Originally Posted by
Scott Shepherd
I have no desire to be in the trophy side of the business. Good margins or not. I'll stick to what got me where I am today. If it's not broke, I'm not going to fix it.
Um, are we not talking about someone who is in the plaques and awards business though?
Bill: I looked at your site and I saw solid wood and designer plates on everything. Well that's why you can't get the "value" buyers because every plaque you sell costs too much which is why you can't think of selling for less. I'll also say this, your prices are too low Bill. I've spent the last 3-4 months on and off researching plaque pricing and you're too low for what you're providing. Type in "award plaque" on google. The first 5 sites are your global competition. If you're lower than any of them, you're priced incorrectly.
I'm going to do my best not to throw out actual costs but if the "LE" series plate costs X, and I can buy 2 sheets of stock and make the same thing for 2X but from the sheet stock I get 6x the product, I'm dropping my costs by 1/3. Not to mention those designer plates are constantly damaged which I find to be a major issue at times. Doing it my way, you don't have to drop your plaque price at all and yet your increasing his margins a reasonable amount. You may have to pay $400 for a sheer, but it should pay for itself quickly enough.
Equipment: IS400, IS6000, VLS 6.60, LS100, HP4550, Ricoh GX e3300n, Hotronix STX20
Software: Adobe Suite & Gravostyle 5
Business: Trophy, Awards and Engraving