Fenner Drives Improves Collateral Fulfillment with Marketing Portal - PODi Case Study

Vertical Market: Manufacturing
Business Application: Collateral Management and Fulfillment

Business Objectives
Fenner Drives is a leader in the design and manufacture of problem-solving power transmission and motion transfer components such as belting, locking devices, tensioners and more.

Fenner Drives originally was looking for someone to help it with its kitting and fulfillment of orders for marketing collateral from its sales team and channel partners. Although the company had a shipping department dedicated to completing product orders, it did not have the internal resources to respond to requests for marketing materials in a timely manner, sometimes resulting in a two- or three-week delay.

The process for ordering marketing collateral was also cumbersome. Sales staff used to call the business development department and then business development would call shipping. This was a time-consuming and inefficient process.

After an initial meeting, The Standard Group proposed an online marketing portal that would not only improve the turnaround time for marketing collateral orders, but would also re-engineer their ordering process and organize all current product information.

Results
The online marketing portal centralized the distribution of key marketing literature and sales materials.

• In the first two months there were 129 users and 239 orders.
• There are currently 255 products offered on the portal: 173 fulfillment products, 76 print-on-demand products, two variable business cards, three kits.
• Products are offered in four languages.
• Removed over 125 obsolete items and set up an “on demand” literature library saving on unnecessary printing, warehousing and storage.
• Updated branding and standardized templates for various channels.
• Streamlined the ordering process and saved labor for the internal business development specialist and marketing teams.
• Saved labor and space in Fenner Drives’ shipping department—freed up about an hour a day for one shipping associate and about 20 skids worth of space in their warehouse which is now occupied with sellable product.

Workflow
The Standard Group developed an online marketing and sales management portal with 24/7 Web ordering and end-to-end logistics. The literature ordering process was simplified and end users were empowered to place orders and verify status. Users can now order brochures, flyers, catalogs and other products that are all up-to-date and meet corporate branding standards.

Fenner Drives requested turnaround time for orders has been met. Kitting and fulfillment orders are shipped the next day and print-on-demand orders are shipped in three to five days.

Users
The Fenner Drives marketing portal is used by the sales team, distribution partners and manufacturing representatives who need marketing collateral for sales meetings, trade shows and events.

To ensure that the launch of the marketing portal went smoothly and to drive usage, training was offered for the marketing and business development teams. A comprehensive FAQ was also developed for the end users.

Brad Winters, marketing communications director for Fenner Drives, says the launch went very smoothly and upkeep for the system is minimal. “The portal launch went exactly as planned. I’m ecstatic. We kicked it off and I was expecting to commit about at least half of my time to fix things. I’m happy to report that I don’t really touch much. It’s gone that smoothly. That makes me very happy.”

Winters added: “The navigation is impeccable. Once we trained all of our reps and inside sales team, we did not receive a single a question on how to do something on the site...It’s so easy to use. It’s like shopping online and everyone does that.”

Reasons for Success
Winters is very pleased with the system, and noted: “Besides giving all of us more time, it has given us more pride too. The outside sales team used the site as judgment for the marketing team. Because we are so organized, they think very highly of us. They have definitely given us a pat on the back and it feels good.”

The online marketing portal re-engineered Fenner Drives’ ordering process, improved turnaround time for marketing collateral and enabled the company to track the usage of marketing materials.

Fenner Drives
Fenner Drives is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of added-value, problem solving products for power transmission, motion transfer and conveying applications. With over 200 employees and ISO 9001 certified production facilities in Manheim, PA, and Wilmington, NC, it has a wealth of manufacturing, technical and commercial expertise.

The Standard Group
The Standard Group is a print and integrated communications leader that strives to simplify the art of communication. By understanding its customers' business and needs, The Standard Group helps deliver their message to the marketplace via the best channel, whether through print, digital media, personalized marketing or mailing.

PODi is a global, member-supported not-for-profit organization. The PODi library consists of over 500 digital printing and marketing case studies from around the world.

Source: PODi

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