Building on more than a half century of success, Gullco relies greatly on referrals and word of mouth to attract new customers. The company accomplished this through an internal sales staff and a worldwide network of distributors. Aside from some occasional magazine advertising and trade shows, Gullco has had a limited marketing budget to help capture new business opportunities.

Yet with a sales cycle that ranged from six months to one year, Gullco depended on a strong pipeline of qualified leads. As its customer base increasingly turned to the internet to research and source equipment, Gullco needed a solid web strategy that supported the information needs of its prospective customers. Unfortunately, Gullco's website fell short in delivering a strong user experience and developing new business opportunities.

"Our website was more like 'brochure-ware,'" explains Nick Drake, Gullco's Director of Marketing. "We were not providing the detailed product information and technical specs that potential clients expected and needed to find at our site."

The Solution: Gullco creates a new, "always-on" sales channel with its website While Gullco knew of ThomasNet as an advertising resource, it was not until Mr. Drake was contacted by ThomasNet sales rep Philip Young, that he learned the full extent of what ThomasNet's Web Solutions could offer. He had every confidence in partnering with ThomasNet because of its successful track record improving industrial companies' website performance. "I was blown away by the level of research and tech expertise ThomasNet has—not to mention the Navigator Platform (ThomasNet Web Solution's proprietary technology) which allows us to have our online catalog, but also gives us the option for future growth into other areas, like replicating our content on our distributor's sites," adds Drake.

Together, Gullco staff worked with ThomasNet's team of engineers, industry experts and web technology experts to create a custom online strategy, implementing ThomasNet Web Solutions. At the core of Gullco's web solution is the Navigator Platform, which gives Gullco the tools and functionality its prospective customers need to make intelligent online buying decisions. The process began with creating a new online catalog and detailing Gullco's hundreds of products, from nine different kinds of flexible track carriage systems to four different heavy duty beveling systems and dozens of ceramic weld backings. To further facilitate the purchasing process, parts lists, manuals, videos, and buying guides help provide added support and information.

Each item in the company's online catalog includes technical specifications and detailed product descriptions, a key aspect of Gullco appearing at the top of online searches. "A lot of the customers that come to our website found us from a simple online search," Mr. Drake says. "Many of them originate from places where we don't even have salespeople. This is extremely, important, because it shows that the information is reaching a customer base which we have never been able to reach before."

Once a lead arrives at www.gullco.com, the site is intuitive to use. A visitor can easily search, compare products side by side, ensure that a product is well-suited to a specific project, and contact Gullco directly. Whether prospects want to browse different product categories or drill down to a specific equipment model, they can select from a range of options designed to anticipate their needs. As an added benefit, Gullco can replicate its online catalog content directly on its distributors' websites, making product information increasingly accessible to a wider range of prospective buyers.

Results: Return on Investment in Less Than One YearGullco has realized results from the new internet strategy right away: in less than a year since going live, the company has recorded 12 new customers, totaling $450,000 in sales. "The numbers speak for themselves," Mr. Drake says. "For a small company like ours, this has resulted in a large increase in sales. The return on investment has been incredible."

A typical user now spends an average of seven minutes per visit viewing the catalog, much longer than the average time spent simply viewing the site Gullco knows that it's attracting serious prospects. A 43 percent increase in search engine referrals and subsequent sales figures are proof positive Gullco is succeeding in reaching new customers.

"Based on the information we have on our site, we're finding that we see a much more educated customer. And this makes it a lot easier for our salespeople to sell to them," explains Drake. Not only has Gullco added more business to its pipeline, the introduction of the website has significantly shortened the sales cycle, with some sales now closing in just a matter of days. Further evidence of Gullco's success can be seen in the site's overall conversion actions. A conversion, any user action that moves them closer to buying, can occur when someone requests more information, downloads a whitepaper, or initiates another step in the buying process. With Gullco's new website, conversion actions jumped from 197 per month in January, 2009 to over 10,700 per month by October, 2010.

Eighty-six percent of the people who visit Gullco's website download various elements, such as detailed equipment specs, technical manuals, video, and other forms of information. Because the prospect is better informed at the beginning of the process, it means they are largely pre-qualified by the time they reach out to Gullco (online or by phone).

The new website benefits Gullco's repeat customers too, strengthening their existing relationships by providing value-added information.

ThomasNet's Web Solutions also gives Gullco ultimate control over its website. Back-end tools allow Gullco to easily edit and update product information real time. Additionally, they use Web Traxs®, an advanced website tracking tool that allows the company to see first-hand users' search patterns. This feature allows Gullco to analyze user habits and respond directly to emerging trends and needs.

"Before deploying our web strategy, we didn't even know who our best customer was. In the past year we've been able to get a great deal of information, and slowly we're finding out who our better customers are and how we can better serve them," Drake explains. "Our partnership with ThomasNet is really setting us up for growth in the future."

If you are interested in learning about the successes of other ThomasNet clients, go to www.promoteyourbusiness.thomasnet.com or call (800) 879-6747.

June 2010

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