• Growth Series | Article 1

How To Get More Customers For Your Machine Shop

Getting new customers for your shop will require about 2 – 3 hours a week into customer outreach. There is no way around it. Lucky for you this guide provides you with actionable items on how to do it. 

Rome was not made in a day, so be consistent every week and it will be a matter of time until you land the first new customer. 

Step 0: Polish Your Online Presence:

Professional Website:

This is your new customer’s first impression, so make it solid. Ensure your website is 

  • Modern looking.
  • Showcases your capabilities.
  • Equipment.
  • Certifications.
  • Past projects with high-quality images. 

Look at other machine shop websites and find a few that fit the above description to use as reference. If you are not savvy with WordPress, it will cost $200 – $400 to get a website made on Upwork, but every time you have to make a change you’ll have to pay someone, so it might be worth learning the basics and doing it yourself. 

Google My Business:

Step 1: Define Your Value Proposition

“Who are you and how can you help me?” 

This is the first thing a customer is thinking when they meet you so make sure this is clear within 20 seconds of your exchange (whether that is email, phone, or in person).

Value Proposition: As you reach out, clearly articulate your offer. Is it speed, precision, specialized equipment, exceptional customer service, specific materials, prototyping, high-volume production, specific industries you can serve.  What is the fastest turnaround you can offer? What kind of tolerances can you hit? Don’t be vague, provide specifics. Make your value proposition very clear and quantitative. Keep it short and to the point.

If you reach out by email, be personable. Address the person by name and keep it colloquial. We all want to be talked to like humans, not prospects.  

Here is an outline for an email that you can also repurpose for a flyer if you show up in person. 

Subject: Machine Shop near [location of business or business name]

Hi [Name], I’m reaching out from [Shop Name]. I see you are working on [product, component, industry. ] and we can help your manufacturing/prototyping needs. Either now or in the near future, here’s how we can help you:

  • Fast Turnaround: We deliver parts in as little as [X days], ensuring your projects stay on schedule.
  • Precision: We consistently achieve tolerances as tight as [specific tolerance level, e.g., ±0.0005”].
  • Expertise: We specialize in [specific services, e.g., prototyping, high-volume production, custom tooling, etc.], serving industries like [list industries].

If you have any questions or need a quick quote, just hit reply or give us a call.

Looking forward to working with you,

[your name]

[contact info]

Personalize this email as much as you can. If you know the name of the person, the specific industry, product, type of part, or process they need, make sure you add that to your email. Name drop if you share a contact. Or even better, if you know of an issue they have, offer a solution. 

Remember, the odds of getting work right after your outreach are slim. That is not how sales works. The point of outreach is so that you stay top of mind when they need a machine shop. That means follow up is crucial. After a week or two, send another email to check in. 

This approach is called “Lead Nurturing”. Google it and you’ll get a bit more detail but do not over think it. 

Step 2: Reach Out

Where to get new customers:
  • Existing Customers: Satisfied customers are your best source of referrals. Pick up the phone and ask for more work or other suppliers you can reach out to. 
  • Past Customers: Reconnect with past clients. They may have new projects or be working for different companies.
  • Other Machine Shops: This one is often overlooked but even small shops have to sub-contract work in order to meet deadlines. Connect with other machine shops in your area and across through the Small Machining Business Group on Facebook to get work that you might otherwise not even qualify for on your own. Reach out to other shops!
  • Strategic Partnerships: Collaborate with complementary businesses, such as design firms, engineering companies, or finishing services. California, Massachusetts, Texas, and New York have the highest density of hardware companies and hardware startups. Send them emails!!
BONUS
  • Xometry: THE HORROR! Xometry has lots of detractors among small machine shops. Most of it seems to be from the margins on the first 25 – 30 jobs. The consensus online seems to be that after that betting period the jobs are actually reasonable. Talk with people that have worked with Xometry for a long time and see if it is the right fit for your situation.  

Step 3: Be Ready To Deliver Great Customer Service:

Signaling is a big deal in customer service and it will impact your sales. 

For example: 

  • A restaurant owner keeps the lights low to save money, but the people walking by interpret that as the place being closed. 
  • Have you called a bank to talk to customer service? If you are lucky the bot will rute you to a human. For contrast, call a local credit union and you can probably talk to the CFO if you ask nicely. That is why people like them. 

In both cases you already made up your mind about the business even before you interacted with a person. 

What are those signals for your machine shop? The same. Look at your process and think to yourself, what part of your customer facing steps sends the wrong signal? Response time? Job Updates? Do you answer the phone? Do you call back? Are you curt when you answer the phone? This might sound mundane but in a competitive marketplace your availability to respond or take a call might be what sets you apart. 

As an owner you are keeping track of due dates, invoices, quotes, tracking numbers, phone calls, etc. That is enough cognitive load for you to miss the small details that will send the wrong signal to prospects and current customers. If you want to offload communication and repetitive tasks, tools like PartFlow are great to automate and organize your workflow. 

Actionable Steps:

  1. Review and revise your website
  2. Claim your Google My Business profile: Ensure all information is accurate and up-to-date.
  3. Connect with other Shops: Join the Small Machining Business Group to get work that you might otherwise not even qualify for on your own. 
  4. Identify 3-5 target companies: Research their needs and develop a personalized outreach strategy.
  5. Dedicate time: Block off 2 -3 hours a week to finding and nurturing leads. 
  6. Consider adding software to offload and automate repetitive and time consuming tasks and focus on great customer service .

Points 1 and 2 are a one time thing. Points 3 to 5 are what you need to focus on weekly. Point 6 will help you free up time for points 3 to 5. 

That is all there is to it. 

The Shop Owner's ERP