JSU / Playbooks / Logistics & Freight
How to price your Logistics sales bottleneck
Run the same math as the JSU Bottleneck Index on your own Logistics numbers in three steps.
The Logistics & Freight 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 $1,152,000.
The formula
Annual bottleneck = average deal value × winnable deals lost per quarter × 4. For Logistics & Freight, that is $96,000 × 3 × 4 = $1,152,000.
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. Weeks to a single quarter.
- A new warehouse or DC lease is signed
- A carrier exits a lane or fails on service
- Seasonal volume breaks the current setup
- A new ops leader inherits a freight spend review
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 logistics & freight, the leak is almost always the larger figure.
Remember what each variable really represents. The $96,000 is one logistics relationship walking out the door. The 3 losses a quarter are not no-fits; they are deals you could have won had you reached the buyer inside the 8 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 slow quoting cost a freight brokerage or 3PL?
Over $1.1M a year at typical volumes: freight inquiries cool in hours, not days, and three lost shippers a quarter at $96,000 annual value compounds fast.
Which signals predict a shipper switching providers?
New DC leases, carrier service failures, lane changes, and leadership turnover in ops. All four are visible before the RFP email goes out.
Does the engine work for asset-based and brokerage models?
Both. The math changes (margin per load vs contract value) but the bottleneck is identical: speed and aim at first contact.
Can it handle spot and contract freight together?
Yes. Spot rewards response speed in minutes; contract rewards being first to the review. The engine runs both clocks.