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Business Management

Pricing for Profit

Software that helps you easily quote jobs and manage your business

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Sign professionals know too well that, when customers request a job bid, they usually want a quick turnaround and the best possible price. Chances are, if you quote a job too high, you won’t get it; if you quote a job too low, you risk endangering your shop’s profitability.

Any tool that helps signmakers quickly and more accurately quote jobs is a godsend, because it facilitates the pricing process, and enables shop personnel to spend less time quoting jobs and more time attending to other business priorities.

One such tool, estimating/pricing software, when fed accurate shop-pricing information, eliminates job-quoting guesswork. In addition, most available programs boast an easy setup and user-friendly operation.

According to Dan Hale, author of How to Estimate & Price Signs, a shop can’t determine an accurate selling price without first knowing a sign’s production cost.

Throughout his book, Hale conveys information pertaining to estimating/pricing. Here’s a sampling of the author’s advice:

* Before you manufacture anything, you need to know its cost. You can’t possibly know what to charge a client before determining a project’s costs.

* Be conservative. Any underestimation will directly reduce your bottom line.

* List materials in the order in which they’ll be used.

* It’s easier to more accurately estimate the time it takes for a series of tasks, compared to an entire job.

* Experience (in quoting jobs) brings greater accuracy.

According to CASper (Jenkintown, PA) President Eric Hall, when discussing available shop-management software programs, the terms "estimating," "pricing" and "business management" are often used interchangeably. In addition to helping shop owners accurately quote jobs, Hall said his company’s namesake software allows signmakers to manage all aspects of their business.

"A reliable job quote comprises a project’s labor, material and overhead costs," Hall noted. "It’s important to run through a sign’s production prior to quoting a selling price to a customer. By doing so, you establish a full bill of materials that supports your quote. Plus, by determining all of a project’s costs, you can determine how much you need to mark up the selling price to make a profit."

He added that, because material and labor costs often influence a selling price, it’s necessary to consider such costs prior to beginning any sign project.

Cyrious Software (Baton Rouge, LA) President Charlie Carter also believes that, within the industry, professionals use "estimating" and "pricing" interchangeably. However, he noted, "cost" has a different meaning.

Carter explained that his company’s Control

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