Welcome to Eco Ask why a podcast that dives into industrial manufacturing topics and spotlights the heroes that keep America running. I'm your host, Chris Granger, and on this podcast we do not cover the latest features and benefits on products that come to market. Instead, we focus on advice and insight from the top minds of industry, because people and ideas will be how America remains number one in manufacturing in the world. Welcome to Eco Online. I'm your host, Chris Granger. I'm looking forward to spending some time with you today. Thank you so much for hanging out with us. You can probably tell it's been working through these last few months on how you can manage your account the most efficiently and effectively on Eco Online, so I'd love for you to check that out. If you haven't set up an account yet with Eco Online, today's a great day to do it. Go ahead and just head over to Eco Online. Start the process. It's super simple. It's very easy to get set up and, again, all the things we've been unpacking are found within Eco Online. And going back, we've been talking a lot about the account management side, of what you can expect to get the most out of the system once you create that account and get logged in and then we really spent some time over the last couple of months talking about the product and the order management piece. So, if you're looking for specific equipment, how do you find it? And then how do you manage those orders once you place them? So lots and lots of details there, and you can go back and check out the last few episodes to see some more information on that, as well as payment and shipping. We had a whole episode where we talked about, hey, the different payment options that we have and shipping options as well, to give you what you need on checkout, All right. So now we're going to kind of make it a little general.

Today we're going to be talking about how you can master your navigation experience, because I really want you, when you come into Equal Online, to enjoy being there and to be able to do and find what you're looking for in a very streamlined process, and we're committed hands down to providing you an efficient, user-friendly hear me there user-friendly online experiences that empowers you to find exactly what you need, fast and efficient, okay. So, whether you're looking for parts, specific, or maybe you're just looking for some training content or trying to understand different events that we have, or research resources or services, whatever it may be. Our newly enhanced navigation system is built to make your search seamless and intuitive. Ok, so so we know when you come to an industrial distributor, there's lots of solutions out there. Distributors are. We're not at a shortage for different solutions. What you need to find out is how do you find the one you're looking for? So our commitment is for being customer-centric, meaning our design focuses on you, and we're trying to simplify our platform to help you really see inside the process where exactly you're going to get the information you're looking for. Help you really see inside the process where exactly you're going to get the information you're looking for. So, then, this is it doesn't matter if you've been in the industry for 30 years or you're brand new to online procurement. We're really leaning in to make this process flow All right.

So now we're going to start off with just talking about a guide to simplified navigation, and the whole premise of the way we've designed this is I want you or we want you, rather to be able to find what you need when you need it, and because we've tailored this system so that you can quickly locate information and products through various search methods and criteria. So you have product categories that you can focus on. So that may be like drives, PLCs, wire whatever the different systems may be conduit you can find stuff that way or brands. Maybe you want to be brand specific and you're looking for a specific manufacturer. We have all the big brands. We have the Rockwells, the Eatons, the Yaskows, the Thomas and Betts all the different brands out there Hubble Hoffman, all that series. You can search directly by the brand. Or you may want to focus on areas of expertise you know and then be able to have some self-service resources as well. So we have a multifaceted approach. So it really gives you less time searching and more time achieving your objectives. We all know the time crunch is real for anyone in manufacturing these days, so we've got to get this to you. So we're going to try to help you make these selections that you're looking for with confidence, because I need you to be confident. That's so important. But also speed, optimizing your workflow and decision making process. That's what a simplified navigation does for you. All right.

So now we talked about product family. Let's just kind of dig into that for a second, because as you build your carts out and you start looking and trying to find product directly if you have a really good understanding of the product families and how to navigate. That it's going to help you. So this is a feature that we designed to give you a comprehensive view of related products, Okay. So this is going to give you the ability to evaluate, to compare and to make those well-informed purchasing decisions in the moment, Because you know, it's kind of like when you go to any online store and you're trying to compare products and see what exactly is the difference between the two. We want to give you that. So if you find a product, okay, that belongs to a larger product family, you know a part of a product, family message actually is going to pop up. It's going to give you a link so that you can navigate to this related items. You can see hey, if I buy this, well, I probably need to consider this, this and this right to go along with it.

This is what we've built to help you navigate this, Because this not only streamlines your experience, but it enables you to assemble complete solutions from one single page. You're not having to bounce around multiple different pages to figure this out. We're going to reduce your time to search for these complimentary products. So those complimentary products are so important. Have you ever been there where you get to installing a part and you just recognize in that moment oh man, I forgot this. We're trying to help you forget, oh, I forgot this. Moments.

