For Robert St. Louis, Ottawa's diplomats were tough nuts to crack. But once satisfied, there's no more loyal customer.

"When they come in, they're looking for everything from A to Z, and if they're pleased, they'll stick with you for a long time. They're the ultimate in word-of-mouth business, where service is everything," says St. Louis, commercial sales manager for Prestige Furniture.

Ottawa's diplomatic community is unique in Canada: Ambassadors, consuls, secretaries, families and support staff are spread through 127 embassies and high commissions in the capital city. At any given time, there are about 4,000 people with diplomatic status and the Department of Foreign Affairs pegs turnover at about 25 per cent annually.

The government's Office of Protocol is charged with making sure diplomatic community understands the lay of the land in new postings.

Robert St. Louis

"The diplomatic corps services division of the Office of Protocol deals with the accreditation of foreign representatives, privileges and immunities, security and outreach," Foreign Affairs spokesman Rodney Moore says.

The office's Internet site (www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/protocol) lists information on events, culture, national holidays and how Canadians dress. But when it comes to everyday considerations such as furniture, cars, schools and vacations, the diplomats are on their own.

St. Louis says about 15 per cent of his business is with the diplomatic community. Many lease household goods because postings are generally two to three years. For those who buy, however, Prestige offers a 10- to 15-per-cent discount.

"Our job is to make it quick and easy for them, by tying everything in to one package," St. Louis says. "I think that this full service is why they've become the steadiest part of our business."

Such loyalty is also evident at Accu-Rate Corp., a foreign-exchange company that has virtually cornered the diplomat market by offering confidential payroll conversions and bank transfers to almost every embassy and high commission in the city.

"Typically, these are people who need to exchange funds or move financial assets around. Because money is a very personal thing, gaining someone's trust is the best way (to get and keep business)," Accu-Rate's managing director Marie Boivin says.

The company offers preferred exchange rates as well as all-important confidentiality, but Boivin thinks the diplomatic community makes up about 25 per cent of Accu-Rate's business because of customized care.

The company exchanges 179 currencies (the maximum allowed under Canadian laws), employs staff who can speak 17 languages and has banking arrangements with financial institutions in 55 countries.

Accu-Rate's diplomatic business has grown fast enough that in December 2003 it added an obvious service extension - travel. Each one of the 4,000-member diplomatic community is eligible for at least one home leave a year.

"That side of the business has grown massively since we started," Boivin says. "We had more and more people flying every week, so we decided it made sense to offer full travel services, whether it's just a trip home or a discovery vacation.

"If you want to work with international customers, you have to be truly international," she says.

Most of Accu-Rate's travel customers are outside the diplomatic community, but those within it get a discount based on their embassy's volume of business.

Throughout Ottawa's service sector, diplomatic contracts are plums because they pay on time and rarely quibble over premiums for good service.

The Sheraton Ottawa Hotel does diplomatic catering and staff research foods and themes for each customer, often bringing in specialty chefs. Real estate agents occasionally hire interpreters from Conference Interpreters of Canada for international clients. Ottawa drycleaning stalwart Hilary's Cleaners has even instituted a pickup and delivery service for embassy staff.

In effect, the community is a mini-industry for the city, although it is not always easy to attract their business.

"I'd say most of the day-to-day services diplomats need are either done in-house or obtained through word-of-mouth within the embassies," says Anne Marie Creskey, publisher of Embassy: Diplomacy This Week, one of two publications in Ottawa aimed at the diplomatic community.

"They are very individualistic and tend to trust the tried-and-true. But they're also a curious bunch and want to take part in their local community," she says.

Embassy is just a year old, a sibling newspaper to Ottawa's political mainstay The Hill Times. It is published weekly and is available in hard copy as well as electronically, with a mixed circulation of about 34,000.

About 8,500 copies are distributed to the local diplomatic community and another 900 are sent to foreign trade offices throughout Canada.

The magazine focuses on political news and feature stories about what Canada is doing around the world, trying to explain the country to foreign residents.

"We hope to offer them in-depth knowledge of Canada's position in the world. (Diplomats) are very sophisticated and knowledgeable and we always have to keep that in mind," Creskey says.

Aside from its political bent, Embassy also tracks local culture, offering such things as reviews of foreign artists and local gift suggestions.

One of its best-read sections is the classifiers.

Diplomat & International Canada publisher Lezlee Cribb says her magazine is a place for diplomatic officials to exchange ideas about how Canada views their countries and vice versa.

"I think we've established the kind of credibility among those who really want to understand Canada and its politics," she says.

"But there is another aspect to the community - they're new and they need resources. I think they trust the magazine and appreciate our advertisers."

The 15-year-old Diplomat is published bi-monthly and offers some of its content online.

Of an 11,000 circulation, about 2,500 are delivered to Ottawa's diplomatic community. It has no classifiers, but attracts mostly full-colour advertisements.

Both Diplomat and Embassy list all embassies, high commissions and staff, and track each departure and arrival.

Like the rest of the service industry, neither Creskey nor Cribb will talk about specific individuals or events.

Dealing with the market does, after all, require a certain amount of diplomacy.

(Mike Levin can be reached at levin@businessedge.ca)