I have a serious question here. Are we missing the boat? Are we being stupid? We were asked to bid on some replacement graphics for a newer client. They had been working with a custom exhibit house and have since moved most of their business over to us. Since they had provided them with the original graphics, our client had them generate a quote for those graphics. We also quoted it. A couple of lessons that came out of this exercise.
This is a long read/rant, sorry. We are so passionate about customer service and sometimes question what actually goes on in our crazy industry.
1. Comparing apples to apples is important. There are many substrates out there that have varying price points. It is critical that when you are comparing price quotes that you are certain that you are using comparing like products. In this case, we were suggesting a better quality and more expensive product. The interesting part? We were only slightly more expensive than our competitor for a better product. When we priced out the exact same product, we were much less.
We run into this all the time. We get a call from someone. They say, "our existing trade show partner quoted these items for me, they seem expensive, how would your quote compare?" This is SO hard. Often those quotes from our competitors don't include appropriate detail or images of the products. For example it just says 33.5" retractable banner stand. So, I have many questions when that happens?
- What is the height?
- What is the substrate, vinyl, fabric, fabric with blockout backer?
- Is the height adjustable?
- Does it include a soft carry bag?
- Is there a hard shipping case option? What does that look like?
- IMPORTANT QUESTION - What is the warranty on the product?
- Is it US made or China made?
- Is US made important to you?
Without those details it is virtually impossible to just compare prices. We put the time and effort into those quotes even though they are not big money makers for us. Why do we do that? Because it is the right thing to do to service our client? Our customer's orders are ALL important to them, not just the big orders, but the little orders too. If they are important to them, they are important to us.
2. Total costs. It is important that you understand the full cost of the product. Some exhibit companies have a number of add-on fees they charge as part of every order. In this case, for 4 hard substrate graphics finished with Velcro, they had an added $500 project management fee. If you are only comparing the price of the graphics as an individual line item, is not a true comparison. They also had a $250 packaging and handling fee added. Granted these 4 graphics will likely have to ship on a pallet so a packaging fee may be legitimate.
So, what does that $500 project management fee entail? This job, if managed well, should take an hour, MAYBE 2 for someone to manage. That includes quoting, managing the job, delivery and invoicing. If it takes them more than 2 hours, they should find some new project managers.
That is $250 per hour fee. As a business owner, I understand the cost of employees is far more than their hourly rate or salary. But this is some good profit for project management.
Where do you draw the line in servicing your client? In the trade show industry, I have always felt that we shouldn't bill like attorneys. There are certain things that should simply be a cost of doing business and I believe customer service is one of those.
Now, for large custom island builds or rentals, there are costs for pull & prep and managing a build that can be billed to the client. But $500 for 4 simple graphics? That seems abusive to me.
Time for the shameless plug, Total Displays does NOT charge those project management fees for replacement graphic jobs.
Don't just look at line item pricing. A good partner will help you compare apples to apples. If we are significantly more expensive than a competitor, we will tell you to go with our competitor and save the money. That is as long as the quality and products are comparable.
So, back to my question. Are our competitors laughing at us because we don't charge project management fees on every order? When there are options out there for exhibitors to work with a partner like Total Displays why do they keep paying the extra fees? Should we be charging those fees too?
Right now, my answer is an overwhelming NO. We will continue to provide service without charging all those extra fees. If I want to bill for my paperclips, I'll go to law school. In the meantime, we will continue to service our clients the way we always have.
