by Cathy Gray | Oct 27, 2026 | AI at Work, Business
AI makes a good process faster. It makes a broken one faster too.
If nobody knows who owns a task, AI won’t decide. If the information lives in someone’s head, AI can’t read it. If the steps change depending on who’s working that day, AI will copy whichever version it sees.
Signs The Process Is The Problem
- Nobody owns it. Everyone assumes someone else has it.
- The steps live in someone’s head. It works great until that person is out.
- It’s done differently every time. Depending on who’s working, or how busy it is.
- The data going in is wrong. Bad pricing, missing specs, an old spreadsheet.
- Nobody checks the result. It goes out and nobody looks until a customer calls.
If any of these sound familiar, adding AI just gets you the same problem in less time.
What It Looks Like
Quote requests. AI can write a great reply to a quote request. If the form emails nobody, or the request lands in a shared inbox everyone assumes someone else is watching, the reply never gets sent. The problem was never the writing.
Pricing. AI can format a price list in seconds. If the prices coming in from the vendor are wrong, it formats wrong prices. Neatly.
Product data. AI can clean up attribute names across a catalog. If there’s no rule for what to call things, the next vendor file brings the mess right back.
In every one, the fix is a decision a person has to make. Who owns it, where the data comes from, what the standard is.
Fix It First
You don’t need a consultant or a flowchart. You need a few answers written down.
- Who owns it? One name.
- What are the steps? In order, the way they should happen.
- Where does the information come from? And is it right?
- Who checks the result? Before a customer sees it.
Once those are clear, the slow parts usually stand out. That’s where AI fits.
Then Add AI To One Step
Not the whole process. One step.
The step that’s repetitive and easy to check is the best place to start. Formatting, sorting, summarizing, a first draft. Keep the decision steps with a person: pricing, customer replies, specs, and policies.
Run it that way for a few weeks. If the step gets faster and nothing slips, add the next one.
For how I use AI day to day, see [AI Is a Tool, Not a Replacement: How I Actually Use It].
☕
by Cathy Gray | Oct 25, 2026 | Press Releases, Software and Programs
Summary: An Atlanta, GA marketing professional launches a quick check that compares “company-centric” language against “customer-centric” copy on any web page
Atlanta, GA, [October 25, 2026]:
Most websites talk about themselves more than they realize. Cathy Gray, the digital marketing and eCommerce professional behind Coffee with Cathy, has launched a free tool that shows exactly how much.
The Website Narcissistic Test scans a page and counts company-centric words like “we,” “our,” “us,” and the company’s own name against customer-centric words like “you” and “your.” Users enter a URL and their company name, and get results in seconds.
The results come back as a simple ratio with a quick read on where the page lands.
- Under 1:1 means the copy is customer-focused.
- Between 1:1 and 2:1 is borderline and worth a closer look.
- At 3:1 or higher, the page is a full narcissist and due for a rewrite.
“Customers want to know what’s in it for them,” said Gray. “I kept seeing the same problem on business websites, big and small. Page after page about the company, very little about the customer. The ratio turns a vague feeling that something’s off into a number you can actually fix.”
The tool is built for small business owners, marketers, and anyone writing their own website copy. It works on homepages, service pages, product pages, and about pages. For those who prefer to work by hand, a free printable worksheet is also available on the same page.
The Website Narcissistic Test is available now at coffeewithcathy.net/website-narcissistic-test.
About Coffee with Cathy
Most technical and B2B companies know their products inside and out. Getting buyers to see it is the hard part. Cathy Gray from Atlanta, GA closes the gap with strategy and execution in eCommerce and digital marketing. Learn more at coffeewithcathy.net.
Media contact
Cathy Gray
hello@coffeewithcathy.net
coffeewithcathy.net
by Cathy Gray | Oct 22, 2026 | Customer Journey
Buyers don’t show up empty-handed.
I’ve had buyers call with a competitor’s spec sheet in hand. I’ve had buyers ask for a datasheet we didn’t have online. And I’ve had buyers who knew more about the part than our product page did.
By the time they reach you, most of the research is already done. The question is whether any of it happened on your website.
What Buyers Look Up First
Before they pick a supplier, buyers want to know they have the right part.
Dimensions, pressure or load ratings, materials, what it fits, and what it replaces. Price and stock come after that. If they can’t confirm it’s the right part, nothing else on the page matters yet.
The full list of what they’re looking for is in 10 Things Buyers Need Before They Ever Pick Up the Phone. This post is about where they go to find it.
Spec Sheets And Datasheets
At most places I’ve worked, the full specs lived on the vendor and manufacturer websites. Not ours.
That makes sense from the inside. The manufacturer already wrote it, and keeping a copy up to date is one more job.
From the buyer’s side, it looks different. They leave your site to confirm the part. Now they’re reading someone else’s page, and a lot of manufacturer sites have a “where to buy” page that lists every distributor they sell through, including your competitors.
