preorder info.

[BRUSHMARKS]

Does anyone use a form or like a questionnaire/ something to email to a customer for them to fill out and return. with stuff like:
Whats your budget?
is there any color match? if so what are pms colors
When do you need this by?
do you have artwork of your logo/company name?
stuff like that.

Or do you just do back and forth and ask questions?

We are thinking of setting something up like this and also talking about prrof charges over so many proofs, and getting down payment.

Or do you think this might scare away customers? We are trying to weed out all the "time wasters"

 

[BRUSHMARKS]

I usually just ask...whether it's in person, on the phone, or by email. And I leave out the "what's your budget" part most of the time.

As for the proofs/revisions etc. I usually just have a line on our quotes that says : "All prices are based on artwork being supplied to our specifications.... and may be subject to set up fees if multiple revisions or proofs are required. etc etc." Kind of vague but it seems to work for now.

We seem to run in to clients that have these great ideas to standout and have an amazing sign and when we give them a price, they fall over and think it should be about 10% of that price. We find that with a budget we can design and provide a sign to fit that budget. Just what i have noticed.

 

[Gino]

There are numerous ways to find out your customer's budget, but that definitely isn't one of them.

As to the rest of your question.... I think you're basically wasting your time.... and your customer's time.

If the job is going to be a few hundred dollars... no one is going to take the time to fill out that questionnaire.
If the job is worth several thousands, no one is going to think you care if you can't take a few minutes to ask some serious questions, therefore you'll probably lose the job because you appear to be a knockout artist and don't really want to get involved, unless they commit ahead of time.

Streamlining is good, but not to this point.