Hammer Marketing

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the executive director of a community media organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Weidenhammer?

They did site design, architecture, and platform migration.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Weidenhammer developed and designed a website for us and then migrated web and video content to that new platform. They built the site on WordPress and trained our staff on it.

They connected our cable studio to the website, allowing a system scheduling program to appear on our site. Also, they designed a feature that sweeps our YouTube channel once an hour for content to move to our homepage.

What is the team composition?

I had hands-on contact with 4–5 people, including a project coordinator, a project manager, someone from their design team, and 1–2 other people working on troubleshooting.

How did you come to work with Weidenhammer?

We had an existing relationship as they designed our previous site.

How much have you invested with them?

Our investment was close to $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked from February–November 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Performance and visitor numbers have increased on our site each month since the new version went live. Users are happy with the site with the user functionality improvements, and there are new features added.

How did Weidenhammer perform from a project management standpoint

They were really great to work with. Reactive and easy to contact, they made the process very understandable for people who don’t work in web development.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were a trusted partner, being able to execute while keeping us in the loop. They’re the perfect team for those who don’t know technology.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we have a great relationship.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Assign a representative from your organization to assist them and act as their key point of contact. We wrapped in other staffers as needed, but it was efficient for us to have two people act as our representatives.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a manufacturer of chemical raw materials for the coatings industry. We sell to other manufacturers that make paints, inks, and the like. I’m the president of the United States operation. We’re based in New York state.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Weidenhammer?

We needed to build an online platform for our customers, through which to sell our materials. We’d had a very simple informational website in place, and we built the new one from the ground up.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I worked with them on the design of the platform. The e-commerce part of the site was the main focus of the project. The site is powered by Magento, and it uses HTML, PHP, JavaScript, and MySQL. There’s heavy customization in the site.

What is the team composition?

There were 7–8 people involved during the lifetime of the project, and we were working with 3–4 people at the same time, on average. There was a project manager involved, and there were certain people assigned to specific parts of the project. We had a lead designer and there was a lead developer on the programming side. 

How did you come to work with Weidenhammer?

Magento gave us some options of companies that would be able to do what we wanted. Out of the many options, we chose five companies for interviews, and we got some proposals. We felt that Weidenhammer had the best quality and price proposal.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost was around $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We launched the project in July 2018 and finished in June 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We launched the site in order to digitize our industry. Having said that, we’ve brought in some sales and customers in the six months we’ve been live. We don’t allow guests to buy or to see prices. They have to register and we have to approve them, check their credit ratings, and so on. It’s a very slow process. Developing a customer takes us 1–2 years.

Most customers have enjoyed using the online portal, but many still want to call into our offices instead. The industry itself is very conservative, so it’s going to take a while to break the inertia.

Customers are finding the site easy to navigate. There are some industry complications that the design addresses. For example, we have to ship containers of cargo, and we’ve programmed an extension in the platform that gives live pricing for the containers, so clients don’t have to call for that information. We’ve programmed a way for them to ask for quotes and negotiate online, which helps when freight is miscalculated.

Design-wise, the site is very robust, but, it must evolve. We’ve improved it since the launch, tweaking part of the system as we gain more experience with using it with our customers. 

How did Weidenhammer perform from a project management standpoint?

The project management wasn’t very good in the beginning, but they changed the project manager midway into the project. After the change, I was happy with the way they handled the project. Things were taking too long in the beginning, and they didn’t understand what I wanted. The new project manager understood our goals, so it worked out great in the end. We communicated through phone, email, and a project management platform similar to Trello.

What did you find most impressive about them?

On a personal level, the management style changed when they changed the project manager, and we ended up being good friends. I even went down to visit them physically, and I’d say we’ve had a good relationship. In the future, Weidenhammer will be my first option for similar projects.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The project management was improved a lot since the change that I mentioned. There’s always room for improvement, but I was satisfied with the second version of the project management.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

People looking to engage with Weidenhammer or any consultant of this type have to lay down everything they want in the project before starting it. That was my mistake initially. I was new to this type of project, and I told them my idea without getting into details. Giving detail keeps them from running into snags down the road due to things that weren’t in the scope.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the co-founder of a wholesale retailer that services online merchants of natural and organic products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Weidenhammer?

In order to better serve our clients, I retained Weidenhammer to transform our site from a B2C interface into a B2B tool.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted a state-of-the-art website that allowed our users to access information and communicate with our team.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I found Weidenhammer in a Magento directory. They were supposed to be skilled Magento experts with a concentration in development.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The project involved auditing, configuring, and redesigning our site, as well as creating video content.

What was the team composition?

When I retained them, they introduced me to a designer and several senior-level developers. I had a project manager, who basically functioned as a scheduler. The team composition was fairly wide. I met almost everyone except the one person to whom they delegated all the work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The project set my business back for at least six months, so I had to hire another firm. While running late on their deliverables, they offered to migrate our site onto Magento Enterprise. They failed that task and took all day to explain why. I've never had a complex in-house migration fail, let alone a routine migration by a team of experts. It's an understatement to say that Weidenhammer was a huge disappointment. 

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Their Git repository demonstrated a clear lack of project management and showed that they did almost no work. I had weekly calls with the senior manager on a recurring but indefinite basis. When I arranged calls, he emphasized how little he knew about the project because he was viewing it from a distance. Most of our calls were empty because he didn't have much to report. On the rare occasion that someone else joined, they were usually paying attention to something else and didn't stay long.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was impressed by their ability to persuade me that I would be in good hands while outsourcing my project. For example, we were supposed to have a conference call with certified Magento developers, but it was canceled because they were traveling to take their certification exam.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They could start by making their clients a priority. I'm offended that they gave priority to customers who offered repeat business while showing their absolute worst side to a new client. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the training manager for a building service company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Weidenhammer?

