If you don;t mind me asking... what are some options you provide that helps with comp.
Well, I'll give you the embroidery angle.
There is a franchise that has a pretty good presence around here that'll do jackets, hats, shirts etc. One thing that I've noticed with them is that if you come in there with a custom job, you'll only be able to get this small amount of thread colors per pattern and if there is any text you only have these fonts to choose from(which is a pathetic 5 fonts). Even though my machine is only a 6 needle machine, I'll let them do as many thread colors as they want. Now they do pay for that. I also give them a choice of all the fonts that I have available to me either through the embroidery CAD program or through Illustrator(I do all my work design work first in Illustrator and then send it to the CAD program which also works in vectors).
Now all that seems simple enough, but what I'll also do is if they want, I can put a pattern within the main pattern of the embroidery file. In other words, I might have a peacock pattern and I'll put in little zigzags in there that when you move the fabric in different angles, it looks like the "feathers" are moving. That's something that most shops won't or can't do.
I will admit that most of my embroidery business is actually the design work(which I do charge by the hour with my giving them all these options) as most of the people have their own dedicated embroidery machine or it's the hobbyist with the sewing/embroidery machine.
It's really just simple stuff like that that people do respond to.