What buyers check on your website before they send you a drawing

An engineer or purchasing manager has a part they need manufactured. They have a drawing ready, a material, a quantity and a date, you are tasked with completing that job. Your shop's name came up, maybe from a referral, maybe from a Google search. Before they send anything, they open your machine shop website.

They're checking it against a list in their head, and every item they can't find is a reason to move on to the next shop. Most of these buyers have been burned by a supplier before. Avoiding a bad decision matters more to them than getting the lowest price.

Here is that list they are checking, written as the questions the buyer is asking. If your site answers more than one of these questions, the potential customer stays on your site. If your site doesn't answer these questions, you force them to pick up the phone, and many of them won't.

1. What do you actually make?

"Precision machining" doesn't tell a buyer anything. Every shop says it. List your processes by name: CNC milling, CNC turning, fabrication, welding, design work. If you do production runs, say what a typical run size looks like. If you also handle one-off and emergency repair work, say that too.

2. What materials do you work with?

Name them. Aluminum, mild steel, stainless, tool steel, brass, engineered plastics. A buyer with a stainless part wants to see the word "stainless" before they send it.

3. How big a part can you handle?

This question is often overlooked. A buyer needs to know the largest part that fits your machines. List your maximum part envelope for milling and your maximum diameter and length for turning. If the website visitor can't tell how big or small you can handle, they assume you can’t handle it.

4. What tolerances do you hold?

Engineers think in tolerances and precise specs. Stating the tolerance you hold on production work tells them you understand what they are looking for, and it's far more convincing than the word "precision" on its own.

5. What equipment is on your floor?

Name your machines by make and model. That tells a site visitor what you are capable of and how big your run capabilities are.

A new Okuma LB4000 EX II CNC lathe being rigged into place at Custom Concepts Machining. New equipment belongs on your equipment list the week it arrives.

6. How do you check the parts?

Buyers want to know the part will match their drawing, on part 1 and part 500, through the entire run. Show your process including: how you inspect, in-process checks between operations, and the inspection tools you use. Buyers look for that.

Checking a part with a dial indicator before the run carries on.

7. What certifications do you hold?

If you have ISO 9001, AS9100 or CWB certification, put it on your home page and about page – it doesn’t have to be prominent but it does have to be present.Procurement teams scan for it. If you don't hold any, that's fine. Be clear about the quality steps you do follow instead.

8. Who is the shop owner?

A shop with real names, real faces and real photos of its floor shows a shop that does its own work. A shop with stock photos and no names can look like a broker who will send the job somewhere else. Put the owner's name on the site and show the people who will be making the parts.

9. What industries do you already work for?

Buyers want to see that you already make parts for companies like theirs. If you make parts for agriculture, automotive, food processing or packaging, list those industries. A short project page with the problem, solution, what you made and how it turned out shows site visitors the industries you work for and your capabilities.

10. How do I send you a job?

The buyer has decided you might be a fit. Now they need a quote form that lets them put in their info and allows them to upload their drawings. Let them upload STEP, DXF and PDF files. Keep the form short: name, company, email, phone, part description, material, quantity and the file. Put a "Request a Quote" button in the main menu and on every capability page.

11. When will I hear back?

Tell them. A line under the form that says when they can expect a reply removes a lot of doubt. Buyers often decide on a supplier quickly, so a fast reply can win the job..

Answer the questions before they're asked

Every item on this list is a question your potential customer would ask if they were standing in your shop. Most buyers don't visit a shop before placing an order anymore, so your website has to answer those questions for them.

If your site answers these 11 questions, the buyer gets to the end of the list with nothing stopping them, and the next step is to send you the drawing.

If you'd like a second set of eyes on your site, let me know. You can book a call here: https://cowlickstudios.com/schedule-a-meeting/