There are thousands of resources online and in print purporting to hold the secret to success in business. It’s a vast and profitable industry, and books continue to fly off the shelves. From a service industry perspective, to me it seems to boil down to a single, simple ideal: The best way to attract and keep clients is to create a service experience that is second to none.

Providing exceptional design is not the full picture of what our company does. For a professional firm, quality of design should be a given. What keeps people coming back is the combination of high quality work product, and excellent customer service. And the same is true with any business.

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Life is all about the little things.

I often wonder why so many of the business owners and brand managers who approach us are so obsessed with the overall machine, without giving so much as a nod to the cogs that make it work. I’m not talking about employee recognition here (that’s another topic entirely) but rather, the less tangible qualities that impact the customer’s experience in doing business with you.

How many times have you avoided returning to a restaurant with a shoddy bathroom? And how wonderful is that free tea or cappuccino at your favourite spa? » More

From disparate beginnings, Christmas has become largely a cultural celebration for my generation – one meant to bring people together and place our focus on the people we love.

It has also become an uber-brand that represents intangible, un-buy-able values (peace, love, joy, family, selflessness) simultaneously with supreme commercialism. » More

The Green movement is in full swing, and in most ways it’s a very good thing. Marketing hype issues aside, many have worried aloud about the future of the printed word/image. With digital alternatives becoming increasingly pervasive, and former print industry leaders abandoning the page in favor of the screen, what’s to become of our beloved magazines and photo albums? » More

Back when I was making the big switch from the safe nine-to-five desk job into the overwhelming world of business ownership, I was eager to take on any task, regardless of the proposed “return on investment”, let’s call it. I don’t think the word ‘no’ was present in my vocabulary. » More

Everyone in business is in the business of sales. You may not be peddling widgets, but we’re all selling something. Like it or not, commerce depends on marketing: a high-pressure, cut-throat and highly competitive field where genuine talent seems to be (somehow) diluted with morons who are two IQ points above drooling. I’ve worked with a lot of highly impressive and capable marketing professionals, but I’ve also dealt with too many who fall into the other camp. The fact is, being effective in marketing requires intelligence, an intuitive and intimate understanding of human psychology, and a finely tuned talent for communication. » More

If ever there were an overly competitive industry with little to no regulation, it would be the commercial design industry. Any child with a computer and some basic software can market themselves as a designer, while the true industry suffers wide scale devaluation and thousands of business owners are taken for a ride by unqualified or even unscrupulous “designers”.

As a consumer, how do you protect yourself and your company? The answer is more simple than you may think… all you have to do is a bit of homework. » More

Question:
What does excellent trade show signage look like? Is it simple? Colorful? Digital (narrowcasting)? Branded? » More

When you’re not around to make a personal impression, your materials are doing it for you. So naturally, you want to be sure that your materials are making the right impression. In this article I’ll go over a few specific bits of advice to ensure that your corporate identity materials are projecting an image of competence and success. » More

So it’s a new year already – where did the time go? And what about those promises we all made to ourselves around this time last year? If you’re like most people, you may have resolved to lose a few of those extra inches… but if you’re a business owner, the term “New Year’s Resolution” probably has different implications. » More