The X Concept

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the owner of TimeFlies, a consulting company that offers online courses on time management. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The X Concept?

I didn't know anything about digital marketing, so I reached out to The X Concept to help promote my company online. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The X Concept developed my website from scratch on WordPress, providing SEO and SEM services in the process. The template I was using previously was not serving me well, so they suggested starting over in order to get the functionality I wanted to achieve. They've also provided guidance on writing blogs and how to manage my Instagram account in order to reach more people. 

What is the team composition? 

Charles (CEO, The X Concept) was my main point of contact.

How did you come to work with The X Concept?

Charles and I are both french and live in the San Diego area, so I came to know him through some friends we have in common in the local french community.

How much have you invested with them?

I invested around $5,000 in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from around January–May 2019, but Charles continues to make himself available for any questions or minor changes to the website I have. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I'm very happy with the website they created, which is much more user-friendly, professional, and functional compared to what I had before. It's given me a sense of pride, which has helped me reach out to more people as a result. Engagement on our Instagram page is also up thanks to their help.

How did The X Concept perform from a project management standpoint?

Charles accurately scoped out the work, providing a high-quality product on time and as quoted. He was always very accessible and responsive as well. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Charles is an expert in his field and able to turn deliverables around very quickly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. I'm very happy with everything. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

As an entrepreneur, it can be hard to let go of some control, but my advice is to trust The X Concept throughout the process. They know what they're doing. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the general manager of a tour operator that’s hosted on a working organic farm on Maui. Hawaii is the only place that grows cacao trees in the US, so we have a unique advantage in offering chocolate tours. The farm also grows coffee, so the tour is doubly unique.

It’s a brand new company that started in March 2019, and I oversee all the marketing, tour operations, and retail.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire The X Concept?

We’re a startup company and needed help with creating a website and integrating it with social media accounts and such, which is why we hired The X Concept.

What were your goals for this project?

Our main objective was to get a website built with full SEO. Selling online via marketing is in our future plans. First, we need to fill our six tours offered three days a week so that the retail portion of the business becomes highlighted after completing the tour.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Another client of theirs in Hawaii referred The X Concept to us.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The X Concept designed our website and integrated it with a reservations system for online bookings. They also set up all our social media accounts and linked them to the website, which includes Google, Trip Advisor, Instagram, Yelp, and other platforms.

What was the team composition?

We mainly worked with Charles (Founder, The X Concept). He’s an amazing one-man machine!

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

We’ve noticed an increase in sales, and while our business model is pretty simple, we have all the tracking tools in place to measure our progress and success.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The X Concept provided a one-on-one and extremely personalized approach, which was really effective. All the work was completed ahead of schedule.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their accessibility and how they finish their projects on time or ahead of schedule impressed me.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is very little room for them to improve.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the head of operations for a medical device company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The X Concept?

We reached out to The X Concept for web development and SEO services as we were trying to transition to an e-commerce business model. Another vendor built a website for us, but it was broken.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The X Concept fixed all the bugs on our e-commerce website that another vendor poorly built on Wordpress. They continue to maintain it and provide ongoing SEO services as well. 

What is the team composition? 

I work directly with Charles (CEO, The X Concept).

How did you come to work with The X Concept?

They were recommended to us by the San Diego French American Chamber of Commerce.

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested around $9,000–$11,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them since around June 2018 and they continue to maintain the site and provide support as needed. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Professionals in the medical industry oftentimes wait until the last minute to order our products, so being able to deliver quickly is crucial to our work. The site The X Concept helped fix and maintains has enabled us to meet the time-sensitive orders of our clients.

How did The X Concept perform from a project management standpoint?

They've performed well, meeting with us weekly and making themselves available by email, phone, and even text messaging.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I'm most impressed by their responsiveness. Whenever I reach out to Charles, he gets back to me almost immediately. The fact that he's willing to communicate via text says a lot; he understands how important responding quickly is to our business. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. There are more services they've offered to provide us that we haven't taken advantage of yet, but they're not overly pushy about them. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Put the scope of work in writing, so there's no confusion later on.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO and founder of two different businesses in Maui, Hawaii that have both used The X Concept: Aloha Bars Maui and Luxury Photo Mirror. The first is a mobile bar business, and the second a photo booth company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The X Concept?

I work directly with Charles (Owner, The X Concept), and we’ve used him for multiple projects including developing business logos and marketing material, rebuilding one website, building a second website from scratch, and now for site maintenance.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

In terms of logos and marketing materials, Charles helped design, develop, and order business cards, banners, pamphlets, and brochures. In 48 hours, he rebuilt and protected the website for Aloha Bars Maui, which had been hacked. Work for that and the second website included logos and banners, as well as developing a color scheme, and creating personalizations that would make us stand out, speak to our clientele, and provide SEO. He also helped me visually improve my proposals to increase business.

