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Liesl Dexheimer
02-13-2010, 10:33 AM
In your opinion, what is the hardest part of running an engraving business:

Gaining new customers
Price quotes
Competition of large stores
Getting paid by customers
All of the above

Share your thoughts, just wondering how you engravers feel out there...

Dave Johnson29
02-13-2010, 10:49 AM
Competition of large stores
Getting paid by customers


Competition is always good to keep your mind active and your quality high. I send jobs I do not want to my competitors. Let them put up with the whiny and/or difficult customers or dirty, messy and/or repetitive jobs.

If you are not getting paid COD (cash, credit cards etc) then you should not be in business. IMHO, anything under a few thousand dollars is COD only. You do not need to chase people for money. If they can't pay up-front then send them to your competitors and let them chase them.

I have run my own very profitable businesses for 30+ years. Just one man's experience and opinion.

Scott Shepherd
02-13-2010, 10:52 AM
Quoting. Not the part about what to quote, but the time it takes to quote. Weekly I get things that I've never seen before, don't know who makes the material, hardware, etc, so I end up on expeditions to educate myself on sources. Hate that part of the business.

Mike Null
02-13-2010, 11:13 AM
The same thing that's hard in any business--getting customers.

Viktor Voroncov
02-13-2010, 11:21 AM
Understanding of fact that your laser can do much more, than you think. And next problems are
- how make perfect quality samples of what you can do with laser
- how provide information about your possibilities to potential customers

Rodne Gold
02-13-2010, 1:00 PM
Getting and keeping customers is the hardest job - without em you got no business
It requires quoting correctly and beating the competiton as well as many other things

Liesl Dexheimer
02-13-2010, 2:22 PM
I find it particularly hard to get new customers, especially when engraving isn't really a necessity and large companies are cutting back in spending (especially in the awards area).

Mike Null
02-13-2010, 2:37 PM
Liesl

I beg to differ. Engraving is very much a necessity for many companies. You need to find which ones and how to get their business.

Maybe you need to take a look at your marketing strategy and consider who you're targeting and how you're reaching them.

Liesl Dexheimer
02-13-2010, 2:57 PM
Sorry, let me rephrase that. Engraving isn't a necessity to many people (ex: the "gifts" market of engraving, more people don't have the budget for gift engraving b/c of the recession) but yes, I do agree that engraving is a necessity among some businesses (particularly for signs & identification).

Viktor Voroncov
02-13-2010, 3:58 PM
I am selling lasers, but I am carefully look on my customer after sales. All of them successful, practically all of them after 3-6 months of work catch "big fish"
Some samples of "fish"
1) Customer in very small city (3000 inhabitants) do some engraving on plastic parts for mobile phones - because company who make this parts is in same city.
2) Cutting of non standart greeting cards. Customer in Lithuania doing this job for German customer, because German company print this cards here.
3) Accessories for youth (looks like jewellry but made from plywood - do not know this word in English) - two Spirit GE 60 Wt, 24 hours per day - orders from many local manufacturers.
4) Gaskets for hydraulic equipment
5) ID plates for agricultural machines made from Alumamark
So watch wider :)

Jim Beachler
02-13-2010, 6:24 PM
I market to the gift market and find that personalization is growing.

More business are realizing that they can charge more for an item that is personalized. They also will get referral business as people want to know where they got that.

For me the hardest part is marketing / selling my products. I sell both wholesale and retail and selling is not one of my better skill sets. but I do believe strongly in what I do and the passion shows. I think that is what helps me sell the deals.

Mark Winlund
02-14-2010, 3:32 PM
Sorry, let me rephrase that. Engraving isn't a necessity to many people (ex: the "gifts" market of engraving, more people don't have the budget for gift engraving b/c of the recession) but yes, I do agree that engraving is a necessity among some businesses (particularly for signs & identification).

Same here... A huge customer, (University) just stopped using plaques, and now give out paper certificates (which they make) instead. Our little business
is very much an "optional expense" with many customers. Even in our little town, there are thousands of people out of work. Robberies and burglaries are at an all time high. 3 out of 5 university employees have been laid off. Hewlett-Packard (used to be one of our town's major employers) is virtually shut down. They are trying to sell parts of their "campus" to anyone who will buy. Optimism only goes so far.

Mark

Liesl Dexheimer
02-14-2010, 5:17 PM
Mark, thank you for your honest observation. Last year the recession didn't really hit our business, in fact we gained more than in 2008. However, I question this year and what is in store for all of us. I just received the new Marco/DTC catalog, there are some beautiful glass, crystal & acrylic awards, now if I could just find the customers that have that kind of budget...

Scott Shepherd
02-14-2010, 7:43 PM
Robberies and burglaries are at an all time high. Mark Time for creativity to take hold and you can start making "Nothing to steal here, move along" type signs :)

Viktor Voroncov
02-15-2010, 5:02 AM
Mark, if it relief you - we had 2009 turnover just 20% from 2008 turnover. In our biggest market in Latvia over 50% of our customers are bancrupts. Whole 2009 I can remember only like survival :( But first months of 2010 bring hopes :) Take care, good luck and family first :)