True Story

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of an executive search firm.

What challenge were you trying to address with True Story?

We needed someone to develop our brand new website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

True Story provides us with branding and web development services. They help us tell our company’s story, so they can infuse it into the development of our website.

The key deliverable of the project is to help us identify who we are, what makes us stand out, and what it’s like to work with the people at our firm. They will then convert that into a true story that we can share with potential clients, about what their experience would be if they hired our firm.

What is the team composition?

We work with two people, Elicia (Partner) and Michael (Creative Director).

How did you come to work with True Story?

They were referred to us by a highly-respected CEO of another firm. From our first point of contact and interaction, we felt that they could deliver exactly what we were looking for. We knew we had a great story, but we didn’t know how to communicate it. However, by learning about us through their process, we were able to put our story into digestible words that are relatable to potential clients.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested somewhere upwards of $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in November 2020, and our partnership is still ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

The website has only been up for a couple of weeks so I don’t have any metrics to provide — but, I do have anecdotal feedback. First and foremost, my team loves the website. We involved two executives to help with this project, and when we sent them the product, they both thought it was exceptional.

How did True Story perform from a project management standpoint?

One of the key success factors is their ability to concisely communicate information. They really respect our time and are always prepared for every meeting.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Part of the beauty about working with them is that they’re also great consultants, and they aren’t going to sell you something you don’t need. they‘re going to pace it so that everything you do, and whatever you invest in makes sense — they’re sensible and pragmatic.

Are there any areas they could improve?

When I first engaged with them, it was hard getting my arms around some of the fruition of the work that they’re doing that would be a tangible result. We know it’s a website, but what they’re delivering can be used way beyond just a website. I think it would behoove them to explain the value and the outcomes the clients can have from the work that they do.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust them. They know what they’re doing, they know what they’re talking about. What they’re doing might be hard for executives to understand, but they’re well-intended, they’re there to help, and they’re not just in it to make money.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a commercial general contractor where we gain $250 million–$350 million a year in the Pacific Northwest and essentially all over the West Coast.

I’m one of the owners. We started Perlo Construction about 20 years ago. My partner and I worked for a company that started in the 50s and it just transitioned through partners to us and we converted the name over to Perlo in 2000. Then, we’ve just been growing steadily ever since. 

What challenge were you trying to address with True Story?

It started with who we were going to transition into an executive team. That team was going to take over a lot of duties that Jeff (Owner) and I had, as part of our ongoing succession planning.

As an owner, for any company to grow, as an owner, we couldn't be 100% dependent on ourselves to survive the company. As a result, we hired True Story to help us with the transition. They ensured that everybody was on the same page including the internal teammates that we were moving up and everybody else. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

We needed to figure out what made Perlo a great company and our mission was to pass it on to our employees. True Story led a workshop where we had 20 participants. At the start, some of them felt like we weren’t all paddling the boat in the same direction. However, the workshop revealed that we were all heading on the same path. Employees were also affirmed that we had a lot of things in common. 

They’ve done management group workshops with about 20 people. They’ve also helped us developed the “Perlo’s 10 Commandments”. Furthermore, they helped us present that and roll it out to the entire employee group. They also put together an employee handbook that wasn’t legalistic, indicating how we expect everybody to behave, act, and conduct themselves.

Moreover, the team created videos and photoshoots. In addition, they also redeveloped our entire website. 

Currently, we have an employee campaign that we do monthly to recognize outstanding employees. We hired them to help us with a COVID-19 campaign too. It has helped us manage the fear of the unknown with all the craziness that they were seeing on the news and to help them focus on what they can do.

As part of that, we also did a campaign to support our local restaurants and other businesses that were hit extremely hard by entire COVID-19 lockdown events. Along with that, they also support our marketing department. They assist in coaching our up-and-coming executives and upper management individuals so that each of them can perform their best. 

What is the team composition?

We primarily work with three people, but they bring in Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) when we need them. As a result, there could be five people at times. 

How did you come to work with True Story?

My business partner attended a workshop that Elicia (Partner) had put on and one of our developer clients hosted. This third-party client wanted some of their vendors and people they deal with in the industry to set in and help them with their succession planning. 

Jeff was really impressed with the way Elicia handled the workshop. There tends to be a lot of human involvement and personalities on that. In our company, we tend to be more engineering-minded where we have the “push hard”, “maintain your schedule”, and “maintain your production rates” mindsets.

That’s why we welcomed True Story’s different perspective because we know it would be helpful for us to reground ourselves and put things in a very human and warmer context, all towards the goal of making a difference. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spend an average of $20,000 per project, depending on the scope. In total, we’ve probably spent $200,000–$250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started our engagement in January 2019, and we continue to work with True Story. 

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Elicia and Michael (Creative Director) have been able to do the workshop in a fun way, and it had been very impactful and helpful. Moreover, our campaigns have been successful. 