What is the team composition?

Through all of our projects, my team and I have worked directly with Charles.

How did you come to work with The X Concept?

My co-founder and Charles worked together in a completely different field where they did a lot of marketing together, so I came to know and work with him through that connection.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested approximately $18,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together September 2012 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our websites are now one of the firsts to appear on business pages, and I have seen huge increases in my booking rate.

How did The X Concept perform from a project management standpoint?

There is a lot involved in website content development, and Charles made sure to stay in touch through multiple channels—email, Skype, Facebook messenger, FaceTime, and AnyDesk. With AnyDesk, we’re able to see what the other is doing, meaning that I can see how he’s making fixes to the website and learn from it.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Charles identifies what you need and responds quickly; he rebuilt our website in 48 hours. He helped us grow by pointing us in the right direction, teaching us, providing guidance, and then letting us work on our own where we could. That not only helped us develop as a company but also showed that he valued us and wasn’t taking advantage of us by billing us for work that we would be able to do.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we’re very happy with him.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

He can provide wonderful insight and direction, so listen to his advice.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We train adults on soft skills like organization, management, and sales processes.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with THE X Concept?

When the company started up, we used classical marketing including regular mail, phone calls, and referrals. We determined that these methods hadn’t been working for years and needed to find something else. We had a website, but we hadn’t used it as we should have. Our business was going well, but not as well as it could have been, so we needed to try something.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

THE X Concept has helped us send email weekly campaigns, and they handle our SEO and Google analytics.

We hesitated to change our classic website to an e-commerce website. I wasn’t familiar with the e-commerce space, but THE X Concept told me that they had experience with it and urged me to try it. They said they would work closely with me on this challenge, and they would help me go further. They told us that we needed to try, even if we made a mistake.

An e-commerce website is unusual for our kind of business. It was a big challenge for us, given that the buyer of our product is not the one who will pay for it. We didn’t want to start an e-commerce website due to this issue, but we tried it. We’ve created an e-commerce website, and they help us manage the website.

We redesigned the website six months ago, changing the pictures and the content.

What is the team composition?

My sole contact is their founder. I don’t know what the size of their team is.

How did you come to work with THE X Concept?

I found them through a referral. Their founder lived in France before going to the U.S. for work.

How much have you invested with them?

We pay them €5,000 ($6,186 USD) per month or €60,000 ($74,237 USD) per year. We paid extra to create the e-commerce website.

What is the status of this engagement?

THE X Concept was hired more than 10 years ago before I started working for this company.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They worked closely with me to transition to an e-commerce site as promised, and I appreciated this approach. It worked. I am really satisfied with the job they’ve done.

How did THE X Concept perform from a project management standpoint?

There’s a significant time difference, but we’ve managed communication properly, and they’ve been reactive. We’ve communicated by phone and web conferences, and I’ve sent callback requests by email if I couldn’t reach him. He’s responded to me in less than 24 hours, even if it was late for him or early in the morning. He’s been responsive to all my questions and provided professional advice. He wants his clients to take risks, and those risks are calculated based on experience.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their reactivity is one of the important factors for me, given that the business moves fast.

They always give us explanations using simple terms. They’ve made the e-commerce business simple for us using words we can understand.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’ve met all my needs, so it’s difficult to say what they could improve.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Clients should challenge them in the beginning. THE X Concept is a trustworthy company. They say what they do, and they do what they say. They are a small company, but they are really serious.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the Owner of Ambrogio15 Restaurant Group. We’re a contemporary Italian and gourmet pizza restaurant, but we also import Italian products like cheeses and cold cuts.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire The X Concept?

We needed to create a new website that incorporated our new location and could better express our brand identity.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted the site to have better visual communication and content that the original. We also wanted it to be faster and more user-friendly. SEO was also extremely important to us.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

They were referred to us.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

They developed a brand-new website for us that met the challenges of communicating a complex brand equity to a broad audience. They improved our visuals a lot and did content creation too.

What was the team composition?

I worked with the owner, a photographer, and a copywriter.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Traffic increased right away, as did delivery requests and web reservations, now that we have two locations listed and our content is well done.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

They were excellent.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their ability to work through different tasks quickly and efficiently made them stand out. They were very professional and always available

Are there any areas where they can improve?

I can’t think of anything.