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John Pollack
For the Telegraph-Journal

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FREDERICTON - When Bill McGrath talks about the future of OrangeSprocket, a design firm he co-founded, his focus isn't on multiplying the number of people he employs or the quantity of contracts the company can handle at once.

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John Pollack for the Telegraph-Journal

Bill McGrath, left, and Jeff Curry, co-founders of Fredericton-based design firm OrangeSprocket say their reputation for doing quality work has helped them land their biggest contracts.

McGrath would still like to see higher revenues, but increasing sales volume isn't the approach he plans to use.

By focusing on doing great work and satisfying customers, the company has managed to get most of its clients through word of mouth, and has landed contracts with the likes of Norton AntiVirus developer Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ:SYMC), BlackBerry develper Research in Motion Ltd. (TSX:RIM), and Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM), one of the pioneers of the software as a service model.

"We have a lot of clients that we do fairly high-profile type of jobs for," McGrath says. "When we're done, they're so happy that they're always ready to give us a good reference or they may have someone else in their circle of friends."

McGrath and his business partner Steve Curry started OrangeSprocket in April 2005 and have since hired eight employees and will be looking to add a couple more soon.

"We may end up as high as 15 to 20, but I can't see us much larger than that," McGrath says. "There's a certain dynamic and intimacy that doesn't hold when you get bigger."

Instead, McGrath says, the firm may chase more high-profile contracts and clients.

"There's a difference when you're dealing with a company like Salesforce.com," he says. "They sometimes have deeper pockets. That's really a big part of where our revenue growth picture is."

OrangeSprocket was recently hired to help a new resort and spa in the Dominican Republic attract tourists from around the world.

"We're actually branding the resort itself," says Jeff Curry. "Our role is to help design an overall brand for them that will include a global identity."

OrangeSprocket will be designing the spa's logo and marketing strategy both online and in print.

The firm landed the contract because of work they did for two resorts on the Turks and Caicos Islands.

"In the Turks and Caicos we were brought in because they had been working with a firm in Miami and they weren't happy with the work," McGrath says. "They contacted us to take another stab at it."

Within the last year OrangeSprocket has dove headfirst into the social media pool, which has helped the firm land contracts.

"We've actually seen on a regular basis where we're talking to real people about real projects and we're finalizing some of those," he says, citing for recent deals with companies in San Francisco and Scottsdale, Ariz. "(Without social media), I doubt those contracts would have come to us. We weren't on their radar and vise-versa."

Although the bigger projects bring in more money, McGrath says he enjoys working with entrepreneurs.

"We've made an effort this past year to try and focus a little bit more regionally so we can deal with entrepreneurs and people that really have a true vested interest in the outcome," he says. "It's very rewarding for us to see a business succeed when we've played a critical part of what they're doing."