When I talked with Larry Elliott, Elliott Design, McLemoresville, TN, about the power of Mike Jackson's three-tiered pricing approach in the last Trade Secrets, he passed along some great insight into how he built his business over the past 45 years. He's in a tough market, too--a rural area where he serves a lot of small towns, and folks are generally conservative about graphics and budgets. 

"Telling someone how their sign can look is impossible," says Larry. "How many times have you had a potential customer say, 'I want a really nice sign for my new business....' Right away you start thinking, 'Wow, he's looking for a carved, gold-leafed beauty with ornamental posts....'

"Then reality hits you right between the eyes when they say, 'Just something with a white background and maybe red or black letters. And here's a sketch my kid's done. Can you make something like this?'" 

Click here to see how Larry has successfully turned many such prospects into great clients who got great value--and spent a little more in the process. 

"So, everyone's concept of a 'really nice sign' is different," says Larry. "It can range from