COVID wiped out their leads overnight, then came their best sales result in 106 years.
SmartShelters generated almost every agricultural lead from field days and in-person events. When COVID cancelled those for 12 months, their primary lead source vanished. A six-week DigitalArchitect® programme rebuilt the business around digital, lifting online discoverability 1,000% and delivering the best sales result in the company's 106-year history.
Almost every lead came from field days. Then COVID cancelled them.
SmartShelters, a 106-year-old family business, generated almost all of its agricultural sales leads from field days and in-person events. As Operations Manager Harvey Cottle put it, "every Ag deal that we closed would have at least visited us at a field days event."
When COVID hit in early 2020, those events were cancelled for 12 months, wiping out their primary lead source overnight. With no in-house digital expertise and almost no online visibility for their products, they needed a completely new way to generate qualified leads.
- Almost every agricultural lead came from field days and events.
- COVID cancelled those events for a full 12 months.
- Little to no online visibility for their products.
- No in-house digital expertise to fall back on.
- No system for generating qualified leads without events.
A business case first, then a system.
Digital Enablement Programme (DigitalArchitect®)
A six-week programme built a data-driven business case for digital, sizing the online opportunity for each industry sector, identifying exactly where to invest, and forecasting three years of growth with committed numbers, not vague promises.
An SEO-first website rebuild
We rebuilt the website from an SEO standpoint rather than a design standpoint, turning it into a lead-generation tool that attracts the right kind of buyer by design.
Targeted digital campaigns
A series of strategically targeted digital campaigns replaced event-based lead generation, reaching the buyers who could no longer meet the team in person.
Sharper messaging for consultative selling
We sharpened the messaging and differentiators to support the sales team's consultative selling approach.
From invisible to their best year ever.
SmartShelters moved up a collective 8,000 positions on key product and service searches, grew organic visitors 94% and total website visitors 53%, and lifted revenue 90% in under two years, all after their first DigitalArchitect® programme.
"DigitalArchitect® gave us clarity like we've never seen before. By understanding the size of our online opportunity for each of our industry sectors, we were able to make better decisions on where to invest with confidence. DigitalArchitect® has given us a strategy to create more leads than we thought was possible, and led to the best ever sales results in our 106-year history!"
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