Okay, so really to think about why do you want to shop by product family? Because it gives you an efficient comparison. First and foremost, because you'll be able to assess the products very easily and review their features side by side and that side by side is very big, very big. Because you want to make sure it meets your needs. It's also going to help you streamline this cart building, because you'll be able to add multiple products to your cart at once, so you're not having to literally go one by one. You can say I need two of these four or five, this boat, add it there. See how it simplifies it. And then you have access to expertise, Because once you've logged into the system this is so important you gain direct access to subject matter experts who can provide you the insight and assistance that you're looking for. Again, all about increasing your confidence. That's it Increasing your confidence so that when you hit buy, you know without a shadow of a doubt that you've got what you're looking for, Because it's been backed and validated by expertise on our end. All right.

Now, another thing you can consider when you're looking at, when you're trying to navigate a system and making decisions, is you can shop by product group, and the grouping is a really helpful feature that I want to just take a second to unpack for you. So when you shop by product group, it simplifies the process of finding and comparing products with different variations. So you think about size, configuration or specification, so this again side by side assessments to let you select the most appropriate version for your application. So if you consolidate product variations on one page, this tool minimizes the back and forth that you often have to go through when you're searching through this stuff. We're going to make it super easy for you. So this really simplifies your searches because we group these items in product listings to reduce the complexity, so you don't have to navigate different, various versions of similar terms. And we're going to try to help you make informed decision making so that you can quickly and easily identify the key differences in the specifications. Maybe it's a voltage or current specifications. Whatever you'll be looking at specifically, we're going to show you that and we'll give you direct cart additions so you can move your products to the cart or product list directly from the group page. This is just going to expedite this process in a very rapid fashion. All right Now, I've already talked a little bit about comparing products, but this is such a big deal because you need to be making informed decisions and you need to do it in an easy manner.

So the ability to compare products side by side is an invaluable tool for electrical distribution. Okay, Because if you're looking at different products, this can get very complicated very quickly. We want to help you, so we have a comparison tool. You can click that compare box while browsing and when you're ready, you view all the products that you've selected. Okay, and a comprehensive comparison chart, and this gives you a clear snapshot of the key attributes performance, pricing, availability all those three big ones right there, right? Performance pricing, availability All those are three big ones right there, right, Helping you simplify the decision-making process and find the product that meets your specific needs.

It's going to save you time because you're able to make quicker decisions without opening all these different windows. You have easy access because it's going to be available to you without even logging in, so you can do this. Ideally, we want you logged in, but for some reason, if you didn't log in that morning, you can still use this comparison tool for anyone. You can use it seamlessly, and this really brings a lot of clarity, because you'll be able to take that guesswork out the way, because you can sit down without a shadow of a doubt and just say, OK, I'm looking for this, this and this, this, this one doesn't have it, so I need to move it out. That makes sense, All right.

So now another cool thing you can do on Eco Online, when you're working with this on our online platform, is you can stay connected and informed about our events. Because industry events let's just be real, they're awesome, but even more important, training, training sessions Because if you want to stay up to date on the latest advancements and the latest technology and the best practices, well, you've got to come to the training events, or you may want to go to the industry events. So with ECO's event navigation, you can quickly discover upcoming local and national events tailored to your industry needs and your interest. And here's a cool part you can actually register for these events. It's simple, it's straightforward and it allows you to plan your professional development with so much ease, so you can actually get event details through the resources dropdown and this is your personalized homepage or your brand specific pages for events linked to certain manufacturers. So let's say that you're just looking under Rockwell parts and there will be links there for automation fair or specific types of training events associated for those products. So maybe you're doing some PLC purchases and you can see the PLC training offerings that are right there. It's really intuitive. Same thing for drives and different parts of our company. But the thing is, you want to see for you as the end user what's a comprehensive listing of the training, Because it's hard to plan out the calendar.

I don't know about you, but everybody's calendar stays pretty busy. It's hard to plan out the calendar. I don't know about you, but everybody's calendar stays pretty busy. So you need to be able to plan that stuff well out in advance and we want to put that in front of you and we also want you to be able to register for these events right there, because I really don't want you to miss any opportunity to grow and to learn. This is also going to increase your engagement because you're going to be able to find related events and content to build a really well-rounded training and development plan. So just think about this you could spend a little time on our site looking at the events, laying out your calendar, and then go to your manager or your supervisor and say, hey, I spent some time, here's the cost, here's the dates. I think these would be very, very beneficial for our company and here's why We'll give you all the details to help you get that training approved. And then you'll be able to find that in multiple areas on the site, making it easy to stay, to stay informed and stay in tune.

All right, so now events are such a big deal. You know we got to, we got to come together. Now. Product support Think about this for a second. You need to have expert assistance at your fingertips when you need it the most, Because when you're navigating technical solutions and you have technical questions and you want to select the right product man, that can be hard, it can be extremely hard without the right support. So what EECO, what we're committed to, when we have subject matter experts and you hear me call them SMEs from time to time, that's all it means is subject matter expert. You know how the electrical industry is. We love our acronyms right. So these are the experts who can help answer your questions and provide guidance on these complex product options.

