To sell or not sell Gold

[joe]

Charging for Gold,

It's rare when I mention gold to a new client although in the back of my mind I often intend on using it.. Most of my customers aren't comfortable with the topic. This area of the US, Oklahoma, is very financially conservative. One way to quickly loose a new customer is let them know you are a gold expert.

I still apply quiet a bit of 23K but seldom say a thing to the client. My prices always include a little gilding. If your careful, it doesn't take much. My technique is to use Roll Gold when ever possible. If I'm doing a cove around the outside border, there will be almost no skews left behind. Same holds for doing a 1/4” border. By purchasing the rolls in exact widths there is almost no waste. If I have 3D letters I use glass gold, sometimes known as free gold, because it's picked up with a gilders tip and will drape over the letter covering the sides. I'm careful to limit the depth of the sides. The returns can be tricky to gild.

My point is this: These aren't the times to flaunt gold leaf. However most of my signs have some on them. I add a few bucks to my estimate. Clients love the look. I keep it a secret most of the time.

Joe Crumley

[dana_swift]

What is special about gold? Or a particular technique like sculpt-noveau, or your sandblasting methods? They want a sign, they get a GREAT one. Using leaf gilding just keeps it glistening in the sun.

Let your competitors add a "gold charge" if they want. You just sell them signs that keep them coming back for another one.

Any irrational fear or overvaluing of any metal is not called for. Same thing with lead as gold. We have been told to fear one metal and prize another. We may have used lead too freely, but its still a very useful metal.

If you used lead somewhere in the sign, I wouldn't point that out either.

Although on second thought.. someone may eat the sign and sue you! So put a sign on the sign saying the sign contains no lead, and is safe to eat. Then put a sign on the sign on the sign saying the warning sign is also safe to eat. Repeat.

D

[joe]

Dana, That's right.

New customers who come to visit often have a concealed question on the front of their mind. That is “How much is this going to cost”? We should all take this into consideration with new clients. The cost factor can be a limiting part of the sale. It can also be a creative killer in your own mind. When you are planning and drawing up a concept with a budget in mind, your off to a poor start. Don't let that mistake happen. Sign concepts are like dreams you bring forward in your mind. They are deliclate. Once you have the process down firmly in the mind, that's the time to start thinking about costs. It doesn't work the other way around.

There are dozens of ways to lower or raise the construction expences. That's one of the advantages of this kind of forum. Place your requests of answers to problems here, and “Splat” it's like magic. You have lots of help.

No one in this craft can do as well alone, as compared to getting help. It's too broad and deep. We all need lots of help.

I dare you to get around the Ego. It's a killer.

Joe Crumley
www.normansignco.com

[chiloquinruss]

I learned a long time ago in a past work life that if I itemized the quote for a job, THEY started saying well I don't want this or that. I soon just started staying this is the price for the job! I had a partner that I loved dearly, he quoted a job and when the customer asked is that the best he could do? He red lined the amount and wrote a new amount that was $100 more! Gotta love it! :) Russ

[michael_schwartz]

When in doubt, keep it simple.

I think your doing the right thing by simply budgeting for the best materials, and techniques you can offer within the scope of the project.

You can try to offer everything, for everybody, in every possible configuration, A perfect example would be http://www.dell.com/

Love them, or hate them, I think we can all learn something from http://www.apple.com/

I don't mean to drift from the topic of this thread but I just had to give that as an example.

[joe]

Michael, that's not even close to relevant. That's a complex topic laced with a host of subleties that don't apply. If you would like to open that topic of discussion, have at it in a different post.

The customer, you and I have, may only negotiate for a sign once in their life time. They come to us without much knowledge of what they really need. A good sign company will make sure the customer goes in the right direction. The local vinyl shop may not have that kind of experience. I feel sorry for most people trying to get a good sign. They often loose money, or a good portion of it because this trade has no standards or licenses. One of the best examples are the “Vehicle Wraps”. I seldom see one I can read and it's doubtful they are cost effective.

Sometimes I feel as though I provide a “Safe Harbor”r. Still, there are folks I can't serve and they go to my competition. I don't blame them, after all, I couldn't afford me either.

Joe Crumley

[michael_schwartz]

With all due respect, I disagree, and I will leave it at that.

I do feel that the subtleties involved with such a broad generalization do have merit, as they are core values that can be applied to anything. Otherwise, I would not have said anything.

To clarify my point.

From what I see attempting to "sell gold leaf" due to the circumstances that you mentioned would be a complicated issue. It would certainly be tempting to find a complex way of dealing with this.

Your approach is simple. By incorporating gold leaf when a customer requests it or guiding them to that choice if you feel it is appropriate, there is no difficulty, or confusion created by trying to sell, or push that option. It may be present, but not in the foreground.

I think if you were building signs in my area, you would find that a lot of people want gold leaf, and that situation would be very different I know of one local business owner who is very proud, of the gilding on his sign, that was built by another shop in town.

[dakers]

our company is trying to acomplish what Joe already has accomplished.
somewhere along the way we gave in to trying to compete on price and we wound up with customers who only came for price.
i am in the process of turning it around. making the signs better than what the customer is paying for so we will have a body of work out there to build a reputation that we are the company to go to when it has to be good, durable and make signs that do what the sign needs to do, advertise, identify and inform in a creative fashion that represents the clients dream sign if he knew how to make one.

does it pay off? i think so. Why? because we are building our reputation as we build our customers reputation and we can charge more as we elvolve into the company we want to be even if we do not have a Joe Crumley on staff to guide us but our guided by his example.