JSU / Playbooks / Industrial Services
How to price your Industrial sales bottleneck
Run the same math as the JSU Bottleneck Index on your own Industrial numbers in three steps.
The Industrial Services bottleneck prices a single question: what does it cost you per year to be slow and unfocused at first contact? For a typical firm it is around $480,000.
The formula
Annual bottleneck = average deal value × winnable deals lost per quarter × 4. For Industrial Services, that is $60,000 × 2 × 4 = $480,000.
Run it on your real numbers
The published figure is representative. Take your own average deal and your honest quarterly loss to slow and generic follow-up. Bid lists written fast.
- Permit filings signal expansion or retrofit
- A compliance deadline nears an aging facility
- An incumbent contractor fails an audit or loses crew
- New plant management reviews vendors
Then decide if it's worth closing
Once you have your number, compare it to the cost of fixing speed and aim at first contact. In industrial services, the leak is almost always the larger figure.
Remember what each variable really represents. The $60,000 is one industrial relationship walking out the door. The 2 losses a quarter are not no-fits; they are deals you could have won had you reached the buyer inside the 24 hours window. Multiply by four and you have a full year of revenue that went to whoever simply answered first. That is the figure to price your fix against.
The bottleneck is rarely effort. It is speed and aim at the first touch.
What does a missed bid list cost an industrial contractor?
At a $60,000 average contract, two lost deals a quarter is $480,000 a year, most of it to whoever reached the plant manager first.
Which signals predict industrial work before the RFP?
Permit filings, compliance deadlines, incumbent contractor failures, and new plant management reviews.