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Har-Tru Case Study

Case Study: Har-Tru

Project details

Customer

Har-Tru

Our services
  • market entry support
  • founding a GmbH
  • German representation
  • customer service
  • german virtual address
  • marketing support

Har-Tru is an American company that has been manufacturing and marketing tennis court construction materials for more than 90 years. Har-Tru is not only the world’s largest producer of aggregate for tennis courts (Har-Tru Green Clay), but also offers hard court coatings, all-season court surfaces and tennis court equipment and accessories. The unique HyQ under-floor irrigation system also contributes greatly to Har-Tru’s success and position as an innovation leader. Many professional tournaments are played on Har-Tru courts worldwide. The company wanted to achieve its ambitious growth goals in Europe, especially in Germany.

However, the geographical distance, language barrier, lack of knowledge of the German tennis market and lack of a network made it impossible to successfully work the German market from the US. Therefore, a branch office had to be established in Germany. However, finding suitable office space and hiring staff would not only have entailed significant costs, but would have also required a lot of time, which in the seasonal tennis business would have meant missing at least one more season.

Impressions

Cooperation with INDIPA

Mutual trust and open communication

From the beginning, the cooperation between Har-Tru and INDIPA was characterized by mutual trust and very open communication. INDIPA initially accompanied the establishment of the German GmbH and in parallel made the first contacts on behalf of Har-Tru in the market.

Instead of establishing a branch office, Har-Tru has its headquarters at INDIPA and all communication goes through INDIPA’s internal sales team on behalf of Har-Tru. This means that INDIPA answers all customer inquiries by phone or email, advises customers, conducts sales calls, prepares quotations and processes orders. Of course, INDIPA manages all information on a shared cloud drive, so Har-Tru always has access to all processes, documents and accumulated know-how.

INDIPA is responsible for the “Har-Tru Green Clay” business unit and has built the market share, starting from the search for a logistics partner to the full support and delivery to all customers, from 0% to 100% within a year.

INDIPA does the important search for business partners, from agents to cooperating tennis court construction companies, finding potential partners, making contact and supervising conversations until they are completed.

In addition, INDIPA director Christoph Schulte is intensively involved in the strategic and operational planning of market development and implements individual measures with his team or seeks partners to do so. The close cooperation also enables INDIPA to optimize the webshop and improve online marketing.

Christoph is not only the main contact person for tennis clubs on the subject of “Har-Tru Green Clay,” but also holds information sessions for tennis court builders.

For legal questions or the preparation of safety data sheets, INDIPA quickly found suitable partners, so that despite the geographical and linguistic distance, Har-Tru has a solid business base in Germany. The INDIPA team is also closely involved in administrative issues or cooperation with the tax consultant, so that Har-Tru is also efficiently and securely set up in this area.

The integration and training of the INDIPA team takes place mainly through regular team meetings and through a close exchange with the team in the US.

Result

Fast, efficient and succesful

Har-Tru was able to launch quickly, efficiently, and successfully on the German market without setting up its own sales team. Meanwhile, Har-Tru has significantly expanded its business in Germany and serves a large number of satisfied customers.

  • significant expansion in Germany

  • succesful in various fields

  • rapid growth of Har-Tru

Customer’s feedback

“Looking back, it was absolutely right to enter into cooperation with INDIPA. We have a partner who supports us very actively, loyally, and successfully in all areas – and that is really a lot for an overseas office. Many thanks to the INDIPA team!“

Managing director Har-Tru, Pat Hanssen