A 12,000-part spreadsheet that started selling on its own
Eva GarrelUpdated
An engineering catalogue lived in spreadsheets: 12,000 parts, or 23,000 items once every variant is counted. A day and a half from enquiry to invoice became thirty minutes.
- 30
- minutes instead of 1.5 days
- 23,000
- items in the catalogue
- +23%
- revenue
There was a catalogue, and nothing could be found in it
Thirty-two categories lived in spreadsheets and on paper, with about a tenth of the range in digital form. Technical parameters were clarified by phone, and quoting an order could take weeks.
It was not the enquiry that got lost. It was the time between question and answer
Product selection rested on one specialist's memory, so sales growth was capped not by demand but by his working day.
- Enquiry
- Clarifications
- Engineer
- Quote
- Invoice
- Enquiry
- Clarifications
- Engineer
- Quote
- Invoice
1.5 days to the first invoice
We built a selection system, not a shop window
A shop window shows the product, a system helps you choose it. That is the whole difference.
Selection runs on technical characteristics, not a manager's memory
The client finds the solution alone, at any hour
Selection data goes straight to the sales team
The client stopped waiting for "their person"
+23% revenue from the new channel
Speed of reply turned out to be a condition of the deal, not a convenience. While a client waits a day and a half, they have time to ask a competitor.
An industry community grew around the digital channel
A professional community formed alongside the product: live pilot projects, meetups and shared experience. The channel stopped being only a sales channel and became a reason to gather.
- 250+ chief engineers and technical directors in the Mekhaton community
- Perm: 5 teams, 30+ participants and 3 live pilots
- Yekaterinburg: 150+ engineers at the industry congress
The winner is whoever turns complexity into a fast client path
The complexity did not disappear. What changed is how much of the client's time it costs.
If your client path has a place where everything stops and waits for a person, that is what I find first.
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