Monday, September 13, 2010

Embroidery Digitizing - Price vs Value

Why is the first question always, "What is your price?" instead of "How long have you been doing this?" or "Do you have any referring customers?"

This is a rhetorical question, of course. Businesses have to be careful, during tough economic times especially, price is important and a seemingly easy comparison. But, is it a wise way of evaluating digitizing companies?

I'm simply pointing out that the real value is in the quality and service you receive. Sure, it would be great to only ever pay $25 for every design you need, but cut rate and web-based companies can charge those prices for a reason; they won't deal with the customer over the phone and they have a "pool" of people digitizing on more than one shift, pumping it out as fast as possible with no personal contact with you, the customer....AND, you get attitude if you need them to fix something...pretty picture, right?

This means that you'll never get any consistency in quality or style and they will charge you a-la-carte for every edit, color change and resized version to the point that you end up spending just as much had you gone to a more experienced, quality priced digitizing firm. Remember, they love to advertise 15 years in the digitizing business but just because they've been in BUSINESS that long, doesn't mean the individual digitizing your design has been digitizing that long. What if you need to talk to the digitizer about the design or ask a question? Too bad.

Really think about this for a minute. Think about your commitment to your customers (and your business) for quality. Think about your customer(s) that are savvier or the ones that need a bit more attention (everyone has 1 or 2), you know, the pickier ones. Wouldn't it be a smoother process if you could pick up the phone and call your digitizer to discuss what needs to be done and get it the first time? Or a personal email speaking with the actual digitizer? Ask for a reference, ask how long the person has been digitizing, ask what their strong/weak points are. Some companies use auto-digitizing softwares and they simply do not turn out a good design. Ask if they utilize this type of software.

Look, digitizing is an art form of sorts. It's also a highly technical and creative business. Like most things in life, people that are very good at it can charge a bit more for their services. There is quite a large learning curve to it and it takes years to master.

At NeedleUp Digitizing, you get creative, professional and personalized service by someone who has 19 years of commercial digitizing experience and production background. We never use auto-digitizing software. Every
design is hand punched to your specifications. References are available, quotes are free and our turn time is 1-2 business days. We aren't a cheap, flat-rate company. We are a full service digitizing company whose
prices are favorable and comparable to the kind of quality that makes you look very good in the eyes of your customers. Don't just take my word for it, try us out.

The bottom line is that superior garment orders start with superior digitizing. So the next time you are evaluating vendors and asking only about price, think again. Be sure to ask ALL the important questions and make your decision based on the whole package. Make the money you're spending count for the exceptional reputation you want your clients to see. NeedleUp makes you professional!

For more information about NeedleUp's digitizing services, please visit our website at www.needleup.com where you can view some of our most recent work and get pricing and more information on contacting us.