With a full inventory of everything steel, whether stainless or electrical, plus titanium and aluminum products, Continental Steel and Tube has served both Fortune 1000 companies and small businesses for over 25 years. Automakers and airplane manufacturers from around the world depend on Continental for high-quality metal to develop a range of innovative applications, from the cars we drive to the planes we fly.
In 2008, Continental Steel and Tube's founder Don Ascione founded a second company, Continental Chemical USA. Like its sister company, Continental Chemical successfully established a wide-reaching distribution network. Mr. Ascione identified a new market connecting buyers and sellers of standard stock, as well as custom blended chemicals. Whether a buyer is looking for the latest in green cleaning products or needs a chemical for water treatment, Continental Chemical's showcase of 1,200 products and custom specifications ensure that potential buyers will find exactly what they want.
The combined companies have a staff of ten employees, maintain warehouses in Ohio and generate about $15 million in annual sales, 40 percent of which comes from overseas. Mr. Ascione credits much of this success to a long partnership with ThomasNet, which has always served as the sole sales channel for the two enterprises. The relationship began in the 1980's when he first advertised in the printed Thomas Register. As ThomasNet evolved, developing new online products and services to help industrial businesses, Mr. Ascione was always among the first customers to enlist. When Thomas Register evolved to ThomasNet.com, an online destination connecting industrial buyers and sellers, he was among the first to go online. In the 1990's he developed a website with ThomasNet and later, began distributing news releases through ThomasNet News. Mr. Ascione was so satisfied with the customers he signed through his ThomasNet program, that he never hired a formal sales force.
The Challenge: How to open new markets and increase sales by attracting qualified new leads among buyers who search online
A veteran entrepreneur, Mr. Ascione was determined to pull out all the stops to compete against multi-national companies and other larger distributors. He was even bold enough to develop a growth strategy despite a difficult economic environment. He recognized his buyers had moved online, conducting research and making purchases. If the Continental businesses were to continue to grow, he'd have to evolve his sales strategy to deliver a meaningful user experience from his website.
While the metals and chemical businesses offer very different products, their methodology for selling is the same. "We find bona fide buyers, determine what they need, create a viable proposal and efficiently process the order," Mr. Ascione said.
In a shrinking economy, it was more difficult to find these "bona fide" prospects. He sought to further leverage the Internet to reach into new markets, and expand his distribution footprint to replace lost business and then build upon it. Could the Continental websites function like top performing salesmen? Based on their history, ThomasNet was the logical place to turn. It had always been able to help him attract prospects, initiate the sales conversation and guide the visitor to request information or even a purchase. Now ThomasNet would help him to better replicate this process online.
The Solution: An online strategy that reaches into new global markets and drives new business for two companies Mr. Ascione took advantage of ThomasNet's latest technology, the Navigator Platform. It has sophisticated tools that deliver the online content and functionality those prospects and customers expect to find on the web. One of the most powerful among them is a highly detailed online catalog – the ideal foundation to help both Continental companies meet their goals.
Mr. Ascione was comfortable working side by side with ThomasNet's team of web designers, engineers and marketing specialists to implement his online strategy. For Continental Steel, the process began with uploading detailed descriptions and photos of 26,000 different aerospace metals, titanium rods, stainless steel tubes, brass milled and other products. For Continental Chemical USA, it began with showcasing its full range of 1,200 bulk chemical products.
For both companies it is important that the online catalogs include specific product detail, presented in language that a prospective customer would use in an online search. Such detail and understanding of how customers purchase, helps the Continental companies rise to the top of search results. When, for instance, an automotive engineer in Italy searches online for "commercial pure titanium grade ASTM B265 GR.1," or a Mid-West soap manufacturer searches online for "bulk Ammonium Lauryl Ether Sulfate," Continental's companies will appear at the top of the search results. Being found by qualified leads this way helps Continental get ahead of competitors and win new business.
"ThomasNet helps us most by driving qualified prospects to us. That makes a huge difference in our day-to-day business. Our online program allows us to focus on our core business—serving customers," says Mr. Ascione of his web strategy.
Once a visitor arrives at a Continental company website, it is intuitive for engineers and purchasing agents alike to use. At the metals company site, visitors are greeted with a full index of a dozen product categories where they can continuously narrow down their choices based on certain specifications. For the visitor who knows exactly what he wants, there is an option to search by keyword or item number.
Alternatively, a visitor to the chemicals business is greeted with three main sections: standard and custom blended chemicals; cleaning and maintenance products; and oil and gas completion products. Here the visitor can also browse by category, continuously drilling down to find a particular item, or can enter a keyword or part number to find it. Both websites make it easy for a visitor to request information by email or phone at any step in the process, with a call to action on every page.
While the metals business requires a one-on-one conversation to finalize a sale, the chemicals business sales process is more flexible. Mr. Ascione wanted to explore the viability of e-commerce for his line of chemical cleaning products and supplies. He now leverages ThomasNet's e-commerce/shopping cart technology to take orders directly online.
Continentals' staff can now take advantage of back end tools that allow them to build on the content in the online catalogs. They can add new products or edit what is available on a moment's notice, keeping their inventory up to date and always available to the marketplace. In addition, Mr. Ascione recognizes the importance of measuring his website activity. With ThomasNet's Web Traxs® he can not only see where the web traffic is coming from, but also which keywords visitors use to find them and what visitors do once they arrive. That sort of information is powerful, allowing him to adjust the content on the website as needed.
The Results: Continental Companies signs new global customers; both companies are on track to double revenue Both Continental companies reap the rewards of using their websites as their sole sales channels. Mr. Ascione report that 95 percent of Continental Steel and Tube's business comes directly through their respective websites. Both companies are on track to double revenue in 2010.
Continental Steel recently landed a one million dollar contract with the world's largest oil service company. The purchasing agent there admitted that Continental could compete for the business because the new website gave him and his team the confidence that Continental could deliver on the order. Other new customers that have come to Continental Steel and Tube as a result of their new web strategy are a who's who of top brands, including Siemens, Boeing, Lowe's, Halliburton and Ford. Even race car manufacturer Ferrari found Continental Steel and Tube online, and now sources titanium for their Formula One division.
"Customers have told us that had it not been for the credibility we inspire through our new online presence, we would never have had the opportunity to do business with them," says Mr. Ascione. Continental's website traffic shows the strategy is working. Now visitors spend more time viewing the information on the site, and the company has 50 to 100 emails and phone calls coming in every day as a direct result.
Like Continental Steel, Continental Chemical USA is also experiencing marked success. Since the website's launch, it draws over 2,500 visitors per month from such diverse industries as the armed services, oil service companies and commercial laundries. The e-commerce sales for the maintenance products alone generate $9,000 per day.
New customers include an order from the Brownsville, Texas Public Works department for three million pounds of chemicals. Following that, the company received a $35,000 order for sulphuric acid from a water treatment facility in Antigua directly from the new website. Mr. Ascione expects that they will buy three more times this year at least. Robbins Air Force Base and several commercial laundries are also new additions to the Continental Chemical customer roster.
"It's as if I have a full-time seasoned sales rep working nonstop around the clock," Mr. Ascione says. "I've relied on ThomasNet to bring me customers for the last 25 years and they continue to be an important partner. In fact, we wouldn't be in business today if it wasn't for what ThomasNet has done for my businesses. My return on investment is over tenfold."
If you are interested in learning about the successes of other ThomasNet clients, go to
www.promoteyourbusiness.thomasnet.com or call (800) 879-6757.
July 2010
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