It’s hard to measure some of it, but if I look at it holistically, I examine the employee satisfaction and the smiles I see on people’s faces. It’s a lot of the little things that you can make to enable people to be proud of the company they work for. I’m not saying they weren’t proud before, but it’s some visual internal and external branding that helps foster this. 

When we look at things as a whole, I’m extremely confident that a lot of it has to do with how True Story has helped us put lots of things intuitively. They’ve been instrumental in delivering a consistent message to the entire company. I also saw several 30-year veterans that had tears in their years and they told us that we basically hit a home run. 

How did True Story perform from a project management standpoint?

The graphics and how they’ve lay things out have always been extremely professional. Their communication skills are also great. Moreover, they’re always proactive, greatly reminding us what we need to do and if we’re going to meet the agreed schedules. They're also incredibly attentive and focused on delivering what they need to do for the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their creativity, experience, and their ability to take a lot of information have been impressive. We went through about 200 hundred of what they called “Perloisms” and everybody had come up with little things that we had around the office, and their work allowed us to distill it down into 10 Perlo practices overnight. They really hit the heart of it.

They understand what they’re doing and they understand human nature. True Story has a unique skill set and it’s not just sales training. They basically help people see what they do every day that sometimes when you’re too close you can’t be sure. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’ve been extremely satisfied with their services. I don’t have anything negative to say about them. They’re really good at what they do. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You’ve got to be completely open and honest with them. You’re not always going to agree based on your personal opinions, but if you’re open-minded, you’re going to come to the best solution together. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of The Joyner Group.

What challenge were you trying to address with True Story?

We partner on projects together. They bring business to me, and I bring business to them.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provide branding and communications services. Their team serves our clients with the areas of expertise that we don’t provide. In an upcoming project, they’re going to help me with my branding.

What is the team composition?

I work directly with Elicia (Partner) and Michael (Partner).

How did you come to work with True Story?

I’ve known Elicia for 10 years and have participated in workshops that she has facilitated. I really liked her and her approach. Over the years, we talked about ways we could work together and finally found some opportunities where we could do that.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started around October 2018.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Our clients have been satisfied and accepted the work because we met their objectives. The quality of their work is excellent.

How did True Story perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re timely and always meet deadlines. Communication with the client is excellent.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very creative. I appreciate that they’re concerned and focused on doing good work for the client. Their team is professional.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything. What they do, they do very well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust and listen to them. They’re very experienced professionals who know what they’re doing in their areas of expertise.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of marketing for two telecommunication companies.

What challenges were you trying to address with True Story?

We hired them to help us align our messaging strategies across both of our telecommunications companies. We acquired NorthState in the middle of last year. Although we wanted to continue operating it as a separate company, we also wanted our messaging across the two companies to be cohesive.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They conducted stakeholder interviews to create a new brand platform. This involved a few workshops, a survey, and an analysis of our competitors. They created a marketing campaign that included infographics and copywriting elements. The internal brand guidelines document they provided can be applied to everything within our integrated marketing programs. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with two people: Michael (Partner) and Elicia (Partner). 

How did you come to work with True Story?

They’d worked with Segra previously. 

How much have you invested in them?

We spent between $20,000–$50,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started this project in July or August 2020. The project wrapped up that December. 

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We had 100% alignment of our stakeholders at the end of our exercise. Everyone came to the table with different ideas, and True Story built something that made everyone happy. They helped us think outside the box and be more innovative with our messaging. 

The designs that they produced were relevant and fresh. They have strong design skills. They challenged us to get cleaner and more streamlined. 

How did True Story perform from a project management standpoint?

They met all of the deadlines. We never needed to follow up. When I sent an email, I got a response within a few hours.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re gifted at helping executives see the emotional benefit of the work, in addition to the functional benefit. Their ability to bridge the gap between agency and corporation is impressive. They’re flexible and advocate for the consumer. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not in my experience. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be ready to talk about larger strategy beyond just specific deliverables. Be open and let them know about your business goals. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My organization is Neil Kelly company, a construction company. I’m the marketing director.

What challenge were you trying to address with True Story?

We needed a new conceptual strategy for internal communications and staff engagement.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had an existing mission, vision, and value system developed for the company a few years ago. While we felt those were accurate, they were also pretty corporate; they were not engaging or exciting. Our goal was to express them with new language that was more engaging and reflective of the people in our organization.

We have about 150 people, and they interviewed about 20 influencers within the company that fill a variety of roles, including newer and older employees and those from various locations. It was a nice cross-section of the company. They then made recommendations based on those peoples’ input.

What is the team composition?

I worked with two people: Elicia (Partner) and Michael (Creative Director). Elicia handled project management, acting as the lead strategist, interviewer, and writer. Michael was in charge of the creative expression and the conceptual direction of our new internal brand.

How did you come to work with True Story?