So now, if it gets more technical, if you're an authenticated user, you can have access to manufacturer configures as well, which help you customize and configure products according to the exact requirements. So these are really cool tools. But again, you have to have an account set up and when you have that set up, it unlocks all those resources for you. And then these tools provide you peace of mind for you. And then these tools provide you peace of mind and I don't know about you, but that's a pretty rare commodity these days, particularly in manufacturing, because there's so many things moving. This gives you peace of mind knowing that your purchases are optimized for your application. That is such a big deal. So again, you access that product support. When you do that, you have SME contact information. You'll be able to contact directly from the product page. You're going to have those configurators, okay, and they'll be able to configure exactly the custom-tailored products to your specifications and then not just configure them add them to your shopping cart. And then you'll also have account assistance. So if you're not authenticated, you'd be able to contact your account representative to ensure that your request is forwarded to the right expert. Again, it's so important to get your account set up Now.

Everything is tailored Everything Because we want to custom tailor your experience. We want to give you advice when it matters most. We want to give you accurate advice. We going to build that confidence in your purchases and also we want to streamline this. We want to help. This should be a system where you pop on, you'll see it. Where it's just hey, here's a tool I need, here's the experts I need to talk to. Here's how I validate that. Boom, boom, boom, Because it's all about maximizing productivity, reducing the time you spend troubleshooting or researching stuff and actually moving to the items that that matter most. Ok, now we've built everything here at ECO on efficiency, because we recognize the need for efficiency internally for us to be efficient, but then that transfers to efficiency for you as well. So that streamlined online experience is such a big deal.

And when we start thinking about the comprehensive navigation features like search options and really getting down to those different types of trees and filter criteria, the product families and group shopping and comparison tools and giving you events and just giving you that robust product support, what we're saying is we're prioritizing your experience. That's it. We want to prioritize your experience working with us Because each feature, each thing we've talked about here on this episode of Eco Asks why is designed to save you time, to increase your knowledge and to have you a smoother procurement journey, Because we know it can be nothing that's more aggravating than when you get the parts in and they're not right. If we can do everything we can on the front end to help arm you with the ability to make better decisions, that's what we're going to do. So I'll be having an easier, faster and more supportive way to shop, learn and engage. So thank you so much Hopefully you know at this point for EECO, if you've listened to these last few episodes, I just highly encourage you to go get your account set up.

If you need help, reach out. There's plenty of ways to connect with EECO online directly. So go to EECOonlinecom to get started, to get your account set up, to get registered. We have videos, we have podcasts, we have articles. We have lots of ways we're serving you to help make that process as easy as possible. We know that's so important as you try to navigate things moving forward. So if you have any questions, please, please, please, reach out. Thank you so much for listening to EECO Asks why. Again, this was our December episode. This wraps up another year at EECO Asks why. It's been an honor and a blessing for me to be able to actually just do this podcast on a consistent basis and as everyone moves into this holiday season, just wishing you the best for sure, Please leave us a rating and review.

That would be huge, just to help us with the show. Share it out with others as well. We know this is very niche, very specific type of content, but if you think this would help others within the industrial manufacturing space, please, please, please, please, share this stuff out. You can always contact me directly if you want to have a conversation or you're looking for resources at chrisgranger and that's G-R-A-I-N-G-E-R at EECO-netcom. That's my personal email address and I'll be glad to forward and get you connected with the right resource.

At EECO we have so many wonderful people. I'm just blown away by the quality of people that we have at Electric Equipment Company. I guarantee if you have a question, particularly in industrial manufacturing within our service area, we have the expertise on staff ready to answer and to serve at the highest level. So thank you so much for listening again. Ratings and Review ecoonlinecom. Check us out on LinkedIn. That's a big place where we hang out a lot. We also have a YouTube channel. You want to go check out YouTube and search for Electric Equipment Company. You'll be able to find us right there. So we have lots of resources, lots of different ways we try to serve and, again, the main thing you need to do from here is go get the account set up, and we'll say it again go get your account set up and then we'll see you inside, All right. So thank you so much for listening again. Have a great, great day. Appreciate all the support.

Again, EECO asks why and you have to remember, keep asking why. Thank you for listening to. Eeco asks why this show is supported ad-free by Electrical Equipment Company. Eeco is redefining the expectations of an electrical distributor by placing people and ideas before products. Please subscribe and share with your colleagues and friends. Also leave comments, feedback and any new topics that you would like to hear To learn more or to share your insights. Visit EECOASYcom. That's E-E-C-O-A-S-K-S-W-H-Ycom.