Personalized Web pages lure customers, give sales staff instant feedback
by Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 7/1/2005 6:00:00 AM
Palmyra, N.Y.-based Garlock Sealing Technologies, a $250-million manufacturer with 15 facilities in eight countries, sells, potentially at least, more than 100,000 possible fluid sealing solutions. Ensuring that updated information about this extensive product line is available to sales staff and customers has been a major challenge.
"We needed a better way to manage our marketing documents," says Rob Ewanow, Garlock's marketing communication manager.
The better way is Longwood Software's TagTeam.com, a hosted document management system that allows users to create and store an online library of marketing materials, and update and distribute them electronically. Users pay a monthly fee, and Longwood maintains the site.
The key benefit for Garlock, says Ewanow, is the company now has "one central repository where we can update and change material."
Beyond ease of site maintenance, the system brings benefits to Garlock's sales team. "This is an easy way for reps in the field to grab [the most current] product brochures," explains Ewanow. "They log into the Web site and call them up for a customer."
The same availability applies to presentations, advertisements, and product information releases. Web Kits, a system feature, allow salespeople to create personalized Web pages for customers. "It's a different way to send collateral," says Ewanow. "If you have a customer that wants five pieces of literature, you can send it to them in what appears to be a customized page."
The sender is notified when the recipient opens the e-mail and clicks on one of the links, which tells the salesperson what literature commanded the most attention. "The advantage is you never have to worry whether the e-mail went through. This also gives sales one more reason to follow up with a call to a customer," says Ewanow.
Adding engineering materials to the library is an option for the future. When that time comes, no elaborate integration to the CAD or product life-cycle management system will be required. "It's as simple as attaching a file to an e-mail," says Ewanow. "You could send the file to the internal administrator and say, 'Place this drawing in the library.'"
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