“Converting your proprietary process into an eCommerce product line certainly offers game-changing opportunities. 

As a custom manufacturer (aka Job Shop), life can be extremely challenging. Though it is an absolute honor and privilege to serve each customer and contribute to their success. Yet, a custom manufacturer is always at the mercy of the customer. 

When the customer is busy, the custom manufacturer is busy. Unfortunately, the opposite holds true as well (I know, you are thinking, thank you Captain Obvious). 

When a single customer or even worse, several customers turn slow, the custom manufacturer feels the pain. Backpedaling is certainly not fun. 

Therefore, converting a proprietary process into an eCommerce product line offers tremendous benefits. Fortunately, you can discover first hand the powerful results presented when pursuing an eCommerce product line. 

Let’s look at a case study showing the steps as well as the incredible opportunities that exist when creating an eCommerce product line. 

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Franchising Meets Manufacturing 

First, what we are talking about here is extremely similar to franchising. 

How? 

Exploiting and maximizing the amazing systems that you built over the years. 

Think about all of the mistakes that you have experienced and overcome to reach where you are today. Plenty of trial and error, right? The knowledge of what works and what doesn’t.

Entrepreneurship is certainly not for the meek and mild. It takes a relentless drive to create what you have done to reach this point. Yet, why do many entrepreneurs buy into franchises as opposed to starting their own business from scratch?

The franchisee is buying the insurance policy of proven systems and processes.

A franchise offers the opportunity where most of the mistakes were already made along with much of the guessing removed. The franchise investor is buying what NOT to do as much as they are purchasing what DOES work.

Franchising Your Proprietary Process 

This is a similar concept with your business in the sense an OEM needs your expertise to fill a void or complete a process. You solve a problem for them that would be too costly on their own.

In addition, Scaling Your Proprietary Process prevents that customer from attempting to do what you do. 

If that OEM does not contact you or know that you exist they end up contacting another custom manufacturer. Especially when that other manufacturer has no idea what they are doing and stumbles while attempting to produce the product. The product that YOU are the best at! 

This is the difference where a manufacturer enters an area where they lack the experience, expertise, tools, equipment, and resources that YOU possess. 

It’s an entrepreneur trying to start a restaurant on their own as opposed to buying into a franchise. 

Something to consider: 4 out of 5 businesses fail in the first five years as opposed to most franchises offer a 90% success rate. 

What odds do you like better? 

In the same fashion, your customer gains a huge advantage by teaming up with you and your proprietary process similar to the franchise model. 

Your proprietary process expertise delivers your 99% success rate to eager customers. 

“Converting Your Proprietary Process” at Falconer Electronics 

Manufacturing eCommerce Strategies by converting a proprietary process took place at Falconer Electronics, a small custom electronics manufacturer founded in 1985. Core capabilities at Falconer Electronics include manufacturing commercial power strips, ground straps as well as wire harness assemblies. 

Falconer Electronics, Inc. humble beginnings began within a garage. According to Roger Hall, the founder and President of Falconer Electronics, “We are not able to say that our humble beginnings started in my garage in 1985. Truth be told….I had to launch Falconer Electronics in my neighbor’s garage (main reason being he had a garage and I did not).”

Since then, Falconer Electronics attributes its long term success and growth to an all-star team, many of whom have been employed with the company for decades.

Falconer Electronics owns an impressive customer list that includes Lowe’s, Target, Walmart, and even the Pentagon. Learn more at www.FalconerElectronics.com.

The Scale Your Proprietary Process “Aha” moment hit Falconer Electronics with their line of heavy duty ground straps. Falconer Electronics produces thousands upon thousands of Braided Ground Straps for two OEM’s (original equipment manufacturers).  

It finally hit us one day: Hey, there must be plenty of other companies seeking superior quality Braided Ground Straps. Especially with these ground straps that are Made in the USA. 

So we decided to take the next step. 

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Ground Straps = Converting Your Proprietary Process 

The company had everything in their corner to exploit this market:

Experience + tools + equipment + staff + suppliers + raw material + resources = Your Proprietary Process 

Then took it one step further: 

Your Proprietary Process + eCommerce = Scaling Your Proprietary Process with eCommerce 

A perfect Scaling Opportunity formula! 

“Converting Your Proprietary Process” with Ground Straps 

We created an eCommerce product line of Braided Ground Straps and added this line to the company website. The company already had a WordPress website. 

Therefore adding a WooCommerce plugin to the website created a cheap and easy solution to kickstart an eCommerce presence. 

From there, we converted their proprietary process into a proprietary product line. 

We kicked things off with the following specs: 

1/4″ Ground Straps 

4″, 8″, 12″, 16″, 20″ & 24″

• Tinned Copper
• 10 Gauge AWG
• 53 Amps
• Flat Width 1/2″

1/2″ Ground Straps 

4″, 8″, 12″, 16″, 20″ & 24″

• Tinned Copper
• 14 Gauge AWG
• 32 Amps
• Flat Width 1/4″

The variety includes a mixture of 1/4″ and 1/2″ connectors.  

Then pointed out all of the benefits of Ground Straps from Falconer Electronics include: 

• Made in USA 
• Tinned copper 
• Solder dipped ends 
• Heavy Duty 
• Manufacturing Ground Straps Since 1985 

By offering an eCommerce product line, it opened the door for conversations with customers. This new process allowed potential customers to engage with the company. Customers could purchase products immediately. 