The fix:
- Put the key specs on your product page as text.
- Link the full datasheet as a backup, not as the only source.
- Ask your vendors for their product data. Most have it in a spreadsheet or feed, and many are glad to share it.
Catalogs: PDF Or On The Page
Catalogs still get used. Buyers flip through them to see a whole product line at once.
Keep them, but don’t make them the only place the specs live. Buyers skim, search engines can’t read what’s locked in a file, and a scanned PDF can’t be read by much of anything.
Comparing You Against Other Suppliers
Buyers almost always check more than one supplier. They’re comparing specs, price, stock, and how easy you are to buy from.
You can help them compare, or you can make them do it somewhere else.
On a sister site I built for a specific group of buyers, I added landing pages that compared products side by side. Buyers could see the difference and pick what fit their equipment without calling. Fewer calls came in asking which one to get.
That’s the research stage done on your site instead of someone else’s.
When They Call Before They Trust The Page
Some buyers call no matter what. Some never do.
The ones who call usually want to confirm something the page didn’t make clear. That’s useful. Every one of those calls tells you what the page is missing.
Ask your sales team and counter what buyers ask before they order. Then put the answer on the page.
What To Put Where
- On the product page: key specs as text, part numbers, what it replaces, and what it fits.
- As a download: the full datasheet and the catalog.
- On a comparison or category page: the differences between similar products, side by side.
- Off your site: nothing a buyer needs to make the decision.
For the rest of the buyer’s journey, see 5 Stops on the B2B Buyer’s Journey (And Where You Lose Them).
☕
by Cathy Gray | Oct 22, 2026 | Customer Journey
I’ve seen plenty of websites organized the way the warehouse thinks.
By vendor. By product line. By the prefix on the SKU. It makes sense from the inside. That’s how purchasing orders it, how the shelves are labeled, and how everyone at the company talks about it.
The buyer doesn’t know any of that. They know what they need and what they call it.
Your Buyers Don’t Know Your Vendor List
A buyer looking for a part doesn’t search for the brand you happen to stock or the product line name from the vendor’s price sheet. They search for the thing.
Sometimes they don’t even use the same word you do. One buyer says drywall screws. Another says sheetrock screws. Same box on the same shelf.
If your category and product names only match how the company talks, buyers who say it differently either don’t find you or assume you don’t carry it. I covered regional naming in How to Increase Average Order Value Without Chasing More Traffic. This post is about building the pages around it.
Company-First Vs Customer-First
Here’s what the difference looks like with work gloves.
The company-first way. The navigation follows the warehouse:
- Safety > Hand Protection > Cut-Resistant Gloves > Model CR-410
- Safety > Hand Protection > Coated Gloves > Model NT-220
A buyer has to already know whether they need cut-resistant or coated, and what you call it.
The customer-first way. The same gloves, with pages built around what buyers type into Google:
- /gloves-for-handling-sheet-metal/ (targeting “cut resistant gloves for sheet metal”)
- /work-gloves-for-fencing/ (targeting “best gloves for barbed wire fencing”)
- /mechanic-gloves-with-grip/ (targeting “gloves for mechanics oily hands”)
Same products. The buyer starts from their job, not your catalog.
Find The Words Buyers Actually Use
You don’t have to guess. Search Console already shows you.
In Search Console, go to Performance, then Search results, and look at Queries. Those are the words people typed before they found you.
What to look for:
- Queries that don’t match your page names. Buyers are using a word you aren’t.
- Queries with impressions but few clicks. You showed up, but your page title didn’t look like what they were looking for.
- The same product searched several ways. Each one is a name worth using somewhere on the page.
Your counter, sales team, and site search terms are good sources too. They show the words buyers use once they’re already talking to you.
Name Categories For Each Vertical
This is where I spent a lot of time.
Different customer verticals call the same products different things. A farmer, a contractor, and a plant maintenance tech can search for the same part three different ways.
So I renamed product categories to hit the terms each vertical actually searched. Same products, different names depending on who was looking.
Keep The Old Names Too
Renaming doesn’t mean erasing.
- Use the other names on the page. Put them in the description, not just the title.
- Add synonyms to site search. If a buyer types the other word, search should still find it.
- Redirect old URLs. If a category name changes its URL, set up a 301 redirect so old links and rankings carry over.
- Keep vendor and part numbers on the page. Some buyers do search by brand or part number. Give them that too.
Where To Start
- Pull your top 50 Search Console queries and compare them to your category names.
- Ask your counter or sales team what buyers call your top 10 products.
- Rename one category to match how buyers search, and watch it for a month.
- Add the other names to descriptions and site search.
Naming is one stop on the way to finding you. For the rest of the buyer’s journey, see 5 Stops on the B2B Buyer’s Journey (And Where You Lose Them).
