How a Żywiec foundry gained 8 new clients in 3 months
A small iron foundry from Żywiec had the same problem as hundreds of other plants in Poland. They did great work, but their phone was silent for weeks. In October 2023, we started acting to change this without spending a fortune on ads.
Empty desk and cold furnaces
The state as of September 2023 was difficult. The plant employed 14 experienced people, but orders only flowed from old acquaintances. The owner, Mr. Marek, had tried various methods before. He spent 4,200 PLN on flyers and ads in the local press, which didn't bring a single inquiry. Finished castings stood in the hall, but the warehouse was filling up because the pickup rate dropped by 22% compared to the previous year. There was a lack of new faces and new orders that would allow the company to breathe financially.
For 12 business days in a row, not a single phone call from a potential contractor was received in the office. This was an alarm signal. Mr. Marek knew he had to change something but didn't want to hear about big strategies. He needed concrete facts that would translate into hard orders. Our team from Katowice went on-site to see what production looked like. Instead of sitting in an air-conditioned office, we spent 6 hours on the shop floor, talking to molders and checking what this foundry could actually do best.
Analysis showed that the greatest asset was short series of grey iron castings. Most big players in the market didn't want to talk about orders below 100 pieces at all. The Żywiec foundry could do it right away. This was their chance to win. The problem was that no one on the internet could find them for this. The website looked like it was from 2005 and didn't open correctly on mobile phones, which is a critical error in 2024.
Facts on the table: the company had professionals and equipment, but in the network, it was completely invisible to new contractors.
Renovating the map listing
We started with the simplest thing that works on the shop floor and in the field. We fixed the company profile in Google Maps. Previously, the name was misleading, and the photos only showed a rusty entrance gate. We went back there with a camera and took 14 decent photos of the molding process and finished details. No sugarcoating of reality. We showed clean metal, precise edges, and people at work. We also added exact opening hours and a direct number to Mr. Marek, not the secretariat where no one answered.
In the first 18 days after the update, the profile was viewed by 432 people. More importantly, 12 people clicked the 'Call' button directly from the map. We also configured a simple review system. We asked three regular recipients from Bielsko-Biała to write two sentences about timeliness. This was enough for the Google algorithm to start taking the plant seriously. People looking for a foundry within a 50-kilometer radius finally started seeing the Żywiec offer on the first page of results.
There was no magic here. We simply provided the facts that engineers and procurement officers look for. If someone needs a pump body for yesterday, they want to see that the plant is alive and working. Photos of steaming molds and ready pallets of goods work better than any marketing slogans. Job done on time must be visible at the internet search stage. This was the first step to regaining flow in inquiries.
Photos of steaming molds work better on engineers than any empty marketing slogans.
A website that doesn't waste time
In mid-November 2023, we rebuilt the website. We threw out all the texts about 'passion' and 'mission'. Instead, at the very top, we put a table with the parameters of the iron alloys the foundry makes. An engineer who enters the site is looking for specific standards: EN-GJL-200 or EN-GJL-250. If they don't find it in 5 seconds, they close the tab and go to the competition. We shortened the site loading time from 6.4 seconds to 1.2 seconds. This is key because many production managers check suppliers quickly while standing at a machine.
We added a simple quote form. Instead of a general 'Write to us', we gave fields for casting weight, expected volume, and the ability to attach a PDF file with a technical drawing. This was a hit. In December 2023, 9 inquiries came through this form from companies Mr. Marek had never even heard of before. One of them concerned a permanent cooperation in the production of parts for agricultural machinery. No fluff, the client immediately knew they were talking to professionals.
The entire site rebuild operation took us 11 business days. We didn't play with unnecessary graphic gimmicks. We focused on readability and hard technical data. Every subpage ended with a clear call to contact: 'Call and ask for a date'. This simple approach made the conversion rate, i.e., the number of people calling relative to site visitors, increase by 312%. Battle-tested methods once again showed their superiority over theorizing.
Results counted in hard cash
The effects came faster than Mr. Marek expected. From October 1 to December 30, 2023, the foundry acquired 8 new, regular clients. These were not one-off orders for 100 PLN. The total value of new contracts in this short period was 114,850 PLN net. The average response time to a quote request dropped to 2 hours and 15 minutes because we taught the office team how to quickly price typical details based on the new guidelines from the site.
The biggest success was establishing a cooperation with an industrial fittings manufacturer from near Skoczów. The client found the foundry in Google under the phrase 'short series iron castings'. Previously, they ordered goods from near Poznań, which generated high transport costs. Now they have a supplier 30 kilometers from them. This is the strength of local marketing in industry. It works on the shop floor, saves the client money, and earns the local entrepreneur money. Without unnecessary complications and expensive agencies.
Today, in March 2024, the foundry has an order portfolio filled for 5 months ahead. Mr. Marek plans to hire another 3 people for finishing work. The entire process shown in this case proves that marketing for production doesn't have to be complicated. It's enough to show concrete work to the right people at the right time. We at Development and Progress ensure that these two worlds meet. Without fluff and promising miracles.
8 new clients and 114,850 PLN revenue in 90 days. These are facts, not marketing fairy tales.