My employees audit job sites for safety and may manage up to 100 active projects at a time. The process was manual and labor-intensive. We engaged Weidenhammer to streamline our procedures with a cloud-based service. We envisioned a setup where employees can log in using Office 365 credentials, complete the audit, and submit it electronically—all within one system.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We first assessed the best technology for our employees to use. Many of our team members lacked a company phone onto which they could download an application. The service also needed to function offline in case a job site does not have an internet connection. Weidenhammer created the system as a website with the look, feel, and functionality of an app. It can cache data and then transmit it when a connection was re-established, allowing the system to be usable both on- and offline.

What is the team composition?

I interfaced with a direct point of contact. They led a user-interface team that remained consistent from start to finish. We also worked with a sales manager who called us monthly, a person who helped set our budget, and a project manager who oversaw the schedule.

How did you come to work with Weidenhammer?

Weidenhammer contacted our IT team to offer consulting services. While they were visiting, I spoke with them and felt they were a good fit for our project. I liked their approach and their solutions to challenges that arose from the get-go.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent $42,000–$45,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from February–July 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The application frees up 16 hours a week of manual data entry. It also previously took 3–4 days for our system to process audits. Now we can address unfavorable safety results on the same day. Now we can stop people from potentially getting hurt on the job much more efficiently.

How did Weidenhammer perform from a project management standpoint?

The project manager communicated with us frequently from the beginning. The team stayed on task throughout the project, meeting our deadlines and finishing under budget. As a result, we could enhance the scope and engage them for a second phase of development, which we hope to start soon.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Weidenhammer was the first third-party developer we ever hired for our projects, and they did an outstanding job. Their in-depth expertise and knack for troubleshooting allowed them to work quickly and efficiently.

Are there any areas they could improve?

On occasion, Weidenhammer took a consulting approach to the project that went beyond our intended scope. I didn’t fully understand their thought process and how it would ultimately benefit our company. However, we’re still highly satisfied with their work.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of creative and digital services at a global medical device company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Weidenhammer?

Most of our dev staff is overseas, so we wanted a local vendor to work on small to mid-sized projects when we didn’t want to get our global counterparts involved.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I’ve worked on a variety of projects with Weidenhammer. We’ve done two large scale micro-sites and a custom build for an online digital and social voting platform. The voting mechanism interfaced with apps, the website, and other products, and Weidenhammer also worked on the promotional components.

Currently, they’re working on a video platform that will bring awareness to various problems and concerns that occur in hospitals. For example, the first project is about sticking IV catheters into patients multiple times throughout their hospital stay. We’ve hired actors to interact with our nursing staff and show what some of the dangers and best practices are in regard to IV catheters. The video platform will be used for training purposes for sales and clinical teams.

We had a rough script developed, and Weidenhammer infused some creative oversight into the script and rewrote some portions. We then approved their version, and the next stages are filming and editing.

What is the team composition?

I have two main points of contact: the VP of creative services (who oversaw the creative team), and a video team lead.

How did you come to work with Weidenhammer?

I partnered with them in my previous position and was happy with their work, so I hired them for this project.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $32,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2018, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

All the stakeholders have been pleased with their work. My colleagues said Weidenhammer is a breath of fresh air and great to work with.

How did Weidenhammer perform from a project management standpoint?

They have phenomenal project management skills and always come through when needed. Whenever we have a technical emergency, they solve the coding issue within 20 minutes. I’ve never worked with another company that works so quickly. If deadlines were too aggressive, they’d let us know so we could adjust the scope. I’ve been pleased with their work ethic, so far.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re confident in their abilities, but they’re not arrogant. They’re highly skilled and collaborate effortlessly with my internal team. The quality of their work is always top-notch.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They had a change in leadership, which I didn’t particularly like. As of now, the new team isn’t as effective as the old one.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They don’t market themselves much, so don’t be worried if you’ve never heard of them. They have tremendous talent and build great products.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the owner of MGS Consulting.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Weidenhammer?

I have an ongoing online class for the people who are completing a driving under the influence program. The class was developed by a different company about 10 years ago, so I wanted to update and modernize all aspects of it. I was looking for a vendor to help me.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They rebuilt the entire class and added a variety of new features. Our users had difficulty logging in, so Weidenhammer rebuilt the interface and updated the technology. They included a Spanish translation and a feature for hearing impaired clients. They also helped me update the payment gateway, so it's more efficient and includes a variety of payment methods. They continue to maintain the server and the technology.

What is the team composition?

I had one main point of contact, but there was a team of people working on my project.

How did you come to work with Weidenhammer?

The company that originally developed the class shifted their business focus, so they recommended Weidenhammer.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $120,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in March 2017 and it was completed in March 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The class looks beautiful and works exceptionally well. The administrator section is easy to navigate and the class is user-friendly for a variety of educational levels. People are able to figure everything out from the point they pay till the end of the course, and when we notify the criminal justice system that the class has been completed.

How did Weidenhammer perform from a project management standpoint?

They made themselves available whenever I needed them and worked quickly. We met face-to-face, had Webex meetings, and used email stay in touch. Their whole team was very responsive and patient.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were accessible and able to explain the technical information in a way I could understand. The language of technology and my educational language didn't always align, but they made sure I understood everything that was going on with the platform.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything. If we had an issue, we resolved it quickly.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They'll help you understand what you're doing. They were able to communicate very effectively with me, so I learned a lot from them.