The whole photo album on a banner!!

[Creative_Lance]

Good day guys and gals,
I have been getting many customers lately who want to put their family pictures on event banners, mostly Birthdays and family reunions.
They bring in framed pictures , photo albums and they want to use several ones!! i always like to make my customers happy but darn, it's time consuming trying to scan them, take them to photoshop, crop them, run filters and effects and the rest of the process you guys know!
At first i thought it would be a customer or 2 but i think they have been spreading the word around (lucky me), something like "i know a dumb sign guy who puts as many pictures as you want on your banner for the same price" Then there is the lawn care guy with pictures of a lawn mower, shovel, rake and grass, etc. I charge $85 for a set of 12"x24" mag and $8 Sq. Ft. on banners, both digital printed, frankly i don't have the guts to charge another $30-$50 on top of those prices. I would like to know how everyone deals with customers like them, minimize the number of pictures per sign or charge per each picture?

 

[iSign]

$8 a square is ok, but that's PRINT ONLY!!!
design is SKILLED LABOR, thousands of dollars worth of software, years and years and years of experience, PLUS natural talent...


you are 'practicing" scanning & layout... quit practicing that & start practicing CHARGING!!!

I know it's hard to ask another $30 or $40 for artwork, BUT YOU HAVE TO... YOU WILL DIE BROKE IF YOU DON'T CHARGE FOR YOUR TIME!!!

 

[Jillbeans]

Definintely charge more!
X amount per picture should do, if they are willing to pay for it you could even put sonogram photos/memento mori on there.
Charge enough so they will either pay want you would like to get or let them go elsewhere.
Love....Jill

 

[Craig Sjoquist]

to think I hand paint pictures on signage and charge for this more complex the more charged...
... while vinyl shops will print full color for less then I letter window splash advertising (temporary signs

 

[signage]

If you have Signcraft and the pricing guide, read what it says about the prices, under each one it says plus design time! You can not work for free!

 

[Pat Whatley]

i don't have the guts to charge another $30-$50 on top of those prices.

You are your problem. Tell them up front that their banner is X dollars with one photograph and each additional picture will add X dollars to the cost for layout time. If they know right off the bat that putting that picture of long lost Aunt Suzie on there is gonna cost an extra $20 they'll think about it.

 

[Salmoneye]

Why does this industry print magnetics so cheap again? I charge the same for them as I do for lettering the door. It's easily as much or more work and the materials are not any less. I include basic design in the price of my banners. Basic meaning no more than 10-15 minutes. If it will require more I tell them the first 15min is free anything else I bill hour hourly rounded to the nearest 5min increment. Tell them that it will be cheaper if they scan them high res and email them to you (then you don't have them standing at your counter for an hour deciding what photo of aunt Mable looks best.

 

[gabagoo]

sometimes you just have to suss out the customer and see what they are willing or capable of affording. In most cases, a banner for a family party will not be scrutinized by those attending and generally the people buying them will accept a straight scan to print with NO cleanup.

A young girl who works across the street wanted a poster size blow up of her mom and dad for their 25th wedding anniversary last week, and I know she works for not much more than minimum wage and told her that I could scan and clean it but for the most part it would get to expensive for the purpose intended. I scanned this old photo and built a quick border around it and printed it. To any of us in the business it would be a bit of a joke, but to see her face light up when she came in to pick it up and only pay $50.00 was priceless. She was so happy and saw no flaws.

 

[Creative_Lance]

sometimes you just have to suss out the customer and see what they are willing or capable of affording. In most cases, a banner for a family party will not be scrutinized by those attending and generally the people buying them will accept a straight scan to print with NO cleanup.

A young girl who works across the street wanted a poster size blow up of her mom and dad for their 25th wedding anniversary last week, and I know she works for not much more than minimum wage and told her that I could scan and clean it but for the most part it would get to expensive for the purpose intended. I scanned this old photo and built a quick border around it and printed it. To any of us in the business it would be a bit of a joke, but to see her face light up when she came in to pick it up and only pay $50.00 was priceless. She was so happy and saw no flaws.

I too like to please my customers as i mentioned but unfortunately like everyone else said above basically this is not going to pay my bills! i decided to limit 1 picture per sign by default (unless they only want a plain text), any additional one will be $10 and i can always raise it. As for having them e-mail us the photos, we do that but most of them don't have scanners at home and even if they did i can't count on them for scanning quality.

