When asking yourself if local is the better choice consider the following.

I got off the phone with someone recently that told me, “I want to go local because we hired someone and they moved away and now we can’t get ahold of them.” Or sometimes I hear, “I want to go local because they can come in the office and meet me.”

When evaluating a local company versus a national design and development firm, think not in terms of locality, but responsiveness of communication, quality, quality of team, process and track record.

For us here at Studio98, we have a specific process that allows us to work with clients anywhere around the world. This is how we’re structured internally. We have to differentiate our company by being that much faster, better, and more responsive than our “local” competitors. As well as having a larger talent pool to choose from, thus being able to hire some of the top of the top.

One point I make someone consider is that it takes time to drive to your offices. You must ask yourself, “are they spending time driving to offices even further than mine for other clients to instead of working on my project?” This is where we become very competitive with our turn around time. None of our staff drive in their cars to go see clients, they are productive on projects at all times not driving or traffic.

You must also consider that when the company drives to your offices you tend to have longer conversations and you don’t have as many meetings because you must have a large open window for the meeting versus having a virtual meeting.

Virtual meetings are new and modern but are still able accomplish much of the same intentions as a meeting in person. I’ve built many personal connections with clients all over the world. We tend to be more productive and we can squeeze a quick meeting in a short time slot that pops up.Thus we can get things done while you’re on the go, traveling, busy, don’t have as much time, etc. We can do this, because our company isset up for it.

Working virtually may be a different modus operandi for older generations in the work place but consider that if you do go with someone locally and they do move to another state, they won’t be set up to take care of you or the time they spend traveling will cut into the production side of your project. This doesn’t happen with our company. And we’ll bend over backwards to treat you like gold.

Honestly, this post is not just about using our company, but rather, before you consider location being the ultimate factor, please prioritize responsiveness of communication, quality, process and track record.

Natalie