Succeeding in the sign business for 35 years is a major achievement. Brian Schofield, with much help from Karin Levin, has made that happen at Lines and Letters in Bridgewater, New Jersey. They know the pitfalls that can end a sign business or keep a shop owner from making what they deserve.

顺风顺水地在标识行业经营35年，足以获得一项了不起的成就。在卡琳·莱文的大力帮助下，布莱恩·斯科菲尔德通过经营Lines and Letters公司（位于新泽西州布里奇沃特）成功地做到了这一点。多年的业内经验，让卡琳和布莱恩深知足以杀死标识业务的陷阱，以及让公司的投入和回报不成正比、经营停滞不前的原因。

Outstanding design skills—which Brian has—are important, but there is more to it than that. Along with the usual business fundamentals like keeping your books, managing your expenses and knowing your overhead, there are some key issues that are fairly specific to making custom signs.

布莱恩的成功并非侥幸，他不仅拥有杰出的设计技能——对于标识行业很重要，还很会处理日常的基础业务，例如记账、管理费用和了解开销等。此外，他还对一些有关于客制化标识业务的关键问题有着相当独特的见解。

Brian recently shared with SignCraft how he and Karin address some of those issues. The results are clear: They still enjoy the business after over three decades, they still turn out great-looking signs and their customers keep coming back. Listen in on Brian’s comments and see how they might help you to reach the same milestone:

布莱恩最近分享了他和卡琳解决其中一些问题的具体方式。他们的经验汇总成的理论非常具有价值，因为通过实践这些理论所带来的结果很明显：三十多年的企业寿命，并且他们仍然享受着生意，他们所制作出的标识依然非常漂亮且充满活力，并且回头客众多···所以不妨看看下面的具体的介绍，希望它们能帮助广告标识行业的从业者们达到与布莱恩相同的里程碑：

Be professional.

更专业。

You can’t expect customers to respect you as a professional if you don’t act like one. Return your calls, show up on time for appointments, be realistic about scheduling, provide excellent service and complete jobs on time. Those sound like simple things that everyone knows, but you’d be surprised how many people overlook one or more of them. All this may sound easy, but when you are a small shop like us, with two people, it is difficult to stay on top of all the “housekeeping.” But if you do your best, your customers will appreciate it.

如果不能专业行事，就不能指望获得客户的尊重。及时回复电话、按时赴面约会、保持现实可靠的日程安排、提供优质的服务并按时完成工作——这些听起来很简单，每个从事商业活动的人都非常清楚，但是如果真的回头观察一下，就会惊讶地发现有很多人忽略了其中一个或多个。

当然，如果是已经具有一定规模的公司，有专人负责这一切会很容易；如果是“作坊式”的公司，老板和员工都身兼数职，那么针对客户准时准点的“家政服务”自然会很困难。但无论是哪一种类型的公司，尽力而为地做到专业服务一定会让客户感激与放心。

Use, or learn, the fundamentals of sign design.

学习并使用标识设计的基础知识

The old-school fundamentals tend to get lost on a lot of today’s graphics, particularly on wraps. As a result, the main message is often lost as well. The fundamentals haven’t changed just because we use more technology. The reader still has only 2 or 3 seconds to comprehend the message on a vehicle.

标识行业老派的基本理论已经跟不上潮流，往往会在当今多姿多彩的图形中迷失方向，尤其是贴纸。如果还按照原先的思路进行设计，那么反而会丢失必须存在标识中的主要信息。要知道标识的基本面并没有因为当前更多的技术而有所改变，观看者仍然只有2-3秒种的时间去看见并理解车辆贴膜上的信息。

Contrast is still the essential tool for controlling and organizing copy. Clutter behind lettering still makes it less legible. The reader can still only read one thing at a time. You want them to get the critical message first, then the next most important message, followed by the less important stuff. You do this with contrast—by using size, color and letter style.

对比度仍然是控制和组织信息的基本工具。现在对于个性化图形的追求所出现的混乱状况使得身处其中需要传达信息的文字变得更加难以辨认，但观看者的阅读速度仍然保持着一次只能阅读一件事。不论作为标识制作者还是商家亦或是终端观看者来说，都希望首先获得关键信息，然后是重要信息，再是次要信息，以此类推。对于这种情况的处理方式，可以通过改变信息文字的大小、颜色和样式来形成对比。

Price your work carefully.

对自己的产品小心定价。

One of the big challenges of the sign business is putting an accurate number on what you design. You’re trying to be creative and come up with new ideas, but if you haven’t executed the idea before, it can be hard to price it accurately. I think most of us tend to underestimate production times and often underprice our work as a result. The object isn’t to get every job—it’s to get the job at a price that will let you produce it profitably.

