An entrepreneur by nature, Robert Crisp always knew he’d run his own business.
In 1985, he set out to make his vision a reality when he opened his own screen printing business in Marietta, Georgia. Now, Spectra Marketing is a one-stop shop for all promotional and branding needs.
“If someone has an event, we make it more special. If they have a business, we give them solutions to grow their business,” Robert said of his business.
The early years of Robert’s business were like many others: working long hours and weekends trying to find some success.
“I would make calls during the day to try to get business in,” Robert said. “Many times I would print at night and weekends – just whatever it took. I was a one-man show, and we grew from there.”
As business began growing, Crisp hired a few extra hands to help him out and expanded the scope of his services with other decoration mediums — one of which was embroidery.
When he first started offering embroidery, he would outsource the work – but after outsourcing the embroidery for some time, he started to become frustrated with the process of being the middleman.
After looking at what he had paid out to get the embroidery done, dealing with long turnaround times, and not being able to be in control of the quality and the process of the embroidery, he decided to bring the embroidery in-house.
And so the research process for a suitable embroidery machine began.
After reading good reviews and learning how similar companies were experiencing success with the guidance, support and training Ricoma offers, he decided to go with Ricoma. By doing so, Robert was able to keep the $17,000 he paid out monthly, and make more money in the process.
Robert went with two Ricoma embroidery machines, the MT-1502 and the CHT-1506, over one Barudan or Tajima.
“When we heard how it was working for them and looking at the cost savings over Barudan or Tajima, it was kind of a no-brainer,” Robert said.
When he received his machines, Robert was amazed by how well the Ricoma technician set up and trained his employees on how to operate them. Although intimidated by the machine at first, his employees gained the confidence and knowledge to run the machines thanks to Ricoma’s hands-on training.
“Three days later, they were running the machine.” Robert said. “It was pretty amazing. I was very impressed with the training Ricoma gave to us.”
Very soon after his purchase, positive feedback from his clients started pouring in, and he began getting more work in from customers. Bringing embroidery in-house with Ricoma proved to be a very positive move for Robert.
“It has turned our turnaround from two to three weeks to one to two days,” Robert said. “And our clients love that – absolutely love that.”
Before Robert added a Ricoma embroidery machine to his shop, he wasn’t able to offer specialized services such as puff embroidery on hats simply because it was too costly to outsource. Now, Spectra Marketing completes 3D puff embroidery orders regularly.
With the help of Ricoma embroidery equipment, Spectra Marketing has finally become a competitive and efficient one-stop shop for marketing and branding services.
Now, Robert can cut costs while bringing in more profit by eliminating outsourcing. Thanks to Ricoma’s devotion to quality, affordability and reliability, Robert’s investment has been a very positive experience.
As his company continues to expand, Robert sees himself investing in more Ricoma embroidery machines to help with his continued success.
“Ricoma has been a very big asset for us,” Robert said, “in helping us to grow our business and helping us to better meet our customers’ needs.”
Want to see one of our machines in action?
Schedule a free virtual demo if you want to see any of our machines in action. In it, you can ask any questions you have about the industry and see exactly how to start and run an embroidery project in real time.
