It was around that time that OSHA issued guidelines aimed at protecting electricians working within a foot of 50 volts or more of electricity, with the new code calling for the use of insulated gloves, flame-retardant clothing and properly insulated hand tools. He recognized an opportunity to build his own business with insulated products, and with his son as partner, founded Certified Insulated Products (CIP), purchasing two businesses in New York State to get the business off the ground.
Today CIP has 21 employees spread across a plant in Albany, N.Y., which makes patented 1000-volt insulated screwdrivers, nut drivers and other hand tools; Rochester, N.Y., where CIP produces insulated, high-dexterity gloves and fire-resistant sleeves, coveralls, parkas, lab coats, and blankets and sheeting; and headquarters in North Charleston, S.C., also home to a manufacturing facility.
Challenge: Overcoming Long Product Replacement Cycle with a Steady Stream of New Customers
CIP’s market is enormous. “You have hospitals, industrial facilities, universities – facilities where you simply cannot turn the current off,” said Mr. Bird, CIP’s chief operating officer. While electricians at such operations ought to wear insulating gloves, OSHA reports only a 10 percent compliance rate in the United States.
Ironically, though, one hurdle for the company was the high quality of CIP’s products – they don’t wear out. “It’s a while before customers order again,” said Mr. Bird. “We needed a way to bring fresh prospects to us.”
Compounding the challenge was the company’s structure: it has no in-house sales force and works with an external network of sales reps. With a limited marketing budget, Mr. Bird wanted to create a “one-stop source” online for customers and prospects. His existing website worked poorly. Its PDF format a) took too long to load; b) was confusing and cumbersome to the user; c) did nothing to actively move the potential customer to a buying action; d) was cumbersome to update and e) could not support CIP’s network of sales reps in the field as a training tool.
Solution: Getting Found by Qualified Buyers In reviewing possible partners to help build this one-stop source on the web, Mr. Bird was especially impressed by ThomasNet’s strength in the industrial products space and its ability to support every aspect of their customers’ operations – from building industry-best online solutions to helping improve distributors’ sales and support capabilities.
CIP knew there were buyers out there but without a sales department could not locate them. But ThomasNet’s Web Solutions team of engineers and consultants had the answer. They were confident that building an online catalog would satisfy two key criteria at once: allow CIP to better merchandize its product line for sale, and also turn up at the top of online searches.
The new online catalog works like an in-house sales team – one that doesn’t go home in the evening or take vacation. The language CIP uses to describe its products and by abandoning PDFs that resist search engines, has helped the company be found with greater ease and regularity online, and by the kinds of decision makers who are ready to buy. “Both in the U.S. and overseas, we’re being approached by business owners and heads of electrical departments who otherwise would be very difficult and expensive to reach,” said Mr. Bird.
Once those potential buyers reach the site, they instantly see CIP’s range of products, and can get information quickly and easily. Prospects can find exactly what they need by searching with keywords or part numbers, comparing products with detailed specs, side by side. Then, when identifying the right items, customers are asked for the sale.
“Thanks to ThomasNet, customers and prospects can go to our catalog and find more than they set out for. Customers are buying tools, clothing, custom kits, insulating gloves, compliance training, and so on in one order,” said Mr. Bird. “To a greater extent now, instead of just an individual tool, it's a comprehensive package they're buying.”
Results: The Best Billing Period in History In 2008 CIP achieved a thirty percent increase in sales, roughly $4 million with orders averaging about $4,500. And the sales and average ticket price continued to climb: “January 2009 was the best billing period in the history of the company,” said a delighted Mr. Bird. “And we anticipate growth [in 2009] in the neighborhood of another 20 to 30 percent!”
Since going live in April 2008, CIP has experienced exceptional growth in a range of other important metrics as well:
• Links to their website leaped up from seven in 2007 to 465 in 2008.
• Conversion actions (e.g. submitting RFQs, emails for more information,
sales, etc.) exploded from 5,200 to nearly 104,000.• Search engine referrals jumped in one year from under 8,000 to about 48,000.
Mr. Bird credits the sort of content in his online catalog that make it easy for search engines to find the company. “Today, we have a terrific web presence, and our top competitor still has a PDF-heavy website, which gives us a big competitive edge.”
An added benefit of the search engine results attributed to the new online catalog was the international exposure it afforded CIP, helping showcase the company in countries where it has no representation whatsoever.
“Not long ago, we had absolutely no business outside the United States,” said Mr. Bird, “and there would have been no way for us to establish a global foothold without the ThomasNet online catalog.”
The list of international inquiries and sales recorded is impressive – and growing. “We recently shipped two sample flash protection kits to a large Russian petrochemical facility that found us through the search engines,” said Mr. Bird. “The expanded geographic reach is nice, but what has us smiling is the very real potential to sell 200 to 300 flash protection kits to this organization.”
The company has also received an order for four flash protection kits from the Puerto Rican International Guard, a substantial order of tools and insulating gloves from another Puerto Rican concern, three orders from Kuwait in the last several months, and an order from a bright new prospect in Portugal.
Of course, the company is also selling like gangbusters here in the U.S. as well. With such new accounts as Wet ‘n Wild amusement park in Orlando, Florida, you might say that Certified Insulated Products is making quite a splash.