 

[tomence]

$85 for a set of magnets i think thats pretty good price to get why i think somebody said why we charge so low, man thats not a low price thats double of what i have seen ppl are charging. I sub them out and pay only like $20 for the same set. Plus he is getting $8 per sq.ft for banner printing thats another good price to get even if he has to design some of the work but has to put limit on how much of his design time is willing to do it for free. That is why is hard for him to ask for more coz he know $8 is already a high price coz down the street they may get the same banner at $5 per sq.ft. So its kind you have to play with the prices little bit when giving out quotes and have to reajust to what they throw back at ya.

 

[Creative_Lance]

coz he know $8 is already a high price coz down the street they may get the same banner at $5 per sq.ft.

I'm just waiting on others to comment on that!

 

[CentralSigns]

I just had a job like this but on 12" by 6" alumilite. Same plant pic both sides 30 pieces and a little text. It was for a greenhouse, I told them I'd print whatever they sent, but if they wanted good pictures with no grainyness provide me with pics 300 k or bigger. At first they wanted me to find pictures, what do I know about plants, so I told them that would double plus some to the price. I told them to go to Walmart and get the pics made digital if they had some of their own. Worked out perfect they brought me exactly what I needed to do a good job.

 

[tomence]

Creative Lance i know that from experience coz i was in the same shoes, i had few jobs that i lost to my competition down my street i was at $8 sometimes $10 a sq.ft until few of my customers brought me a quote from the other shop which was at $4 per sq.ft for a 13oz banner. My jaw droped down to the floor when i saw that. Also i called them acting like a customer to find out if i could get the same price and i did. At first i thought my customer was fooling me but found out it was for real. And i am talking about big shop this is not a one guy basement operation This is huge place i dont want to mention their name but they are in LaGrange, IL so whoever is from there knows probably who i am talking about. It looks like they are selling wholesale to the public.

 

[Creative_Lance]

Creative Lance i know that from experience coz i was in the same shoes, i had few jobs that i lost to my competition down my street i was at $8 sometimes $10 a sq.ft until few of my customers brought me a quote from the other shop which was at $4 per sq.ft for a 13oz banner. My jaw droped down to the floor when i saw that. Also i called them acting like a customer to find out if i could get the same price and i did. At first i thought my customer was fooling me but found out it was for real. And i am talking about big shop this is not a one guy basement operation This is huge place i dont want to mention their name but they are in LaGrange, IL so whoever is from there knows probably who i am talking about. It looks like they are selling wholesale to the public.

I know exactly what you mean but i never think about my competition neither do i have them in mind when i quote a price, we are a busy shop, i often get customers complain because they went super cheap on their signs and they want them done right this time! I never talk bad about my competition but i always let my customers be the judge silently and i get a lot of repeats. Again, if you worry too much about what the other shop down the street charges you might as well close your business and either move to another town or run it from your garage!

 

[tomence]

I ain't goin' nowhere man i am good at what i do and no one can compare to me so i am set at a great year. And you are right you shouldnt worry about your competition and if thats the case why you are afraid to ask for more money then.

 

[tomence]

Remember what you said "frankly i don't have the guts to charge another $30-$50 on top of those prices." Why did you say that, is it because you know your prices are high, is it because of your competition come on now something worries you. If you didnt care you would charge more than you do now.

 

[Creative_Lance]

And you are right you shouldnt worry about your competition and if thats the case why you are afraid to ask for more money then

Because i know most of the time people are on a budget and they are only willing to pay a certain amount of money for certain things regardless if competition exists or not they still won't pay more than what they had in mind. Yes, i know people do shop around but seriously i could care less about what anyone else charges or say about me! and maybe that explains why i get repeats!

 

[Creative_Lance]

Remember what you said "frankly i don't have the guts to charge another $30-$50 on top of those prices." Why did you say that, is it because you know your prices are high, is it because of your competition come on now something worries you. If you didnt care you would charge more than you do now.

Why are you drilling me??

 

[tomence]

no man i am not drilling you i just wanted to know why you afraid to ask for 20-30 dollars extra. Also i was thinking since your customers can pay $8 per sqf i think they can afford another $20-30 for their banner to look better.

 

[Pat Whatley]

Just remember that every minute of design time you give away comes straight out of the profit stack, not the cost of doing business stack. You give away 15 minutes a day that's 65 hours of billable time a year you've given away.

At $60 an hour that's the difference between vacation at the local river and vacation in the Bahamas.