How Groth Corp used PDH events to market to engineers

I worked as an engineer in the 1990s.

One day I attended a lunch & learn at my employer’s office hosted by Groth Corporation, a company that manufactures pressure-vacuum (PV) valves used on low pressure oil storage tanks.

I learned a lot about PV valves and I earned 1 PDH that I needed for my PE license renewal.

A few months later, I was required to size a PV valve and needed some help.

I remembered the Groth lunch & learn, so I dug up the presenter’s business card and called to ask him some questions. My query resulted in Groth receiving a purchase order on that project and several subsequent projects.

The lunch & learn is still the productive workhorse that it has always been. But now the industrial marketer has another powerful tool in her toolchest: webinars.

Webinars allow you to engage with hundreds of engineers across the country – new prospects, as well as current and previous customers – for a fraction of the cost of lunch & learns. With a webinar or a lunch & learn, you present an educational topic related to the products you sell, and award professional development hours (PDH) to the engineers.

Engineers love attending webinars because…

1. They need PDH credits for license renewal.
2. There are gaps in their knowledge that need to be filled by experts. You can be that expert!

Webinars allow you to create an authentic human connection with engineers, so they see real people when they think of your brand – not a faceless corporation, and you build goodwill with engineers by providing something of real value to them.

Webinars and lunch & learns are great tools to establish credibility and build relationships with potential customers. This can help to reduce skepticism and build trust, making it more likely that an engineer will consider specifying your product in the future.

A PDH event, such as a webinar, lunch & learn, or a trade show speaking slot, is a demand marketing tool that allows you to meet and begin a relationship with engineers who may be good prospects to specify your products sometime in the future. The goal of demand marketing is to get in front of engineers and gain their trust BEFORE they have a need for your product.

Many engineers have a problem you can help solve, BUT they aren’t currently in a buy cycle. Only about 1-3% of potential buyers are looking for a solution right now. If your marketing is only geared towards buyers who are ready right now, you’re missing out on all the prospects who could be buying from you in 6 months or a year from now.

Most industrial companies aren’t doing demand marketing. Hosting educational webinars gives you an edge that your competitors may not be taking advantage of.

If you’d like to chat with an expert to learn more about how to use PDH events to connect with engineers, book a free consultation.

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