☕
by Cathy Gray | Oct 22, 2026 | Customer Journey
The cart isn’t always where the order happens.
In B2B, a lot of carts are built by one person and ordered by someone else. More than once, what landed on our desk was our own abandoned cart email, forwarded by the buyer. I told that one in Sales, Customer Service, and the Website: Working From the Same Playbook.
It wasn’t a one-off. It’s how a lot of business buyers use your website.
Who Builds The Cart Isn’t Who Places The Order
I saw every version of it.
- A field tech or foreman built the cart, then sent it to purchasing.
- A buyer built the cart, then called it in to sales.
- A buyer built the cart, then emailed or printed it to get a PO approved.
The person who knows what’s needed is out on the job. The person with the company card or the PO is in the office. The cart is how one tells the other.
What Happens After The Cart
It went every direction.
Sometimes sales or customer service placed the order straight from it. Sometimes the buyer came back later and checked out. Sometimes it turned into a quote.
All three are sales. None of them show up as a completed online checkout.
Where It Breaks
The cart doesn’t hold the stock.
It didn’t happen often, but it happened. Someone would call in to check inventory, place the order, and by then we were out. Usually it was an item that was already running low.
The cart said it was there. The buyer believed it. By the time the order went through, it wasn’t.
Low stock is where this hurts most, because that’s when the gap between building the cart and placing the order matters.
Make The Cart Easy To Pass Along
We never changed our setup for this. Looking back, here’s what I’d add:
- A way to share or save the cart. A link, an email, or a print-friendly version the buyer can send to purchasing.
- Part numbers and quantities in the cart and the cart email. That’s what the person placing the order needs.
- A phone number in the abandoned cart email. If the buyer is going to call it in anyway, make it easy.
- Low stock warnings. If only a few are left, say so before the buyer sends the cart around.
Don’t Count It As Lost
If buyers use your cart as a shopping list, your abandoned cart rate is going to look worse than it is.
Some of those carts became phone orders, quotes, or POs. Before you decide the cart is broken, ask sales and customer service how many orders came in from a cart, a cart email, or a buyer reading off a screen.
Ordering is one stop on the journey. For the rest, see 5 Stops on the B2B Buyer’s Journey (And Where You Lose Them).
☕
by Cathy Gray | Oct 22, 2026 | Customer Journey
A repeat buyer already knows what they want. They just want to get it ordered and get back to work.
I’ve worked with all seven of these on B2B sites. Some got used every day. Some only mattered to a handful of buyers, but those buyers ordered a lot.
1. Order History And Reorder
This is the one repeat buyers used the most.
Pull up the last order, hit reorder, change a quantity, done. No searching for the same parts again.
Some buyers still forwarded an old order email and asked us to reorder it in different amounts. Order history does the same thing without the email.
2. Saved Carts And Saved Lists
Buyers who order the same handful of parts every month shouldn’t have to rebuild the cart every time.
A saved list works like a standing order they control. It also helps when the cart gets passed from the field to purchasing.
3. Quick Order Form
Type a part number and a quantity. Add the next line. Check out.
Buyers who know their part numbers don’t want to click through categories. A quick order form lets them skip the browsing and go straight to the order.
4. Bulk Upload From A Spreadsheet
Some buyers already have the order in a spreadsheet. Maybe it came from a job estimate or their own inventory system.
Letting them upload it saves them typing 40 lines by hand, and saves you the typos that come with it.
5. Customer-Specific Pricing And Catalogs
Account buyers often have their own pricing, and sometimes their own set of approved parts.
When the site shows them their price and their parts, they don’t have to call to confirm it.
6. Saved Account Details
Shipping addresses, tax exempt status, net terms, and a place for a PO number.
Business buyers order the way their company buys. If they have to re-enter that every time, or can’t enter it at all, they’ll call instead. I saw that one firsthand.
7. Recently Viewed And Frequently Bought
A short list of what this buyer looks at and orders most.
It’s a shortcut back to the parts they already know, especially for buyers who don’t keep a saved list.
The One Buyers Asked For
There was one thing the site didn’t do that buyers kept asking for.
We had the manufacturer’s catalog on the website. Buyers would flip through it, find something they wanted, and want to order it. But not everything in the catalog was set up as a product on the site.
Not many competitors had those items on their websites either. That’s an opening. If buyers can find it in your catalog, give them a way to ask for it or order it: a request form, a quick order line for unlisted part numbers, or adding the most-asked-for items as products.
Where To Start
You don’t need all seven at once.
If you only add one, make it order history with a reorder button. Then ask your sales team which buyers order the same things over and over, and what would save them a phone call.
Coming back is the last stop on the journey. For the rest, see 5 Stops on the B2B Buyer’s Journey (And Where You Lose Them). For what keeps buyers coming back beyond the order itself, see 5 Things That Keep B2B Customers Coming Back.
☕