标识业务的一大挑战就是为自己的设计和产品标出准确的价值。每一个新项目可能都是一次创造力的发挥和新想法的诞生，但正因为是以前从未实践过的工作，想要对其进行准确定价自然颇为困难。大多数的标识生产商都倾向于低估生产时间以及低估自己工作所产生的价值。标识从业者需要抓住的重点是：获得大量的业务并不是最终的目的，需要着眼的是以有利可图的价格获得业务。

Signs are not retail items that you buy, then mark up and sell. They are custom-made products. Custom work is not a cookie-cutter thing. You’re trying to do something unique because that creates extra appeal and value for your client. You don’t want to be repetitive or predictable, and that can make estimating difficult. Keep track of your time and materials the next time you fabricate a set of custom posts—it may surprise you.

标识产品并不是生产商批发来的商品，只需要标价即可出售。它们很多都是定制化的产品，定制工作不是一件容易的事，这是需要明确的。定制工作意味着正在尝试去做一些独特的工作，这个工作的结果是为客户创造更多的吸引力和价值。同样，工作的独特性让设计者不希望产品是重复或可预测的，这对于估算定价来说又增加了难度···

所以建议是：在每次进行定制化标识的工作时，可以对花费的的时间和生产资料进行记录跟踪——最后的结果可能会让人感到惊讶。

We use SignCraft’s Sign Pricing Guide and it helps us stay profitable. I wish more shops would use it—some of the prices I hear are ridiculously low. A lot of sign work is underpriced because people don’t realize how much time is in it, and they don’t know what their hourly rate should be.

另外，不妨参考专业机构给出的标识定价指南，可以帮助从业者保持盈利。有很多的商店只专注于市场竞争，导致最后产品的价格低得离谱。许多优秀的标识作品也被低估了，因为人们没有意识到其中花费了多少时间和生产资料。

Sell your knowledge and design skills.

出售自己的专业知识和设计技能。

In the sign business today, customers give you a lot of what I call “arm’s-length art.” That’s a design that looks good on the screen at arm’s length, but you know will not be effective on the street as a sign. It would work okay on a menu, but not on a vehicle. I’m always reminding people that we have to keep it simple and trim it down, because most viewers only have a few seconds to look at this sign or vehicle.

现在进行标识业务时，往往有很多客户会给出自己的所谓“独立艺术”作品作为参考。这些设计往往在屏幕上看起来不错，但真正的标识从业者会知道它们到了街上作为标识时是无效的。它们可以在菜单上正常工作，但绝对无法在流动的车辆上工作。从事车辆包装的标识工作者一定要牢记的是，必须保持简单并进行适当修整，因为大多数观看者的视线只有几秒钟的时间可以聚焦在这个标识上。

I am convinced that less is more when it comes to sign design and vehicle lettering, and I can show that to them with examples. If there is too much glitz and glam on the truck that goes by, you may take a look—but you probably won’t get the critical information.

根据布莱恩的理论，在标识设计和车辆包装方面，少即是多。当然，该理论也有足够多的反面示例可以展示：如果经过的卡车上有太多浮华和炫目的装饰，当然会吸引人们的注意——但很可能无法获得关键信息。

Everyday you have to put on your “psychological services hat” and explain all this to customers. It’s part of being in the sign business. You can’t always get them to see it, but when you can, they get much better results.

作为标识从业者，也许每天都必须戴上“心理咨询师”的帽子，对客户解释他们的“独立艺术”为什么不可用，这也是标识业务不可缺少的一部分。虽然并不是所有的客户都会接受这一现实，但是如果可以，他们会得到更好的结果。

Get paid for your design work.

获得设计工作的报酬。

Don’t give away your design time—and your designs. If you’re going to let a customer have a design, even for review, you must be paid for it first. Once a design leaves your shop, it’s easy for the client to shop it around. You’ve already done a lot of the work of having a sales discussion, educating the customer and creating a design. If the customer takes it to another shop, all that’s left is for that shop to quote a price on production. You won’t get paid for what you’ve done.

如果客户要求进行初始设计让其审查，则必须先付款，在这个上面所花费的设计时间和创意不应该被浪费。要知道，一旦设计样本提交到客户手中，对方可以很容易地根据样本在其他地方进行定制和采购，而这时样本的制作者已经完成了很多工作，不止是创建设计，甚至包括后续的销售讨论、培训客户使用···如果这些工作没有收费，那么客户将其带到另一家公司，所付出的只是后者单纯的生产报价。

Expect a certain amount of pushback when you ask people to pay for a design. Many customers have the notion that since the design was done on a computer, it was just a matter of a few clicks. I explain that it takes time to consider their image and who they are trying to reach, then to do several roughs as I work towards an effective design.

毫无疑问，在要求客户为设计付款时会有一定的阻力。因为许多人都认为，设计工作是在电脑上完成的，只需要单击几下鼠标即可完成。这时有必要对此进行解释：花时间考虑客户的形象以及他们试图达到的目标以确定有效的设计方向，然后朝着这个方向努力进行一些研究——虽然只是初步粗略的，但也是一个不小的工作量，并且已经具有实用价值了。

If they seem surprised that they have to pay for the design up front, I explain that it’s a part of the process. Design is the first step, then we move into production. We often use the analogy of building a building. You start with the architect and get the design, then you go to the builder to have it produced.

After we discuss the design and their sign, we may want to consider other opportunities to use that design to help them build a brand for their business. But it all starts with the design.

