We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Matt & Holly Sams. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Matt & Holly below.

Hi Matt & Holly, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

A Laser Engraving Business is not something my wife, Holly and I thought we would begin after owning and operating another company for the past 25 years. We currently own two Jewelry and Pawn stores in our hometown of Athens, Ga. and as a part of this business, we do a good amount of jewelry repair for our customers. Jewelry repair can be a laborious task and to streamline this process, we purchased a Laser Jewelry Repair Machine in the Spring of 2022. Not really knowing much about laser technology, we became interested in learning more. We started researching online and stumbled across Laser Engraving Machines and became fascinated with the process.

In the Spring of 2023, we purchased our first Laser Engraving Machine. Initially, we thought we would add engraving as a service for our current customers, which we did. However, the more we learned and the more we practiced this new skill, we found that we truly enjoyed the satisfaction of designing and producing products for our local customers.

After more research, thought and consideration we realized that there was a real need for laser engraving services in our hometown, and we were also ready enter the online laser engraving marketplace as an independent website. However, our current Laser Engraver was really only meant to engrave metals and we knew that we wanted to offer engraving on as many different materials as possible. We began looking into additional Laser Engraving Machines that could expand our product line.

After purchasing our next Laser, we realized that we had in fact started an additional business, not just added a service to our current business and we needed to take the next step and treat it as such. So we sat down, made business plan and came up with a name, Sams Engraving and Gifts.

Although we still own our Jewelry and Pawn business, we have relinquished most of our responsibilities to the General Manager of that company, so we can concentrate primarily on our engraving business. We are also fortunate to have space within our showroom to run both businesses, and have it set up as a “store inside of a store” model.

In the fall of 2023 we hired a web development team and launched our new website, SamsEngravingAndGifts.com with 62 engravable products. We began online marketing and learning the importance of SEO and maintaining a strong online presence.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

We offer a wide variety of engravable products for our customers to choose from, everything from stainless tumblers and wine glasses to charcutiere boards and jewelry boxes. We customize and laser engrave each product to the customer’s specifications. We offer many options of pre-made designs for our customers to choose from, or if they have something different mind, we work with them to create something unique and personalized.

One aspect of our business that we truly enjoy is the opportunity to be a small part of our customer’s special life moments. People often want an engraved item to lock in memories of important celebrations, or sometimes just to remember someone special. We recently took on a project for a customer whose mother had suddenly passed away and he wanted to create several memorial items to give as gifts to other family members. He wanted the gifts to be engraved in his mother’s own handwriting, but did not have the exact wording needed for these items. We worked with him and we were able to create special keepsakes with custom messages using handwriting samples from notes and cards that his mom had written from years ago.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

One of the first marketing projects that we undertook was creating a brochure about our new business and the services that we offer. In addition to digital marketing, we took the “old school” route of mailing out these brochures to local businesses in our area. We knew it was prudent to introduce ourselves to these companies and let them know how we could partner with them. We love our walk-in and online customers, but we also know the importance of working with businesses who order large quantities of products and often have a need for on-going engraving services.

One of these brochures prompted a quick phone call from a local Pet Cremation company. They happened to be in need of engraved brass name plates for pet memorials that they provide to all of their clients. They informed us that they would be ordering these plates almost daily and would need a quick turnaround time. We were up for the challenge and excited to partner with them. We have since formed an excellent and mutually beneficial working relationship with this company and they have recommended us to other businesses that have also placed orders with us.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

For a local business, nothing can beat word of mouth marketing in building a reputation. Whether face to face or as an online five star review, a customer sharing their positive experience with a company is the ultimate form of advertising. We always strive to go above and beyond in exceeding our customers’ expectations and in turn, they often send additional business our way.

One way that we feel like we stand apart from similar businesses in our area is our willingness to engrave personal items that our customers bring in, sometimes at our own risk. We soon realized the reluctance that other businesses may have in taking in these types of items – it’s scary working with other people’s stuff! When we engrave our own products we have the ability to quickly replace the item should something go awry in the process. With a customer’s item, you get one chance to get it right. We are very confident in our engraving skills, but we always inform the customer that we can never know for sure how an untested item will interact with the laser. However, once we agree to take in an item we know that it is our responsibility to make sure that the customer is completely satisfied with the result.

Probably the most “nerve-wracking” project that we have undertaken from a customer was engraving a set of antique sliver cups. These cups had been handed down from generation to generation in his family and they were old- real old, with the oldest cup dating back to the 16th century. Obviously, these are irreplaceable items and we discussed with the customer any issues that could arise with the engraving process. I’m happy to report the cups turned out perfectly and the customer has already been back for us to engrave more of his family heirlooms.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.SamsEngravingAndGifts.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samsengravingandgifts/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/samsengravingandgifts
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/mathew-sams-a2047a57
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SamsEngravingGifts