PLC Toolbox Supply Wanted More Sales & Better Work/Life Balance
PLC Toolbox Supply is a distributor of new and used industrial automation, programmable logic controllers (PLCs), and networking equipment based in Emmett, Michigan. As the owners, Jeffrey Francek and Thomas Rozek, know—a single day without working machinery can cost a business a fortune. That’s why they keep current controllers for today’s modern machines in stock, and collect and store old parts to keep older technology running too. Their mission is simple: to keep customers for life with exemplary customer service and reliability.
In addition to selling parts, they also:
- Buy excess inventory and obsolete pieces.
- Buy machinery in ANY condition (that includes broken).
- Repair industrial equipment.
- Handle consignment sales of their customers’ large equipment and machines (they’ll even arrange to have the gear disassembled and removed).
It’s no surprise they’re leaders in their industry—they ship 99% of their orders on the same day, offer a 30-day warranty on purchases, and have 100% positive reviews on Amazon and eBay.
A Problem: Their Customers Don’t Know What They Offer
PLC Toolbox Supply first heard about Email Broadcast on a podcast from QuietLight Brokerage, where we discussed the power of email marketing and PLC was inspired to reach out. With young families to care for, neither Jeffrey nor Thomas wanted to do overnight travel anymore. They were looking to get more local business and wondered if email marketing could help them achieve two primary goals for their company:
- Increased sales (parts, consignment, brokered machinery, and repair)
- Better work/life balance
In the discovery process, we realized that most of PLC’s customers only thought of them as offering one thing—parts for their machines. Even current customers didn’t know PLC offered additional services.
We posed this question: What if every single customer got an email series that not only thanked them for their order but also kept the relationship going by highlighting other services?
Then we asked, What about all the people you DIDN’T get a sale from? What if you treated them as a future source of business—not only for their upcoming parts needs, but by also introducing them to your other services?
The Simple, Effective Way to Educate Customers (& Grow Business)
First, we created a staff form for all phone calls that don’t result in sales, the data of which could be used for long-term follow-up.
Then—since we knew PLC’s audience didn’t have the time or need for elaborate HTML designs and would likely respond better to personal messages—we decided that each email should come directly from the salesperson who worked with the customer, and be written in a friendly Midwestern voice that reflected PLC’s brand.
We crafted a plain text automated welcome series that looks as though the staff typed out each message to their customers in real-time. The best part? Because PLC was perfectly suited for a template-free, “automation-only” campaign, they were able to save money on email marketing.
Here’s How the Series Works:
- Customers receive one of two initial “welcome” emails—one for those who purchased an item or repair service, or one for those who may have inquired but didn’t yet purchase anything.
- Those emails then funnel into a five-message series that highlights all the products and services PLC Toolbox Supply offers and ends with a 91-day follow-up email.
Already the company is seeing open rates as high as 87% and clickthrough rates as high as 20%. Plus, their list is growing. Now that the automation-only campaign is proving successful, emailing that growing list of contacts with timely broadcasts is likely the next step. And that’s programmable logic for you.
How It Works
Transform your email marketing in three easy steps:
Book Appointment
We offer a free 20-minute consult to talk about your business and see if we might be a good fit. If a partnership sounds promising, we'll schedule a discovery call.
Review Proposal
After we have all the facts, we’ll present a proposal outlining our tailored, full-service solution—what it will include, what it will do for your business, and what it will cost.
Win More Business
This is where we execute a world-class email campaign to help you win more business while you celebrate, breathe a sigh of relief, and move on to your next project.
