Think Big to Narrow Down Your True Markets

Like many mold manufacturers, Midwest Mold Services, Inc. (Roseville, MI)—a full service plastic injection mold building company and supplier of low volume plastic parts—never had to seek out customers. Instead, the company had customers seek out their expertise and business was booming. However, challenges in the past several years, namely foreign competition, has resulted in moldmakers like Midwest Mold needing to learn how to be proactive with its marketing efforts.

Midwest Mold President and CEO John Hill reached out to the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center (MMTC) for assistance. As a result, Midwest Mold was one of the first companies to go through MMTC’s Market Diversification program, in which the MMTC analyzes a company’s challenges and delivers a series of outputs and benefits addressed on a company’s individual needs. “The MMTC educated us in the industries we were considering as a customer base (medical, electronics, defense, and appliance) and helped us narrow it down,” Hill notes. “Pursuing certain markets would require additional investment in tooling or machinery; we went for the low hanging fruit first.”

Midwest Mold also invested in a new website from MMTC, over the next 18 months, the website brought in opportunities to bid and secure roughly $800,000 in new business in the appliance and recreational vehicle markets. Hill says that before getting with the MMTC, he viewed their web presence as an online brochure and not much else. Now, however, he recognizes the benefit a properly built website brings by serving as a sales tool that isn’t limited by geography.

The optimized website is currently bringing in eight to ten qualified leads a month and all inquiries end up in Hill’s inbox where he sorts through them and responds personally to the qualified leads. Using its custom cost model Midwest Mold can accurately quote jobs to be sure that there is profit involved. However, Hill notes that “quoting is not free; quoting costs you money every time.”

“We are currently doing a refresh to our site which is mostly directed at content management, Hill notes. “However, a refresh with updates as to our capacity, equipment and services is also being incorporated,” he elaborates. “The new site has also consolidated our main and micro sites, is more mobile-friendly, includes case studies and is a better balance for us with inbound and outbound lead generation.”

Seven years ago, 100 percent of Midwest Mold’s business was in the automotive industry; today, it is approximately 78 percent automotive. “The educational training, resources and system of prospecting for new accounts were the most valuable things that came from working with MMTC,” Hill concludes. “These were most helpful—not just for the diversification aspect—but for the core business as well. The investment in website optimization proved itself through actual awarded revenue.”

For More Information
Midwest Mold Services, Inc. / (586) 855-0560
johnhill@midwestmold.com / midwestmold.com

MMTC / (888) 414-6682
inquiry@mmtc.org / mmtc.org