When customers talk, Unlimited Graphix listens. From abiding by a strict "no voice mail" policy (it's too impersonal) to dramatically expanding its services at the client's request, the Romeoville, Ill.-based distributorship prides itself on providing expedient and personalized customer service. So it comes as no surprise that Rick Neubauer, Unlimited Graphix' founder and president, believes he doesn't own the company alone. "The customers and I do," he says.
After gaining industry experience as a sales representative executive for now-defunct distributorship A.R. Barnes and Co., Neubauer opened Unlimited Graphix in 1994. What started as a general printing distributorship has flourished into a full-service, 3-tiered company with a graphic design department, a supply and equipment department, and a warehouse management department. The three departments are distinguished as "Unlimited Design," "Unlimited Office Supplies" and "Unlimited Management," respectively. Unlimited Graphix offers a total of 28 distribution services under one roof. This, says General Manager Debbie Kemmer, allows customers to turn to the distributorship to execute projects from "conception to completion."
"Our customers used to have to come to us for printing services, go to another company for warehousing and distribution, and yet another company to order office supplies," Kemmer says. "We thought, Why not offer everything? So we did."
Scoring with Personalized Services
Today, 32-employee-strong Unlimited Graphix emphasizes streamlined, customized and value-added services molded and adapted to each customer's needs. The distributorship touts its graphic design and web site design services as its premier value-added solutions. While Unlimited Graphix boasts a few multibillion-dollar clients, many of its customers are local--and small. As a result, Unlimited Graphix targets its web site design services to companies that want to enhance their internet presences but can't afford pricey ad agencies. "Feasibility is a big factor for our clients," Kemmer says.
So, too, is personalization. For example, clients that hire Unlimited Graphix to either design web sites from scratch or update existing ones work intimately with the distributorship's 2-person design team to conceptualize attractive, marketable and, above all, user-friendly sites. Prior to beginning new projects, the designers visit each client's office for a "scope session," in which they brainstorm for site ideas and improvement methods. If the customer's logo is outdated, Unlimited Graphix redesigns it. If the distributorship feels the existing site is bland and stagnant, it infuses the site with vibrant colors and interactivity.
Unlimited Graphix' designer Enrico Quaresima explains the benefits of the distributorship's close relationship with customers: "By sitting down with the clients and discussing exactly what it is they are seeking in a web site, we can create designs that suit their specific needs."
Unlimited Graphix also offers branding services for its web site clients. It provides business cards, company newsletters and brochures, and embosses newly minted logos and other designs on a gamut of promotional items, including tool kits, coins, bottle holders and poker chips. The firm also handles the client's production, shipment and fulfillment. "We are big into doing everything for the client," Kemmer says.
Perhaps the best example of the distributorship's focus on customer service is the fact that the company is devoid of voice mail. A live person--not an automated, "press 1 for..." reception system--greets customers who call during regular office hours. Plus, employees wear mobile headsets, allowing them to move freely to more efficiently assist clients. "I'll walk around from department to department while talking to our clients," Kemmer says. "We try not to transfer them or put them on hold."
While such treatment is rare or obsolete at other companies, it's the norm at Unlimited Graphix. "Unlimited Graphix is a partner in business, not just a vendor for hire," Neubauer says.
Offering a Personalized Solution
Unlimited Graphix crafted eweddingaccessories.com from the ground up. The internet home for Weddings 826, a bridal boutique in Chicago, the site offers a variety of accessories--from tiaras to garters--for online purchase. Unlimited Graphix' design team kept in strict accordance to the client's request for an "eye-catching, simply laid-out, easy-to-navigate" site.
After meeting with Elizabeth Page McConnell, the bridal boutique's owner, to gain a firm grasp of the client's intentions for the site (Weddings 826 wanted to increase its market beyond Chicago), then determining what kind of coding to use (straight HTML with cascading style sheets), Unlimited Graphix' design team created various site prototypes, including mock-up screen shots featuring a choice of color and font schemes. After McConnell chose her favorite design, Unlimited Graphix handled the rest of the design process--mostly tweaking the layout and editing content--until the site's launch two months later.
The finished product, now a year old, allows visitors to peruse hundreds of wedding accessories by picking from a list of 12 categories on eweddingaccessories.com's home page. For instance, if a bride wants bejeweled bobby pins, she would click on "Hair Pins and Clips" to be directed to a page revealing 16 thumbnail shots of various hair accessories. By clicking on any of the images, which were taken by Unlimited Graphix' design team, she then would view a larger photo of the accessory coupled with the product price and description. She could add the item to her shopping cart or continue shopping.
So far, this user-friendly system is working. Eweddingaccessories.com boasts between 15,000 and 25,000 hits monthly, and Weddings 826's overall sales have increased. According to McConnell, eweddingaccessories.com has enhanced the validity of her business on a global level. "With the site, we've captured a nationwide and even worldwide audience," she says. "We now have customers all over the country and even some in the United Kingdom. The site has had a terrific effect on my business. Unlimited Graphix did an exceptional job of making my web site vision into a reality."
Romeoville, Ill.-based distributorship Unlimited Graphix worked with Weddings 826, a bridal boutique in Chicago, to create its web site. The site, eweddingaccessories.com, allows visitors to peruse and purchase hundreds of wedding accessories from tiaras to garters simply by picking from a list of 12 categories on the site's home page. The site boasts between 15,000 and 25,000 hits monthly, and Weddings 826's overall sales have increased.
