Recalibrating has always been second nature to Australian-based Fulcrum Suspensions. Although they had a system in place to collect reviews, customers didn’t post those reviews online. The company knew they were missing out on a huge opportunity to leverage word-of-mouth marketing. They set a plan in motion to improve their online presence and customer engagement right away.

“We could see that people were enjoying the experience we gave them in our workshops, but nobody else knew that,” says Doug Steindl, digital marketing specialist. “We were looking to convert our customer experiences to written reviews and have them seen online.”

Meanwhile, Fulcrum Suspensions also sought to revise other important systems. “We were looking for SMS solutions so we could send our services to customers. At the same time, we were also looking to push reviews online,” says Doug Steindl.

According to Emma Pitt, Fulcrum’s marketing coordinator that wasn’t all. “We were looking for kind of a one-stop-shop for all of the online services we needed.”

Discovering a one-stop solution for a balanced digital presence.

When Fulcrum Suspensions found Podium, they discovered everything they needed to manage multiple systems in one place. Between Inbox and Reviews, implementing Podium improved Fulcrum Suspensions’ customer engagement and online presence.

Messenger, in particular, has helped Fulcrum save time on both customer calls and managing their social media presence. “Bringing all those social media platforms into one area makes it easier to manage six company stores plus an online store, and our business is continually growing,” says Pitt.

Reaping the benefits of a well-oiled marketing plan.

Fulcrum Suspensions also uses Messenger to send service reminders, answer questions, and send attachments to provide additional information, further streamlining customer interaction. Plus, Messenger sees a lot of traffic. Fulcrum Suspensions previously used a different messaging system but saw a 70% uptick in messaging once they switched to Podium.

With Podium, Fulcrum Suspensions also garners a higher volume of online reviews. They saw a massive rise in Google Reviews between September 2018 and April 2019. While ratings held steady at a stellar 4.7 stars, the total number of reviews skyrocketed from 254 to 395 after adding Podium.

In addition to the obvious benefits from Messenger and Reviews, using Podium has provided Fulcrum Suspensions with some less expected results.

“From using Podium, we’ve actually come up with an additional sales process,” says Doug Steindl. “Previous to this, we had no way of getting into direct contact with a customer. What we do is we reply to them, and there’s a set of criteria that if we know that they want to buy based on those criteria, then we get the online team just to pick up the phone and call.”

Perhaps Podium’s biggest impact on Fulcrum Suspensions has been its effect on sales. Doug Steindl estimates a 15–20 percent increase in online sales since implementing Podium. The numbers don’t lie. Podium has overhauled Fulcrum Suspensions’ online presence while still improving sales.