Al Therrien is the president of Transport Services, Incorporated.

He founded the Cleveland-based company in 1976, and since that time, they have expanded to open branch offices in Columbus and New London.

In 2001, Transport Services was named one of the 100 fastest growing companies in northern Ohio. To meet the needs of their growing company, they considered the possibility of taking the business online.

Jason Therrien works for Thunder Tech (www.thundertech.com), a Cleveland-area Internet solutions company.

Growing up, he had worked in the family business, climbing the ranks from his earliest after school job in the cleaning department.

As an adult, he found himself in the right place at the right time to enjoy the benefits of a growing Internet economy and left the transportation industry for the tech industry.

His familiarity with the goals and needs of his parents´ company made it easy for him to see how the Transport Services could benefit from an online presence.

He convinced his parents that the Internet was the natural next step for the company. He built the site (www.transportservices.net), which is now maintained by Thunder Tech. Pat Therrien, VP in Marketing for Transport Services, and Al´s wife, was thrilled with the results.

"We were amazed at how it has helped. By using email, you can be states away and still do business. A lot of our business has always been done out of state, but the Internet gives us more credibility. Last week, we had an email from someone in Mexico who had seen some of our trailers and wanted more information, which later turned into a sale, so it has worked!"

Transport Services is in the trailer business. They are wholesale sellers of semi trailers, flatbeds, and other transport supplies to retailers and dealers who range from mom & pop organizations to some of Ohio´s large trucking companies. Pat admits that the transportation industry isn´t exactly on the cutting edge of technology, but recently, she´s seen a shift as more and more businesses like theirs begin to realize the potential of the Internet:

"Technology is one of the last things to hit the transportation industry. A year ago, a lot of our customers didn´t even have email, and now we´re using email for about 95% of our customers.

We used to have to send pictures and information on our equipment through the mail, but now everything is emailed. We´ve noticed that within the last year especially, the companies in our industry have become a lot more technically advanced."

"A lot of transportation companies jumped on the band wagon initially to get a web page up because they thought they had to. Now they want them revamped, or they want to have a web site with some functionality, like we have. I think it´s proven itself now."

Without Jason´s influence, she admits that it might have taken Transport a little longer to warm up to the idea of an online component.

Independent consultants and web development companies aren´t known for being cheap, and she feels that had she been approached by an outsider, she might have been sold a bill of goods that didn´t fit the needs or the budget of the company.

She knew her son could help them figure out exactly what the company´s web site needed, and she was pleased that he was able to use his knowledge to keep the company successful.

"We have a lot of faith in our son, and he knew what he was talking about. Looking to the younger generation to find ways in which you can grow the family business has been really helpful."

Pat and Al´s youngest son Adam also putting in his time with the company. During his summer break, he´ll be back at work with his folks, although his job entails him to keep a foot in the tech world, too.

"When Adam comes in next week, his job will be to pull the trailers off the Internet that we don´t have pictures of, and make sure that we get them in the yard and take pictures of them and get them online."

Everyone agreed that the company could benefit from offering real-time inventory on the web. Adding pictures and detailed specifications allowed their customers to research items before making an initial sales call. However, when it came to putting their pricing on the site, they soon decided that was one bit of information that was better kept offline.

"At first, we listed our prices on the site. The sales staff balked at that because they felt that if the customer could see the price, they probably wouldn´t call us, and that´s where the expertise of the sales staff is necessary to sell the product. So we decided to remove the price and let the customer do the calling, and it has brought in a lot of business."

And while it´s bringing in business, it´s also cutting out the paper trail:

"Every week, the sales secretary would print out a half-inch stack of paper with the inventory. We decided that if this was on the Internet, we could save a lot of paper. Our salespeople could go through the back door for this information and get to the internal notes, and we could eliminate that paper waste every week."

"So we bought our salespeople laptops, and now not only can they talk on the phone and discuss the equipment, they can bring up the online catalogue, look at the internal notes and walk a customer through the site."

"It seems that everyone is in favor of the new technology. Every week, I download the current inventory to their computers, and I haven´t had any complaints! For a while, I saw some of them still printing out the sales reports because that´s what they were used to, but that doesn´t happen much anymore."

Because of the success of their initial online venture, Pat feels certain that they will expand their efforts and increase the presence of their other departments, such as parts and rentals, as well. The parts department is likely to be the next on board—they´ve already begun creating monthly online specials as an extension of the special offers they provide through their paper catalogs and mailings.

Pat understands why some businesses might hesitate to invest in online services, but she feels very strongly that fears should be put aside in favor of progress. She encourages small businesses simply to take the plunge and, once you´ve got a site, to get that information out to your companies as quickly and frequently as possible.

"The more you let your customers know that you´re online, the more that you get your URL out on advertising and on every marketing piece, the more business it will bring."

"It can do nothing but help your business grow. The Internet is here, and it´s the future."