A very Good Day

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Danimal

Danimal

CGF II, Certified Grumble Framer Level 2
Joined
Nov 8, 2005
Posts
438
Loc
Lawrenceville, GA
Today we booked what is by far the biggest order to date; A commercial Customer we have been courting placed a $12,000 order. BUT! He needs it by Friday, won't have all the artwork until Tuesday and my framer goes on vacation Thursday afternoon.

Momma said the would be days like this.
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
 
WOW! Congradulations!
I believe my single biggest order was around $2500. But I am working on a continuing comericial job that I have been working on for the last 6 months and it is at $6000. to date! It probably will include about $3000. more!

Oh to have about 10 more of these!!!

You can do it!!!
 
Congrats!

I hope you have enough time for this, or it could be just 3 expensive frames....;)

Lisa, it's this time of the year where people are gardening instead of framing. It will pass.
 
Hang in there Lisa, I have gone a whole week before without one customer. It will get better!

You're new and it just takes time!

I've been building my business for 7 years now and I still have days like that! It's just part of retail. I think it is one of the big reasons alot new business give up too soon. It gets really discouraging.

How is the new business doing so far?
 
I'm just about to bust to tell somebody the news. I came home to tell the Lovely Mrs. Danimal and she went to the plant store with our best friends who are coming for dinner tonight.
AAAARRRRRRGH!
 
Lisa, if it's any consolation, I've seen one person today between 10-2. He brought in 2 orders and I'm grateful for those, but dang, it's quiet this afternoon. I wish I were gardening today!

Danimal.........Congratulations!! Tell us more!! A bazillion pieces? One great big one? Three great big ones?? type of moulding?? Wassup??
 
Complete freedom to design and frame fifteen pieces for a corporate Hall of Fame. These were the first fifteen of an order that could run from 50 - 100 pieces. The order came from a referral by an employee who had us frame a magazine article for the same company last year.
 
Gosh, I'm sure glad I popped in. I think this was the slowest week I've had since before Thanksgiving. No new orders-only a few phone calls, and most of them were from people asking me to donate money. I truly was beginning to get discouraged. Nice to know there are others in the same condition.

Worse than being so slow is the fact that I don't get anything else done either! I figured I'd take advantage of the slow time and make up some display items, do some store work, etc....HA! All I managed to accomplish yesterday was ruining two pieces of matboard because of bad measuring! Jeez!!
 
(sorry to Frankenthread!)

Actually it's going great. Last week I was swamped spending 10-12 hr days getting orders completed etc. Sales were more than double from March to April, so it seems I'm going in the right direction. My customers are super pleased with my work and are sure to be repeat customers as well. If all goes well, I should be able to cover my overhead by next month!
I bought a few asian sweatshop oil paintings 36x48 Tuscany scenes from the Baltimore show, which are kinda nice - my customers love the colors and I already have 2 sold which is 2 nice framing sales I wouldn't have had if I didn't have the paintings in the store! At the very least they brighten my storefront (I have them stretched and displayed on easels)
I have a full page ad in my local Shopping & Dining Guide this month (that I got for 1/2 price *woohoo*) so we'll see what comes in from that!
 
Danimal, that's fantastic! Congrats! How did y'all come to the $12K price without the artwork in hand? Did they just happen to say their budget was only $12,000, and you happened to respond, "well, as a matter of fact that's exactly what it costs to frame this many pieces?"
 
And Lisa, hang in there. I was told there would be days when nobody comes in, but nobody mentioned that there would be so many consecutive days in a row when nobody comes in!! Sometimes, it's like the Walk of the Living Dead out there, just old people shuffling by on their way to and from the old folks home and the pharmacy. And Saturdays, around 3 pm, it gets so slow you see tumbleweeds rolling down the street. I cut my hours back on Saturday, it just wasn't worth staying open from 5 to 6 PM. I don't even bother on Sunday.
 
Always slow at the end of April and the beginning of May.

Make yourself a note for next year - take vacation!!!!!!!
 
Last year it was freakishly slow the week before and the weekend of Memorial Day. Maybe one customer, spent $100. I spent more on gas getting to and from the store than I made. This year, I'm closing Memorial Day weekend, and I'm going to NYC. I'm going to go to the Met, too, so I can write off the trip as a business expense.
 
This week has been bad for my store also. Only one day (today) actually made some money. I didnt have a single customer yesterday (Fri) except for an employee who came in to do some do it yourself framing. That brought in less than 30 dollars. No real orders coming in..must be the weather and all the money is going to the lawn care and flowers/plants. LOL
 
That really is AWESOME!

But isn't that the way this business goes........never quite coordinated with OUR plans/schedules!

Guess that's why someone coined the phrase..."go with the flow"! Happy flowing Danimal!........all the way to the bank!
 
Congratulations on your salesmanship. I hope you get many more $12,000 jobs.

I'm real concerned about your turnaround time. I don't know your operation but unless your a big production shop $12,000 is a lot of framing in only a few days.

Working with fatigue is counter productive.

Can you get more time?

Doug
 
As far as pricing, every piece has to be unique. Since we have design freedom I laid out about ten different high end mouldings and asked what he liked and he said everything looked good to him. So we picked a mid-range moulding (I think it was Larson Musee) and priced it out with double mats and a fillet.

The schedule will be tight but it is only fifteen frames. They were good price points though which made the order up to $12k. I'm not sure how we are going to do it but we will. Isn't that the essence of being in business for your self?
 
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