trash etc.

HOW ARE YOU HANDLING THIS?

[SIGN SOLUTIONS]

Charge good money for any revisions. That will slow most of them down.

[Pro Image]

I charge double...............hehehe

[Dave Drane]

I tell them that if their design is so good,they may as well do it themselves and to stop wasting MY time!!!!

[lav]

If someone wants me to produce a crap design we usually say something like

"Will that design help your business, remembering the sign or print is usually to atract customers?. Is it going to attract customers? I think we could produce something that will work better for you but of course we charge a fee for our design work."

If they persist and its REALLY BAD i tell them

"sorry we dont want people to see that we produce that type of work and I won't lower our standards to that level."

but that rarely happens

[lav]

Dave your a meany.....:) hehe

[Pat Whatley]

I used to be polite about it and try to talk them out of it politely.

Now I just tell them no. Something I've learned is that if you just flat call them out on it, tell them their artwork is bad and won't do it's job, AND you've got the design skills to back up your claims you can do better they'll let you. I can only think of two jobs I've ever lost because of doing that.

I usually tell them I'm not willing to do it, explain why, and then tell them I can see what they were thinking, and I'll take it and run with the concept for them (usually by doing something completely different and better)

[CribIt]

Now I just tell them no.

Exactly
It's the hardest word in the english language to say, but also the most effective.
I wish I'd learn how to say it more often.

[Jillbeans]

The degree of my politeness is directly relevant to the amount of cash in my bank account.
If I'm broke, I'll bite my tongue and make it anyway, just charge them more and not put pix of it in my portfolio.
In years past I used to try to educate the customer by asking "what is it about this design that you would like me to try and replicate?"
Nowadays most of them are so stuck on their cow-kicked-ugly design that their Martha Stewart-loving wife whipped up in Word that they won't listen to reason.
If they are OK to deal with, I make the sign. If they give me guff, I charge them WAY too much...then they backpedal. Or buy a plotter and start cranking out their own ugly signs.

I had a guy call yesterday from some truck shop, with a client wanting some "custom" RTA decal in layered vynull. This guy had pencilled up a sketch of what he wanted (twin towers, statue of liberty, eagle, etc.) and wanted to fax it to me. He has a "regular sign guy" but someone referred me to him. (He had called for a price on a sign a few years back but not bought it)
I told him the design in layered vynull would be as thick as a Dagwood sandwich and suggested a print. ("I have a catalog of printed stuff but this guy wants it custom and money is no object")
I suggested painting it. ("I have a painter") so the talk turned to printing again. Did he have artwork? No...just the pencil sketch which he called a diagram. I told him the artwork fee would be a minimum $150 and then he began to change his tune.
I told him to stick with his "regular guy".

Some days I really hate customers.
Love....Jill

[Rich]

You know right away when someone's design just won't work!

It hasn't happened in awhile but I do remember sometime back in the mid 80's when a client came in for a double-sided 6' x 8' internally illuminated sign he wanted for his new business. He also brought along the "Dreaded Nephew Art"

Trying not to hurt his feelings, my wife and I tried to convince him that some of the design needed some improvement (actually all of it). We showed him our portfolio and explained the important elements of an effective layout. He thought about it and came back the next day. We revamped his design keeping a few of the things he liked.

We installed the sign, it was clean, neat and very legible. Everyone was happy.

About a year later there was an accident. A truck had hit the sign and the whole job had to be replaced. Guess what? Yep.......the "Dreaded Nephew Art" was back looking crappy as ever! I guess he decided to go somewhere else that wouldn't try to convince him to change his mind.

Oh well...........

By the way - they went out of business shortly after!

[Marlene]

We had a high end flooring company come to use with a horrid design that they wanted made into a lit sign. Nothing about it was good. I went to their webpage and pulled some color ideas and the general over all feel of the company to come up with a design for the sign. The local people loved it but their boss wanted to get involved. Everthing ended up with a horrid red for the background with plain white letters. They picked the red and we made them sign off on it as it was so bad we didn't even try to be nice in telling them what we thought about it. We made the horrid sign and installed it. the boss called and wanted it off his building as it was so ugly, we couldn't have agreed more. They wanted their money back and of course, we said no. They went somewhere else and got the original horrid thing done which looks just about as bad as it could look. The moral to this story is even when you try to help them, they will push to get something horrid done. Just make sure that you get sign offs on all the mess that they want with statements from you that you advised them against the plans but they wanted to proceed any way.

[threeputt]

Gee thanks, you guys. I was having a nice day.....until I starting reading this thread and it dredged up all the bad feelings and experiences I've had along these lines.

We try to be polite and probe gently to see if we can learn what it is about the design/layout that they're stuck on. Then sort of work with that. Once in a while a client gets it into his/her head that they are actually saving money, because, afterall the design work is out of the way, they having provided it. These are the worst of the worst.

But it's true. These types are the least loved of all of our clients.

[Checkers]

I rarely tell a client "no". If they're not open for suggestions or modifications, I just price the job high enough with hopes that they'll go elsewhere.
If they accept my "high" price, I'll grin and bear it :)

Checkers