Getting Found in AI Search, Solving Customer Problems First & Workplace Wellness with Dawn McGrath

Hi, Dawn McGrath, very happy to be here. Thank you so much for taking the time. I’m the marketing director for Keller-Heartt, an oil distribution company in Chicago. It’s a small family business that has been around for a very long time, established in 1929. My background is totally different. I was in education, and I taught computer science at a selective enrollment high school in Chicago.
Things have changed with technology, as we all know, especially with AI changing our world drastically, and Keller-Heartt is embracing these changes and using the technology to better the business and its relationship with customers. It has been a wonderful experience. I’m using my skills as an educator to train the people on my team in marketing, and our salespeople too, in using AI and getting more comfortable with it, as a tool to be more efficient and a time saver and money saver, and that reaches out to our customers. It’s getting easier and easier to use as it advances, so it’s wonderful for us.

Well, it’s a family business, and my husband is the owner, so there you go. My children are even working there, and it has been a really fun experience. It’s kind of like my third child. It’s there and it will always be there. I never thought I would be doing marketing, but it has been fun, and my curiosity from education and learning has been a real value, because there is so much to learn, especially with AI, and it’s ever-changing. You have to be pretty curious and be okay with not knowing something and taking the time to understand it. Then it’s amazing what you can do, so it’s worth the extra effort for sure.

The main thing we look for with our customers is, what do you need? Let’s help you solve your problem. We’re not just selling oil. Say they have machinery that isn’t working properly. We want to find the best fit, and from there we go to what is the best brand. It could be a major global brand like Shell, where we are a prestige distributor and have had knowledgeable experts on the Shell line for decades. But sometimes they’re looking for something that’s a little more of a value, and TrueGuard, our house brand, which is kind of like a generic line, is perfectly acceptable and will do the job, and they’re happy to use it.
So it really is about the best fit. We look at the specifications, the viscosity grades, all those things. What that customer needs comes first, then we look at the brand, and then we look at the price. We’re trying to solve their problem first so that it doesn’t become something more costly down the road.

The technology. We have an extensive website, and we were early on with getting the shopping cart going. We have it for every online user, and we also have a wholesale site specifically for our bulk customers, because many times that’s the case for us and we want to give them different pricing.
We have also just upgraded our site for AI. We know our customers do all their homework online, and especially after COVID we’ve really bumped up in numbers, so we had to amp up our site and make it accessible in the way people search. People are searching not just on Google, but also using AI like Gemini, Claude and ChatGPT. Keller-Heartt needs to come up when they do their AI searches, and we are. We have revamped the language across the entire site, all of our products and specs, so that AI will pick it up. Then we are the answer for people, and they can get the data they need to make the best decision in their purchases.

Take the time to go through it. It’s a laborious process without a doubt. It takes time and it’s not cheap, especially if you have an extensive website with thousands of products. We have industrial products with lots of details and lots of specs, very technical. But we did take the time to update it, and we’re seeing the results. It’s an investment in time and money, but it’s well worth it.
It’s also good communication with your customers, because you’re getting them to see what you have right away. I’d say, be the answer for your customer and be there immediately. Everyone wants speed. They want the answers fast, and we want to be there to give them immediately.

It’s a nonprofit, established with my son and daughter, who are teenagers. For years now we’ve been volunteering in our community with our animal therapy dog, going to hospitals, schools, camps, everywhere. After a couple of years we wanted to branch off, and we started looking into businesses and thought there is such a benefit for employees to have a break. During COVID we were going into hospitals and giving breaks to healthcare workers who were exhausted by the end of the day. We met with them outside, in a safe environment, with masks and all the things. Now we’re going into warehouses, dental offices, retail space in malls, all different spaces.
We’re giving employees a break, and what we’re trying to do is measure stress levels and see the true benefits of animal therapy. At Keller-Heartt we tried it out, and we also conducted a very short 20-question survey on a QR code. You just scan it on your phone, and it’s totally anonymous. The survey was designed to ask about stress levels and how employees were feeling before and after the visit, but it also opened the door to communication on how things could be better in the workplace.
When you have a visit from an animal therapy dog, ours being a four-year-old Shetland sheepdog named Bailey, who is very fluffy and fun, it opens up conversation. People are more likely to be honest and share how they’re feeling and what could be done better. Participation was totally up to them, and anonymous. We use the data and are now implementing the results, which is making a better work environment and showing employees that we care about their feedback.
For example, our truckers are on the go really early in the morning, and when we had lunches benefiting the office and warehouse staff, they weren’t really part of that because they’re out on the road. They would hear about these wonderful employee appreciation lunches without getting the benefit. So we pivoted, and now our office manager, Flo, who’s fabulous, brings in breakfast, coffee, donuts, that type of thing, so the truckers can be part of the appreciation. That’s one example of the input we got from the survey. I don’t know that we would have gotten it if we didn’t have a really comfortable environment where people could feel free to share.

It’s very public. They just go online and see all about us, so we have to stand out. Like I said, with our investment in AI, we want to pop up first in the search, and that’s what we’re doing. We’re keeping up with our online presence, and that’s really where we gain trust with customers. Then we want to continue that relationship.

Our TrueGuard line, and I would say propylene glycol, which is used for food-grade oils. We go to restaurants and places where you don’t really think about the process. Diesel exhaust fluid is another one. We have our big lines, but TrueGuard is our house brand and what we promote, and we want to make sure everyone understands the value and all the specifications, so they can make a true decision when they’re purchasing our products.

We’re developing a video line with our expert technician, my husband, Brian McGrath, the owner, who has been in the business for over 30 years. It’s about educating our customers on the products, which are highly technical. It’s a series of short videos on the different products that we carry and their best uses, something customers can always come back to if they have questions. That’s what we’re working on right now, getting that video series out, and so far it has been very well received. We’re just educating customers on our very technical products.

That’s right. Please visit us, and we’d be happy to come out if you need a site visit with animal therapy dog Bailey. He’s a lot of fun.

Thank you so much for having me.