Full Version: Who is right ... me or hubby???
From: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#11]
21 Apr 2007
To: joyce (JLADY) [#10] 21 Apr 2007
Ouch! >.< Be sure he gets a letter from the school for your donation. ;-)
http://www.expressionsengraved.com
EDITED: 4 Jul 2010 by DATAKES
From: Rodney Gold (RODNEY_GOLD) [#12]
21 Apr 2007
To: ALL
Here's an Idea
Why not do the plates for free!!!
Explain to the customer that due to them being such good supporters , we will susidize these plates on a one off basis as a gesture of goodwill despite the fact we would normally charge $8 for em (you can inflate this a little) and the fact its putting us under pressure they will get them FREE!!
You have told em it's a one off , so no more freebies
you have established a price they will pay for individual plates and not given em sticker shock - they arent actually paying
You have made em feel slightly guilty about not buying from you
You have left the impression of graciousness , helpfulness and no bitterness.
You show a large measure of professionalism and generate huge goodwill from your client , he will in all likelyhood give you great word of mouth advertising
If They decline yoyur offer , they will most likely say "charge us the normal fee" - which was of course , $8 :)
At any rate, I think doing them free could have potential benfits exceeding $3 or $9.
In fact , at the $3 level , it's such a paltry amount , when they collect , I would give it to em free with the same story as above.
You really come out smelling like roses!
EDITED: 21 Apr 2007 by RODNEY_GOLD
From: Dixie2 [#13]
21 Apr 2007
To: joyce (JLADY) [#10] 21 Apr 2007
Joyce..
I have a school here that does all their business with me.. Well, last year, they got a new Drama teacher, and by the time I went to meet her, she had already ordered her awards either online or through a catalog...
She ordered them in November.. they didn't get to her until April...
All the plates were misspelled..
She had to come in here and get them all retagged. ( I charged her 3.00 per plate.. we usually charge 5.00-6.00)
After seeing our work, and our willingness to help her out of a bind, she promised to come in here this year and buy her awards...
She came in this past Friday and ordered $600.00 worth of awards..
I think your husband should've charged the full amount.. although I'm sure they will come to you next year for the awards...
Don't these men ever learn? ;-)
Dixie
From: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#14]
21 Apr 2007
To: Rodney Gold (RODNEY_GOLD) [#12] 21 Apr 2007
That makes sense. At $1 per plate, they may as well hand them over as a PR move.
From: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#15]
21 Apr 2007
To: Dixie2 [#13] 21 Apr 2007
Some of us do.
I have to admit that I've done the same thing (or worse) that Joyce's husband did. It was my wife that set me straight.
It took some time for me to NOT be nervous about charging what we had to make on any given job.
-------------------------
In giving a little thought to Rodney's last post, I might tend to agree with him. The $1 per plate price is, in fact, paltry....and practically insulting (won't even pay for your time). I might rather donate them this time around, with a sales pitch about next year.
Dunno....I'll have to give that one more thought.
-------------------------
I've told the story here about the soccer mom that came in summer-before-last to get trophy pricing. It's worth noting that we DO NOT have the best pricing in town on trophies, as it's not our core competency. However, I tried to low-ball the price, only making very little on each one.
She ended up ordering them from an Internet site for less than we could have done them. No problem there.
I found out long after the fact, that "Sulphur Springs" was misspelled on all 600 trophies.
That particular soccer mom is no longer in charge of awards. :S
From: Dave Jones (DAVERJ) [#16]
21 Apr 2007
To: joyce (JLADY) [#10] 21 Apr 2007
From: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#17]
21 Apr 2007
To: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#15] 21 Apr 2007
Cody,
Another true story. :-)
A local trophy store decided, since they can't compete with the internet low-ballers (ILB), they'd employ them to do a large order of awards.
The order was supposed to include engraving. Shortly before the order was due, ILB informed them that, due to equipment problems, they would only be able to supply the trophies.
Since the engraving was going to be super-cheap, the fact that engraving wouldn't be included, didn't knock much off the invoice amount.
In the long run, it was probably a blessing in disguise.
This particular branch of ILB has distinguished themselves as the all-time champions of the A&E industry misspelling bee contest. :-)
EDITED: 21 Apr 2007 by DGL
From: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#18]
21 Apr 2007
To: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#17] 21 Apr 2007
LOL
You know, I might have to check into using ILB for some of our local stuff....and just supply the engraving in-house.
Outsourcing stuff like that doesn't require much on our end, other than a little time in securing/placing the order.
The real upside is that it will bring folks into the shop that wouldn't ordinarily come in. Hmmmmm...have to give that some serious thought before the leagues get into full swing.
From: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#19]
21 Apr 2007
To: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#18] 21 Apr 2007
I talked to the owner of the shop I mentioned yesterday. I have some work to deliver next week and I'll ask if the "If you can't beat 'em, hire 'em" approach worked out.
Could be the way to go, for the budget-conscious crowd, as long as you provide the marking of the plates.
From: PenMan [#20]
21 Apr 2007
To: joyce (JLADY) [#10] 22 Apr 2007
From: geebeau [#21]
21 Apr 2007
To: joyce (JLADY) [#1] 22 Apr 2007
What would the charge per trophy have been complete? If you're selling a completed participation trophy for, let's say, $4.00, it might be kind of hard to justify charging a lot for just the plate.
However, as someone had said, it's not a take-out menu, and it IS a proven fact that the individual car parts are more expensive than the completed car itself, so I'm guessing that charging a goodly sum is not out of line.
This got me re-thinking MY pricing structure on plates for customers' trophies as well. There's a definite increase coming on my part.
Thanks, all, for opening my eyes as well.
Steve
From: UncleSteve [#22]
21 Apr 2007
To: geebeau [#21] 21 Apr 2007
To quote a commercial, "even a cave man can do it" when it comes to assembling the small trophies... and in just a minute or two for many of them (they come already assembled.. :B )
The time and charges are for setting the "type", proofreading, setting up the plate and engraving the plate. Haven't found a cave man that can do it yet, but I did meet a few members at the Atlantic City ARA show and..... well, that's another post. (devil)
EDITED: 21 Apr 2007 by UNCLESTEVE
From: geebeau [#23]
21 Apr 2007
To: UncleSteve [#22] 21 Apr 2007
well put, "neighbor"..
(Actually, I had worked in Yonkers for 30 years, so more "neighbor" than now.
Steve
From: Gary (GLSHOE) [#24]
21 Apr 2007
To: UncleSteve [#22] 21 Apr 2007
From: Doc (GREAT_ATLANTIC) [#25]
21 Apr 2007
To: Dave Jones (DAVERJ) [#16] 22 Apr 2007
EDITED: 21 Apr 2007 by GREAT_ATLANTIC
From: ACJ (LADYCUTTER) [#26]
24 Apr 2007
To: ALL
My first estimate for a memory wall of corian bricks was seriously underpriced and I chalked it up to learning expense. I asked my accountant if I could write it off the engraving as a donation and was told that I could not, unless I paid someone else to do it. Since I don't pay myself a salary it is not considered a true cost.
However, because of other factors I recently reworked the current invoice to show the difference between what I should have charged and what I am charging as a discount. The bottom line is the same, but it shows the customer why I am not giving a lower charge on the non-engraved blanks that they need for fill.
I think by listing it this way I can write it off as a discount expense. Still have to check on that with my accountant.
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