Three things we have all grown to hate are hotel, air fare and car rental pricing. We have all found prices for these and then realized that they don’t include taxes, airport fees, cleaning fees, resort fees, convenience charges, broker commissions, and so and so on. These can add 50% or more to the rate you think you are going to pay.
Unfortunately, the sign business has a similar problem: using a low teaser rate for a product, but when all is said and done, that rate is not even close to the out-the-door rate you pay.
Here’s an example:
Banners $3 sq ft. (an ad for a Honolulu sign company)
Sounds great until you read the fine print. This price is for a low-quality material. Good quality material is extra. The rate does not include any layout or basic design. With few exceptions, almost all of Kona Impact’s clients do not have the software, skills or know-how to design a banner. So, unless you have these things, add an extra charge. The $3 sq ft charge does not include hemming. An unhemmed banner will curl up on the side and is inherently much weaker. So, add an extra charge for that. The $3 rate does not include grommets. So, unless you are one of the 1 in 1000 banner buyers that are going to staple a banner to a board or wall, you will have an extra charge for grommets.
Do you want the banner to be full color? If so, that’s extra!
Oh, and the $3 rate is for “standard processing” which means you will get your banner (low-quality material, your design, no hemming, no grommets) in a week. Want quick processing? That’s extra!
Kona Impact has made approximately 2,000 banners, and the number of times a client has wanted an unhemmed, un-grommeted banner on inferior materials with a print-ready file they have made is exactly zero! In other words, what the $3 sq ft pricing is advertising is something no one is buying!
At Kona Impact, we offer two prices for banner, which I am confident costs less than the out-the-door price of most companies:
$8 sq ft for a high-quality material banner with hem and grommets. This includes a basic layout with a turnaround time of a day. There are no extra charges for full color.
$6.50 sq ft for a high-quality banner with hem and grommets. The client provides the print-ready design. The turnaround time is a day. There are no extra charges for full color.
We also offer volume pricing and non-profit pricing discounts.
For example, one local company that advertising $27 banners has an out-the-door cost (6’ x 2’ banner with hem, grommets, “basic” layout, uncertain turnaround time) for $107! Kona Impact’s price is $96 with a one-day turnaround.
It’s become a time when companies like to lure customers in with rates that seem to be reasonable. Hotels, car rental agencies, airlines, and, yes, sign companies do this. At Kona Impact, we are a full-service company that likes to treat our customers like we like to be treated when we are customers: fair, honest and transparent pricing. We do not give teaser rates and then engage in the “that’s extra” dialog with customers.
So, the next time you come across an extremely low price for a banner, ask the following questions:
- What is the material? Is this your best material?
- Does the price quote include any design time?
- Does the price quote include a full-color printing?
- Is there a setup charge?
- Does it include hemming or grommets?
- What is your turnaround time?
- Do you outsource your work to the Mainland?
- Are there any shop charges or additional costs?
At Kona Impact, we are very competitive when it comes to apples to apples and oranges to oranges comparisons. But be sure when you call for a price quote you are comparing the similar quality, costs and turnaround time!