如果这时客户还是觉得必须为设计付出代价而感到惊讶，那就需要更进一步进行解释：要知道，初步的设计只是过程中的一部分，设计是第一步，后面还有生产过程。就好比建造一幢建筑物，需要从建筑设计师那里获得设计蓝图，然后找到建筑商去施工。

在关于设计和标识产品的讨论结束之后，标识商的价值还没有结束，因为对于客户来说，使用现有的标识设计来帮他们为自己的业务树立品牌是一个非常有可能的不错选择。但这一切都始于设计。

This approach can be a challenge because your competition may not be separating design from the execution of the sign project. This is a long-standing issue in the sign business. But you can overcome it if you’re delivering design that sets your work apart.

为设计工作定价的方法可能是一个挑战，因为竞争对手可能不会专门将设计与标识的生产分开，这在短期来说可能会丧失优势。但布莱恩经营标识公司35年的经验表明，这是标识业务中的一个长期问题，如果想要使得每一个设计以及设计带来的工作成果都与众不同，则必须要克服这个挑战。

Get a deposit.

拿到订金。

Many years ago we started taking deposits for logo design and layout design for vehicle lettering and signs. It’s one of the best things we’ve done. Pricing custom work can be time consuming because you are often asked to quote an exact number for the cost of the sign without having the layout or design figured out.

从很多年前开始，布莱恩和卡琳就开始为LOGO设计、车辆包装、和标识的布局设计收取押金，直到今天他们仍然认为这是他们所做的最好的决策之一。因为对定制化作品的准确定价是在最终成本确定后才能给出的，这将是旷日持久的一个过程，因为在初始阶段是无法弄清楚具体的布局或设计的。

Bracket pricing—giving a range instead of an exact figure—is a good approach. It lets the potential customer know the “bracket” of money he or she will expect to pay, yet emphasizes that the price may change upon final design. Once the bracket pricing is agreed upon, we take a 25% deposit then produce a layout to present/review/approve. Upon approval of this, we produce the final layout and finalize the dollar amount for the sign or vehicle lettering. By getting a deposit upfront, you are covering your time spent working on the layout, and you know the customer is committed to doing business with you.

区间定价——提供一个范围而不是一个确切的数字，对于定制化标识业务来说是一个很好的方法。既能使得潜在客户知道他们期望支付的“费用区间”，同时也强调价格可能会在最终设计出来时发生变化。

在商定好价格后，布莱恩会收取25%的订金，然后制作一个布局设计以进行展示、审核、批准。获批后，就可以制作最终的设计并确定标识或车辆包装所需要的具体价格。这样以来，订金可以覆盖在布局设计上所花费的时间和生产资料，并且客户和自己的开展的业务是有所保障的。

Communicate with your customers.

与客户积极沟通。

Return your calls. If there’s a question or problem during production, it’s always worth a two-minute phone call to keep the client informed. People appreciate that. They’re more understanding than if you wait till the day you were supposed to deliver the sign that the supplier was back ordered on the material you needed.

多多使用电话——如果在生产过程中有任何问题，最好能够花费两分钟的电话来告知客户。这会提升客户的信任度并获得他们的赞誉。并且在可能进行的重新订购材料等环节上耽误了最终交货日期时，比起突然的告知延误，提前的通知会让客户更加理解。

Keep learning.

保持学习。

Asia Signs includes many informative and valuable articles in every issue, as well as showcasing individuals and companies with their work and words of guidance. It’s important to keep learning.

《亚洲标识》的每一期都包含许多翔实而有价值的文章，能够展示很多从事标识行业的个人或公司的工作，以及其颇有价值的经验分享。持续地学习知识很重要。

Remember the object of your business.

牢记自己的业务目标。

You need to cover the time you spend inside these four walls. Whenever you are working, the clock is running; the overhead must be paid. Whether you’re talking with the customer, working on a design on the computer, applying graphics or fabricating signs you have to be compensated for that time.

布莱恩认为，标识从业者们要抱着“山中方一日”的观念进入自己的设计室或生产车间，无论从何时开始工作，时钟都在运行——无论是与客户交流、在电脑上进行设计、安装图形还是制造标识，这些时间都应该被计算在产品的最终报价中，让客户支付间接的费用。

The object, at the end of the day, is to make a living making signs. Karin and I both keep our eyes on the ball in this regard. You need to turn a profit to stay in business. It’s one thing to put a smile on a customer’s face—but you also want to put money in the bank. That’s necessary if you want to still be here the next time they need a sign.

从事标识业务也好，大部分人不论做任何工作的目标都是为了谋生。在这方面，卡琳和布莱恩一直专心致志。

只有保持不断盈利，并拥有在危急关头扭亏为盈的能力，才能保持自己的事业、公司继续经营下去。让客户的脸上出现满意的笑容固然重要，但赚取应得的费用也不容马虎。这也是服务业中互相保持尊严的基本要点，只有获得尊重，才能获得回头客——为了让客户在下次需要标识的时候仍然出现，这是非常必要的。