When you're managing six electrical supply branches, keeping customers active isn't just a sales goal — it's an operational discipline. Between counter traffic, incoming orders, and the day-to-day pace of distribution, it's easy for accounts to go quiet without anyone noticing.
That's the challenge Jason Ford knows well as District Manager at City Electric Supply in Fort Myers, where he oversees six branches and has spent 12 years building relationships with contractors and tradespeople across the region. His focus: keep the business growing, keep customers engaged, and ensure his team operates at full capacity every day.
Before Prokeep: Personal Phones, Siloed Conversations, and Missed Accounts
Before Prokeep, customer communication at City Electric happened wherever it happened — personal cell phones, one-off calls, conversations that lived and died with the individual employee who had the relationship.
The problems were predictable:
- Texts came in on personal phones, invisible to the rest of the team
- No one else could step in if someone was busy or out
- Dormant accounts drifted further without any structured outreach to bring them back
- There was no visibility for managers into what customers were asking or how the team was responding
The result was a business that was reactive by default — waiting for customers to call rather than staying in front of them.
With Prokeep: Centralized Communication, Proactive Outreach, and Real Accountability
Since implementing Prokeep, Jason's team shifted from reactive to proactive. Communication moved off personal phones and into a shared platform where the whole branch could see incoming messages, choose who responds, and keep customers from falling through the cracks.
Key wins since adopting Prokeep:
- Customers engage more readily via text than phone — "They're going to at least look at it."
- Orders and inquiries are visible to the full team, not siloed on one person's device
- Outbound promotions, counter days, and follow-ups go out quickly and consistently
- Managers have real-time visibility into team responsiveness and customer behavior
- Customers can send photos of parts or products directly, reducing errors and back-and-forth
Reactivating Dormant Accounts: A Little Legwork, A Lot of Return
One of the more deliberate initiatives Jason's team ran was a focused campaign to convert non-spending accounts — customers who hadn't placed an order in 30 or more days — back into active, live trading accounts.
It started with cleaning up the data. Jason and his team ran reports, cross-referenced business licenses, and in some cases searched public records to verify which accounts were still viable. It was unglamorous work, but it made everything downstream more effective.
Once the list was clean, the outreach was straightforward: a simple text reminding customers that City Electric was still there, sharing contact information, and attaching any current promotions. The message didn't need to be complicated — it just needed to show up.
Importantly, Jason built accountability into the process. Every branch team member rotated through outreach duties, and because all activity was logged in Prokeep, Jason could verify that the work was actually happening — including catching a couple of employees who tried to game the system by texting each other.
The Results: Retention May Matter More Than Reactivation
The campaign converted some dormant accounts back to active status — but the more significant insight was what it prevented. By consistently staying in front of existing customers, Jason's team kept live trading accounts from going quiet in the first place.
As Jason put it, if you're not in front of someone, you drift into the background of their day-to-day. Prokeep gave the branches a way to stay visible — without being intrusive.
And when it comes to the value of a new account versus a retained one, Jason is clear-eyed: new accounts have more room to grow.
"An old LTA is probably consistently buying as much as they can from you at that point. A new one's got a lot further to go." — Jason Ford, District Manager, City Electric Supply
The Branches That Lean In Are the Ones Growing
Not every branch adopted Prokeep at the same pace, and the results reflect that. The teams that keep Prokeep open throughout the day, respond quickly to inbound messages, and use it proactively for outreach are the ones seeing the strongest growth. The ones still hesitant are leaving orders on the table.
For Jason, the message to other managers is simple: give it a real chance and let the results make the case.
"Keep an open mind and try it. Your eyes are going to open up and realize that it really does work. And it may not be the benefit that everybody expects — but there is a benefit all the way around." — Jason Ford, District Manager, City Electric Supply
