Who is right ... me or hubby??? - Engraving Etc. Forum

From:	LaZerDude (C_BURKE)	20 Apr 2007
To:	joyce (JLADY)	6 of 26

6709.6 In reply to 6709.1

Joyce,

Let me answer your question with a question. If someone came to you and asked you to engrave or sublimate a plate of similar size, regardless of it's intended purpose, what would you charge?

I think Cody mentioned he charges $6...I charge $7.95 ( plate and engraving) ......

So I personally think you should charge what you would for a simple plate..and if you are only charging $3.00, I think you might be leaving a LOT of money on the table...

When the come for the plates on Monday, do as has been suggested have a sample of YOUR work in plain site.....priced with the plate and engraving....then when they mention about buying it on line, ask them how much it cost in freight.....(here the frieght is a killer)

Just my two cents. Want change?

From:	JHayes55	20 Apr 2007
To:	joyce (JLADY)	7 of 26

6709.7 In reply to 6709.1

Joyce - I would not go cheap, your husband is wrong in this case. I think you have been given some solid advice thus far.

We get a lot of requests for tags to be placed on all sorts of items. We charge as much or more in most case than anyone who has responded thus far. Those little single or small bunches of tags still take time to setup, run and package and slow production on larger orders. We charge a fair price for our time and materials, we have not met with any resistance on prices of our tags.

I believe the most important thing to do is start a conversation as to why the school ordered over the net instead of from you. It's important to do this in a proper tone and timing, be non-confrontational in your discussion, be sincere. What you may learn can be of more value than the order would have been.

Joe

From:	Stunt Engraver (DGL)	20 Apr 2007
To:	LaZerDude (C_BURKE)	9 of 26

6709.9 In reply to 6709.6
Chuck, It's not only freight, to consider when buying trophies. If individual names are involved, accuracy in spelling becomes a major issue. What about misspellings? Will the majority of plates arrive accurately engraved? If not, will the company who originally provided the plates stand behind their work and replace them expediently? Mistakes happen and people are generally very forgiving, but what if an unbreakable pattern emerges? Time for another true story. :-) There's a SoCal trophy company who had an annual account producing AYSO soccer trophies. I say "had" because one day that account went away. Were the trophies too expensive? No, in fact they were so inexpensive, you'd think a person would be crazy to switch vendors. Here's what happened. These trophies came with a guarantee. It was a guarantee that, every year, there would be an inordinate number of misspellings. One day, the award supplier noticed, the annual soccer award order hadn't been placed. He calls the organization and says, "It's that time of year again. Just want to make sure we have enough materials on-hand and enough time to finish your order." "Well, we decided to go with another vendor this year." said the person on the other end of the phone. The spurned award dealer says, "Hey, if you got a better price, I can beat it. I want to keep you as a customer." The ex-customer says, "Your price was fine, in fact we're paying more this year. It's the spelling mistakes. Every year, there are so many mistakes that we just don't want to go through that again." "But, I always make good on them!" says the incredulous encrypter of names. "That's the problem. We're tired of you having to make good on the mistakes. We want to pick up the awards, hand them out at the event and not have to think about awards again until next year." was the reply. (That's the story I was told, through the new supplier of the awards, as recounted by the unhappy soccer team dad.) My advice to Joyce and Mike is, don't let people treat your busines as a Chinese take-out menu. If they want to place an entire trophy order, including engraving, make a fair deal. If they want to buy trophies elsewhere and expect your engraving prices to be in line with "Low-Ball, Inc." disappoint them, by charging your standard rates, which may be too low, as is. Just make sure the names are spelled correctly. :-) David "The Stunt Engraver" Lavaneri DGL Engraving Port Hueneme, CA
EDITED: 20 Apr 2007 by DGL

From:	Rodney Gold (RODNEY_GOLD)	21 Apr 2007
To:	ALL	12 of 26

6709.12

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	21 Apr 2007
To:	joyce (JLADY)	13 of 26

6709.13 In reply to 6709.10

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:	Cody (BOBTNAILER)	21 Apr 2007
To:	Dixie2	15 of 26

6709.15 In reply to 6709.13
quote: Don't these men ever learn? 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:	Stunt Engraver (DGL)	21 Apr 2007
To:	Cody (BOBTNAILER)	17 of 26

6709.17 In reply to 6709.15

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. :-)

David "The Stunt Engraver" Lavaneri
DGL Engraving
Port Hueneme, CA

EDITED: 21 Apr 2007 by DGL

From:	Cody (BOBTNAILER)	21 Apr 2007
To:	Stunt Engraver (DGL)	18 of 26

6709.18 In reply to 6709.17

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:	geebeau	21 Apr 2007
To:	joyce (JLADY)	21 of 26

6709.21 In reply to 6709.1

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

Steve
Custom ID & Awards

From:	UncleSteve	21 Apr 2007
To:	geebeau	22 of 26

6709.22 In reply to 6709.21
Steve, I see this as a material vs labor situation. 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) "Good friends can be a real annoyance."
EDITED: 21 Apr 2007 by UNCLESTEVE

From:	Doc (GREAT_ATLANTIC)	21 Apr 2007
To:	Dave Jones (DAVERJ)	25 of 26

6709.25 In reply to 6709.16
quote: If you don't do them for free as a donation, at least fill in the invoice with $6 or $8 each and then show a discount on the invoice to get them down to the $1 each, but be sure to mark it as a one time discount/donation. Outstanding advice, Dave! I particularly like the "donation" angle. Let me take it one step further...if the organization is a 501C3, Joyce might actually be able to write off the difference as a charitable contribution. Not sure if this is possible tax-wise, but might be worth a check. Jim
EDITED: 21 Apr 2007 by GREAT_ATLANTIC