Signs of the Times - March 2014 - (Page 20)

V in y l A pp s By Dale Salamacha Dale Salamacha is co-owner of Media1/ Wrap This Ink! (Longwood, FL) Back in Black How to price yourself for profitability T his month, we're going to focus on pricing vehicle wraps so they make money for you and provide good value to your customers. This is trickier than it sounds, but it's important for your shop and the industry as a whole. Varying costs of living nationwide dictate different pricing; as we discuss this, remember this may need adjusting wherever you call home. A wrap in San Francisco, for example, will cost more than one in Des Moines, IA, simply because everything in San Francisco costs more. As I always hammer home in this column, the most important aspect of shop ownership is remaining profitable. No one wins, especially your clients, if you price your work so low you go bankrupt. I'm sure you've seen local signshops cut prices so low you can't compete. The truth is, those cut-rate companies don't know they're losing money! Once you determine your wrap-pricing structure, you'll soon know if you can occasionally lower prices when needed. Don't fall into the trap of thinking you're slow and can use the money. If you drop pricing for one customer, others will expect it. Before long, you'll have exchanged profitability for quick cashflow, and it will catch up to you. Sell quality We've had digital printers in-house since thermal-resin transfer printers (such as the Gerber Edge, DuraChrome, etc.) were the only choice. When inkjet printers debuted, we paid $95,000 for our first machine. It seemed crazy at the time, because not many signshops were making such large purchases, but we've benefitted from offering our customers superior technology. Now, inkjet printers operate twice as fast and deliver twice the resolution and ink durability for half the price. It's easy to think, simply because the technology used to produce wraps is cheaper, that the wraps themselves should be cheaper as well. That's not true; avoid that type of thinking. Consider a typical scenario: you've spent time with a client, and perhaps even created a few designs for him. He tells you that ABC Signshop down the road offers wraps for $750 less than you, and he's toying with the idea of hiring them. Let's face it; everyone has the right to search for a better price. But, with wraps, bargain hunting is a slippery slope. Providing a quality product at a fair price requires accounting for attention to detail in design, printing with sufficient resolution, and thorough, professional installation. Clients don't want to spend $3,000 on a wrap to have it peel, bubble, fade or otherwise fail inside of six months. When they pay for cheap work, that usually happens because the cut-rate company can't devote the time or money for quality work or materials. The formula If you price per square foot (we do), carefully configure your costs before quoting a price. We spent years determining an average, per-sq.-ft. formula for vinyl wraps, and adapted it to each vehicle template. It's especially tough, however, for a fledgling wrap company, unsure where to begin. Just buying a printer and laminator and paying for advertising does not a wrap company make. All work done to design, print and install a wrap must be accounted for when developing pricing. Jobcost a wrap based on the following factors: * Cost of goods and materials. The three main items are: vinyl, lamination and ink. How much When pricing your wraps, be sure your calculations account for the cost of goods does the 54-in.-wide roll of vinyl, sold, labor and overhead, and provide adequate profit that will allow you to sustain paired with the correct laminate, your shop. Failure to do so might put your shop at risk and bring a visit from these cost? What does your ink cost ladies ... uh... never mind. Just remember to price jobs so you can grow your business per sq. ft.? Manufacturers of and better serve your customers. Arizona Color (Phoenix) fabricated this wrap on an most newer printers can provide HP Designjet L26500 latex-ink printer with 3M Controltac IJ180-10Cv3 air-release ink-usage information. media, and protected it with Scotchcal 8518 glossy overlaminate. 20 SIGNS OF THE TIMES March 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Signs of the Times - March 2014

Signs of the Times - March 2014
Contents
ST Update
Technology Update
Designing for Large Format
Vinyl Apps
Strictly Commercial
Lighting Techniques
The Moving Message
Technology Review: Summa’s DC5 and DC5sx printers
Technology Review: PrinterEvolution Neo Series printers
Design Matters
New Products
Happiness Squared
They Speak the Language
The 2013 Lighting Survey
Ganassi Racing’s Green Light
Dynamic Digital Signage Made Simple, Part 3
Industry News
Advertising index
Editorially speaking

Signs of the Times - March 2014