“I got tired of hearing the answer, ‘Well, that’s the way Google is. Let’s see what it’s like next month.’”
See how Sweet Services reversed years of declining organic sales, cut its dependence on paid ads, and started showing up in AI search results.
Sweet Services is a bulk wholesale candy company based in the Chicago suburbs of Orland Park, Illinois. The business started in the early 1970s, when founder Alan Clements began packing candy out of a one-car garage, and grew into a full warehouse operation over the next five decades. Mark Lehmann came up through the company, starting in the warehouse and moved into sales and operations before buying the business from Alan in 2021. Sweet Services sells wholesale to smaller candy stores and businesses as well as direct to the public online, filling orders that range from a parent buying two pounds of blue candy for a baby shower to a company ordering 2,000 pounds for a major event. Today roughly 70% of the business comes through the website. Organic sales had been sliding a few percent each year, and the site was leaning hard on paid clicks to make up the gap. Mark needed a partner who could find the actual cause and stabilize the channel that generates most of his revenue.
3 Core Challenges
Sweet Services Faced
1st Core Challenge:
Organic sales had fallen to near historic lows after years of slow decline.
1st Strategic Shift:
KeenView was able to reverse the decline and produce consistent month-over-month growth ever since.
2nd Core Challenge:
Almost 80% of online sales were coming through pay-per-click ads, an expensive way to generate revenue on thin margin products.
2nd Strategic Shift:
Stabilized organic visibility eased the reliance on paid clicks improved margins across the board.
3rd Core Challenge:
Buyers were moving toward AI search and clickless results, a shift that the internal team was unable to address on its own.
3rd Strategic Shift:
KeenView’s team optimized the site for AI discovery early, and Sweet Services now shows up with links in ChatGPT, GoogleAI and Claude, winning visibility against larger competitors.
The Problem
Sweet Services generates about 70% of its business through online orders, from small individual orders to large commercial shipments. The share of sales coming in organically had been slipping a few percentage points a year until it hit near historic lows. Pay-per-click helped fill the gap, but eventually almost 80% of sales were coming from paid ads and the overall cost of acquisition was significantly impacting profit margins.
Mark tried traditional marketing agencies, but the pattern was always the same. Initial engagement was strong, but within a few months he was being handed off to a junior rep without much real experience. When he would point out three or four weeks of declines and ask why, the answer was “That’s just how Google is, let’s see how next month looks.” No diagnosis, no accountability, and the numbers kept drifting the wrong way.
What he needed was a partner who would look at the whole business, find the real cause of the decline, and stabilize the channel that generated most of his revenue.
The Solution
Within a week of the first call, KeenView came back with a detailed evaluation of the site: the specific issues hurting performance and what needed to be fixed. Mark’s own web developer of 20 years, who had sat through plenty of agency pitches, told him it was the first time an outside group actually seemed to know what they were talking about.
The decline reversed. After six months the site posted its first up month in years, and it has held steady or grown every month since, significantly reducing reliance on paid clicks and improving overall margins. KeenView has also guided AI readiness for the site, increasing visibility and traffic on all the major AI platforms.
Mark stopped feeling like he had to watch every number himself, because the back end was being handled by people he trusted to stay ahead of it.
Other agencies, that first quarter is great. Then all of a sudden you’re getting put off to a salesman. I’d reach out and say, we’ve been dropping, why do you think it is? And I got tired of hearing, well, that’s the way Google is, let’s see what it’s like next month. KeenView came back with almost an overwhelming amount of data. They had a plan. I’ve had a developer for twenty years, and he told me that’s the first agency I ever had that actually seemed to know what they’re talking about. KeenView was the first one who wanted to help with my whole business, not just an aspect of it.
Mark Lehmann – CEO, Sweet Services
Mark Lehmann – CEO, Sweet Services