A lot of tooling account reviews are a sales printout and a handshake. The shop owner asks about price, the rep promises to look into it, and nothing changes. A good review should show the shop what it's getting, show you where it's buying from someone else, and end with a plan both sides agree on.
Know your own numbers first
The exec dashboard shows sales, margin, cash, receivables and pace on one screen. Company goal shows the month, year to date and the year at the current pace. Rep pace to goal shows each rep's month against goal, and a weekly rep review email goes out every Monday with each rep's own accounts, while the GM desk sees everyone.
That's how you decide which shops need a formal review this quarter, before anyone books a meeting. Your largest shops deserve one every quarter. The ones that are moving, up or down, deserve one now.
Top accounts up and down lists the ten accounts buying more than last year and the ten buying less. The growing shops are where you invest: a crib program, a vending machine, more test cuts. The shrinking ones are where you need answers. Maybe a big job ended. Maybe a competitor got a test cut in. Maybe a new production manager doesn't know what you do for them. Customer health adds another layer by showing which customers are slipping, at risk or lost.
Category gaps are the heart of the review
Category gaps show the categories each shop buys from you and the ones it buys elsewhere. In cutting tools, that's often eye-opening. A shop might buy all its inserts and holders from you but get drills, taps and abrasives somewhere else, or buy end mills from you and coolant from a chemical supplier.
A strong review agenda:
- What the shop bought last year by category, and how it changed.
- Service highlights: test cuts run, specials sourced, crib counts and reorders on schedule.
- Category gaps, with a specific offer or test cut for one or two of them.
- Any slipping items, and what happened.
- Next steps with dates, logged as follow-ups in the app.
Before the meeting, pull up the customer to see everything on one screen: open quotes, past-due invoices, recent visits and notes. The rep walks in knowing the whole picture.
Reports the shop can see
Customers get their own spend, usage and category reports in the app. A shop owner can see what his cells spent on inserts this quarter without asking you. A production manager can check usage before setting next year's tooling budget. That openness builds trust, and it puts you in the room when the shop plans, instead of on the outside waiting for a PO.
It also helps the shop make its own case. A production manager trying to justify a vending program or a tooling budget increase to the owner can use the same reports you brought to the review.
A review built on real numbers changes the conversation from price to value. It shows the shop what you already do, points to where you could do more and gives your rep a reason to come back next quarter. Done consistently with your top accounts, it's one of the most reliable ways to grow a tooling business without finding a single new customer.
Ready to walk through it with your own shops? Book a demo.