In Focus Vol. 3 No. 10

Lasting Impressions: Building Business with Unique Products

The key to any successful business boils down to one simple concept… customer service. What that means and how it’s employed can take on many different forms.

For Century Imaging & Graphics in Fort Wayne, Ind., an important component of its customer service is the ability to render customer images on just about anything and everything just about everywhere.

“The idea is to let people know that there is a whole lot more you can be creative with; you don’t have to be like everyone else, so do something different. When I opened up the doors to this business, I was targeting a specialized niche, so I was a little worried at first. But I’ve been very successful and have been in the black since the first month. When I need something different to approach my customers with or if I run out of something LexJet has always been good about getting products to me quickly so I can keep inventory down,” says Garry Burelison, owner of Century Imaging & Graphics.

Toward that end Burelison has turned his studio into a showcase that explores and illustrates the possibilities available to his clients.

Samples abound that bring images to life on deckled Epson Somerset Velvet, Sunset Fibre Matte and Sunset Fibre Gloss photo paper, Sunset Photo eSatin Paper, Sunset Select Matte Canvas, Photo Tex PSA Fabric, LexJet Water-Resistant Satin Cloth, and others.

Among the “others” is LexJet TOUGHcoat AquaVinyl PSA, which he used for the main entry signs. However, given that his focus is on fine-art and photo reproduction, he’s not actively selling signs to his customers. Still, the signs look great, are durable, and entice passersby into the studio with their well-choreographed designs.

Photo Tex PSA Fabric is recent addition to Burelison’s repertoire, and has been used to great effect in his studio as a wallpaper-like border, and in a recent successful wall mural installation for the United Way at a local library.

“I called my LexJet rep about a wall application. I wanted to make a good impression, and he told me about the adhesive-back Photo Tex as a perfect alternative to an adhesive-back vinyl. It was another case with a new product where he told me that if I didn’t like it, I could send it back. It printed real nice. Then I stuck it up on my wall, took it down, and found that it would bond without adversely affecting the wall. We showed it to the library and they thought it was fantastic,” explains Burelison. “We put all the graphics up in about 45 minutes. They were so impressed that they wanted to save the release paper and re-use it in the future. Plus, they didn’t need to re-paint the walls or worry about the walls being damaged.”

With LexJet Water-Resistant Satin Cloth, Burelison printed a window display that highlights the elegant qualities and the backlit glow the material produces. He also uses it to decorate boxes and furniture pieces for additional product sales in his showroom.

“I put a price on them in the shop, and the cost includes having your image printed on them. I use an archival adhesive, adhere it to the box and put a protective coating on it. I sold a lot of those at Christmas,” says Burelison. “I have customers who accuse me of picking their pockets, because they can’t leave without spending at least $200-$300 each time they come in the studio. One customer brings in a disk and asks me to pick something out and surprise him. He’s leaving it up to me to pick which image to print, what to print it on, and how big to print it. I’ve had more people pick up my business cards, flyers and price lists, and volunteer to go out and pass the word around. I haven’t spent any money on advertising.”

Burelison is quick to add that he’ll let the customer know if a particular material won’t work well for the image or the application. While he revels in experimentation, he’s also diligent about documenting the pros and cons of each material in a given situation.

“It comes down to one-on-one service and educating the public on the options available to them. Sometimes I’ll introduce them to something new by giving it to them as a sample. For instance, I printed some images for one of my biggest clients who only wants his images printed on glossy material. So I took one of his color images, converted it to black-and-white, printed it on the fibre paper and gave it to him. He loved it, and he’s ordering all of his black-and-white prints from me now. It’s a lot easier to take the money you would use for advertising and use it to promote your services by giving them something. They appreciate that, and they spread the word around,” says Burelison.