Taking Advantage of an Abundance of eCommerce Benefits

This helped Falconer Electronics narrow their focus and the company menu. Now they could aggressively market their “specialty dish”

Excitedly, the company added this product line to the website without producing a single item. Dozens of SKUs were placed on the website without investing in any finished products. All of the raw materials were already in stock. As customers ordered, then the product was produced. Just-in-time worked great. 

Also, narrowing the focus helped determine the keyword strategy. Effectively as well as inexpensively. 

In addition, the new eCommerce strategy created the R & D department. 

Remember, the market tells you what they want. The market lets you know if you have a good idea or a bad one. 

Once other manufacturers, industrial customers, and Fortune 500 companies started buying Ground Straps, Falconer Electronics knew they were heading in the right direction. 

The eCommerce strategy opened up a new market with little risk. They had everything in place to already produce these products. No major capital investments required. Tools, equipment, machinery, staff experience and expertise were all in place. 

Products were easily added to the website with determined prices. So this streamlined the RFQ process. 

Another wonderful benefit, no receivables. Customers, even Fortune 500 companies, purchase products with credit cards. Therefore, no accounts receivables or taking a risk of offering credit to unknown customers. 

It also created an opportunity for customers to ask for other custom sizes, which is no problem at all. 

So, what happened next? 

We decided to create a custom software tool to allow customers to configure their own Braided Ground Strap. 

Related Article: Hey Manufacturer, Let’s Scale Your Proprietary Process with eCommerce

QuoteBuilder = Instant Quotes = Eliminating the Dreaded RFQ Process 

Once converting the proprietary process into a proprietary product line looked opportunistic a new idea presented itself. 

What if we create a software tool allowing customers to build their own customized products? Instantly. 

Something painlessly simple and fast.

Working with their eCommerce web designer, Falconer Electronics created the Instant Ground Strap QuoteBuilder (https://falconerelectronics.com/instant-ground-strap-quote/). 

This proprietary free software tool helps facilitate easy requests-for-quotes regarding its custom-made ground straps.

The Instant Ground Strap QuoteBuilder allows customers to input data regarding specific ground strap requirements and then receive an immediate quote emailed based on those customizations.

The entire five-step process is simple and often takes 60 seconds or less.

Steps include:

1) RoHS Compliance: Lead-Free RoHS) or Lead. 

2) Width and Length: Select widths for the braided wire, either 1/4”, 1/2” or 3/4”, then select a custom length.

3) A and B-Side Terminal Selection: Side A and B are both offered in five sizes. Simply choose the correct size needed for the job.

4) Terminal Orientation: Select from a range of seven pictures that clearly delineate the orientations available.

5) Quantity: The final question allows customers to pick the specific quantity needed.

Easy to Use

In addition, as easy as the program is to use, an instructional video is added to each step allowing customers to complete the process seamlessly in case any questions arise. 

As the customer continues each step, each spec is plugged into a Quote Summary. This allows the customer to ensure the accuracy of the configuration. 

The QuoteBuilder also creates a detailed pic with full specs of the custom created ground strap. 

After providing contact information, additional customized quotes may be added on as necessary before the process is completed. Based on the answers provided, a quote is then immediately sent to the customer’s email address. 

Excitedly, the email contains a clickable link that allows ease-of-purchase directly through the Falconer Electronics eCommerce shopping cart by simply clicking the “Place Order Now” button.   

This lends a tremendous competitive advantage due to the fact that a customer customizes, builds, and can purchase a product immediately.

Furthermore, no waiting for a price from the RFQ. Customers do not need to call to place an order. As a result, even someone at 3:30 AM can build a product and place an order. 

Above all, customers greatly value how convenient, easy, and fast this software tool works. 

“Since launching our QuoteBuilder, many customers including numerous Fortune 500 companies have utilized this helpful tool to maximize their savings and minimize the time spent seeking requests-for-quotes,” said President of Falconer Electronics, Roger Hall.

For example, Boeing, Halliburton, Pratt & Whitney, Lockheed Martin, as well as Virgin Hyperloop include just a few companies that take advantage of the Instant Ground Strap QuoteBuilder. 

A recent customer testimonial stated, “Thanks for the excellent service. The ability to easily configure and order custom ground straps are very valuable.”

Converting Your Proprietary Process with Online Marketplaces 

Lastly, Falconer Electronics then turned its attention to utilizing Online Marketplaces. 

The first stop: Amazon. 

Ground Straps went over so well, as of this writing, when you conduct a search for “Ground Straps” on Amazon, Falconer Electronics appears in the #1 organic position and frequently possesses the coveted “Amazon’s Choice” position. 

From there, Falconer Electronics added their Ground Straps to other online marketplaces such as Digi-Key, Walmart, and Zoro. 

Capturing market share on these valuable partner websites offers fantastic opportunities to connect with customers that otherwise would never discover your products. 

Related Article: Get on the Offensive to Escalate Your eCommerce Strategy

IT’S ALL ABOUT YOU! 

So let’s stop here for a second to consider, do you see opportunities at your business apply to Scale Your Proprietary Process?

Especially since this example is strictly offered for you and your business. 

Most importantly, the goal here is to help you attack the market by combining your expertise with eCommerce to discover new profitable opportunities. 

Wrapping It Up 

Thanks for reading this post. Hopefully, you found this helpful. 

For additional information to assist you with your eCommerce journey, please click links below: 

• eCommerce Checklist: Manufacturing eCommerce Strategies
• Captain Your Ship! eCommerce Helps You Stay in Your Wheelhouse
• Hey Manufacturer, What’s on Your Menu? Perhaps a Plate of eCommerce?