Client Profile
The client is a well-established steel fabrication company that produces high-quality structural steel components for solar installations, guard rails, and more.
Business Situation
Dealing with a manufacturing process issue, leadership changes, and a significant drop in sales can create a perfect storm that challenges a company’s stability, requiring quick and strategic adjustments to avoid long-term negative impacts. This is what happened with one steel fabrication company.
The steel fabrication company’s business was disrupted by a challenge with one of its internal finishing processes. During this time, its VP of sales left the organization, creating further disruption. Its other sales-focused personnel, who predominantly fulfilled project management roles, were given additional sales responsibilities after the VP’s departure; however, they didn’t have the skill sets to actively seek out
new business.
While the issue with the internal finishing process was resolved, the company’s challenges left them with a sharp decline in sales, further exacerbated by an expanding gap between its current client’s repeat purchases. With no sales process and dependency on the current client base, the steel fabrication company needed additional support for sales process optimization, including a sales infrastructure and guidance to assist with rebuilding the sales pipeline.
Onboarding Collaboration
When the metal fabrication company partnered with Athena for a complete solution, it gained a fully integrated infrastructure. This includes streamlined front-end sales and marketing processes, advanced technology (such as research tools, Pipedrive CRM, marketing automation, call recording, and website visitor tracking), and a team of nine to ten specialized individuals.
At the kickoff meeting, Athena’s account manager, content consultant, and three key members of the website development and SEO team, together with the fabrication company’s leadership and sales manager, met to collaborate. This meeting allowed Athena to introduce the program to those not involved in the initial decision, reiterating the program’s goals. It also gave the Athena team a chance to learn more about the company’s unique needs, ask probing questions, and craft a compelling, targeted message that would resonate with the market, setting the stage for a successful partnership.
Sales Process Optimization
After the initial onboarding, Athena implemented a targeted approach to optimize the steel fabrication company’s front -end sales process. With a focus on identifying ideal prospects based on company size, material usage, and application needs. Athena’s team crafted and sent targeted emails, following up with calls to key decision-makers. Interested prospects not yet ready to meet are nurtured through ongoing communications. At the same time, Athena consistently follows up with non-responsive contacts until the lead converts or revokes permission.
Once a meeting was set, the opportunity was in the hands of the metal fabrication company’s sales team. This allowed the fabrication company to focus on converting high-potential leads while Athena handled the front-end sales legwork. However, Athena’s team was available to follow up if the lead failed to progress through the active sales pipeline.
Inbound Sales and Marketing
Athena supported the company’s inbound efforts by doing a technical SEO audit of the site and making recommendations for improvement. The company’s website was optimized for SEO, keyword-driven blog posts were produced, and LinkedIn outreach was performed monthly.
Web forms were added to the website, and any new leads from the website were seamlessly integrated into the outbound program, ensuring no missed opportunities. With ongoing data tracking and analysis, Athena continually refined its SEO strategy to enhance performance and drive results.
The Results
Introduced $1.5 Minto active sales pipeline
$530,000 in Collected P.O.sin 9 months
Increased Website Keyword 5xin only 5 months
Provided front-end marketing infrastructure supportto assist sales with achieving its sales growth goals
From nine months of executing its outsourced front-end sales processes, Athena introduced $1.5 M of opportunities into the company’s active sales pipeline. The company revealed that, on average, 25 percent of leads result in a purchase order (P.O.). During this time, the company received purchase orders for $530,000. However, the sales cycle averages six months; therefore, more closures are expected as a result of these nine months of work.
Turning to the website enhancements, organic traffic has trended upward since the start of the engagement, showing consistent growth. Search engine rankings showed strong growth across the top 5 and 10 search result appearances. Total keywords ranked for skyrocketed — in only five months, there was nearly 5x growth. This showcases the impact growing a website with new content (blogs and pages) has on the number of queries the company can appear for, providing increased visibility.