Every sign shop I’ve worked for has handled the financial aspect of transactions differently. In every case, however, the core issue is one of trust.
Everyone is familiar with buying a product off a shelf in a retail store. What you see on the box is what’s inside the box (caveats of “serving suggestion” aside). If it doesn’t work, take it back. Anyone who has purchased custom jewelry knows you put money down, and the artisan starts work on your special piece. For a mass produced item trust is implicit (This wouldn’t be for sale unless other people had bought it!) while for a piece of custom jewelry the trust is more explicit (The artist assured me I will be happy and I saw some of the work I really liked. I trust I’ll get what I want).
Signwork is custom work. If you’re opening Saul’s Deli you don’t want a Bertrand’s Catering’s sign, do you? A deposit ensures that Bertrand’s Catering is going to follow though (they’ve put down some earnest money!) and so their sign won’t be laying about, waiting to be sold to Saul.
So how does a sign company earn a customer’s trust? The lazy way is to “give away” a design or two with an estimate. A smart customer will get a few quotes. So if that customer has seen four designs, there are three designs they will not be choosing. Who pays for those designs? The cost is wrapped into overhead, so the customer is actually buying not only his design but all the designs that other customers aren’t buying.
That’s not very trustworthy behavior. Plus it boosts the final cost of the sign!
A tougher way to earn customer’s trust is to actually give good service. To show examples of great work, to answer questions fully and truthfully, to learn what they want and produce an estimate that reflects those conversations. The request for a deposit is an obvious step in any custom project. Often the only confusion is when to ask for it. At SignWorks, we ask for your deposit right up front. This allows us to focus on your design and to do an excellent job on staging your project. Your job is not competing for attention against speculative projects.
Receiving your deposit first and then doing the work of creating your custom design helps us keep our commitment to low prices and high quality.