GEFA Fabritz Achieves Sustainability Goals and Enhances Customer Engagement

Achieves sustainability goals and enhances customer engagement with Seismic

Bert Habrich — CEO

$49,197

Costs saved from a reduction in printed catalog production

50%

Reduction in printed materials

80%

Digital shift with Seismic

For over 30 years, the company has been the leading supplier of special products from the gardening and landscaping sector. Concentrating fully on green growth. Gerhard Fabritz had clear aims when he outsourced a company section called GEFA Produkte Fabritz GmbH in 1992. He wanted to focus fully on preserving the environment and had already developed his first product: the GEFA Tree anchoring system. Today, this tree bracing system is one of the most popular standard invisible anchoring systems for young trees.

The Challenge

“When you send catalogs through the post, you never know whether it has reached the intended recipient. Sometimes, catalogs are returned because the company has moved or no longer exists. However, by sending digital catalogs with Seismic, it is possible to track the opening rate and understand the campaign’s success.”

Bert Habrich

CEO

Reduce Content Distribution Costs and Enhance Content Delivery

GEFA Fabritz is a 30-year-old family-owned company in the gardening and landscaping sector focused on fully green growth. GEFA focuses on delivering everything needed for established and newly planted trees to thrive, which includes tree securing, watering, and providing nutrients and fertilizers. They work closely with clients, including landscape architects and contractors, to ensure successful tree planting and maintenance in various environments, including urban areas with infrastructure challenges.

Bert Habrich, CEO at GEFA Fabritz, outlined the fundamental changes he wanted to drive to impact the business and support the company’s mission. As a company focused on green growth, GEFA aims to reduce the environmental footprint associated with printing and mailing catalogs, which are both costly and less sustainable. GEFA also wanted to improve the complex sales process, which involves projects that span several years. The sales process required effective collaboration with landscape architects and the ability to provide detailed information, documents, and pricing updates throughout the various stages of the projects.

GEFA needed a solution for more efficient and environmentally friendly communication. By implementing Seismic, GEFA focused on saving time and reducing costs associated with the manual distribution of printed materials and information while making the sales process more efficient.

Bert Habrich

CEO

Loading component...

The Solution

“The value of Seismic is perhaps most evident in its benefit to our clients; they obtain all necessary information on demand, tailored to their individual needs.”

Bert Habrich

CEO

Driving Operational Optimization by Digitally Automating the Production of Content

With a focus on sustainability, the company aimed to reduce its carbon footprint, considering the environmental impact of its digital tools and printed resources. GEFA also needed more insights into customer interactions with their printed materials, like catalog section views.

To address these challenges, the company leveraged Seismic, an innovative platform that enabled tailored and efficient communication. They took strategic steps to reduce the number of printed catalogs sent out, initiating a shift towards digital distribution. The company created a form on its website, allowing clients to opt for digital or printed versions, aiming to transition to 75 to 80% digital distribution.

Through Seismic, the company achieved remarkable outcomes. By reducing the number of printed catalogs by 50%, GEFA realized over 45,000 Euros in cost savings from reduced printing and shipping expenses. Moreover, Seismic’s digital distribution not only aided in cost reduction but also significantly contributed to measuring the company’s carbon footprint reduction, aligning with its sustainability objectives.

“Every catalog costs us around 5 euros to send. We spend about 90,000 euros a year only on distributing and printing catalogs. If we can reduce costs again by 50% next year, we can reinvest those savings into our people,” said Bert Habrich, CEO at GEFA Fabritz.

Bert emphasized the importance of tracking customer engagement metrics facilitated by Seismic, a capability absent in traditional print distribution methods. “When you send catalogs through the post, you never know whether it has reached the intended recipient. Sometimes, catalogs are returned because the company has moved or no longer exists. However, by sending digital catalogs with Seismic, it is possible to track the opening rate and understand the campaign’s success.

“The value of Seismic is perhaps most evident in its benefit to our clients; they obtain all necessary information on demand, tailored to their individual needs.”

Bert Habrich

CEO

Loading component...

Delivering a Better Buyer Experience with Digital Sales Rooms

GEFA needed help managing and disseminating a substantial volume of product information across various formats, such as digital catalogs, videos, and certificates. The pivotal need was to efficiently organize this information for the sales and client support teams while ensuring easy accessibility.

During peak seasons, the company needed help effectively communicating with clients, facing the daunting task of generating a high volume of proposals and promptly responding to client queries. The urgency was to swiftly and individually address client requests, delivering precise information promptly. Different team members resorted to diverse communication tools and methods, leading to consistency in sharing information with clients.

With Seismic, GEFA aimed to provide relevant content, track engagement, and facilitate seamless two-way communication. Seismic also became a tool to help alleviate stress and enhance employee satisfaction by streamlining workflows and reducing repetitive tasks.

“We employed Seismic to craft customizable Digital Sales Rooms tailored to specific customer segments, fostering a more personalized client experience,” said Habrich. The previous struggle with multi-channel communication found resolution as Digital Sales Rooms enabled GEFA to interact with clients through various channels according to their preferences, significantly enhancing the overall customer experience.

Seismic revolutionized the proposal creation process, especially during the peak season when a seller grappled with generating over 100 proposals daily—Seismic’s functionality streamlined access to content vital for proposal creation.

“The value of Seismic is perhaps most evident in its benefit to our clients; they obtain all necessary information on demand, tailored to their individual needs,” said Habrich.

Seismic empowered the company to track and measure customer engagement with digital catalogs, offering valuable insights into customer preferences and interests. These enhanced insights facilitated the identification of promising leads and provided direction for sales and marketing strategies. The analytics capabilities of Seismic became instrumental in assessing the impact of digital initiatives, encompassing content engagement, cost savings, and the environmental benefits stemming from reduced printed materials.

Loading component...

The Results

45,000+ Euros Saved from a Reduction in Printed Catalog Production

Seismic addressed GEFA’s information management and client communication challenges, significantly improving the overall customer experience while optimizing internal operations. GEFA Fabritz significantly improved client communication by reducing printed catalog distribution by 50%, embracing a 75-80% digital shift using Seismic. Introducing Seismic revolutionized their client interactions, enabling digital catalog and content sharing with Digital Sales Rooms.

“Seismic is a modern technical company that gives us a unique selling proposition. Seismic is helping us do something that no other manufacturer does. We are the first to use this technology in our branch, helping us stay ahead of the competition,” said Habrich.

By adopting Seismic and a strategic shift towards digital distribution, the company achieved cost savings and aligned with its sustainability objectives by reducing its carbon footprint. Through the power of innovative digital tools, GEFA Fabritz is enhancing sustainability efforts and improving customer engagement metrics with Seismic. “I think that the use of Seismic in the future can certainly account for a reduction of 10% of our advertising costs. That makes the investment worthwhile,” said Habrich.

$49,197

50%

80%

Share

The Challenge

Loading component...

The Solution

Loading component...

Loading component...

The Results

Loading component...

The Challenge

The Solution

The Results