Recently my son Lukas had a little episode with stealing.  I caught him taking money from his grandpa’s dresser. Just so I am clear, we’re not talking pocket change here, but rather the loot jingling in the depths of his lint filled pockets totalled one hundred sixty bucks!  Now of course it was the principal of the matter rather than the amount itself, in which I was most concerned.  But as you can imagine this sum of money  spurred visions of visiting my future fourteen year old son behind prison bars!  I had to think of a plan FAST, to turn this into a learning opportunity, but how?

- Budding entrepenuer Lukas  Korfiatis starts his first business appropriately named, “Luke’s Lemonade”.

I decided that among other consequences, he was not too young for a chores list.  I would make him earn the use of his newest toy and most prized possession, his bicycle, and teach him to save for future purchases.  Lukas accepted the consequences of his actions by doing his daily chores without argument.   However,   unsatisfied with the time it was taking to earn back his bike privilege, he set up a lemonade stand and appropriately name it Luke’s Lemonade.  I know what you’re saying at this point, “how cute, but so what? Every kid has thought of that”.  Trust me, I agree with you but it’s what he did next that blew me away.  He got on the phone and started calling his friends and family to let them know that he was grounded and was earning money to buy back the use of his bike.  He went on to say that he would appreciate it if they would stop bye his lemonade stand and make a purchase.  That day he earned over thirty dollars and was well on his way to renewing his bike privileges.

Whether or not you agree with my parenting style you cannot deny the marketing power behind the “Lukes Lemonade” brand story. Developing a brand in today’s over-communicated society requires a story line that gets people to stand up and take action.  It then needs to be communicated consistently and frequently across all marketing channels.  In Lukes case all he had was a phone, a hand made sign and an adorable smile.  Your practice has many more options to communicate your brand message.  Websites, brochures referral reward programs, staff communications & culture training and more.  However, no matter what the method, if your story isn’t compelling, the message will not be received by the target audience.  Need help getting started?  Remove every dental technical term from your copy and don’t use in-mouth before and after photography.  In my 10 years of Dental Branding I have yet to poll one patient who said they decided on a particular dentist after seeing their in-mouth before pictures.  To us lay people, that is like sucking on a lemon.  We much prefer lemonade.

 Saggezza Creative Group cordially invites you to join us as we cheer on the Wenatchee Apple Sox baseball team for our first annual "Saggezza Super Sox" Night.

Saggezza Creative is pleased to celebrate our partnership with the Wenatchee Apple Sox. In fact Saggezza Senior Graphic Designer Shon Dempsey created and designed the Apple Sox website!
 
So come on down and "catch" the game with us.
 

Friday, July 11, 2008 at 7 pm
Paul Thomas SR. Baseball Field
Wenatchee, Washington

 
Saggezza Creative will raffle off business services at the game!
Winners will receive one of the following marketing packages: the design, layout, and printing of business cards or brochures, or a two hour customer service communications training session for your staff.

If you didn't recieve tickets from us in the mail, we have a few left.  Contact Us to request your free tickets, then return to the site with your ticket number and fill out this form to be entered in our raffle!

Korey Korfiatis, CEO of Saggezza Creative Group presents: -
“Creating a Culture of Customer Service Excellence”

In today’s world of complex communications from instant messaging to online shopping, focusing on customer service may seem a bit antiquated. If you’re a small service or retail business competing for customers attention is extremely challenging. Your best option to succeed is to develop a culture of customer service excellence.

What to expect

In this seminar series we will give you the tools and teach you the techniques to sell, service, and retain loyal customers so you are able to successfully compete in today’s “need it now” society. In addition to the two full days of training, our experienced team of consultants will visit your business to help you implement and empower your sales and customer service team. Your team will be trained on how to effectively cultivate relationships and improve sales leaving you with a foundation that is built for success.

When: May 28th & 29th (Plus on-site employee training)
Time: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Where: Chateau Faire Le Pont Winery
Fee: $1500*
*Continental breakfast and lunch provided. Fee includes up to three seminar participants

Click *here* to learn more and reserve your space today!

A few weeks ago our company posted our views on xerox and their new brand revision. More recently I ran across an article (blog) that one of my favorite branding experts, Laura Ries had written. I encourage you to read to get her perspective on xerox's decisions. She makes some very interesting points regarding when a re-brand is necessary versus hanging on to a old dog and expect to be able to teach it some new tricks. http://ries.typepad.com/ries_blog/2008/01/after-a-brand-o.html

During the same time each and every year my clients start calling with an unusual tone in their voices. I can hear the fear and picture their tail between their legs as they sheepishly ask, “Korey, will you please make the call.” What call you ask? The church auction volunteer is looking for a donation? Nope. The accountant needs the profit and loss statements? You’re getting warmer. The Yellow page ad rep has left three voice mails? Nailed it!

Why is it that clients have such a hard time saying no to yellow page reps? I mean really, when is the last time you made an important buying decision by looking in the yellow pages? “Honey, I need heart surgery, do you know of anyone”? “No, sweety, why don’t you just look in the yellow pages”?

Today’s consumer is armed with more resources than ever to make a buying decision. The internet, GPS systems and a McDonalds on every street corner. Just say no to the yellow page reps and go start-building relationships with your customers.

Latest web work posted

Shon has been quite busy spinning webs as of late.  We've launched 3 new sites: JustinGrubbs.com, PerSystConsulting.com, and LegworkBlog.com.  Head over to our portfolio and take in our full write-up!

 XEROX, or should we say, xerox, unveiled a new logo Monday intended to help redirect the public’s perspective of their services.  If you’re holding onto the old school XEROX perception of good ol’ Sunday, January 6th, 2008, let us help bring you into the now – Xerox isn’t a photocopier company anymore (as far as you and I should know).  This corporate powerhouse is now specializing in color printers, software and other technologically updated products.
So, what do you think about the new branding identity?
What?  You want to know what we think?  We thought you’d never ask.  
Let’s start with the positive.  Our creative team agrees that the new lowercase typeface is more approachable.  It’s softer on the eyes and leaves a warmer feeling in the heart – just what they were shooting for.  No more body-building font for today’s Xerox; they’ve successfully gotten in touch with their softer side.  Way to go, guys.
Now that we’ve got that taken care of, let’s roll out the other items at hand.  
The 3D orb.  Feel like you’ve seen it somewhere before?  We can’t imagine where.  Time is ticking on this sphere of design.  How many more tech companies are going to bounce this icon trend around before it’s stuffed to the back of the designer’s desk drawer like a pair of their daddy’s bellbottoms?  Guess we’ll find out.  In our opinion, there’s too much trend, not enough timelessness here.
Maybe more concerning to our creative crew than the Xerox ball is the rollout campaign strategy of the multi-million dollar redesign.  What rollout campaign strategy?  Exactly.  If you blinked, you missed it.  Xerox, a company that’s been around since 1970 and worn the same logo for 14 years is going to change their public image overnight?  Danger.  We the public, by nature, are highly visual.  When we become familiar with an identity, our subconscious becomes committed to it whether we intend to or not.  On the part of the business looking to change their identity, it’s important to give their beloved consumer fair warning that things are going to change.  No change is best received when it’s done overnight.  Maybe over three-to-five months…in the case of a large company like Xerox, we might have drawn it out three-to-five years.  Xerox underestimated the power their brand carried in their international marketplace.  We’ll see how much it costs them.    
As for Monday, the grand “buzz” created by their new identity rollout cost them 1 cent of their market share, closing at $15.10.  Earlier in the day, they hit a $14.98 low for the year.  For their sake, we hope this was all part of their plan.