In collaboration with another consultant, Elicia had facilitated a strategic planning retreat for our leadership team several months prior. When the need to rethink our internal vision came up, I approached her about it.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $11,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from December 2020–January 2021. It was a short, closely defined project. We’re now implementing their deliverables. It’s likely we’ll work with them again on future projects.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We’re not yet able to measure the true success of the project as we’re still implementing their recommendations, but we’re very happy with how the project went, as well as the direction we’re moving in. Beyond the new vision, values statements, and internal branding elements, they provided us with a lot of extra input from the interviews. This will be very helpful to improve the company moving forward. Finally, by asking employees to give input, True Story made it so our people feel a sense of ownership over the deliverables.

How did True Story perform from a project management standpoint?

They were completely on top of deadlines. In fact, they were ahead of schedule. Their communication was excellent, and they were proactive in keeping us in the loop of how they were proceeding.

What did you find most impressive about them?

There is a wonderfully creative aspect to their work, and the results pull together our business objectives, business strategy, brand, and internal culture. They didn’t come at this project strictly from a business strategy or creative standpoint, but with a holistic approach. The result reflects our company very, very well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of any suggestions or recommendations that I would have. Our experience with them was pretty limited in that this was a quick, focused project. Everything went well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Communicate with them about any foreseeable challenges and the goal of the project. They’re adept at taking in the information and synthesizing a solution, rather than being handed a plan for a solution right off the bat.

I’ve worked with similar agencies in the past who asked us what we wanted, but Michael and Elicia came to us wanting to know what we wanted to achieve and how we wanted to grow. Then, they brainstormed about how to help us do those things. Their approach is strategic and creative from a business standpoint. It’s not rote.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior VP of a real estate services firm.

What challenge were you trying to address with True Story?

We acquired another company and needed better positioning for websites, collateral, and our digital presence. We had an existing storyline that needed to be updated based on our new positioning and to reflect our newly acquired company.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, they did a “break-through” conversation, where they interviewed 15 people in our organization. They identified areas that our employees thought could be improved. We had Zoom meetings and talked through the issues and came to some conclusions on who we are and where we want to go together.

Next, they presented that plan with visuals and content to the rest of our team. Then, we hired them to create a brand guideline and orientation package. The team updated our website’s home page so that it was up to date with the contents that they had solicited from the original “break-through” conversation.

They also took a look at our brand guidelines to do an introduction so that it appealed to people who weren’t familiar with our company. The next phase will be looking more externally and bridging that gap with people who weren’t on the call.

What is the team composition?

We worked with two people from their team.

How did you come to work with True Story?

They knew someone within my company and that person forwarded the email to me. I felt that they had a grasp of what we were going through and they had worked with other companies that were in similar situations. They really listened and heard us on what we were trying to accomplish and delivered very well on it.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started communicating in October 2020 and the bulk of the work was completed in November 2020 and December 2020. The project is still currently underway.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

There are many people on our team that feel heard and acknowledged. The way that True Story facilitates conversations is by acknowledging people and allowing them to have a voice. From a cultural integration standpoint, it’s been very successful.

How did True Story perform from a project management standpoint?

Everything is done through email, phone, and Zoom. It’s been very easy to work with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Most branding companies do a great job of doing their market research and putting together appealing content. True Story creates more of an emotional connection between the internal staff and the external content and branding. It speaks for external marketing and it’s also a strong internal tool.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’ve been great.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

People who are open to change and hearing their employee's opinions will do really well with them. True Story doesn’t do what other marketers do; they create an emotional connection that can improve internal and external communication.  

Please describe your company and your position there.

DataDx is a healthcare data analytics SaaS product. I am the President and Founder.

For what projects/services did your company hire True Story?

True Story was hired for branding to include a logo, brand guidebook (colors, fonts, tagline, photos), presentation decks and content writing. The team was also involved in helping our app developers understand the delightful user experience needed in the product for successful client delivery.

What were your goals for this project?

Simple, to come out of the project with a brand and all of the elements needed that our team could be proud of.

How did you select True Story?

I have a long standing relationship with the True Story team. Elicia and Michael are top notch people. They get the heart of the brand and dive into what makes the company tick. That deep dive ensures the brand translates to define and speak to the soul of the company.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Branding to include a logo, brand guidebook (colors, fonts, tagline, photos), presentation decks and content writing. Additionally, collaboration across multiple teams to ensure brand consistency and compliance.

What was the team composition?

Elicia Putnam and Michael Verdine were the main True Story team members involved in our project with DataDx. Elicia is the content master and Michael is the creative mastermind.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The branding of DataDx is simply stellar. The colors, font, powerful design lines are complimented regularly and easily identifiable. The team went through a branding exercise that was incredibly powerful. To this day that session is still a big part of the companies identify. When new team members are going through orientation the "game on" company mantra is explained in detail and it's become part of our vernacular.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The communication between the teams was highly effective. The True Story went above and beyond to ensure the product was well represented and understood. And that the culture was up front and center.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The compassion that you feel from Elicia and Michael. They love what they do and it shows, they are relationship people and embrace their work and their clients.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, I just want more of their time!