Burling said getting into the American market came with a lot of challenges.
Initially, they were trying to sell directly to retailers. When that didn’t take off, he didn’t give up but rather looked for another route to get his product seen globally. He started going to trade shows, and from there the product took off.
Trade shows worked, he said, because while office staff in a company might not really understand the benefits of the product he was showing them, the people out in the field did, especially when they saw it in action, and it was those people he was able to talk directly to at the trade shows.
Getting the product seen by the right people wasn’t the only challenge, though, he said.
The United States works in imperial measurements rather than metric, so there was often a lot of confusion.
“They would get confused when we’re talking about the size of the machine, or the width of the tracks - it took a lot to get over that,” Burling said.
“It’s like we had to learn a whole new language,” Kiser added.
Carac Group international sales and strategy manager Silke Molina, who is originally from the United States, said time zones and different cultures also proved to be challenging at first.
Now they sell to 400 locations across North America, and more globally, including major manufacturers like Caterpillar.
TrackGrip was recently featured on Discovery’s Hoffman Family Gold thanks to the product’s brand ambassadors Todd and Jack Hoffman, and Andy Spinks.
Burling said the judges were particularly impressed by TrackGrip’s simplicity, effectiveness and inventive design.
Looking back on where he started, Burling was proud of how far he had come.
“It’s pretty cool - when you start from a little garage, and you end up making something that all the big manufacturers are using and buying off you.”
