From small business to industry leader – Terra Firma Case Study
Terra Firma Industries is Australia’s leading manufacturer and supplier of composite lids and access covers and FRP structure and grating. Their products provide a lightweight, strong, secure, and durable alternative to traditional industrial materials like steel and concrete and have been used in hundreds of residential, commercial, and government projects around Australia.
10 years ago, this wasn’t the case.
In 2009, Terra Firma had seen early success in the Victorian market with pioneering deployments of their composite covers in 12 local councils (along with a small number of pilots in non-local government settings). Early sales were the result of a good product, meeting prospects at trade shows, and some entrepreneurial sales activities. But Managing Director Ashley Reid knew he needed more.
SNAPSHOT:
The challenge
One of their biggest challenges was introducing an innovative product to an industry that was traditionally slow to adopt new solutions. “The building industry has probably been the most conservative industry as far as adoption of technology and innovative products. It’s been a fairly slow process,” says Ashley.
Recognising that go-to-market (GTM) strategy and B2B marketing required specialist expertise, Ashley saw the value of independent advisory support. “Prior to engaging align.me, we lacked marketing focus. Sales were primarily driven by me, and our messaging wasn’t clear – there was no defined target or message. Marketing felt like a task list, rather than a strategic approach to supporting growth.”
Meeting Brett Bonser, Director and Co-Founder of align.me, was a turning point. “Brett and his team clearly understood B2B Sales and Marketing, and his experience with local government was a real bonus.” After partnering with align.me, Ashley and the Terra Firma team participated in their structured GTM planning process, Funnel Camp.
The strategy
During the Funnel Camp, Brett Bonser took the Terra Firma team through a two-day workshop that delivered a 3-year sales and marketing plan and go-to-market strategy. The Camp covered everything from homing in on their target market and the problem they best solved to the velocity required to meet their agreed growth and revenue goals.
Ashley identified three key outcomes of Funnel Camp for Terra Firma:
After Funnel Camp, Terra Firma needed help to turn their plan into action – so they engaged align.me’s Marketing Services team for execution support.
The result
As of 2023, the align.me and Terra Firma partnership is still going strong. Terra Firma has more than quadrupled in size since the start of the partnership and is on track to bring in $10 million+ revenue in 2024.
Since the beginning:
In the last year:
“The biggest thing is the depth of knowledge and breadth of capability. By using align.me, we get a much broader skill set that we can draw on. Even more important than that though is the strategic part of it. We get a high level of strategic guidance from align.me that allows us to stay ahead of the curve,” says Ashley. “It’s really a good, solid relationship.”
