From these examples we can learn a vital marketing lesson. It is this: With products that people prefer, selling price is seldom an issue. Consumers are willing to pay for a well made product or exceptional service. Your sign customers are no different. They’ll also pay for a product or service with those same inherent qualities. In addition, your potential clients will pay for perceived benefits as well.

Let’s say you’ve got that outstanding product or service. At what price is it correctly positioned? At a selling price that emphasizes value over cost. First try to determine what a customer would be willing to pay for a banner or magnetic car sign before you figure your actual cost. Think of the benefits your product will deliver and the quality of your expertise. Of course expenses must be met and a reasonable markup should be included, but why have a give-away-the-store mentality by setting your selling price so low because production costs seem relatively negligible?

Yet what if you continually find yourself having to defend your selling price? The client may be telling you there isn’t enough value for what you’re charging. You may need to address your workmanship, delivery schedule, reputation, or other factors that could be affecting the customer’s perception of your goods or services.

Now here's an interesting scenario: There's this new guy down the street. He’s just set up shop and he’s running some specials that cut your prices to pieces. Since you don’t live in a vacuum, what are you going to do?

First, don’t overreact. If other shops in your trade price accordingly, don’t worry about losing the consumers that are so price sensitive. After all, if you price your item too low you’ll lose the profit from the less sensitive ones -- and they’re out there by the droves! And if you do react to the challenge to compete on price alone, you as well as the competitor will both lose.

Secondly, garner a corner of the sign making market by finding a specialty and defending your ground. Is your niche hand lettering, gold leaf application, vehicle graphic design, or banner production? Work at insulating your business from a price cutting crusade by dominating a particular portion of the trade because being a ‘jack of all trades, yet a master of none’ could be robbing you of cashing in on a unique avenue of sign work.

So don’t forget to address your customer’s perception of your business while making an honest evaluation of your product or service. And when setting a fair price, emphasize value over cost. Just remember: A customer will usually pay for a product they need and want whatever the selling price. Think of that the next time you sip a cup of the java that contends, “The best part of waking up is ‘you-know-what-brand’ in your cup.”

You probably even paid a little more for it, too!