Challenge:
Service Wire Company employees have a lot of tenured industry knowledge, but how could they best consolidate and share that knowledge with potential customers?
Solution:
By creating a BlueVolt University, Service Wire Co. was able to share the company’s 55+ years of experience and industry knowledge with new and existing customers—getting the right information to the right people.
The Story:
Service Wire Company, a US copper wire and cable manufacturer, has three locations serving all their nationwide customers. They sell to distributor partners to help contractors, engineers, and end users with their commercial, industrial, utility, pump, and irrigation project and stock needs. According to Katy Martin, Marketing Strategist at Service Wire, they’ve been with BlueVolt for almost four years.
“Since 1968, we’ve positioned ourselves as an educational leader in the copper wire and cable industry—so we wanted to find a way to digitize this legacy knowledge for our customers,” Martin explained.
“Service Wire has always been focused on manufacturing quality products and delivering exceptional service, but we needed a new way to educate our customer base on our products, services, and applications, especially as more tenured employees begin to retire and a younger customer base is established. BlueVolt was a great solution.”
Digitizing that legacy knowledge was not a one-person job: Martin described how the marketing department, sales team, and engineering team worked and continue to work together to develop product and application-specific content, mostly built from years of experience and industry knowledge, but with additional information to keep it relevant and up to date.
“We keep it fresh by researching what markets our customers are most interested in, where there’s the best opportunity, and how Service Wire is a best-fit for specific projects,” Martin said. “We develop content outlines internally, review them with industry experts for accuracy, and create interactive modules to help customers better digest the information.”
Once they created a University, Service Wire started marketing it on their website, social media, print collateral, and through word of mouth. Additionally, they run limited-time promotions—for example, if someone completes the “Wire & Cable 101” series during the specified time, they win a Service Wire Academy branded jacket that says “Wire & Cable Certified” (which acts as further marketing!).
Rather than casting a wide net, however, Service Wire is unique in that they have a very selective process.
“Service Wire Academy, our BlueVolt University, is available to our distributor partners and our indirect customers like contractors, engineers, and end users. We review every single application, so if you sign up and you’re new to BlueVolt, or if you have an existing account, it doesn’t mean you’ll have instant access,” Martin said. “We make sure the right people are going to receive the right information. By controlling the volume, we can ensure that the Service Wire sales and engineering teams can support any questions or inquiries our customers may have.”
With this process, Martin says the University has been a great tool for generating leads while also providing value to those potential customers. And when these leads come through, it’s people who will benefit from working with Service Wire, meaning higher efficiency and greater value.
“The investment is worth it. We can be selective on who can see what courses, and when and how they enroll, and that's beneficial to us,” Martin said.
With this strategy, Service Wire has achieved a 95% completion rate, over 10% higher than the industry average. Not only that, but it’s been the handshake to real business deals, not just hollow leads, and Service Wire has gained a reputation as industry experts.
“From a marketing standpoint, it's a great lead generation opportunity for us,” Martin said. "From a business perspective, it really helps solidify Service Wire as an educational leader in the industry.”
Although they were intending to target those new to the industry, Martin said they were surprised by the response from more experienced industry veterans.
“We initially designed our courses for learners new to the electrical distribution industry. But what we found after launching is that there were people who have 20, 25, even 30 years of experience who were taking our courses saying they learned something new. It is exciting to hear this feedback from some of the most experienced experts in the field.”
Conclusion:
By using BlueVolt to position themselves as an industry expert, Service Wire Company has been able to generate targeted leads and create a positive perception of their expertise, as well as to scale legacy knowledge for current and future growth.
“The winning formula here is that we have a highly customized Academy, a selective application process, and key content. The people who sign up are enrolling, taking the courses, and talking about Service Wire. What’s been really fascinating is being able to connect the dots between lead creation and real business…with customers remembering what they learned in our Academy,” Martin said. “BlueVolt, for us, is like a handshake into a bigger discussion.”
To learn more about how BlueVolt can help you get the right information to the right people, contact us here today!
